Ghost Adventures had plenty to work with when they investigated Prospect Place Mansion in Trinway, Ohio. The family home of George W. Adams was specifically designed to be a station house for the Underground Railroad that smuggled runaway slaves to freedom in the 1850's and 1860's.
Adams was a successful Ohio Assemblyman, owned flower mills, a railroad and privately bankrolled a suspension bridge. His wealth and status provided extraordinary protection for himself and his family in their abolitionist efforts. The house currently hosts the G.W. Adams Educational Center run by George W. Adams great, great grandson George J. Adams. George J. owns the home today.
Zak had a great interview with George J. Adams and the
Ghost Adventures team was walked through the property by two tour guides, Tamara Hedde and Randy Mulinnex. Tamara showed the crew the watchtower which commanded a 360 degree view of the mansion property. During it's abolitionist years a lantern would be hung in the watchtower as a signal for slaves to run from nearby woods into the basement of the home where they were provisioned for the next leg of their journey.
I think some of the slaves arrived in poor shape. I saw young black man in his prime bleed to death from a gunshot wound sustained before he reached Prospect Place. The rags used to try and stop the bleeding were bright red, so the wound never had time to clot. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been shot in the woods around the mansion before the all clear signal alllowed his group to run for temporary safety. Other fugitives were sick by the time they arrived. I heard a lot of ghosts coughing in the basement rooms.
Board of Trustee's member Aaron Chandler related several personal experiences inside Prospect Place. Aaron told of one night when he saw a light dart out behind a tree stump in the yard. He showed Zak a sketch of what he saw. It appeared to be a lantern moving without the benefit of someone holding it up. Another time, Aaron and his wife were sitting on the basement steps one night when a misty figure formed in front of Aaron. It was about the size and shape of a little girl.
The Adams family had lost a little girl to a fatal fall from a balcony one winter. She died on impact. Since the ground was frozen a proper burial had to wait until spring. The girl's body was put into a brick well in the basement and surrounded by ice to preserve it. The poor mother of this child allegedly visited the corpse daily. While this story was being told the ghost of the girl who fell indignantly insisted her mother missed some days. The show didn't mention which generation the girl belonged to, but I think it was a granddaughter of George W. Adams.
George J. Adams told of a bounty hunter who pushed his great, great grandfather too far. The historic record confirms that a bounty hunter approached Prospect Place and demanded original owner George W. Adams release any slaves he had on the property. George had no intention of cooperating and pulled a gun on the bounty hunter. The estate ranch hands noticed the confrontation and came out to suppport their boss. The bounty hunter decided to leave the premises.
Adams family lore supplies the rest of the story. After the bounty hunter left, the ranch hands allegedly followed him to his evening camp. They grabbed him, took him back to the barn, held a mock trial and proceeded to hang him from the tallest beam in the barn. There is no doubt someone was hung because a picture was taken to mark the occasion. I believe the family lore because that wretched bounty hunter showed up repeatedly throughout this
Ghost Adventures episode. The ghost of the bounty hunter had been experienced by a number of modern day investigators and had acquired the reputation of being aggressive. He also liked to mess with investigators minds.
Tour guide Randy told Zak about a demonologist who had been badly rattled on the second floor of the barn. The unidentified demonologist heard a terrifying voice "straight out of the Exorcist movie" according to Randy. When the man tried to move something dark held him in place. I asked my guides and for once this really was a ghost trying to impersonate a demon. Because the man who had the frightening experience was a demonologist the bounty hunter decided to impersonate one, play on the poor man's expectations. I will grant that there may not be a lot of difference between a minor demon and the ghost of the bounty hunter. Rarely have I met a human ghost with such sheer malice.
A videotape captured by a past investigation on Nov. 12, 2004 shows a dark figure passing in front of a flashlight on the floor of the barn. According to owner George J. Adams the floor was in disrepair at the time and nobody could have walked over the areas the shadow figure covered. The figure looked like a man to me and I believe it was the ghost of the bounty hunter.
A 1912 steam train accident occurred approximately four miles south of Prospect Place. One train had stopped on the tracks when a second train, this one carrying passengers, slammed into the back of it. The impact was made worse for the passengers, many of whom were badly scalded by steam. Since George W. Adams owned the railroad involved the victims of the accident were taken into his basement rooms. My guides told me five men died of their injuries at Prospect Place.
One of these men was apparently Charles, a ghost who had communicated with investigator Kim Giesey of TeamSpectre via copper dowsing rods. Kim told Zak she had established communication with Charles who felt so comfortable chatting with her that Kim felt his ghostly hands cover hers and then pull on the ends of the rods. Kim gave Zak a demonstration in the basement, establishing that back and forth movements would signify yes in answer to yes/no questions. Zak gave it a shot and asked if there were any ghosts of former slaves in his vicinity. I got a no but the rods didn't do much. Zak's next question was, "Do you want us to leave?" The response was immediate. Zak felt cold and sluggish to the point he couldn't think of any additional questions to ask. At this moment the rod held in his right hand started to move back and forth by itself. Yes, something wanted them to leave.
George W. Adams died at Prospect Place of meningitis. He left the home to the eldest of his two daughters, but it didn't seem to give her much comfort. As soon as Adams eldest daughter inherited the home her husband disappeared for good. A connection was not made by great, great grandson George J. Adams, but I think the missing husband took off with a major amount of assets. All that George J. said is that shortly thereafter, the family hit major financial troubles from which they never recovered. The unfortunate heiress eventually broke her hip at home and died two weeks later of pneumonia. I think she was an elderly lady at the time of her death. Her daughter also died in the home. This family simply had bad luck despite the good work they did with the Underground Railroad. So much for life being merit based.
Tour guide Tamara showed Zak a bedroom commonly referred to as "The Bad Room". A past male investigator had slept in the former bedroom, only to be woken by the figure of a little girl sitting on the edge of the bed he was in. I think the bad vibes probably have more to do with what happened in the adjoining off limits servants kitchen than the bedroom.
Investigator's George and Carla Toptsicks had a similar experience in the bad room. They were sleeping in the bedroom during an investigation when a child shaped shadow figure formed in front of George. He turned to ask his wife, "What is that?" when the ghost whispered in his ear.
Carla had her own experience of waking up to a black figure standing in front of her bed, pointing at her. Carla strongly felt this was a warning of some kind. Carla showed Zak a formal portrait of Anna Adams, the wife of builder George W. Adams. The portrait had not been in place at the time of Carla's experience, yet Carla identified the figure she saw as Anna Adams. Mrs. Adams ghost was definitely around so I asked her what was she warning Carla about? Mrs. Adams told me, "The hooligans are coming." I think she was referring to the idiot teens who took up Satanism in the house in the 30 odd years the place was abandoned between 1969 and the late 1980's. I got the impression of some sort of imprint haunting. The teens would run rampant through the hallways of the home, hooting and hollering. Mrs. Adams strongly disapproved of such activities in her home, decrepit or not.
A past female investigator had a terribly frightening experience sitting against the wall to the servant's kitchen. Some dark force picked her up by the scruff of her neck and kept her from moving. A guy who was part of the investigation tried to help her but was pushed by the same dark force. They said their closing prayers and left refusing to return. Unfortunately I do think it was a demon. It was part of the mess the teens had caused with their Satanist garbage. It was cleared out with the rest of the energetic crud. I think it fed off a tragedy that befell a servant burned to death in the kitchen on the other side of the wall. The burning felt intentional. Something was terribly wrong among the Adams family servants. They seemed to have a major grudge against the man who died. It may have been similar to the bounty hunter incident in the sense that it felt like local justice, something handled among themselves without bothering the family or the law about it.
As soon as
Ghost Adventures entered lockdown via the front door of Prospect Place they had company. Mrs. Adams and her two young daughters came down the stairs to watch them. I didn't sense any hostility, just curiosity.
Zak decided to start on the second floor in the "bad room" that he further identified as having been the Adams daughters bedroom. This is the location where the ghost of the little girl who died in the fall off the balcony has often been reported. Zak warmed up by asking this girl, "Did you used to live here?" I heard her respond "Yes." Zak was frustrated because the team's equipment wasn't picking anything up. I think at first that might be because the ghost girl was peeking around the door to the room, being a touch shy. Zak kept at it, asking the ghost girl to talk to the
Ghost Adventures crew. He asked her to play a game with them, make a noise or even move the bedroom door. Nick's camera caught a garbled EVP of a little girls voice. Nick's camera also picked up a light anomaly that moved from about the middle of the bedroom in the direction of the door at the time Zak asked the ghost girl to move the door.
Next up was the servant's kitchen, or at least the accessible wall. None of the equipment picked anything up but the demon who harassed the woman investigator did respond. Zak asked if there was any sort of dark entity present. I heard back, "yes". Zak had more courage than I would when both he and Aaron invited whatever was there to touch them or step up. Arron actually invited it to pass through his body. When asked why it had attacked the woman it responded, "For fun." It makes me angry how smug these punk dark entities are. Nevermind it doesn't exist any more, Archangel Michael made sure of that.
From one hot spot to another Zak took the crew to the ballroom where the Satanist teens had set up shop in the years the house was abandoned. The teens definitely created a mess. Zak was right, a vortex or portal to a dark place was opened by the ignorant crap these kids were playing with. They had no idea what they were doing. What they did have was a somewhat older male leader. I would say the kids were in their teens, so likely high school while the leader was 20-something. They pretty much did what he said. It was a heck of a mess for assorted archangels and other members of the heavenly host to clean up before I could finish watching the episode. Things got messy because one of the girls involved went from being a group member to group victim. She survived the experience but was badly traumatized by it. I think this woman is alive today but had been badly damaged emotionally by what was done to her. I asked for her to be released from the energy the room held trapped. The dark things were disposed of in the presence of God. The idiot teens were released and all but the leader chose God. The leader was dissolved on a soul level. I hope this woman now finds safety and peace in her life. Archangel Michael blasted the room with intense divine cleansing light and sealed the vortex/portal. The Prospect Place staffer who had painted a cross over the Satanist signs had nailed the location of the vortex.
Zak, Nick and Aaron felt the vortex as an intensely cold spot. Zak started provoking, demanding whatever was there show itself. An orb was caught on camera shooting out of Nick's back while an EVP was caught that said, "come here... some more." What I got off that EVP were a couple young adults using the house to get high on coke and have sex there. This happens in many abandoned properties. I think the EVP caught the girl asking the guy to return to the fun and games.
In the ballroom Zak continued to provoke asking if it was a doorway from a dark world. The cold spot hit hard and I heard back, "Of course." Zak asked, "Is this a bad place for us to be standing?"
Ghost Adventures picked up an EVP saying, "Get out". Good advice from a dubious source.
At this point Aaron felt something had come up to stand behind him. The cameras had picked up a glowing orb leaving Nick's back. Zak demanded whatever it was to "Show yourself!" Right then Aaron told Nick he was surrounded by pulsing orbs. The cameras picked up an orb that approached Nick and seemed vanish into his right hand. When the orb activity kicked in Zak's voice over noted that Nick had felt drained of energy and became confused. Zak mentioned that the last time something like this happened to Nick they were at the Moon River Brewery in Georgia. That was an uncomfortable moment as something other than Nick was looking out of his eyes. Whatever was present it didn't confine itself to Nick or orbs. Zak somehow managed to trip over a low wooden stool in the middle of the room. Of course the team was in pitch blackness, running infrared cameras. The creepy part was when Zak was on the floor in pain and the crew picked up an EVP of disembodied laughter. I think it was the 20-something leader of the Satanist teens.
Ghost Adventures set up a static camera and left the area.
The team split up. Zak spent an hour alone in the barn. Aaron was in the basement and Nick headed back to the ballroom. Zak was the only one to have much going on. The bounty hunter's ghost was definitely in the barn and ready to play. Zak started taunting by challenging the bounty hunters profession, saying that slavery was wrong. Zak asked whatever he was dealing with to knock over a plastic chair on the second floor of the barn. The chair didn't move but Zak got an EVP that recorded loud pounding noises. As Zak put a DVR on the chair he felt something lay a hand on him from behind and recorded a disembodied hissing noise directed into his ear. The sound of something being thrown was also captured. Zak thought it was a small stone which hit his leg. Down on the barn floor a static camera caught the sound of disembodied footsteps and something made enough of a vibration to shake the camera as if someone was walking past it. I am confident the bounty hunter was behind all of it.
The episode wrapped up with Zak giving a bit of a teaser for the upcoming 90 min. show about
Ghost Adventures investigation in Poveglia, Italy. Zak said he had finally been able to measure the EMF force of an orb that chose to hover right over his meter. He stated this proved a connection between orbs and paranormal activity as the reading managed to short circit his EMF meter.
I was a bit tired of all the Satanist teen induced garbage at Prospect Place so I asked to be shown a time when the ballroom had been a location of something good happening. I was given a lovely glimpse of the wedding reception of George W. Adams eldest daughter as she danced with her new husband. Ok, he turned out to be a creep but at the time the future looked bright. I was happy to be left with a positive image of the ballroom.
Blessings,
Lynne
Lynne Olson can be contacted for private readings via email at:
www.angelzhands@yahoo.com
