Al Rauberby Al Rauber
First published in August/September, 2008, Volume 5, Issue 3, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies.
When Producer Haewon Yom from KPI/Lightworks TV contacted my partner Garrett Husveth and me about filming a show on the paranormal for the History Channel series MonsterQuest, I knew I wanted to participate. MonsterQuest had become one of my favorite shows because I saw a parallel to a TV program that I was a huge part of in the 1990s called Sightings. The formats were quite similar and I loved the scientific approach that both shows took with the subject matter. As the head consultant on haunting cases for Sightings, I always insisted that all investigations be conducted scientifically—especially the ones that I agreed to film! Unfortunately, Garrett could not participate in this project due to other TV filming obligations, so the only remaining question was, “Where do we film?” What I have found in my experience in working with producers is that normally, when they approach you, they have no idea where they want to shoot. They just want to make a film.
My first thought was to set up the investigation in the Conference House on Staten Island, N.Y. However, I had already filmed a segment there for The History Channel’s series Haunted Cities in the mid-90s, so that location was scratched. Then I thought about a current investigation that I was doing in the Pittsburgh area at a place called Veronica’s Veil Auditorium. We had amassed an incredible amount of spirit voices on tape from that location, but I would have to get permission from the theatre board and that might take months—so scratch location #2.
Let’s see—what location is haunted and has an historical significance other than the White House or the over-investigated Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia? Then it came to me—I had filmed a segment from the Lizzie Borden House, 92 Second Street, in Fall River, Massachusetts three years ago for a short-lived TV series called Ghost Stories. During our weekend-long visit, not only did we come out with a vast quantity of taped voices, we also collected some very significant messages. I was sure we would be successful again if we filmed in Lizzie’s place. I had also become good friends with co-owner Lee-ann Wilber and would get periodic emails from her asking me when I was coming back to continue my work at this fascinating home.
Haewon loved the idea. She pitched it, and MonsterQuest jumped on it. The first round was complete. Now I had to decide whether I would do this alone or with another person. I suggested to the production company that we have a video expert on hand. When I was at the Borden home with Ghost Stories, we had captured physical phenomena on film. If we were lucky to do so again, I wanted someone there who could verify that the filming was clean and accurate. My good friend Dave Manganelli was the only choice. Dave has been in the film production business for half of his life. He is a fellow member of the elite Paranormal Research Organization, and is noted for his award winning Shadows of Moundsville documentary regarding the haunting at the Moundsville Penitentiary in West Virginia. Dave was cool with it and Haewon was set. Now all we needed was a date to do this. February 23, 2008, was agreed upon by all participants.
As I hinted at earlier, I have been using electronic voice phenomena for the past twenty years when working on haunting cases. Electronic Voice Phenomena is the collecting of voices on a blank recording tape or electronic media. These voices, which are not heard during the recording, are believed to be spiritual in nature. We consider these the voices of those who have left our earthly plane of existence.
Over the years, I have been very successful in capturing what I sincerely believe to be the actual haunting entities on tape. Since my time on location would be limited, I planned to do three to four separate recording sessions while in the house. The first would be during a walk-through of the house. When I do a walk-through, I normally measure electro-magnetic fields in the rooms while inviting any of our “unseen friends” to honor us with a message on the open tape recorder. Although not as controlled as a typical EVP session, I have found many times that entities love to jump on the tape at this point just to let us know they are there.
The second session would be from Lizzie’s bedroom with my friend and fellow American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena member Debbie Caruso on the phone. She would be recording from her home on Staten Island in an experiment to see if she could get any response at her end to questions being asked. I have never seen or heard of such an experiment being filmed, or even done, before. We would conduct the final session or two in whatever rooms Lee-ann reported were currently the most active. The one chosen turned out to be the third floor Chimney Room.
Although not brought out in the MonsterQuest show, each session was successful in capturing voices. During the walk-through, we captured two different voices in the basement of the house. Both came from the same recording segment. The first voice, which seems to be female, says, “I hid it,” and is followed three seconds later with another voice remarking, “They all see it.”
When I had been to the house three years ago, we had recorded a number of cryptic messages that seemed to be referring to some aspect of the infamous murder case—phrases like, “Church has ‘em,” when asking about information on Lizzie’s guilt, and “Planted by a jury,” obviously referring to the trial. When we left after that weekend, we had some answers, but more questions than we came in with! EVP has a way of doing that to you. What is paramount in a spirit’s mind may not mean anything to the investigator.
Three years ago, we also seemed to tie into communications between two or more unseen entities. When we directed questions to Andrew in the first floor sitting room where his body was found, another entity came on the tape imploring him, “Andrew, come through.”
What significance could “I hid it” and “They all see it” hold? Considering the voices were caught in the basement, could they be referring to the hatchet found in the box of ashes offered as evidence in the trial? Is the murderer still at the Borden House? Time seems irrelevant after death and a past event can be so paramount in the present state of a spirit that they keep reliving it or repeating it. Could these spirit statements be in reference to the hiding and finding of the broken-handled hatchet?
After over forty years of working in the field of Parapsychology, I know that although there may be different reasons why these entities are still around, the most important reason is that there is an emotional tie to this earthly plane of existence. What I have found is that guilt is one of the tightest bonds between the planes. Someone may have done something that they cannot justify in their mind, and they take that feeling to the grave. I have worked on many murder cases. In fact, when I lecture, I always tell my audiences that in these types of cases it is seldom, if ever, the victim who remains. The murderer is the one who is still there, unable to release the guilt of the horrendous act he has committed against his fellow man.
And another reference to hiding appeared a short time later in the upstairs Morse Room where the body of Lizzie’s stepmother Abby was found. This time, a women’s voice clearly says, “I’m hiding here.”
Continuing with the walk-through, the first of three voices was caught in the Chimney Room; named because the house’s chimney comes through the room. Once just attic storage space, for the past ten years the area has been a bedroom, at a time housing the caretaker named Michael, and later, was a room to rent to the public. Lee-ann told us that this was an active room and that physical phenomena were common. Apparently, Michael had passed away a couple of years earlier and he was suspected of haunting the room. The team then learned that Michael had a habit of smoking in bed when he lived and worked at the house. In addressing Michael, I asked if he would be kind enough to give some information about himself. A quick clear response of “sure” was found on listening to the recording. Although brief, the word was very clear. MonsterQuest thought this voice would be a good EVP to share, and used it on the show.
It was a short time later that the second recording session was attempted. This was an experimental session in which, for control purposes, everyone who was in the house at the time was gathered into Lizzie’s bedroom. Two video cameras were running, and my digital recorder, a Sony P520, was placed in the middle of the bed. A second Radio Shack analogue recorder was also used. I had recorded many voices on this device during my visit three years earlier. A phone call was placed to Debbie Caruso in Staten Island, and a dual recording session was attempted. Debbie would ask a question at her end and I would repeat the question while in the aforementioned bedroom. This room was the scene of physical phenomena during my last visit. At that time, during a recording session, the antique mirror that rests in a locked hutch in the corner of the room actually moved, seemingly of its own accord. We captured this on two video cameras, and try as they might, the film crew and the investigative team could not duplicate the phenomena.
When we listened to the playback of the digital recording just completed, we picked up at least four possibly paranormal voices. Nothing was found on the analogue recorder. This is not uncommon with EVP. Five recorders can be set up, yet only one may collect the voice.
Debbie also received some voices at her end, but these were never presented in the show. In response to the question from Debbie, “Lizzie, who made the mirror move?” I clearly got the response “Asa.” Then, at the end of the session, there were three very clear and distinct voices on the recorder. First, a male entity came on as I said goodbye to Debbie. The voice seems to be from a very polite gentleman saying, “Goodbye Sir.” Yes, the messages that we receive are not always earth-shattering, and sometimes are as mundane as this one. Of course, the voice is not the important thing here—the impressive thing is that this entity is saying the appropriate thing at the appropriate time.
It was at this point that a second male entity (or possibly the same one) who is very, very close to the recording device came through, saying and dragging out the word, “Sooooo.” This could be just a one-word statement or, again, as I found out during my last visit, it could be a mimic. Having just said to Debbie, “So go ahead and hang up and we will call you back,” the same word is used as an EVP. MonsterQuest loved this voice and used it as the second voice presented during the show. They even had a voice expert analyze the recording and confirmed that it was a definite voice. Of course, he could not commit that it was a “spirit” voice, but did agree that the source of the voice was right up against the microphone. A review of the videotapes shows no one within five feet of the microphone. Four seconds after “Sooooo,” a very clear female voice, in a loud whisper, shouts out “Are you mad!” To me, this was the significant voice from this session. Yet, for whatever reason, MonsterQuest did not present it.
A third EVP session was held in the Chimney Room—the room that is supposed to host a spiritual Michael. We had to find out why. I immediately asked the entity, “Michael, why are you still here?” Four seconds later, the deep, guttural response came through, “I’m burning.” Our next and immediate question was to Lizzie B&B homeowner Lee-ann Wilber. “Lee-ann, how did Michael die?” Lee-ann’s response sent chills through the film crew. “It’s my understanding that Michael was smoking in bed at his parent’s home and fell asleep. He burned to death in the fire.”
Wow! Talk about evidence coming from an investigation! Did we just speak with Michael? I knew that it did not get any better or any more evidential than this. Apparently, the MonsterQuest group thought otherwise, as they never presented or referred to the voice in the show.
Dedicated paranormal researchers are always searching for verification of information. Whether it comes through a psychic, medium, through EVP, or even a Ouija Board, the data is nothing without the backup research. Here we have a definite hit, as far as a confirmed EVP, that those outside of the investigation will never know about. And it got better. Shortly after this voice, another entity is on the recording. This particular entity says, “I am him . . . I am Asa.”
There was that name “Asa” again. Certainly not common today, but during the 1700s and 1800s, a good strong American male name. But who was this “Asa” and how is he associated with the Borden House? To find out, I contacted Stefani Koorey, one of the country’s leading experts on Lizzie-Lore. Her website: Lizzieandrewborden.com is the most influential site on the Internet dealing with Lizzie Borden. My obvious question to Stefani was, “Stef, can you give me a listing of the inhabitants of 92 Second Street, Fall River, Massachusetts?” Stefani came back within five minutes with her response:
Dear Al,
Yes, that info is in Leonard Rebello’s Lizzie Borden Past and Present on pages 34 and 35. I include it here below in answer to your question.
Cheers,
Stefani Koorey
Residents of 92 Second Street
1845 to 1849 House built for Charles Trafton by Southard H. Miller
1850 to 1871 Charles Trafton, overseer of carding
1872 to 1894 Andrew J. Borden, businessman, Emma and Lizzie
1895 to 1897 Asa Gifford, janitor, Music Hall
1899 to 1920 Marcus A. Townsend, carpenter
1921 to 1948 Mendel Mark, manufacturing / stationary
1948 to 1995 John R. and Josephine McGinn
1996 — Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast / Museum
1998 — William Pavao, Jr., Archivist
So here it was in black and white, and confirmed by arguably one of the leading Lizzie Borden authorities in the country. The fourth name on the list—Asa Gifford. Further investigation found that Asa had rented the house from Lizzie and her sister Emma for a period of two years. Asa Gifford was also found in various censuses of Fall River. He was married to Susan A. Gifford and had three children: Clarence, the oldest; William, the middle child; and Elenor, the baby of the family.
As I mentioned earlier, one voice was of particular interest to me—the woman’s voice caught during the joint taping session in Lizzie’s bedroom shouting “Are you mad!” Many of today’s EVP researchers believe that some of the messages that they record are not coming from the spiritual realm. Instead, they think that they are coming through as a residual effect. An emotionally charged statement said in the past is imprinted into the atmosphere and replays itself. The tape recorder is sensitive enough to pick up this replay. This is much like a residual haunting, where an action is imprinted into the atmosphere and plays back from time to time. In this case, a number of Lizzie Borden case experts believe that Lizzie had an accomplice in the plan to murder her parents. Some say it was Bridget Sullivan, the maid, and others say it was Lizzie’s older sister, Emma, or her uncle, John Morse. Many even think that Emma was either the murderer or the mastermind behind the murder, as she was conveniently away visiting friends when the murders occurred. Could this question “Are you mad!” be an emotional response by either Lizzie or Bridget to the explanation of the plan to murder? Could the voice be Emma’s if the plan was Lizzie’s? So many questions remain unanswered in this famous case of murder.
Dave Manganelli was in charge of collecting, or trying to collect, video evidence of the haunting. He pretty much drew a blank. Using the most expensive state-of-the-art video equipment (no, we don’t own this stuff, kids), Dave had set out to see what he could come up with. Except for some insulation voids in the rooms, and some cool pictures of the cat with the infrared camera, nothing of value was achieved. What MonsterQuest hinted at being evidential, when they showed the chest in the Chimney Room glowing at the bottom, made no sense at all. First off, I had some very sophisticated temperature measuring equipment with me. Why didn’t they inform me of what they were seeing so I could measure the temperatures accurately? Secondly, ghosts and hauntings have always been associated with a loss or decrease of temperature. The camera was picking up a significant increase in temperature. Do you think the metal strip on the bottom of the chest could have had anything to do with it?
Many people question the value of EVP in haunting investigations. For me, there is no substitute. In fact, it seems ridiculous to use a psychic or medium in haunting cases when investigators can get the quality of evidence as we got for the History Channel during this investigation using EVP.
When we left the house, there again seemed to be just as many unanswered questions as there were going into the case. This is only normal. The more info you come out with, the more questions arise from the data. Why were there all those references to hiding and searching? What about poor Michael in the Chimney Room? Why is Asa Gifford still there? Did he have any other association with the house, or maybe even with this infamous case of a brutal double homicide that occurred on that warm morning in August of 1892? If anything, this is certainly grounds for a third visit to 92 Second Street. Perhaps, through the use of EVP, more of the secrets so long protected by this beautiful home will be unraveled.
[The above-mentioned show was first aired on June 11, 2008, at 9:00 PM as part of the History Channel’s MonsterQuest Series]
Michael Brimbau
Shelley Dziedzic
Mary Elizabeth Naugle