Haunted America: Officer Down

"This is the Peter Griffin House. Yes, I know," I said. "It was built in 1904. The windows on top and the pillars out front came from the Queen's Mansion, which I mentioned earlier in the tour."

Chloe and her friend Charlotte watched from the front of the tour. I love doing the summer tours, walking through Lock Haven and showing the historic buildings. There are things that nobody else knows, and you can only learn them on my tours. Of course, Chloe knows them all already. When I'm out on a tour, it's the closest anyone gets to seeing me at my most authentic.

"This was also the house where a murdered hid out in 1934," I said. "Lock Haven has only ever had one police officer killed in the line of duty. Up in Renovo, they bump them off every hour on the hour. But here, we've only had one. Officer Robert Robert Probst was shot by Harry Mayo, a criminal who was caught in the act of burglarizing a building down on....."

I trailed off. Chloe looked at me for a moment.

"What just occurred to you?" she asked.

"The building where Probst was shot," I said. "I think that was Lex and Jay's place."

Back at home, I went straight to my office. I love when this stuff happens. I took the Highland Cemetery index and found Probst''s grave, which gave me the date---August 22, 1934. Then I went to the newspaper archives and looked up that date, and there it was on the front page. Officer killed in the line of duty.

He was shot in Willard's Alley by a man caught in the act of breaking into a building. The Clinton Trust Building.

I was right. It was Lex and Jay's place. LHPS base.

"Tonight's the anniversary," I said. "Ninety-two years ago tonight, Officer Robert Probst was shot while confronting Harry Mayo in a burglary of this apartment. According to the autobiography of the defense attorney, it was a speakeasy at the time." Sometimes when I do this, I feel like a TV doctor looking at the clipboard and summarizing the patient's issues. "Probst was rushed to the Teah Hospital, and died on the operating table. Mayo hid out in the Griffin Building, but was later arrested and served twenty years in jail. He died soon after his release."

I was sitting in the living room. Ashlin had a birthday celebration, and Chloe was in Florida, so it was myself, Lex, and Jay. Lex's nephew, Liam, was sitting on the couch; Lex had invited him for the night.

"How do you know all this stuff?" he asked me.

"It's all out there to find, if you know where to look. I look for deeds at the courthouse to find out who owned a property, and I can find old newspapers online or att he college library. I have a lot of books about the area at home in my office."

Like any ten-year-old, he had a very limited attention span for the research. He waved an EMF detector near Jay. "It says you're possessed, Aunt Jay."

"It's only doing that because you're waving it around," she said. "You have to hold it pretty still."

"People getting possessed is one of those things that they love in the movies, but it's not really like that," I said. "You don't see that in real life."

"Sometimes people get possessed."

"Without sounding like I'm down on them," said Lex,"Some people have mental issues. If they don't take medication, they can seem possessed. It's where people get a lot of ideas about possession, but it's not really happening in real life."

Lex has learned well. I said,"By the way, Jay, you know how you get headaches practically every investigation?"

"Yeah."

"You know that black bag I carry with the extra stuff in it? In the first aid kit, there's now a little green pill container labelled 'Jbuprofen.'"

Lex and Jay both laughed hysterically.

Liam said,"I want to be a ghost hunter."

"We can train you," I said. "We'll teach you how to do it right."

Liam walked around with the KII meter for a while, and found a big spot for EMFs in the middle of the room. He said,"I'm getting a ghost here."

I tried it with the all-in-one, and got higher readings than I was expecting. Jay asked,"Are there any wires in the ceiling?"

I looked up. "I doubt it. You have no overhead lights up there. Before we lose the light, I think I want to go outside and check where the power lines come into the building. Maybe there's a junction box. I'll be back."

I walked outside, into the parking lot. Immediately I could see that there weren't any power lines close enough to give me EMF readings where I'd been. The closest thing was a parking lot light that was still too far. 

Clouds were gathering up above.

I walked to the back of the building, where there was a pole and the power lines running into the place. Way too far to give me readings; in fact I had the be within five feet of it before the meter lit up at all. I went back inside.

"Can we get ice cream before we start?" asked Jay. "I'm hungry. I want some pretzel rolls."

"How do you do that?" I asked. "We just ate. I got paperbacks that weigh more than you."

She blushed. "I don't know, I'm just hungry."

"Well, I'm not gonna say no to ice cream."

My pineapple sundae was pretty good. Back at the Clinton Trust Building, I said,"Okay, get EMFs and temp readings, and make sure you get some photos. Everyone get a baseline before we start an EVP session."

We checked things throughout the apartment. The EMFs were still high in the living room. I got out my laser thermometer and got a baseline of about seventy-three while the laser was chased by several cats.

"Let's sit down for an EVP session," I said. "Lex, you got your recorder?"
She held it up. "Liam, we're gonna have to settle down some for this one, okay?"

We all settled in, as you do before an EVP session. Jay set up her REM pod on the coffee table. Lex went around the room and set the KII meters up so we could see them, and I set my shoulder bag in the couch where I could reach it. 

"Want me to go live?" Jay asked. She's been streaming parts of our investigations lately, 

I nodded. "Go ahead."

She set her phone up and turned it on.

"Is there anyone here?" I asked.

We gave it a couple of seconds, the way we always do. I said,"Can you tell us your name?"

"Can you go near our devices?" asked Jay. "If you can make the lights go off, we'd like that."

"You have the right to remain silent," I said. "If you give up that right....Actually, I'm pretty sure Officer Probst died before Miranda warnings."

Lex nodded. "I think so." She looked at the phone, and smiled. "Chloe's watching from Florida."

"Ah, kid, I love you," I said.

"Robert," said Liam,"Can you make the yellow lights go off?"

"Lou, try the thermometer over here," said Lex. "I'm getting a cold spot right behind me."
I aimed the laser thermometer at her, attempting not to get her mauled by several cats. "Yeah. I got a temp drop to sixty-nine there."

"Here, feel my hands."

I moved to Lex, felt the backs of her hands. "Pretty warm, right? Now feel the back of my arm."

I reached around and touched the back of her arm. "Yeah, I feel it. It's cold."

"Robert, if you're here," said Liam,"Can you make it go to yellow?"

The REM pod went off, with nothing near it. At the same moment, the cat ball on the coffee table flickered. Jay had sprung for the elaborate REM model that included a flat voice that says,"Ghost disturbance detected."

Jay gasped.

"Going to camera," I said, and snapped some photos. "Test it."

Jay stomped on the floor, which did not make the cat ball flash. I said,"Okay, not us, then."

The cat ball by Lex went off, flashing red lights. Jay moved that way and came down hard on the floor, but couldn't duplicate it.

"Do you guys have downstairs neighbors?" I asked.

"Only on the other side of the building," said Lex.

"Okay. Cause it just occurred to me that we're stomping on the floor all night."

There was a lightning flash outside, and we heard a roar of thunder. Lex said,"Storm's coming."

"That could be good for us, though," I commented. "Sometimes ghosts act up during thunderstorms. I know Ida usually does."

Liam was looking at the EMF detector. "I have a question. Can someone make the yellow lights go off?"

He was hitting the "make the ghost do the lights" thing a little hard, but I didn't have any better ideas. 

"They can't always do that, Liam," explained Lex. "It takes energy, and it's not like it always happens."

"Basically," I said,"You have to put everything together. All the results, the EMFs, audio, photos, everything you get. You add it all up and then come to a conclusion."

"Can you come near the REM pod again?" asked Jay. "You can use my energy."

"See, this is why you get headaches all the time," I said.

"Whoa! Did you see that?" Lex said suddenly. Each of the KII meters had gone to yellow, quickly, one at a time in a series. "It just went all the way around the room at once like that."

"Going to camera," I said. "I can't think of any reason that would do that."

"I'm getting chills," said Jay.

It was getting late. I sat on the floor with Lex. Jay was on the couch, reviewing video on her phone, and Liam was still playing with one of the KII meters.

"So what do you think?" Lex asked me.

"I'd rate this one a three point five, under certain conditions," I said. "You have to factor in the anniversary, and the weather. But we did get a lot of activity."

She nodded. "Fair."

"You remember at the beginning of the summer, when I said that it was going to be a busy one because of the anniversary?" I asked. Lex nodded. "It's been pretty busy."

"It's been a good one," she agreed.

"It has," I said. "And the year's not over yet. We have twenty-five years since 9-11 coming up, and my annual haunted tours, and Lock Haven's anniversary. Plus all the requests for investigations we're going to get."

She grinned. "Gonna be a good time."
I grinned back. 

"It's just beginning."