*NOTE: TAPS REFERRAL CASE
HISTORY
Special thanks to the homeowner, Ms. Flannery, for the following history write up:
This home was one of the original homes built in the town of Carrollton,
constructed in 1841. Set back from the road on a lovely corner tucked behind a
historic Oak Tree, stands a classic Federal style three story structure, the top
with two dormers. Steep pitched roof with finials. The front walk leads to a double
front door with classic federal style windows as transom and surround. Classic
open three bay floor plan with foyer and front and back staircase. Kitchen to the
right rear including all the standard trappings of the era. There is a root cellar in
the center of the home which is approximately four feet under grade. Its surface
is cement. There is an addition to the right side of the property making it appear to
be a five bay classic, but was a common addition to "even" out the easement
portion of the property in reference to the new paved roads. Still a Federal three
bay home, it boasts 4,600 square feet of living area with 600 square feet of
unlisted storage space in the eaves and an addition for purposes of modern day
laundry.
From research, the initial owners were the Hayes Family. Lundy Ryan (Hayes) is
still alive and lives on State Street Drive in New Orleans. She brought her aging
parents to the house to see it in March of 2007. They recalled playing in the house
when they were very young children. They are in their late 80's now. Their parents
lived in the house. We were informed that Mr. Hayes (the original owner) died in
one of the upstairs bedrooms. The Burke family were the next owners. Mr. Burke
was the head of NOPSI, which was the city services company for New Orleans at
the time. The old man hole cover outside still reflects that name even though it's
been defunct for some time. The Burkes raised four daughters and two sons in
this house. Mr. Burke died here, then in 2001, Mrs. Burke died in the upstairs
master bedroom, she was only 70. Her children were grown and none of them
wanted the house to live in, so they sold it in 2002 to the Beatty family. The
Beatty's worked for the Times Picayune and had children at Lusher, as we do.
After Hurricane Katrina, they relocated to Atlanta where they still reside. We
purchased the home February 22, 2007 and have lived here since. The home was
in severe disrepair and we have completed massive renovations to both plumbing
and electrical systems. Completion on all renovations is expected to be complete
within the next year.
ACTIVITY
Reported activity by the homeowner:
-Root Cellar has a heavy, draining feeling in it.
-Tingling feelings and ears clogging happen in several places throughout the
home.
-Feeling of being followed or watched in the stairwells.
-Third floor lights turn on when they are off, dining room light
goes on and off frequently and in front of the homeowners.
-Circular floating lights appear randomly on the 2nd floor hall
closet door.
-Things come up missing all of the time,, only to be found in a prominent
location soon after.
-Dog terrified of second floor.
-Strange sounds and smells.
-Strange illnesses and lack of energy in all of us on a more regular
basis.
- Mrs. Flanery-Loupe has been lightly touched on the left shoulder
several times in the master bedroom.
INVESTIGATION
We were very excited for this investigation since it was our first private residence
in the heart of New Orleans. Only blocks from the historic Garden District, this
beautiful home sat in a very peaceful neighborhood. We arrived at the residence
in the afternoon with a list of the above mentioned reported activity. We
immediately began to attempt to debunk some of the happenings.
One of the most reported occurrences was a fun house-effect feeling in the
basement, which I was initially very surprised to see in New Orleans. Being so
low, the city of New Orleans is very familiar to floods and to see a basement in
such an old home was quite surprising. As I entered the very small basement,
there was an immediate cooped up feeling due to such a small space. I noticed
that there were quite a number of exposed wires hanging from the basement
ceiling. I decided to conduct some EMF readings near these wires. To my
amazement, these poorly insulated wires were emitting extremely high EMF
readings. In some areas, readings as high as 150mg were being recorded! It is
proven that prolonged exposure to EMFs that high can often cause
claustrophobia, paranoia, ears popping, and in some cases, even hallucinations! I
can definitely see how if someone spend a good bit of time down there that they
could get a "fun house" affect.
Other occurrences that we may have found logical explanations for were the
common dimming of lights and the small balls of light seen on the stairs and
closet door. We noticed that in such an old home, when the AC unit would kick
on/off, it would often cause the lights to dim. We also noticed that when cars
would pass in front of the house, the light would reflect off of various objects,
which would appear to cause small balls of light on the ceiling and hallway closet
door.
After doing a little debunking, we proceeded to setting up our DVR systems and
got ready to go "lights out". After running 8 IR cams through the home, we began
our investigation in the normal fashion. During the night, the only substantial
activity recorded were several unexplainable EMF spikes on the third floor and a
questionable pic of a possible orb obtained in one of the bedrooms. Once the
investigation was complete, all evidence was reviewed, with no substantial
results.
Based on the findings, or lack there of, we would have to conclude that there was
no activity at the Flanery residence. We were glad that we could find several
logical explanations for some of the reported occurrences. The homeowner was
very pleased with our findings, saying that her young daughters felt at ease now
that they had a better understanding of the occurrences. We would once again
like to thank Ms. Flanery and her family for not only allowing us into their beautiful
home, but for providing us with a great meal and snacks for the night!
Possible small orb
