by Chad Alan

 

"Fear Factory"

 

Topstone Mill - Claremont, NH

 

The Topstone Mill was built in 1908 and served as a shoe and furniture factory before being vacated for decades when Nike sent the jobs to overseas child labored sweatshops.  I just made that up.  Nike wasn't around yet.  The point is that accidents were common in factories back in the day when few protections were given to the workers.  Usually these accidents ended in death and so factories do seem to have a good amount of paranormal activity attached to them.  The bottom floor of the building was opened as a bar and restaurant but its former residents still seem to be lingering around.  The owner claimed he was bitten and scratched by some type of entity and a ladder he uses tends to shake for no reason when he is on it.  Employees have reported items being thrown to the ground, seeing shadow figures, hearing whispers in empty rooms, and hearing footsteps coming from the empty floors above.  Who can blame them when they say they often travel in two's when going to some places of the building.  Finally, visitors have reported seeing "people" standing in the windows of the upper floors of the factory....floors where nobody was supposed to be.

 

While Steve Gonsalves and Jason Hawes were investigating one of the vacant floors of the factory, they heard the whispers of a conversation followed by a male voice that was audible to the home audience.  When they played back their audio, the voice was caught but it was too hard to understand what was being said. When played back to the client, they did say that it was exactly the voice they had been hearing.   Prego Amy Bruni joined Jason in the bar area where, what sounded like, a male voice responding to her questions during their EVP session.  They would later spot a shadow figure that appeared to be peeking out of one of the side room doors.  Nobody else was with them in this area.  Newbie Ashley Troub and Adam Berry heard some footsteps on the 4th floor of the building and this was followed by a growl.  The sound of an item being dragged on the floor could have come from some wooden pallets down the way from them, but who was moving them?  The team all had personal experiences while investigating but couldn't give the client a good idea of who might be interacting with the employees and guests.  Time to bring in a Medium.

 

Tinker Cottage - Rockford, Illinois

 

Built in 1865 by Robert Tinker, 3 generations of Tinkers lived and died in the house until 1943.  The very funky cottage now serves as a museum.  Why a museum, I'm not really sure but let's not let that get in the way of a good story.   8 funerals were conducted in the house and all the items that remain were owned by the family and could very well be playing a part in trapping their restless souls.  The caretakers and visitors are constantly reporting seeing ghostly human figures, shadow figures, and hearing footsteps and laughter coming from empty rooms.  A rocking chair rocks by itself and the security alarm tends to go off for no reason.  The house was built on a limestone bluff and has a river running right by it.  Limestone tends to be a great conductor of paranormal activity and running water can produce energy for spirits to utilize.

 

Steve and Jason were the first to investigate the house, and while on the main floor, a closet door opened right in front of them.  They could not debunk the experience.  They headed upstairs and heard the sound of people talking.  Jason believed he heard a woman's voice.  At one point Steve thought sometone spit on the back of his calf...did he possibly get slimmed?  The rest of the team spread out through the house and started a massive EVP session by calling out each of the former members of the family that died in the house.  Knocking kept coming from an upstairs bedroom they call the "red room."  As the team called the name "Jessie Door," the second wife of Mr. Tinker, their equipment started to register activity.  K.J. McCormick believed someone whispered in his ear.  A woman's voice was picked up on their audio recorder but it was not clear enough to make out what was being said.  All this activity was followed by the team noticing the rocking chair starting to move.  They were able to catch this on their video camera.  The activity died down, pun intended.  TAPS felt there was paranormal activity occurring at the cottage

 

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

 

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(Image courtesy of Syfy)

 

Contact Chad Alan at [email protected]