by Chad Alan

 

"Paranormal Politics"

 

Old State Capitol - Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Built in 1852, the capitol sits on a bluff and resembles a white London castle.  The building is in great physical shape and the inside just the same.  Marble floors run throughout the building and a smell of a few hundred years of history can almost be sensed through the television.  The basement was used as a prison by the Union army during the civil war and it's quite possible that some spirits may still linger.  The capitol is said to be mostly haunted by a congressman named Pierre Couvillion, who died at the age of 46 while on the floor during a state session, arguing his stance against gambling.  I already don't like this Couvillion guy.  The employees working in the building contacted TAPS because they continue to experience paranormal activity and may have hit their wits end.  Black shadow figures, loud footsteps coming from empty areas, and items being thrown across the room are all par for the course.  A man wearing a civil war era army uniform is seen wondering in the basement while others have seen ghostly apparitions of who they believe to be Pierre Couvillion.

 

The team split up into three separate groups, one on the second floor, one on the fourth floor, and one group in the basement, all areas where the paranormal activity have been the strongest. Amy Bruni, who is days away from delivering a baby girl, and Adam Berry set themselves up a card game with casino chips on the floor where Pierre Couvillion died just to try and get arise out of him.  It's possible that the technique worked as multiple noises got their attention, and the viewers, as their EMF detector started registering some activity.  When they headed down to the basement, Amy was convinced on two separate occasions that a shadow figure had crossed their path.  Dave Tango and Britt Griffith set up shop in the auditorium to investigate reports of black shadows while Jason Hawes and Steve Gonsalves spent a lot of time trying to figure out where all the loud footsteps they were hearing in the balcony area were coming from.  These footsteps were caught on their audio.  Dave and Britt were getting some activity on their detectors as they went through their EVP session calling out for Pierre Couvillion.  Dave and Steve Gonsalves tried their own hand at a game of cards, talking a lot of shit to Couvillion.  A door slammed shut in the hallway and Dave believed he saw somebody run away, but nobody else was around.

 

The team was able to catch of a lot of the noises they were hearing on their audio and did get some hits on their EMF equipment.  Was it Pierre Couvillion?  They really couldn't say.  The Old State Capitol probably has some paranormal activity, but TAPS wasn't about to call it haunted.

 

Magnolia Plantation- Charleston, South Carolina

 

Called "one of the most haunted locations in the country," the Magnolia plantation has been around, and in the same family, since 1680.  Thomas Drayton, the brother of the original owner, was accidentally shot during a hunting expedition and bleed to death on the front steps of the mansion.  The family believes his ghost now haunts the plantation.  People have seen faces in windows of the mansion when nobody was home.  Furniture moves by itself and a clock that hasn't worked for years will chime from time to time. Other reports of paranormal activities were told to the team but nothing specific enough to list.  

 

Steve and Jason started their investigation in the mansion and were immediately experiencing noises, including a cough followed by some type of growling voice that was caught on their audio recorder.  When they played back the recording it sounded more like a dying cow then anything.  No cows around though.  The sound of music coming from the upstairs was followed by footsteps in various rooms of the mansion.  As they walked up the stairs, the drapes dropped off the window as if somebody had tugged them down, falling on Steve.  Not long before this they caught an EVP of a woman's voice saying "What are you doing?"  Amy and Adam did a long EVP session in the dining room with all of their gadgets turned on.  They also heard some music followed by a young girl's voice.  They thought it might be a piano or an old record player, but neither of these items was in the mansion at the time.  The team wrapped up their investigation with many questions unanswered. 

 

TAPS agreed that there was plenty of paranormal activity at the Magnolia plantation but could not prove it was any particular ancestor, although it's hard to think that it isn't somebody from the family.  

 

Ghost Hunters airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy. 

 

Check out the archive of past show recaps here!

 

(Image courtesy of Syfy)

 

Contact Chad Alan at [email protected]