Union City Courthouse – Elizabeth, New Jersey

Parts of the courthouse date back to Revolutionary times and many of the people buried outside the structure are soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary war.  Hanna Caldwell, called the first woman to die in the Revolution, is buried out in the courtyard and is said to be seen many times roaming the grounds.  Those working in the courthouse report seeing apparitions, besides Hanna, and experience doors opening and closing by themselves. 

 

Steve Gonsalves, Dave Tango, and Bruce Tango...yes the ghost hunting father of Dave, started their investigation in the rotunda of the building constantly calling for Hanna Caldwell to show herself.   At one point Bruce heard something like footsteps and at first he

thought it might have been one of the other team members until he heard it again followed by some high EMF readings showing the energy of something may have been close by the team.  Co-Founders of TAPS Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson tried to debunk the modern doors opening and closing themselves by the court house’s record room.  They believed there was a chance that the doors were lose enough that strong winds coming through the open windows could make them move.  The dynamic gal duo of Kris Williams and Amy Bruni tried their best to contact Hanna Caldwell in the court room, a place where Hanna is said to appear and walk up to a picture of her husband James, who led the local militia in the Revolutionary war.  At one point they caught a glimpse of something, a shadow like figure followed by a ruffling noise….maybe that of a dress brushing up against the wooden surroundings of the court room.  Bruce and Dave drew the short straws and had to investigate the graveyard.   Nothing obvious occurred so the team would have to hope they got something on their voice recorder or digital cameras.

 

One of the more interesting pieces of evidence was an item that was caught on the video recorder.  A human-like shadow figure is seen walking into the picture and then suddenly turning away as if it realized it had been caught.  The team thought it may have had the resemblance of a woman. One of the better possible apparitions the ghost hunters have caught to date.  Certainly worth a trip to their website to see it again.  Some of the other pieces of evidence used in their talk with the client revolved around some of the team’s personal experiences mentioned earlier.  The team didn’t blatantly call the courthouse haunted but did say they planned a return trip to further investigate, which means they do feel something.

 

McNeil House - Hopkinton, New Hampshire

TAPS take another trip back to their ghost hunting roots by investigating a house under attack by some playful ghosts  The current

residents have experienced a couch being moved, a stereo turning on by itself and going to full volume, doors opening, lights turning on, beds shaking (insert sexual joke) and even a simple rug making it’s way across a carpeted floor.  The only thing that may be causing such a ghostly stir is that there is a claim that 7 children from a previous family died because of a Tuberculosis outbreak in the house.  Could the ghostly kids being playing pranks?

 

Grant and Jason began investigating in the guest room where the bed has been reported to shake.  The bed seemed pretty sturdy and they could not debunk the report.  Steve and Dave tried to debunk a rug in the nursery which is said to move across the floor over time.  They may have come up with a solution but hoped just maybe they could get something on video during the night.  Kris and Amy found that in one of the rooms where objects are said to move around, the floors are very uneven and things could move just because of that.  As they were about to finish up their investigation, they heard the radio pop on, the same radio that has been reported to turn itself on more than a few times in the past.  They believed the radio may have been set to go off at 2 am, the time it was when they heard it go off,  but wouldn’t it go off every night and not just randomly like the residents claim?

 

The team felt that they were able to debunk many of the families claims, but one can never be sure.  One interesting item the team found was that there are some small earthquakes and being the fact that the house leans inward it’s possible some of these moving items could have been from these earthquakes.  The team really didn’t have any actual evidence to show the client so they were not going to call the place haunted.  They instructed the family to take note of when things happen and maybe see if they correlate with any natural occurring events.

 

Story by: Chad Alan

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(Photo courtesy of SyFy)