Date: Tuesday, May 4, 1999.
Time: Started at 8:00 PM and ended at 11:00 PM.
Location: Inn at Jim Thorpe.
Equipment: Camera -- Cannon Snappy AF (Auto Focus) with the strap removed. Film -- Kodak Gold Max 400 speed. Tape Recorder -- Sony Portable Cassette Recorder with external microphone. Sony Handi-Cam.
Weather: The temperature throughout the Inn was about 70*.
History: We asked that the "ghostly" part of the history not be told to us prior to our investigation(s). However we do know that many "strange" things have happened here in the past. In fact, the Inn has been featured in the local papers explaining how haunted the Inn really is. The Inn itself was built in the 1840's and has over 29 guest rooms. For more information on the Inn please visit their website at www.innjt.com
Those Present: Lew & Sharon G., Donna & Kenny B., Rachel G., Andy K., and Bob R.
Report: We all arrived a little early for the simple fact that we knew that a reporter would be there to ask us some questions about our organization. We were then introduced to the owner Dave and also the reporter Kathryn. While Lew and Bob sat and talked to Kathy, the rest of us followed Dave upstairs where he showed us what rooms we had access to. While Dave was opening the rooms he told us that we would also have access to the entire fourth floor which was totally vacant. After all the rooms were opened we spread out and got started.
For most of the night Rachel and I were paired up. We did our usual walk through of the place. Trying to get a feel for things but at the same time we were also scouting out the best possible location to set up our video and recording equipment.
We concentrated mostly on the second and third floors. None of the rooms really made an impression so to speak when it came to the paranormal. Everything seemed very still and nothing out of the ordinary happened. At some point in time Dave came up to Rachel and I and asked that we go with him to check out a certain room. Rachel and I were more than happy to go. We only had a few short moments to be in the room so we shot off some pics and did a quick scan with the EMF detector noting nothing unusual. We were then joined by Andy who shot off some pics with his digital camera. Once again, nothing. It is at this time that Rachel and I decided to head up to the unoccupied fourth floor.
The fourth floor could only be accessed through one door that was pretty much at the top of the third floor landing. Rachel and I entered the door, closing it behind us, and walked up the stairs. This floor had many individual rooms and was obviously used for storage. It also looked exactly as it may have many decades ago.
As soon as we came to the fourth floor landing I immediately took noticed to room 61 which was right smack at the top of the stairs. I can't say that anything unusual happened to me as far as the room is concerned (the door was closed slightly), it just grabbed my attention and I made note of it. I then open the door slowly and shot off a few pics. Afterwards I ventured down the hall to my left.
The first room that I came to looked as though it had been two rooms and were now combined making one big one. The doors were missing and the room was bare. No furniture was inside except for a ten speed bike that sat almost in the middle of the room. Connected to this room was an even smaller room that almost reminded me of a good sized closet. It was probably once a bathroom. However, if that is true there sure was no evidence to support my claims because this room was also bare.
I then walked across the double sized room and made my way to the smaller room. As I got about two feet from the doorway to the smaller room I stopped. I could not bring myself to go in any further. I don't know why I just couldn't. However, I did take a few pics and then headed for the hall again. I finished checking out all of the rooms that were down the left side of the hall and then ventured in the opposite direction.
I had no specific impressions about the right side of the hall or any of it's rooms except for one. I took pics in this room as well and also made note of the weird feelings I had while in there. No unusual EMF's were detected.
At this time, Rachel and I decided to go back downstairs. She then told me of some impressions and weird feelings she had while on the fourth floor. Neither one of us knew of the others experiences until this point in time because we both had split up while on the fourth floor. Based on our experiences up there, we decided that the fourth floor would be the best place to set up our audio and video equipment.
Before heading back up to the fourth floor right away, we decided that we would check out some more of the second and third floors. Besides that, we saw a few other members heading up there and we didn't want to set the equipment up if they were going to be up there. Our intentions were to set the equipment up and leave. We wanted it silent and still for recording purposes.
We then proceeded to investigate the the second and third floors. Nothing unusual happened to me except for one thing. As I opened the door to room 311, the alarm clock immediately went off. The room had been empty and dark. At that time Andy and Rachel had come in to see what the noise was. Andy then went over to turn off the alarm and noted that the clock had been set to go off at 9:47pm, which it obviously did. We don't want to say that that was a paranormal experience but it was rather strange that it would go off at the exact same time I opened the door. That is why I made note of it and decided to add it to my report. Who knows, we may hear later from the owner and/or workers that that sort of thing happens all the time. That is why it is important to make note of everything no matter how silly or insignificant it may seem because you never know.
After this Rachel, Andy and I headed to the fourth floor to set up the camera's and audio equipment. Before heading up, however, we did run into Lew who had just came from the fourth floor. He indicated that something rather strange had happened to him while he was on the fourth floor with the owner Dave. Even more reassurance that we needed to set up the equipment in that location.
When the three of us reached the fourth floor we found it empty. Andy and I headed down the left side of the hall and into the room with the bike while Rachel headed somewhere down the right side of the hall. As I was setting up my video camera and audio recorder Andy was checking out the smaller room that was connected to the bigger one. I saw him quickly walk away from the room and say that he felt as though he couldn't enter it. I of course thought that was strange because I too had those same feelings earlier in the night only I never told Andy about it. He then went back towards the room and stood in the doorway. After a few minutes he said that he could smell something sweet coming from that room but also noted that he hadn't smelled it prior to this. I then went over to check it out. I smelled nothing. However, after a few short moments I too smelled it. I immediately recognized the smell as oranges. I told Andy what I thought it smelled liked and he got all excited and agreed that that was what the smell was. It then went as quickly as it came. This experience was repeated several times and to several others as well. Although the smell seemed to come and go and happened to not only one of us but 3 or 4 of us at various times throughout the night, we still didn't claim it to be anything paranormal.
As we smelled this smell off and on, Andy would talk out loud to the spirit that may have been responsible for the smell. He would ask and say things like "is anyone there" and "we smelled your perfume and would love to smell it again". We all agreed that it reminded us of sort of a citrus type of perfume. It should also be noted that while Andy was talking out loud and asking his questions, he was also recording with his digital recorder. When he played the recording back later that night after he had got home he was very surprised to find that he had an EVP. On the recording Andy asks "is anyone here" and in a man's voice, right after his question, you can hear "No, no one's here". Pretty strange huh? We thought so. The EVP cannot be explained as anything of natural origin especially since Andy had been the only man on the entire fourth floor and he certainly didn't say it.
Once the equipment was set up we left the fourth floor so that it was silent while we were recording. As we reached the third floor and were talking about where we would head next, we heard a loud bang that seemed to have come from the fourth floor. We knew no one was up there because we had just came from there. We then thought that maybe one of the camera's had fallen over. So, up we went again to check. We found everything in order and nothing out of place. We then decided to sit on the steps to the fourth floor and listen for anything unusual.
We had been there for a while when Bob came up. As I was talking to Bob I could have sworn that I saw someone standing by one of the rooms at the top of the stairs and to my right. I stated that immediately. After I finished saying what I thought I saw, Andy said that he had been seeing things here and there in that direction the entire time we had been sitting there.
Shortly after that (nothing else was happening) we gathered our equipment and headed back down stairs. It had been 11:00pm and time to call it a night.
Impression: I firmly believe that we need to pay this place another visit. Another investigation is definitely warranted as far as I'm concerned. Now that we have a few confirmed "hot spots" so to speak, we now know what areas to concentrate on during our next visit.
I would like to thank our host Dave the owner, Kathryn the reporter and also the employees at the Inn. They were all very helpful and very generous during our time there. Dave even suggested that we return to the Inn for an overnight investigation. I'm sure we will take him up on his offer. Thanks to everyone at the Inn at Jim Thorpe for being so kind.
Sharon G.
Vice-president
5/5/99