was also found
in researching that back in 1763 there was a jail named Lancaster Jail which held 14 Conestoga Indians as inmates
in which the there was a mob known as the “Paxton Boys” who broke
into the jail and captured and killed the Indians. It was noted in the report that in 1881 a portion of
Fulton Hall was built where the Lancaster Jail was located. It is reported that if standing within the
section of the Opera House built atop where the Lancaster Jail was once located one may be able to still hear the screams
from the Indians.
The night began with the two psychic
children – 13 year olds Bryson and Colt – being led through the Opera house to get a feel of the place and determine
areas they felt had spiritual activity prior to meeting Mike, Tyler, and I.
We set up for the investigation
around 8pm and investigated until approx 1am. There was no wind or rain that evening. We set up our surveillance
system backstage and ran cameras throughout covering the stage, auditorium, projection room, down the basement stairs, and
a community room. Both the projection room as well as the basement stairs was areas Bryson and Colt felt
uncomfortable with. Mike also had a handheld video recorder which he brought with him during the investigation.
Other equipment used during the investigation was the KII meter as well as Digital voice recorders.
Mike and Tyler went with
Bryson and Colt to explain and assist in investigating throughout the Opera House while I remained backstage with Chris Fleming
at base monitoring the surveillance cameras. Mike reported that during the investigation of the attic area
above the projection room he had heard some footsteps which were not heard by the other investigators. There
was also a point in which both Bryson and Colt stated they heard someone say “no” after asking some questions
which were not heard on the voice recorders or heard by the other investigators. Mike and Tyler did get
some KII hits – some which were unexplainable whereas some were determined to be caused by the camera used by the cameraman.
On the surveillance system the stage lights dimmed then shut off on its own. Per the owner of the theater
he had never seen occur before and everyone present that night denied turning off the lights. Chris Fleming
investigated the stage following the lights turning off however nothing further was found or noted. When
Bryson was investigating on his own and asking questions up in the projection room it initially sounded as if we caught an
EVP of “no-no”. There was also a loud sound caught on the digital voice recorder not heard
by anyone present within the room which was unexplainable. There was a noted Orb anomaly appearing near
Colt where he was investigating on his own on the stairs leading to the basement level which. There
was also a noted play of shadows on the wall in the projection room which we initially could not re-create following the completion
of our investigation however upon further review of the footage it was noted to be only related to the shadowing of the cameraman
from the light held by the investigators. (This is one good point in the reasoning behind why performing
investigations in the dark help to eliminate the natural shadowing effects from lights).
While Mike, Tyler, Bryson,
and Colt were investigating both Chris Fleming and myself took a few minutes to utilize the ghost box in an attempt to contact
any entities within the Opera House. We did get a response of “four” when Chris asked how many
were in the room with us. Chris did ask this question a second time in which we received a second response
of “four”. With the ghost box being loud when utilized it was interfering with the investigation
being performed by the others and we were required to end the session.
At the very end of the
investigation Mike, Tyler, and I did some investigating alone with our equipment without cameramen in which we did not have
any interactions or findings on our equipment during that time. The Much Chunk Opera House was definitely
a place full of history and reports of paranormal activity however CPEAR had not collected enough evidence during the time
of our investigation to come to a clear conclusion of a definitive haunting. We hope that in the future we can return to further
investigate the Opera House and hopefully find some clues to who may continue to reside there and possibly why.
Educating others to the paranormal is equally important in this field
as it is to investigate and document it. After having seen an amazing first season of psychic kids, it
was truly an honor to be able to take part in an episode for the second season by assisting 2 teenage boys with psychic abilities
to overcome their fears and attempt to communicate with and explore what they are experiencing. It was
also great for our Jr. Investigator Tyler to be a role model for the two 13-yr old boys by demonstrating his ability to investigate
and interact with the paranormal without fearing it even though he himself was only 14 years old at the time of the investigation.
We would like to thank Picture Shack Entertainment for this opportunity and we would definitely be
of assistance to them whenever needed.
Written
by Carrie Kerns – Co-founder, Lead Investigator
*** Jim Thorpe, PA. is an area known
to be rich in history and said to have multiple places of reported paranormal activity. On a personal note,
while there we ate at one of the local restaurant which had reports of paranormal activity and while there I had such an overwhelming
sense of sadness and a feeling of being contained – as if a feeling of being stuck within an area and having a sense
of oppression around not only myself but the whole area. The feeling was unexplainable yet VERY strong
– to the point where I felt I needed to make note of it and discuss it with Mike and Tyler
- and there was no reason I had to have feelings like that. Paranormal? A definite
place I feel needs further investigation in the future. ***
