Location- Levittown, Pa

Date(s)- May 24 & 25, 2003

Times- 6-ish PM Saturday to 5 AM Sunday

Those Present- Kenny, Bob, Patty, Steve and Jim of PIRA- Diana, Mike, Irene, Danny and Nancy of BCPI. This was a joint investigation initiated by the members of the BCPI. A "Thank You" goes out to them.

Weather- Warm, cloudy.

Moon Phase- Waning crescent with 34% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated

History- A man named Phineas Pemberton arrived in the country from Bolton, Lancashire, England in 1682 or 1683 (Several reports are conflicting on this matter). Mr. Pemberton was William Penn's chief administrator in Bucks County. He had purchased approx. 500 acres of land and built a house. Unfortunately, the location of this house was very damp and not very healthy, so he built another house. This one was built about five miles from the Delaware River and was completed in 1687. This house, as seen today, has been built in sections. It is believed that the original structure was only 1 and a half stories tall. Evidence of this can be seen from a thin line that surrounds the main portion of the house, at the bottom of the second story window sills. The other sections of the house date to 1710, 1790, 1810 and 1860.
        Phineas died in 1720, leaving in land and Bolton to his wife (Alice), son (Israel) and daughter (Abigail). The house was passed through family hands until the children of Effingham Morris gave the house to the University of Pennsylvania in 1938. The house was used in the development of a School of Veterinary Medicine by the University. United States Steel bought the property in the late 1940's to house the dignitaries who were planning the construction of Fairless Works on the Delaware. William Levitt later purchased the house and built up Levittown around Bolton Mansion. The property was turned over to Bristol Township for use as a municipal building. The township abandoned the building in 1966.
        For a time, Bolton Mansion was left vacant. This, as you may guess, opened the door for teenagers to "play". There were many attempts to have the building demolished, but none succeeded. The Doylestown based Heritage Conservancy spent 15 years trying to preserve the building. The Friends of Bolton took over restoration duties in 1999, taking a serious interest in preserving the building. Today, the building has had a lot of work done inside, with rooms such as the kitchen and living room updated. The Mansion is host to many activities, such as Bake sales and flea markets. Be sure to check out the events calander for more details.

Reported Activity- There are several stories associated with Bolton, some of which can be found in our "Archives" section. The first, and most popular story, is about Mary. It is unknown whether she was a staff member or part of the family, but she was forbidden to see a soldier "friend". Distraught over this, she hung herself in the main stairwell. It is believed that this took place during the Civil War era.
        In 1977, a professor took several infra-red photos inside the mansion. Two photos  have become famous within the ghost hunting community. One photograph supposedly resembles a figure in a hoop skirt, while the other is said to be the profile of a man with a stripe going down his pant leg.Some volunteers have reported seeing a misty figure go up the stairs, while others state they've heard screams and/or moaning at the bottom and top of the main stairs.
        Another sighting has been of a woman misty form moving between the "barn" and the east side of the house. Witnesses state that she appears to be looking for something or somebody. She rushes back and forth, but no one has yet to give a description of the woman. There is also at least one account of a glowing form on the front lawn.
        There have also been reports of a ghostly little girl who wanders about the third floor of the mansion. No one has been able to identify her and to this day, she has not been given a name. (None that we have heard, at least)

Investigation Report

        We arrived at the Bolton Mansion and were greeted by the members of the Bucks County Paranormal Investigations (BCPI). The members of both teams re-acquainted themselves with each other for a while before the caretaker, Jim Snow, arrived to let us in. Steve was busy taking photos of the extierier of the mansion. We set up our "Safe Room" in the main living room, which, as luck would have it, was already set up with two long tables. This allowed us to spread out and make room for all of the equipment.
        We took a walk around the mansion so that everyone would be familiar with the layout, where the exits were and most important…where the bathrooms were! After our walk-through, everyone gathered in the safe room where the teams were set up and the plan for the night was laid out. Team 1 included Kenny, Patty, Diana, Danny and Irene. Team 2 included Bob, Steve, Jim, Mike and Nancy. The plan was set up so that the teams would rotate through three specific areas that have shown previous investigations. The "sessions" at each location would last for 45 minutes. If activity was found, then that team would simply stay to document the events.
        After the plan was laid out and everyone seemed to agree, we set off to establish base readings and draw up floor plans. The group was broken down into teams of two and sent to opposite ends of the mansion. Reference photos were also taken of every room from each corner. Temperature and EMF spikes were noted in certain areas. (Due to the late start, we skipped sweeping the entire mansion for EMFs and temperature differences so that we could begin investigating).
        The experiences got off to an early start. We weren't even ready and Patty and Diana were already getting some decent results. They were in charge of taking the Reference Photos, documenting everything in each room. Patty noted in her report that when they entered a particular room on the second floor (now called the Mannequin Room because of the mannequins), Diana left quickly, stating that she didn't like that room. While going downstairs, Patty reported feeling a cold drop of water on the back of her neck, then a hand wipe it off. She thought it was Steve because they had just seen him. Patty was expecting him to be behind her. When Patty put her hand on her shoulder (expecting his to be there) Steve wasn't behind me. The touch was very gentle. Diana mentioned that she smelled perfume down in the basement. She said it followed her around and was so strong that her eyes watered. Note- She is allergic to most perfumes.

Session 1

          Team 1, Basement (Kenny, Patty, Diana, Danny, Irene)- They set up in the 2nd room of the main basement, which is located through a doorway on the right, at the bottom of the stairs. Kenny sat next to the doorway, and the others formed a semi-circle around the room (From Kenny, the seating was Danny, then Diana, Irene and Patty). While waiting our standard 10 minutes (for dust to settle) everyone reported feeling the room get colder, yet the average temperature stayed the same at about 58 degrees, as per a thermal scanner. We began a Q&A session, with Patty asking the questions. Patty mentioned she had caught movement behind Kenny several times, a shadow that moved back and forth in front of a light. Patty actually thought there was a window behind Kenny which would be the cause of the light (Note- there was no window behind Kenny and this has been confirmed by reference photos). Diana reported that she felt a cold hand run down her left arm.
          Kenny caught movement in the adjoining room, which suddenly moved in front of him. The temperature dropped to 40 degrees in front of Kenny (as recorded with thermal scanner- an 18 degree drop) and Danny's video camera's light went out. Kenny asked the entity to make itself known. Diana stated it got colder around her…temperature drop recorded at 29 degrees. Diana felt something touch her leg, around the knee, between her and the tripod. Kenny felt the pressure in the room get "heavy". Patty reported that something made her look to the left, towards the steps. When she did, she pictured a little boy peeking through the railing. Patty turned away and when she looked back, he was gone. (Description of boy: blonde hair with bangs, probably around 5 or 6, wearing a white shirt with a collar and suspenders, brown or black shorts and green eyes.)
          It was at this point that we heard the footsteps of the other team, coming back to the Safe Room located just above our position. When Patty picked up her digital recorder and checked it, nothing had  been recorded. It was completely empty. She then picked up her cassette recorder, and nothing had taped there either. It was completely blank. Diana mentioned the perfume smell had followed her.

        Team 2, Apartment (Bob, Steve, Jim, Mike, Nancy)- They set up in the "main" floor of the apartment, located in the rear of the building. Members reported a lot of outside noise, which conflicted with the audio recordings. The noise was due to the windows being propped open. The room had just been painted and ventilation was needed. The only thing to note here was that Steve reported feeling a "warm" feeling come over his shoulders. No other unusual activity was reported.

Session 2

        During our break between sessions 1 and 2, Jim Snow arrived to check up on us. A standard rule had been set that we were not allowed into the attic unless he was present. There is no railing or banister around the stairwell, causing a safety concern. With Jim present, we adjusted the plan and decided (well, a coin toss actually decided) that Team 1 would head to the attic first.

        Team 1, Attic- We set up in the middle room of the attic (there are three). Patty sat by the doorway, overseeing the stairwell. Kenny was next to her to the right, Danny to her left. Irene and Diana on the opposite side of the room. Again, we waited about 10 minutes for things to settle down, then Patty resumed her "job" of asking questions for the Q&A.
        Patty had asked (Kenny) if anyone had ever been pushed up here. Later it was noted that Patty was feeling something push her on the left side, from the stairwell. After several minutes, Patty stated she felt something touch the back of her neck. Patty continued to ask the questions for the EVP session.
        The following is taken directly from an audio recording of the incident. Patty asked the question "Do you like to play tricks on people?" There was no answer. Patty asked "If you like to play tricks on people, can you play one now?" There was no audible response, but both my camera and Diana's went dead. I said "My camera's not really dead, but it's acting funky" The LCD screen was fuzzy and getting a lot of static, which has NEVER happened before. Patty said "That's not the kind of trick I meant" and then laughed a bit. "We want to be able to capture you on film." Kenny, who was a little annoyed by his camera failing, said "Let go of my camera!" Within four seconds of this, Patty made a sound like a struggled intake of breath. This turned into a high-pitched hacking in which she could only get out "I can't breathe" It sounded as if her throat closed up. The team members reacted extremely well, getting the lights on and getting Patty to relax her muscles enough to loosen her throat, allowing her to breathe again. She began to breathe normally and described what happened- "It grabbed my throat and pushed hard. It felt like it was choking me. The pressure was so hard on my neck, that it pushed me back. It squeezed my throat very hard. Then it released me. I felt like it was standing there with its arms crossed laughing at me. Kind of like, "Ha ha I got you!" It was very vengeful, mean, cruel, etc."
        After this incident, we again tried to get some EVPs. Diana moved in front of a window and Patty stated that she got the feeling someone was pushed out that same window. She asked Diana to move away, and Diana happily obliged! We started to break up…that's when we heard the footsteps downstairs. Kenny confirmed with Steven (who was in the basement with Team 2) that the footsteps did not belong to any of the T2 members. Jim G. came up from the basement while Kenny came down. These two searched the rest of the mansion for Jim Snow. Mr. Snow was the only one not accounted for and could not be found. We did find that his car was gone, so he must have left well before we began searching for him (due to the fact we didn't hear the car drive past the mansion). The footsteps did not belong to either team or Jim Snow. Jim G. went back down to the basement while Kenny joined his team in the attic.
        We still heard (Heavy) footsteps on the lower floors, so Kenny and Danny were watching the stairwell from the attic. Danny went down to the landing between the attic and second floor so that he could get a closer look. Kenny and Danny had both seen movement in the two rooms on the second floor, on either side of the staircase. Kenny was overcome with a feeling that this was a bad idea, so he asked Danny to come back up. Danny stated that he felt "frozen" and could not walk back up the steps. The bad feeling Kenny got became worse, as if something was going to happen soon. Kenny went down to push Danny back up, but stayed down on the landing because he (Kenny) caught more movement on the second floor. While still talking to Steve on the radio, Kenny witnessed a dark figure move out of the far right room (at the front) and go into the hallway in front of me. The figure seemed to actually notice Kenny looking at him. There was a strange sort of acknowledgement between them.
        At that moment, Patty had another experience in which all of her muscles stiffened up to the point that she could not move. She also noted that it felt like someone grabbed her leg. It took three of us to help her into a chair. As soon as she sat down, her muscles relaxed and she was able to move. By this time, the other team had joined us (at Kenny's request). After checking the rooms again, Patty was escorted down stairs. Danny began video taping the different rooms of the attic when he claimed to have seen a figure in the reflection of a window. Finding nothing else, we headed downstairs.

        Team 2, Basement- The team headed down to the basement. Bob set up in the "finished" part of the basement (the room one first enters coming down the stairs), while the rest of the team set up in the second room (where a large boiler heater used to be). Steve began asking question about certain time periods, and then the four (Steve, Jim, Mike and Nancy) heard noise from the other room, where Bob was. Bob said that he was hearing footsteps above on the first floor, and Jim was sent to investigate. Steve ventured up to the main floor in an attempt to duplicate the footsteps. Steve proceeded to walk back and forth, but the rest of the team stated that his steps were too heavy.
        Steve and Jim again heard noises, but from above on the second floor. (Let it be known that Steve and Kenny were in radio contact, so that we could determine if any "footsteps" belonged to each other.) Steve then asked if they should come up. The rest of this session is included above in Team 1's experiences.

        During our break, Bob caught movement on our TV screen, which was tied to a remote camera positioned on a window shelf in the attic (which was easily forgotten about). We had two "candle" lights by the camera (The little fake, electrical candles). Bob stated that one of the lights was blocked out, as if something walked in between the light and our camera. The team raced up the stairs to find a cause, but nothing was found.
        Steve, Jim and Danny went up to 3rd floor to change cassette tapes. Steve reported that as he got to the second floor, he had a very weird feeling. Unfortunately, he could not really describe what he felt.
        On the way back down form the third floor, Jim reported seeing a shadow walk into a side room on the second floor. Steve was standing on the 3rd floor landing and didn't see anything. Steve asked if Jim was sure that it wasn't his flashlight causing it. Jim was sure.

        Discussion- After the incidents experienced by Patty, the situation was discussed with both teams present. Since the attic was highly active, it was decided that 7 members would head back up to continue the investigation. Patty, Jim and Kenny decided to go into the Oven Room, while the rest of the team headed up top.

        New Team 1 (Patty, Jim and Kenny) We set up in the tiny room way in the back of the house. As we talked a little Kenny witnessed movement that resembled a "Predator" effect, the special effect that made the Predator (in the movie) look invisible, but slightly noticeable. It moved about 3 feet behind Jim, who was sitting with his back to the doorway. A few minutes later, after staring through the doorway, Kenny again saw this effect down the hall by the front door, next to the gift shop. At several points, Jim heard voices speaking in conversation, but could not determine the direction it was coming from.. At first, Jim stated he heard two male voices, then a few minutes later, he heard a female voice as well. After this, the other team started making they're way down.

        New Team 2 (Bob, Steve, Diana, Mike, Irene, Danny and Nancy) During the Q&A session, Steve reported the strange feeling of empowerment. He reported feeling the need to carry out a violent and aggressive act. The feeling soon subsided, but left Steve puzzled. The team decided that the activity had seemed to be gone, so they came back down stairs after about half an hour.

        Since it was getting late (Actually…early), we set up two night vision video cameras to cover the staircase on the second and third floors. They were left alone for a little over an hour, while the team rested and grabbed some snacks. Danny set up his tape recorder on the third floor, at the top of the stairs. For the most part, things had quieted down. We packed up our gear and did a final walk-through to be sure everything was as we had found it.

Conclussion and Impression

        Kenny- I have, from my first visit 4 years ago…to now, believed that this was one of the most active sites I've ever investigated. At one point we had activity on three floors at the same time, activity we might have missed if we'd all been together in one place. I would guess that there are several entities residing in the mansion. The attic seems to house a combative spirit who is into cruel pranks. The events and even the feeling that some investigators experienced up there all lead to this same assumption. Is it evil? I don't think so. Is it male? I also do not think so. While thinking about these incidents over and over again, I would actually attribute them to a child. The playing of pranks, then getting angry when an adult laughed (not intentionally) at you. Picking out the smallest (no offense, Pat) person who would look to pose the least threat and lashing out. Also giving off the feeling of pure, unfiltered anger, as in what Steve felt. For now, this is what I'm thinking.
        From what I witnessed on the second floor, I'd wager there are actually two male entities hiding out here. Due to the explanation that Steve gave (which cannot be written here due to the little ones), I would also say these "guys" are young, maybe in their late teens.
        The basement, however, makes me say "Hmmm…" On a previous visit several years ago, I shared an experience with fellow investigator Andy K. of the PGHA. While in the basement, we had both felt movement past our legs, but no higher then our knees. This goes along with what Diana experienced on this investigation. This leads me to believe that some of the basement activity is from when the house was used as a Veterinary School. For now, this is an assumption until more research is done to verify where animals were stored and so forth.

        Patty- I feel that there may be a little boy there. There is definitely an adult in the attic. The adult was angry. It's possible that the entity in the attic chose me because 1- I was closest to the door and 2- I was the smallest person there. I am very limited in the history of Bolton Mansion. I'm not sure who, if anyone, died there. However, I definitely feel that there at least two entities there. There were a lot of footsteps throughout the night. We also had a lot of equipment problems. I think whoever is there, is curious and we could have some great findings.

        Steve- I feel from my experiences that a return visit is justified, although I worry about Pat's safety if we were to return. All night, whenever I got a drink or walked down the main hallway…I just stared at the Oven Room expecting someone to walk out.

Account compiled from reports written by- KennyB., Patty A., Steve A., Diana and Mike.

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