On a lovely, quiet, tree-lined residential street in Garland, Texas, there lives a small, engaging, middle-aged woman alone in a brick duplex.  For the sake of anonymity we will simply call her Debbie. She first contacted The ASUP in March, 2009, via email to ask for our help in how to “get rid” of a ghost.

Debbie purchased the new duplex in 1984. Initially, her mother lived with her, and apparently, the activity did not begin until well after they had lived there for several years.  Her mother, who passed away in 2003, was actually the first person to report an incident in approximately the years 2000-2001. She yelled out suddenly one evening, and when Debbie ran in to see what was the matter, she told her daughter that it felt as if someone had grabbed her by the arm when she reached over to get a glass of water on her nightstand. Her mother reported that it felt almost as “if someone was pulling her down to the ground.” At first, the elder woman had thought she had just imagined it or was dreaming, but soon after that Debbie, herself, began to hear “bazaar noises” in the house.

After her mother passed away, Debbie began to experience what she called, “transient hauntings”. She said that the “ghosts or whatever they are do not hanging around very long, but some years back their presence hung around for over 45 minutes or longer.” She also reported that once she was “followed around” for more than three weeks. Also, recently she had seen something actually move.

The activity inside the house seemed to her to become more pronounced when there are people becoming more frail or in the case of impending death. For example, her neighbor was becoming more and more fragile and had to move to an assisted living center, recently. Right before she had to move, the client reported that saw the blinds in her own bedroom seemingly being pushed from the inside out toward the inside of the room, making noise, and the plastic hand adjuster was moving from side to side. This was approximately at 10:50 p.m. She went outside, didn’t see anyone around whatsoever.

The next day Debbie called her neighbor, and her friend reported to her she had heard footsteps on our client’s side of the duplex on the roof at close to the same time. Ironically, she had not heard the footsteps on her own side of the roof.   Her neighbor also said she had experienced things on her OWN side of the duplex ever since she had lived there. She told Debbie that she sometimes heard what sounded like someone bouncing a ball. She also had said she felt as if there “was a woman in the house.”

The second time she saw something move was when she got up one morning to go to work, and she heard what appeared to be the faint voice of a woman. When she went to investigate, it seemed to be coming from her deceased mother’s bedroom. As she walked down the hall, the voice seemed to drift upwards and move up into the ceiling door to the attic. It sounded as if a question was being asked repeatedly, and then it stopped. She walked back toward the kitchen  as she needed to leave for work; and as she opened the back kitchen door, she looked to her right just after  she stepped out of the house; and all three windows made a big “boom boom” noise and moved as if they had all concaved inward at the same time.

Among the other things that have occurred in the residence to Debbie are hearing as if somebody is in a squeaking chair or hearing what sounds like someone playing with change and dropping it. She once heard a sound on her back porch that resembled something rolling on a wooden floor. A picture frame also fell off the wall, and when she checked it, she could find no reason for it because the wire on the back was fully intact; and the hanger on the wall was not compromised in any way.

Debbie has had two beloved cats living with her in the duplex at different times. Like many other people, to her, they were like her children. After one particular cat died who had diabetes, she started hearing clicking noises for a while. She also heard what sounded like cat toys being batted around for about three weeks. Sometime after that, she also heard a man’s voice talking in what seemed to be “slow motion”, heard a woman scream one day, and what sounded like a bird in the attic banging and banging around.

In the fall of 2008, she was in the back area of the house, and she heard what sounded like glass or dishes breaking that she thought was coming from the kitchen area. Upon inspection, she could find nothing broken. She also said that once a touch lamp on a table kept turning on by itself. She finally unplugged it, but claims it turned on again once after she did that. Once time an office chair that was in the master bedroom moved itself from a low seating position to a higher position as if for a taller person. She has also heard the sound of “steel on steel” and something like a faucet creaking itself on.

Looking back, the client also had experienced some paranormal events in her childhood. In the house she grew up in, she sometimes heard noises, and once something pulled on the end of her blanket at night. Whenever she would start to turn on the light, the movement would stop. She also had many family pets who died. Afterward, she could still hear their dog tags jingling.

After she grew up, she once had a horse stabled at a place called Moonlight Stables. Reportedly, there was the ghost of young women there who many people claimed to have seen. They had a slumber party one night, and 15 people were attending. They had looked around at one point, and they all saw the image of a woman who had her arms outstretched and appeared to be wearing a shawl. When a car suddenly drove past, it cast its headlights in that direction, and she disappeared in front of their eyes.

During the research phase of the investigation, the history of the land, like so many others, this all was once a pasture connected to someone’s farm, and yet there is no direct proof that a house was once located close to this actual street.

During the investigation, this case seemed to have several things going on including sounds, cold spots, tingling sensations, odors, and “heavy feelings”.

The master bedroom was a major area of activity with four investigators in at different times reporting a sudden headache to the left temple of one investigator, the scent of powder or a perfume from a bygone era with no connection to anything directly in the room including checking out the client’s own cosmetics.

Upon investigating the client’s mother’s former bedroom, one investigator reported that she suddenly felt a very heavy feeling in her heart, a tightening in her chest, and that the air felt very heavy as well. Another investigator said that she felt a tingling on her arm in that room as if something was right beside her at that moment. Yet a third investigator reported independently upon her entry a sudden cold spot.

In Debbie’s computer room/office area, one team felt a tingling sensation on corresponding arms as if someone stepped in between them at the same time. They both turned to look at the other one at the same time in inquiry. One of their KII meters spiked suddenly, but did not repeat when asked for confirmation of a presence. Another investigator felt a cool breeze in front of her and shortly after felt a tingle that moved up her right side as if someone was standing beside, nudging her. Her team partner noted that the phone rang, and as a message was being left, she thought she suddenly heard a woman sobbing.

Also reported during the investigation was a feeling of being watched from the hallway, a cold spot in the kitchen, and also feelings of being observed by what three investigators reported as a male presence while waiting outside in the holding area.

After everyone had had a chance to investigate in teams inside the residence, all retreated back inside to the living room to conduct a KII and EVP session. At f irst nothing seemed to happen, but finally a flicker lighted on the KII meter. The group finally began to get responses from the meter although they were not very consistent. There were more fleeting cold spots as well during this time.

During a discussion of Debbie’s cats beloved cats, the KII meter began to get more responses when placed down lower. One of our investigators finally sat down on the floor on the opposite side of the room from where the first investigator had gotten the odd response; suddenly HER KII meter began to go off quite consistently. Approximately 5 minutes later, activity in that location abruptly stopped; however, three other investigators heard a cat meow distinctly from the front part of the same room at the same time and one of them reported also hearing a purring sound, opposite to where the first investigator was sitting.

During this time, two of the investigators began to feel as if the male presence felt intermittently throughout the evening might have been Debbie’s father who died in 1996. A pendulum experiment was conducted which seemed to indicate that there were the spirits of three possible people, Debbie’s father and his two brothers as well who did not get along well in life, but appeared to have somehow made up with each other after death.  The person holding the pendulum reported that he felt as if his hair on top of his head was being tugged on during this session.

During the evidence phase, no photos or video clips were recovered; however, as noted in the report of the Director for Field Investigations and Evidence Committee, the witnessed reports of any paranormal activity seems limited to auditory reports and electronic voice recordings. Of these, there were a few interesting ones that seem to suggest a presence more interested in the welfare of the homeowner and indicate to the team that there is one or more friendly spirits possibly on the property, who seem to be interested in the day to day occurrences in the home.

Regarding the KII hits in the living room at ground level, and the auditory clue of a cat or kitten, walking around, this would not be unlikely due to the love of cats shown by the client.

Reports of movement of objects were not confirmed by the team. A chair that reportedly would rise on its own was monitored with a video camera, without exception, and no movement was captured. The windows by the back door were checked, and could not be made to concave inward or outward by opening and shutting the back door. The lamp was not debunked completely as it was determined that the touch feature of the lamp was not overly sensitive.

There were no abnormal readings on atmospherics on the day we visited. In summary, we see nothing that would be threatening at this location, although after careful consideration using the Fourth Hypothesis, The ASUP concluded that based upon the Barth Paranormal Guide Map, the causes for reports of a haunting here are at least in the 40th percentile, with auditory feedback by professional researchers.

There appear to be no negative entity on the premises that we could detect, and nothing was strong enough on the property to show itself or be photographed. Review of all photographic evidence was nil, including full spectrum UV IR photos that were reviewed in detail. Thus, something paranormal may well be going on at this location although in the absence of photographic proof, a definitive haunting may be difficult to prove at this juncture.

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