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Seekonk, Ma.
July 29, 2010
We were put in contact with the owners of this charming little establishment by a mutual friend who told us of the claims of paranormal activity there by the owners and their customers. Very much created in the same vein as another regular RISEUP "haunt" - Nature's in Portsmouth, R.I. - Twigs and Treasures offers a eclectic variety of floral arrangements, "primitive" gifts, country crafts and decor.
RISEUP Investigators Present: Ken DeCosta
David Grady
Tom Stewart
Julie DeMay
Marlaina Gaborieault
Geographical and Historical Data
The establishment was designed as a single-family home in 1940 and is located at a busy intersection of the notorious (and paranormally active) Route 44. The immediate area was home to a church (since moved) and the house once served as the residence of a local police chief.
Phenomena
The apparition of a woman has been seen repeatedly at the top of the stairs leading to the second floor.
An antique coal bucket has been discovered in a different location by the owners when they open up in the morning.
In a most bizarre recurring incident, an antique hand-carved wooden figurine of a snowman is constantly found in other areas of the upstairs room where it is located. Sometimes the figure is spotted more than 10 feet away from its normal location on a hutch in a corner.
There have been voices heard very clearly by both owners at various times of the day when there is no one else in the building with them.
A figure has been seen from the back yard in the "coal bucket" room standing and staring out a window.
A distinct voice has been heard inside the establishment's work shop located on the first floor.
There are numerous claims of children being present in the building based on vocal anomalies and the physical acts of pulling on sleeves and slacks as a child seeking attention would do.
Orientation
We arrived at "Twigs" around 5 pm and met with the owners, Karyn and Donna who are very engaging, friendly and quite open and honest about their experiences. They accept the entities that share the building with them as co-habitants and while the encounters can sometimes be rather startling, they maintain a very positive if somewhat bemused perspective on their unusual boarders. All in all they handle the situation with great humor and encourage anyone who wishes to come across any resident spirit to pay them a visit.
We were fortunate that an attached deck in the rear of the store provided us with a great place to run our base of operations as it is a relatively small building. Setting up outdoors on this warm and comfortable summer night would cut down on any extraneous noise that might hinder the actual investigation. Static cameras were placed at the foot of the stairs (below), inside the "coal bucket room" and another in the "snowman room".
The real challenge would be the location itself as Twigs is set on a busy intersection of Route 44. While this is a prime location for a business, the constant traffic flow at the 4-way set of lights would result in a steady stream of traffic noise we would have to be wary of with our audio recordings.
As a result, no more than four people would be in the dwelling at one time working both the first and second floors.
Investigation
With Dave on first shift at base, Ken and Tom ventured up to the second floor to evaluate the room which housed the coal bucket and the room parallel to it which holds the wooden figurine. The coal bucket weighs 3-4 pounds empty and is normally situated on top of a small floor chest. It was reportedly found at least three feet away from that sitting on the floor. This is also the room where a figure was seen standing at the south window.
It is hard to discern whether at some point anything was situated in front of that window that might create the illusion of a person, but the owners say they are certain that what was seen was clearly a human figure.
It was inside this room that we discovered a number of fairly remarkable EVP recordings were generated. Our focus was on the possible existence of a child spirit there based on the accounts of witnesses there who say they have heard child-like voices or felt a tug on their clothing resembling what a child would do get one's attention.
This first recording is one we were extremely intrigued by and comfortable enough with to submit. Ken asks if the child knows their alphabet and starts off reciting "A...B...C..." and asks what comes next. A faint, but intelligible response was recorded at 0:09.
In the same room, we were between questions after asking for some indication - be it audible or visual - that an entity might be present with us. As is sometimes the case, the best evidence comes when you least expect it. We feel this is a legitimate Class A electronic voice phenomena at 0:02 of a child leaving no doubt that indeed we are not alone.
This is a very bizarre audio clip in which Tom is seeking interaction with one of our KII meters and we record this melodic voice at 0:04.
One of the rare anomalous things that investigators sometimes encounter are what are called "mimics". In short, an entity who repeats what is being said, perhaps in a mocking manner or simply because they are amused by the attention. Naturally, no one can know exactly why this might occur, but Tom and Ken may have recorded just such a phenomenon upstairs in the "snowman room". Tom makes the statement "Yeah, that's really weird" and at 0:05 we believe - but are admittedly not one hundred percent certain - we may hear his exact words repeated back.
We ran a static and a hand held camera inside the room, both trained on the wooden figurine from two angles from beginning to end of the investigation, but no movement was recorded at all. Nor did we document nor have a personal experience of witnessing any shadows or or anything resembling an apparition of any kind. There were no audible sounds recorded that we could point to as even a possibility of residual energy here.
We noted that all floors are wooden which creates a distinct sound in the building and the presence of traffic can result in the low rumble of infrasound reverberating through the house. This can absolutely distort the sound of engines and tires running on pavement. We were constantly tagging audio to mark any sound coming from outside that could even remotely be misidentified as something it was not.
One final piece of audio was recorded by Tom in a session with Julie and Marlaina on the first floor later in the night and we find it interesting on a couple of different levels. While again attempting to coerce a spirit into interacting with our KII meter, we heard this child-like voice at extreme low frequency at 0:09. It may not be necessary to state that their were no children present at any point in time on this investigation, but it is worth bearing in mind nonetheless.
Three questions immediately come to mind: Is this indeed a child?; Is the voice describing the environment, and if so, whose?; Is this simply a residual voice not remotely aware of our presence?
Conclusion
When you receive an opportunity to investigate a location where reports of paranormal activity come from people who embrace it and are, if not totally comfortable, at least tolerant of it, it can be a very seductive situation and becomes very easy for an investigator to abandon a more skeptical approach. Walking in, you are inundated with stories and claims and learn that you are not the first paranormal group to venture inside. All of this can detract from one's objectivity which we quickly recognized and made certain we refocused and stayed on task. We were ultimately rewarded.
The quality and volume of the audio clips we came away with were not just a pleasant surprise but extremely compelling. Historical data is fairly scarce, but more is coming to light in great part to the owners who share our interest and are always searching as we are for more background. To that end, more official records have to be sought out.
In terms of the EVPs captured, they seem to indicate a female presence and at least that of a single child. That angle will have to be pursued further in future investigations which we are happy to say we are welcome to undertake by the good graces and support of Karyn and Nancy.
Interestingly, there also appears to be an ability and willingness to interact which indicates an awareness of our presence. This is rarer than many are led to believe.
The vary nature of the shop brings in the element of object attachment and it is also fair to assume that someone or something is devoted to some of the antique collectibles and artifacts sold there. They come from auctions and vendors who specialize in such things and often their individual history is lost to time and constant transport and ownership. In this type of scenario, the challenge is to determine if it is the building or the objects that have introduced any spiritual activity to the environment. Never an easy task.
Twigs and Treasures exceeded our expectations and has all but convinced us that something indeed roams the stairs, rooms and halls of this interesting and paranormally active building.