Altiser Rental Property

On 6 August 2005 five members of Show Me Paranormal Investigations worked a rental house in downtown Hannibal, Missouri. The report calls it the Altiser rental. It was built in 1901, had been a family house, and for about ten years had been apartments. It was empty and being remodeled. We arrived at 6:00 pm and started the watch at 6:15. Present: William Houser (investigation coordinator), Kim Lovelace (case manager), Tabitha Houser, Jim Knutelski, and Chris Murphy. The report was dated 4 October 2005 and signed by William Houser. Kim Lovelace reviewed it.

This is a private rental. The street address is not on this page. The public pin is the city, not the door.

Little was known about the house before the current owner. He reported no specific experience, only that he sometimes felt uneasy in it. A worker who had spent several hours alone doing repairs said she repeatedly heard unexplained noises, including footsteps on the second floor while she was the only person in the house.

Permission was on file before the watch. We mapped the house, took baseline EMF and infrared readings, ran an active sweep, left recorders for a dormant hour with the team out, then made a final sweep. The sky was clear and it did not rain. The report leaves the outside temperature blank.

Baseline temperatures inside ran from about 68°F in the lowest rooms to the low 90s in the hottest upstairs rooms.

During the watch we followed a series of EMF spikes that we could not match to any known field in the house. That happened several times in the basement, and once on the second floor in room C1. In C1 the spikes included one of 15 milligauss at the same time as a 6-degree temperature drop. Other rooms, including A2 and A3, showed temperature dips and spikes we did not tie to the equipment.

About eight hours of digital audio came off the sweeps and the dormant hour. From that we kept four voices we could plainly understand, of people who were not in the house. The room C1 line and the "Don't rest" voice are attached on this case. "Get out" and "Yes" were on the CD and are not on the case yet.

In room A3, during the first active sweep, while we were asking open questions, a man's voice: "Get out." It does not seem to answer a question we had just asked.

In room C1, within a few moments of the EMF spikes and the temperature drop, a man's voice: "The bitches are hot in California…Jez." The line seems random. It does not seem to answer us. The EMF and the temperature drop sit next to it, but the house is in a busy part of town and the sentence is odd enough that cross-modulation, a signal from somewhere else, has to be considered.

Again in A3, a man's voice: "Don't rest." Not a direct answer.

In room A1, while we were asking if any children were present, about ten seconds later a woman's voice: "Yes." If that is an answer to the question, it is the sort of reply we treat as possible evidence of an intelligent haunting. That is our opinion.

Low-light video ran in rooms A1, A3, and C1. About four hours. Nothing of note.

One hundred thirty-six stills, film and a digital camera of 4 megapixels or better, flash on most of them. Many frames had orbs. We set aside the ones that were dust or flash. One frame we kept: a large orb next to an investigator, at the moment she reported a sudden chill, during the same stretch as the EMF spikes, the temperature drop, and an EVP. We believe the frame is dust. We also note that dust can gather where static is present. As a rule we do not accept an orb as proof. With the other readings, we kept the frame as support only. The small copy of that frame from the report is not the photo on this page. The photo on this case is the stair, taken at 7:23 pm on the night of the watch.

Several of us felt cold spots or unexplained chills, and heard footsteps on the second floor while nobody was upstairs. One investigator reported the impression of one older man and one older woman in the house. Her impressions have matched a record before. Nothing from that night could be checked against a document. We do not use impression as primary evidence.

Conclusions. Considering the impressions of the investigators while on site, and the significant level of the audio captured, it is our impression that it is reasonable to believe paranormal activity may be occurring here. The lack of history for this site, and its place in a heavily trafficked area with a high level of background noise, make this conclusion less solid. A great deal of speculation remains regarding the nature of the activity. The case stays open. Immediate attempts were to be made to return. No follow-up is filed here.

This page is that report, shortened onto the sheet. The opinions in it are Show Me Paranormal Investigations' opinions.