Date: October 18, 1999
Time: 7:00 P.M. - 11:00 P.M.
Location: The General Wayne Inn, Lower Merion, PA
Equipment: Panasonic IC 60 Minute Digital Recorder, Sony Mavica FD7 Digital Camera, EPD Raynger ST4L Thermal Scanner, Sony Video 8XR Handicam Video Recorder with Nightshot
Weather: A Clear Cold Night Ranging from 38 degrees F to 44 degrees F outside and a comfortable 68 - 70 degrees F inside except for the basement which was about 10 degrees warmer.
History: The General Wayne Inn is known as one of the most haunted sites in southeast Pennsylvania. During its history, it has been visited by famous individuals such as George Washington and Edgar Allen Poe. In recent years it has served as a restaurant and tavern.
Those Present: Andy K., Lew & Sharon G., Rachel G., Kenny & Donna B., Bob R., Nancy S., and Jen J.
Report: After being shown through the areas we were going to investigate, I began by exploring the dining room downstairs. It was too noisy to record in this room. I did take some pictures, but did not get any results. I also did not get any impressions from this room. I moved to the second floor and went into the George Washington Room.
I made some recordings in this room at this time, but got no EVPs. I was asking questions and, after asking for some type of signal that a spirit might be present, the overhead light blinked. I am not saying that this was anything more than a normal occurrence (although it did not blink again while I was in there), but it was strange. Pictures of the room revealed nothing. I decided that this would be a good room to set up my night vision video camera - it remained there throughout the investigation. The videos are in the process of being reviewed.
Next, I went into the hallway and found myself drawn to the stairs to the third floor. I got an odd feeling at the top of these steps. There was a cold breeze coming from under the door (a natural phenomenon), but the feeling that I had was not related to the breeze. I would come back to this spot many times during the night and feel the odd sensations many times. We also got good photographic evidence at these stairs. I took a picture of an orb in motion or a bit of ectoplasm right at the spot I got the feelings and Bob got odd pictures both on the steps and at the bottom. No EVPs were recorded on these stairs.
Next I spent some more time in the Washington room. I was joined there by Bob and later by Kenny and Donna. Nothing significant happened at this time. However, later, on a separate visit into this room with Rachel and Sharon, I thought I saw a shadow move in the corner of the room. Sharon simultaneously thought she saw something, but we did not share our experiences at the time.
Lew, Sharon, Rachel and I next visited the basement. The basement was quite crowded, noisy and warm. I made recordings in the basement, but all of the noise made it unlikely that anything would be recorded (the noise was that of a heater or generator). These recordings revealed nothing. Many pictures were taken, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.
At one point, after I visited the basement, I did get some pictures in the large game room where we were keeping our equipment. Several of these pictures were recorded around Kenny and Donna who were sitting on the floor. Although I believe several of the orbs in these pictures may have been dust, at least one appeared bright enough that it may have been unexplainable.
Lew and I next went into the attic. In the very top section of this attic, several times I thought I saw a small light coming from the far corner of the room. It was blue in color and seemed to come and go.
There were metal chairs stacked in this corner and, the light may have been a reflection of some type, but it did not appear at any specific time (such as when a car passed on the street below) and I was keeping my head still. Lew saw nothing as he looked through his nightvision. I asked many questions in the attic and we recorded the entire time. I may have gotten some EVPs in this location, but we are currently reviewing the recordings to ascertain that the noises are not explainable. I did record one very good picture of an orb in the attic and, since Lew and I had not moved in the area for quite some time when the picture was recorded, I feel that it is unlikely that it was dust.
I ended my part in the investigation by exploring the outside of the building and a small cemetery behind the Inn with Lew. I experienced nothing during this time and got nothing in my photographs.
Impressions: I cannot say that I got any real strong impressions from anywhere that I investigated in the Inn with the exception of the staircase to the third floor. Some of the photographs and recordings seem to indicate that there may be spirit activity. Further investigations, perhaps at a quieter time, will be necessary to make any conclusions.
Andy K.