Springfield Ghost Society

8:30p.m. - We met with homeowners, Cathy and Mike Nickel. At the home with them was their 5-year-old son, Jake. After a brief update from the Nickel's on the types of things they have experienced, Mike Nickel took us to view pictures on their computer that he has taken at various sites. Jenny and Kenny went to the upstairs of the house to do an initial walk-through at this time. When they came back down, Jenny asked whether the Nickel's knew anyone named George. As it would turn out later in the evening, copies of papers would show "George" as a previous owner of the home.

9:00p.m. - Debbie and I went back upstairs with Jenny. I turned on and left my Automated Voice Recorder (with the micro-cassette and external mike) on a metal folding chair in the far room upstairs. I then turned on and carried my regular sized cassette recorder with me for the remainder of the evening.

While up here, Jenny saw a figure of a "little" man in the corner of the room near a chest of toys. While focusing to take a picture, I could see an orb zipping around very quickly. As I took the picture, it disappeared. At about that same time, Jenny was amazed at the shape that it took and commented as it "zipped" out of the room. At the same time, I felt it go right across the back of my shoulders. It felt icy cold for an instant and then was gone. Jenny asked if I was okay, because she realized that I had felt it at the same time she saw it going over my shoulders.

While Debbie was attempting to set up her camcorder, Jenny commented that the recorder light had gone out which indicates that it is recording. Debbie told her that it was still on. (When playing back my tape a couple of days later, I picked up what sounds like a child's voice.) Once Debbie had her camcorder positioned and running, we went back downstairs. While we were walking back down the steps, I didn't feel or notice anything unusual. However, days later, when I played my tape back, I picked up a whisper that said "Bye Bitch" as we were walking down the steps.

We remained downstairs for awhile taking a few pictures and talking with the Nickel's. Kenny and Jenny looked over some of the abstracts for the property. I did not get any unusual feelings down here. I did not experience any cold chills nor have the feeling of being watched.

Around 10:00p.m.Debbie, Jenny, Kenny, Mike Nickel and I all went back upstairs. At this time, Jenny began talking to one of the spirits in the house. One of the names the spirit kept giving her was "Petey".

Debbie suddenly realized that "Petey" was one of Kenny's childhood nicknames. The spirit confirmed this with Jenny that Kenny was Petey. Another name that kept coming up was that of "Albert". Kenny asked if he knew Albert, and the spirit (through Jenny) said "Yes". Kenny asked where he knew Albert from and while we didn't get an answer out loud, I did hear a whisper of "right here" on my tape as I played it back.

As we began to head back downstairs, Jenny stopped at one point on feeling something unusual and asked Mike Nickel what was behind the wall where she was. She was drawn to that particular point. He indicated to her that she was standing on the very step where a man was found some years earlier who had hung himself from the balcony. Jenny again began communicating with the spirit. During that process, I noticed that while I had the voice activation turned on my recorder, it would appear to stop recording when any of us were talking, but the tape began recording when none of us were talking. Yet when I played it back later, everything seemed to have recorded just fine. We proceeded on down the stairs where we stayed until friends of the Nickel's stopped by.

11:00p.m. Debbie, Kenny, the couple visiting the Nickel's and I all went back upstairs. Debbie and I took out the dowsing rods. Using only one rod, we asked the spirit for a "Yes" sign. The rod moved back and forth. We asked it to show us a "No" sign and there was no movement. We then proceeded to ask questions requiring a Yes or No answer. We did get some activity with those questions.

11:50p.m. We began gathering our equipment and regrouped downstairs as the investigation ended. We chatted for a bit with the Nickel's and left the home at around 12:10p.m.

Sheri Sheppard
SGS Charter Member