All Quiet in Keowee,  Seneca, SC

  4/30/2010

The sweet scent of sage curled toward the high ceiling in smoky wisps as the members of the Ghost PRO team spoke the final syllables of a simple prayer that had already been invoked in every other room of the house. The cleansing and protective smudging ceremony had begun downstairs and ended upstairs in the spacious glass-walled living room. As Mariel gently tamped out the glowing embers of the sage bundle, our client and the team breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The night's work was complete.

Why was Ghost PRO investigating an elegant foothills hide-away near scenic Lake Keowee rather than some creaky ancient building more ideally suited for those things that go bump in the night? The answer is because creepy old buildings are not the only places where bumps, thuds, and other things are heard. Our team had been invited to check into a report of unseen footsteps that were disrupting a client's evening rest. The phenomena was isolated to the upstairs living room between a doorway and the top of the stairs, a distance of eight feet. Never more than four or five treads were heard, but the sounds had occurred several times since moving in less than six months ago. Particular attention was given to the description of how on one occasion the footsteps were perceived as both faster and heavier just moments before a coffee mug sitting on the lower stairs flew across a short hallway to strike a door before landing spinning on its side. A thorough search for intruders at these times proved no other presences to account for the disturbances.

By asking questions and doing some research the client had already taken a pro-active approach before opting to call Ghost PRO, where our team's experience and thorough investigative methods could be of further aid in helping get to the bottom of the matter. During our time at the site we recorded data using EMF meters, voice recorders, analytical EVP software, and temperature gauges as well as an array of other research devices. Some readings on our low-tech compasses gave us pause for thought, but that information, along with more than 200 digital photographs, over three hours of camera recordings and the impressions of our members, aided the team in providing possible event causes.

The footsteps were not heard while the team was recording, but each anomalous noise we did analyze could be explained as one associated with typical structure sounds, those of settling and thermally induced expansion and contraction. Photographs depicted a few orbs, but exposed insulation in an unfinished area on the lower level could easily be a source for airborne reflective particles which might be mistaken for that phenomena. Video and audio analysis of a static camera's film did not give evidence for any unusual activity during the night either. EMF readings and EVP recordings lacked anything of significance. A thorough background search on the site failed to locate any known history of tragedy or violence that might account for the phenomena.

The team's inability to substantiate any activity does not mean that it did not occur exactly as described, only that it did not repeat while on site, but the Ghost PRO team members also train and educate themselves to look to additional possibilities outside of paranormal causes as well. In this case we were able to determine several alternate explanations. Still our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our clients, therefore to re-enforce the measures already taken, a short house cleansing and blessing ceremony was performed.

Follow-up contact with the client reports that all still remains quiet in Keowee.

Ghost PRO likes it that way too.

~~Janet McDonald, LadyJEM