| Dorothy May Guest House |
Location- Cape May, NJ
Date(s)- Sunday, November 11th, 2001
Times- 7 PM to approx. 9 PM
Those Present- KennyB, PattyA and SteveA
History- The present Owners, Diane & Rich Flanegan, have owned the Dorothy May Guest House since 1996. The building is thought to be from the 1890s. The previous owners had it for about 30 years. Before them, a family called the Hands (a big name in Cape May), had owned the house.
Reported Activity- Since renovations this year (2001), guests have reported activity on all three floors. In the attic, a "sensitive" visitor reported that there seemed to be an energy (entity) trapped up there, behind a small door. The woman was unable to go up past the top step to the attic due to this entity. She said that she felt as if something was pushing her back.
The second floor is a rather unusual spirit, in which it has been given the name Russell. This spirit has gained the nickname "the peeing ghost." He's been heard walking through the 2nd floor sitting room and down the short hall to the bathroom, doing his business, and then he's gone. This spirit has been reported by two groups of women. Both groups stayed at different times and had no relation to each other.
A plumber and his assisitent both witnessed the 2nd floor bathroom door swing as if to close, but the door actually continued pass the door jam and into the bathroom. This was after these men had heard footsteps in the house. The owner, Rich, reported that when they first started getting the place ready for guest, he could not stay in the 2nd floor back bedroom. Something would bother him so much
Now down on the first floor, there was a phantom dog reported by two guests. The first was a friend of the owners, who slept there one night and reported that she heard a dog outside the bedroom door. The "dog" was scratching, clawing and barking like mad, trying to get into the room. The second guest was the owner's brother, who is a police officer trained in distance perception. He insisted he heard the dog and that it was on the first floor of the house. Also on the first floor, the owners and guests have reported seeing shadows move about the main room.
Report of Investigation- We began by checking our equipment in the front hallway just inside the front doors. Almost right away, Steve complained that his upper arms were hurting. He said it was an aching feeling that started when we came up to the house.
The first room we looked at was the bedroom of the first floor suite. The first impression Kenny got was from a rocking chair that sat in the far corner of the room. It gave him a "curious" feeling, as though Kenny expected to see someone sitting there just rocking back and forth. Kenny left a micro-cassette recorder running in this room.
The three of us moved through the other rooms of the first floor but had no real feelings or results, so we headed up to the second floor. We made our way through the sitting room and down a short hallway to the kitchen. There is another bedroom off of this hallway, as well as the servant stairs. When Kenny walked into the kitchen, he felt a good case of the chills. Patty felt the same as she entered the kitchen. Steve was at the opposite end of the hallway snapping pictures at Patty and Kenny. As Steve joined the other two, a floorboard creaked in the sitting room. Although this very well may have been us, we were unable to duplicate the effect, which is why it is mentioned here.
We then made our way up to the attic, where it was noticeably cooler then the rest of the house. Note that the heat was not on in the house due to the guests had gone home. Kenny left a digital audio recorder and a motion sensor up here. The sensor was positioned on the dresser by the stairs and pointed towards the center of the room.
We went back to the 2nd floor and set up in the back bedroom for a Q&A session. Patty was designated "Asker," while Steve and Kenny took photos. Nothing unusual happened, nor was anything picked up on playback of audio. We moved to the sitting room, where Kenny got the chills again and snapped a picture of Steve as he was heading into the hallway. An orb was captured in the photo to Steve's right.
Next, we set up in the attic for another Q&A. Kenny took the lead with questioning this time. During the questions, Kenny tried to provoke any resident spirits to do certain things, such as move objects, touch one of us, but mostly…to shut the door leading up to the attic. At this provocation, all three of us experienced something. Patty had the distinct feeling, and also heard what she described as something creeping up the stairs, sneaking a peek at us and then creeping back down. Steve and Kenny saw something different. We were sitting on two beds opposite to the stairs. There is a dresser against the stairway railing. Under the dresser, we could see the light from the second floor hall shining up the stairs. When the question "Can you close the attic door" was asked, Steve and Kenny saw the light get darker. It was as if someone moved in front of the doorway. Nothing else was experienced in the attic, nor did anything come up on audio.
We moved down to the first floor bedroom (Only one bedroom in this suite). The hall just outside the bedroom is the area reported to be haunted by the dog. This room is also where the rocking chair is located (Mentioned above). We set up for a Q&A with Kenny sitting in the rocking chair and Steve taking a turn being the "Asker." We had also set up a motion sensor outside the bedroom door, where the dog has been heard. The only experience was that of Kenny. He claimed that sitting in the rocking chair gave him a feeling of content and extreme relaxation. Nothing else was experienced in this room.
While taking reference photos of the rest of the first floor, Kenny again got the chills in the sitting room. Taking a photo in the direction he felt them, Kenny got a large, slightly gold colored orb.
We began to pack up our gear, which was left in the main hallway, when Kenny heard a voice say, "Are you alright?" He described the voice as muffled, as if behind a wall or door, but clear. Kenny could not tell from which direction it came from. He did note that it was a man's voice. The only curious explanation was radiator pipes, which while Kenny was bent down packing his gear, were only about six inches from his head. These pipes do carry sound and he was close enough to hear it. The building is a single house, so we assume it was not a neighbor.
We packed up all of our gear but our cameras and headed outside. Patty began taking pictures of the outside of the house. All three of us started walking towards the back of the house when Patty said she heard a dog bark. She heard it a second time, but Steve heard a dog in the distance. A few steps and then Kenny heard it. Right behind him (He was last in line), Kenny heard a dog growl. It sounded mad and he actually tensed up, preparing to feel it jump on him. Patty also heard it and when we turned, there was nothing. Patty decided to end her part of the investigation at that point and headed to the car. Steve was in front of the line and didn't hear anything. It is important to note that this is the same, exact spot where Kenny had heard the dog before, when he came to interview the owners. After walking around to the other side of the house, Steve and Kenny decided to end the night.
We went in and thanked the owners and explained some of the things we experienced. Rich walked out with us to close up the guesthouse. While standing out front talking to Rich, Steve heard the sound of heavy breathing next to us. He described it as sounding like a dog, but said nothing at the time because he wanted to be sure it was not Kenny or Rich that made the noise. He concluded that it wasn't either.
Conclusion and Impression;
Kenny's Impression-I believe that there may be up to four entities here. The dog is the most impressive, displaying many of the characteristics we see in our family dogs. When comparing all the experiences with the dog, a pattern emerges. The first two "hearings" were of a mean dog, then a barking dog. These were also experienced with strangers (to the dog) in the house. When Kenny first heard the dog, it sounded playful and curious…but I was outside the yard and not paying attention to it. When the three of us were in the yard that night, we were wondering around the outside, in the yard and at night. The dog was "protecting" its territory, as any guard dog would. The last time we heard it, while talking with Rich in the front of the yard, the dog sounded at ease, or OK with us being there. This leads me to believe that the dog acknowledges Rich and Diane as its owners, and as long as one of them is around, we were OK to be there. Don't worry, I do not see the dog being any danger to anyone.
Russell, the peeing ghost on the second floor, as well as the entities in the attic appear to be nothing more then curious about us. Although we did not have as much experience with those, we will hopefully return to try some more. It is interesting to note that many restorations have been down to this house, most of which were done this same year, when all of the activity started up.
We would like to say "Thank You" to the owners of the Dorothy May Guest House for allowing us to investigate. If you would like to stay at the Dorothy May, you can contact Diane and Rich Flanegan, (609)-884-8382, 320-324 N. Broadway, West Cape May, NJ
This report was compiled- Kenny, Patty and Steve
Date- December 9, 2001
PIRA