Berkshire Paranormal Group
Houghton Mansion Investigation

The Houghton Mansion is located on Church St. in North Adams, Massachusetts. TYPE: Former residence now owned by the North Adams Masonic Assoc. Open to public with prior permission and/or supervision.






The mansion was built in the late 1800's and was the home of North Adams' first Mayor, Albert C. Houghton. His portrait still hangs in the library today. Mr. Houghton and three others all died within a very short time under sad and tragic circumstances. The Houghton Mansion has been rumored to be haunted for quite a long time. Since the Mason's bought the building in 1920, people have experienced quite a variety of unexplained activity. It is beleived that at least four ghosts reside in the mansion: Mr. Houghton, his daughter Mary, John Widders the chauffer and a young girl - who we think is another daughter named Laura who died very young. For a more detailed history of the mansion and activity, see the Mansion Info page.

Date: August 6th, 2005

CONDITIONS:

• Solar x-ray : ACTIVE
• Geomagnetic Field Status: STORM
• Auroral activity: high
• Sunspots and Coronal Holes: minimal
• Moonphase: Waxing crescent - 14% of full
• Sky: partly cloudy
• Outdoor humidity: around 40%
• Barometer: 30.16 and rising during the evening hours
• Wind: N at 3
• Dewpoint: 53
• Temperature: 80F

INVESTIGATORS PRESENT:

• J. Mantello – Lead Investigator, Base Camp
• N. Mantello – Field Investigator
• G. Onorato – Field Investigator
• S. Cairns – Field Investigator
• S. Onorato – Field Investigator

The following report was prepared by J. Mantello, Founder – Lead Investigator:

On the evening of 8-6-05 members of the Berkshire Paranormal Group gathered at the Houghton Mansion for the purpose of a performing a Paranormal Investigation. This building was already very familiar to the investigators in the group and was being used that evening as a “practice” run of the BPG’s equipment and investigative skills. No mapping of the building was done because of the group’s familiarity with the premises.

INITIAL SET-UP: The group met in the room referred to as the “school room” at 19:30 and base camp was assembled. During this process it was found that the TV and VCR brought was not compatible with the IR Remote Camera. Based camp setup was complete by 22:00. Member’s of BPG were split into two groups of two (Alpha team and Bravo team). Alpha team consisted of Nick and Greg. Bravo Team consisted of Sarah and Scott. Alpha Team was instructed to start investigating the basement and work their way up the floor of the building. Bravo team was instructed to start on the third floor of the building and work their way down the floors of the building.

MOTION SENSOR PLACEMENT
Dining room
Mary’s bedroom

No unusual activation


REMOTE THERMOMETER PLACEMENT
Base at Base Camp
Remote at dining room
Temperature readings taken approximately every 15 minutes

No major fluctuations

IR REMOTE VIDEO CAMERA PLACEMENT (not recorded)
Dining room
2nd floor landing looking towards Mary’s bedroom


2200: Investigation begins.
Teams receive assignments
1. Alpha Team (Greg & Nick) to start in basement and move to floor 3
2. Bravo Team (Sara & Scott) to start on floor 3 and move to basement.
2215: Alpha Team departs base camp for basement
2220: Bravo Team Leaves base camp for floor 3
2237: Signal lost from remote thermometer in dining room
2242: Signal returns with a reading of 73.8 degrees
2244: Both teams start working together on 2nd floor back stairwell landing.
Teams report camera problems - EMF reading.
2300: Investigation continues
2318: teams report back to base camp.
2254: Both teams report hearing “noises” while on the second floor
2324: Signal lost again from dining room thermometer - unknown when return.
0010: investigation concludes - base camp disassembled.

ALPHA TEAM BASE CAMP NOTES:
Instructed to start in the cellar and move up in floor.

Equipment:
EMF meter
Digital recorder
Digital camera
Frequency Counter

2215: Team departs for basement
2224: Team reports “anomaly” in new boiler room. Will be investigating. -- EMF readings found
2228: Team member Nick reports feeling a cold touch to the leg.
2236: Team leaves basement move to 2nd floor via servant’s stairs.
2244: Team working with Bravo Team on the Servant stairs.
2254: Team reports hearing a “noise” while on the 2nd floor in the area of the lodge room
Concluded investigation with no further reports of paranormal activity.

BRAVO TEAM BASE CAMP NOTES:
Instructed to start work on the 3rd floor and make there way down the floors

Equipment:
EMF meter
Digital Camera
IR thermometer
SLR Camera

2227: Team reports little to no findings on the 3rd floor.
2229: Team reports that a locker door that was thought to be previously closed was now open.
2231: Team arrives at second floor.
2244: Working with Alpha Team on 2nd floor landing of Servant stair.
2254: Team reports hearing a “noise” in the area of the servant’s stairs while in the ante room
Concluded investigation with no further reports of paranormal activity

PHOTO COUNT:
• Digital: about 270 --- Photos with Anomalies: 13
• SLR: flash unit failed at start of investigation. 18 timed exposures taken in the basement using cable release. Kodak Max 400 speed film. --- Photos with Anomalies: 0

Miscellaneous photos of the investigation --- Click on thumbnails for larger images

   
   







Low Lux "Night-Shot" Video Camera
Placement: Entrance to library
Record time: 1 hour, 20min
Anomalies found: None

Remote Infrared Monitoring Camera
Placement: Mary's room, dining room
Record time: N/A
Anomalies: Flashing and floating orbs were witnessed by various team members while viewing the base camp monitor for this camera.






Digital voice recordings were taken in various places throughout the mansion. No EVP's were captured on this investigation.






Overall, it was a quiet night in the mansion. Here's a quick summary of unusual activity:

• We experienced intermittent equipment failures and camera problems such as auto-focusing issues and the flash not firing. We did not experience these problems on prior visits to the mansion.
• Nick felt a cold blast of air on his leg in the basement.
• We found a locker door open on the third floor when it had been closed just minutes prior.
• Very erratic, inconsistent EMF readings were found in the basement. Orbs were captured on digital during these readings.
• Creaking and other noises were heard on the second floor at locations absent of people.
• Floating and flashing orbs were seen on the dining room IR camera monitor. We will have to do a dust disturbance test to determine whether or not this phenomena can be duplicated artificially.
• Some very bright and/or moving orbs were captured on digital camera.

While these phenomena are typical at a haunted location, none of us feel that the above occurrences experienced on this particular evening can be definitively classified as truly "paranormal". Strong evidence such as EVP's that were captured during previous mansion investigations performed by the NEGP and Isis, were not recorded during our investigation.
Dozens and dozens of people have experienced very odd things in the mansion over many, many years. Quoting one of the Masons who had an experience this year: "I never gave the whole 'ghost thing' much thought until one night my wife and I were outside the mansion and we saw a light in a room without electricity on the third floor....noone was in the mansion at the time!" This is the same room that Josh previously captured a figure in the window on camera. This room may have been John Widder's room. Since the BPG has complete access to the mansion and we all feel that it warrants further investigation, we will definitely be doing another official investigation in the future...possibly an overnight investigation using new and different techniques, experiments and equipment.




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