Geist Research

THE HISTORY

Located two blocks away from Heritage Park in San Diego, California, is the world famous Whaley House. In 1995, the Whaley House was dubbed number one as the most haunted place in America. Since then, it has gained national fame and has been one of the most sought out target for an investigation amongst paranormal researchers.

In 1964, talk show host and TV entertainer Regis Philbin was so intrigued by the Whaley House that he reportedly attempted to spend the night there. At around 2:30am, while sitting on the Andrew Jackson sofa in the living room, the apparition of a woman named Anna Eloise De Launay was seen floating from the study to the music room. Philbin, struck with fear and excitement, quickly exited the house. Since then, over night stays has not been permitted in the property.

The two story brick house was built in 1857 by Thomas Whaley. Over the years the house has served as a residence, theatre, a place for formal gatherings, and a court house. Ever since the house has been built at a total cost of $10,000, it has been plagued with death and despair. The first tragedy struck the family when their first son died of a mysterious illness. Another child died in the backyard as she ruptured her throat on a clothesline. A few years later, a store house that was built next to the property mysteriously caught on fire and burned to the ground.

When the family moved back to the house, after leaving to San Francisco after the fire, they discovered that the house was badly damaged by a violent earthquake. Thomas fixed the house and shortly after, became the town's courtroom. Records have indicated that at least three men have been hung inside the courtroom. One of them was a person named Jim Robinson who was hanged for stealing a boat. Jim has been reported as one of the four spirits who haunts the Whaley House.

REPORTED PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

The Whaley House is presently reported to be haunted by four spirits. One of which is the owner himself, Thomas Whaley who has been seen walking around the house by a hand full of witnesses. Some have reported smelling Thomas' Havana Cigars mainly in the dining room and in the main hallway on the first floor.

Thomas' wife Anna Eloise De Launay is also believed to be still in house. Visitors have reportedly smelled Anna's sweet-scented perfume all over the house and the sound of her voice singing in the dining room. Psychics have stated that Anna mainly resides on the second floor with a welcoming demeanor.

A third spirit that supposedly haunts the house is a playmate of one of the Whaley children named Annabelle Washburn, who was killed due to a freak accident. Annabelle was only eight years old when she died. She apparently ran outside from the kitchen door to join her friends in the backyard, when she struck her throat on a clothesline. Annabelle died of her injuries as Thomas' wife Anna carried her back to the house. Sometime in the late 1990s, a psychic once visited the house and claimed that a little girl was playing hide and seek with her as the ghost hid behind a chair in the living room. This little girl was later determined to be Annabelle. Currently, Annabelle can still be seen by MOST children visiting the Whaley House.

The fourth ghost that haunts The Whaley House is a man named Jim Robinson, who was hung in the court room for stealing a boat. Jim is one of the three men who was hanged in the courtroom that is connected to the house. Occasionally, Jim's spirit has been known to walk in the theatre room and the top of the stairs.

Other paranormal activity have included a music box that mysteriously plays by itself in the children's room, crystal attached to the lamps in the living room tend to swing, and door knobs have known to rattle once in a while. Other reported odors in the Whaley House include the smell of apples coming form the kitchen. Unusual sounds heard around the house consists of the clattering of children's footsteps running up the stairs, children laughing, sounds of a crowded courtroom, a meeting of men upstairs in the theatre room when the room is empty, and the rustle of a woman's skirt.

THE INVESTIGATION

Geist Research has investigated several locations, but the Whaley House was definitely one of the strangest places we have ever investigated. The first mysterious event happened right when we stepped onto the grounds of Whaley House. It was discovered that all forty-eight pictures taken by one of our digital cameras in the vicinity of the Whaley House were all mysteriously blurred. Keep in mind that just minutes before, the same camera was functioning properly at another location. In fact when viewing the pictures in the memory card, the pictures before the Whaley House were perfectly fine. In order to see if it was the camera acting up and not a paranormal activity, we decided to do a little experiment by using the same camera and taking pictures across the street of the Whaley House. To our amazement, the pictures came out clear without any distortion. Pictures were then taken again around the house with the digital camera and strangely enough, showed clear pictures. We reported our unusual experience to the Museum curator and she was not at all surprised. She explained to us that picture distortion was a common occurrence on the grounds of the Whaley House.

We first investigated the backyard of the Whaley House. Cold spots and possible vortexes have been reported in the immediate area. We inspected the area for any open vents that might produce such reported phenomenon. However, our investigation did not detect anything unusual. We should remind our readers that the pictures were taken in mid afternoon which make orbs very hard to spot, as well as any other types of paranormal activity.

After our preliminary investigation of the backyard, we purchased tickets for the Whaley House in the gift shop. While we were in the shop, we proceeded to interview a cashier named Victor who has worked at the Whaley House for five years. Victor reported that he has not personally witnessed nor experienced any type of unusual activity in the house. However, visitors have frequently reported to him a variety of paranormal activity such as someone touching them on their shoulders, only to discover that no one was around them. Victor exclaimed that probably the most reported haunting in the Whaley House are the curtains moving as if someone or something had pulled them up.

As we entered the Whaley House, we were greeted by the museum curator. She was very friendly and gave us a brief history of the house. After speaking with her and signing the guestbook, we proceeded to investigate the courtroom. Several pictures were taken inside this room, but only one positively captured a paranormal phenomenon. One orb, greenish in color, was captured hovering above the bench of the courtroom. Approximately the same time and area the picture was taken, the needle of our EMF meter rose to 4 milliGauss. A strong indication that an electromagnetic phenomenon was occurring in the courtroom. This event lasted for approximately thirty seconds. The thermal scanner indicated normal temperature readings.

ORIGINAL ORB

After thirty minutes, we proceeded to investigate the dining room. There have been several reports of people smelling smoke in the house, but it has frequently been reported in the dining room. Singing has also been known to be heard in the room so we recorded for EVP. During our investigation, none of our data revealed any unusual activity in the room. Approximately one hundred pictures and forty minutes of video and audio revealed no paranormal evidence in the dining room.

About an hour went by without any type of paranormal activity, until we heard commotion by some of the visitors viewing the master bedroom. A 35 year old female apparently witnessed the curtain of the windows flying up. As we rushed over to witness the event, we could still see the curtains swaying. We discovered that the curtains in the upstairs bedrooms did slightly move because of the breeze that blew in from the stairs. However, the wind was never strong enough to fling the curtains upwards like the one that the female visitor apparently observed.

OUR CONCLUSION

Geist Research has investigated several supposed haunted houses in the past. Usually we have full control and privacy to properly conduct our investigation. In our prior experiences, it is always difficult to catch authentic paranormal evidence when a place like the Whaley House (a full-fledged museum) has several guests walking around. However even with the distraction, the Geist Research investigators all agree that we have never encountered so much paranormal activity in such little time span.

In areas that have high paranormal activity, it is very common for electronic devices to malfunction or completely fail. The organization believes that the bizarre malfunction of the camera that produced the blurred images can possibly attributed to manifesting ghosts. It is possible that during manifestation, the energy transfer may have done something to the batteries in the camera, or may have caused the internal circuitry to break down temporarily. Another possibility is that the camera is a dud, but the organization would like to take this opportunity to refute that option since the camera has been functioning accurately and has never again malfunctioned since. We would also like to add that the batteries in three of our cameras were draining 30% faster even when they were all fully charged.

In cases when an orb(s) is captured in a picture or on film, we usually would have to consider the orb as dust and not something paranormal. However, the reason why we took notice to the orb that we caught in the courtroom was because it was accompanied by a spike in our EMF meter. If the theory holds that ghosts obtain their energy using electricity, then the orb we captured may possibly be paranormal related. The cell structure of the orb is also a helpful indication that it may have been an authentic paranormal orb. Dust usually does not have a definitive cell structure especially as defined as the one we captured.

After interviewing the employees, reviewing the history of the property, and the evidence we have recorded, we believe that the Whaley House may truly be an authentic haunted house. To date, the Whaley House produced some very interesting results, and the organization is eager to make another visit for more (and perhaps conclusive) evidence for this San Diego hotspot.

YOUR THOUGHTS

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