The investigation of the Betsy Ross house took place on 4/2/98. I was a guest of the Philadelphia Ghost Hunters Alliance, and was with their group for the investigation. The weather was relatively mild with no wind or clouds. The investigation lasted for about 11/2 to 2 hours. The only equipment that I used for this investigation was a Sony Mavica FD-7 digital camera.
I arrived to the investigation late due to traffic on the Schuylkill. Luckily, they had not started the investigation yet. I met the group in the gift shop of the Betsy Ross House. We started taking pictures there. I did not have any particulars feelings in the gift shop, although I might have gotten a couple pictures. I wasn't sure, I had to wait until I got home to check them on the computer.
Next, we went down to the basement. I didn't have any feelings down there either, but I did get one ball of light, up toward the ceiling.
I did have an experience going back up to the gift shop. On the landing between the basement and the first floor, I paused to take a picture. I noticed that my camera was not focusing. Now, my camera has an auto-focus, so when it wouldn't focus on what I was pointing it at, I knew that something was in the way, something that I couldn't see. At the same time, I felt like the temp had dropped several degrees. It wasn't cold, but it was definitely cooler. I asked Lew to scan my area with the Thermal Scanner, and he did find a temp drop, although I can't recall what it was.
Next, we went to the actual house. On the way, I took some pictures outside, and got fantastic results. I took pictures of the courtyard and of the grave of Betsy Ross. I got multiple balls of light outside.
In the basement of the Betsy Ross house, I didn't have great results. I didn't feel anything and I think I got only one or two pictures with balls of light.
On the first floor, I had much better results. The room in the front, by the front door, was very active. I got pictures with multiple balls of light. This is also the room where we had the readings of an electro-magnetic field at the front door, but we were unable to locate a reason as to why we were getting those readings. There were no wires or power lines in the immediate vicinity, and the readings went away about a foot or so from the door.
I got some pictures in other areas of the house, but I did not pick up any feelings, and to my knowledge, no other readings were picked up, but I'm not sure about that. At the end of the investigation, I took some more pictures outside and got more results.
Overall, I would say that we had a very successful investigation. We had some anomalous readings and obtained multiple pictures with balls of light. Given the chance, I think the Betsy Ross House would be a good place to do a follow up investigation in a couple months, especially if we get some new and updated equipment.
Tom Hartman, Vice President, Pa. Ghost Hunters Society