Thomas House Investigation

The inn was built in 1890 by the Cloyd family and was known as the Hotel Cloyd and Recreation Park. There was a vast amount of land at that time. Food served in the dining room, from produce to meat was raised on the property. There was a golf course, horse trails, hunting, canoeing, outdoor open-air bowling alley, shuffle board lanes, an outdoor dance hall and any number of lawn games. The hotel passed through several owners one (a wrestler) kept a live bear in the building used to entertain the guests, and was last owned and operated by a Cult who specialized in contacting the afterlife. The Thomas House has approximately eleven acres of the original property and have opened fifteen rooms to the public. It has been featured in two television productions concerning paranormal activity. Southern Haunts produced by Zach Adams and A&E's Paranormal State with Ryan Buel, featuring psychics Chip Coffee and Michelle Belanger. The Tennessee Ghost Hunters is one of several paranormal investigative groups conducting on-going investigations here at the hotel.

Located at 520 E. Main St., Red Boiling Springs, TN.37150-2718, 615-699-3006

Website: www.thethomashousehotel.com

Hauntings: Room 37 is the most haunted room in the building, Daryl told of hauntings including the one time he saw a dark shadowy figure of a man come through the front door and stand by the Al Gore, Sr. chair before disappearing. There have been documented deaths of a child drowning in the swimming pool and a gentleman falling from a horse while crossing the bridge leading to the property and dieing in the stream. There have been loud crashes heard as though someone has just struck the building with their automobile. At times bricks are said to be have been heard falling from the crash but nothing out of place is ever found. Ghostly sounds include that of a whistle that is heard and the organ which is not plugged in the wall. An apparition of an old lady has been seen coming down the hallway with all the pictures on the wall and disappearing into the gift room.

The Ghost Research Society investigated the Thomas House from July 6th to July 8th of 2010. Team members included: Stan Suho, Jim Piscopo, Dale Kaczmarek. We were joined by PRISM and PROSI members; Brian & Michelle Lavigne, Susan & Dean Thompson and Jeanne Chilton.

Equipment setup: The first night Jim P. set up his static IR camera and IR lamp in the lobby facing the doorway and Al Gore chair, I placed static IR camera and IR lamp in the hallway where Jim P's room was and where all the high EMF (natural) readings were.

The rest of the team set up a laser grid experiment in the hallway where I was staying along with an EVP session. G.E.I.S.T. was set up down Jim P's hallway.

The second night we set up Jim P's static IR camera, IR lamp, Dean's full spectrum and digital recorder, Geophone, EM Pump inside Cloyd Chapel and attempted to broadcast a wi-fi signal to the command center which was unsuccessful. I placed my static IR camera and IR lamp in the lobby facing the Al Gore chair with an EM Pump near the doorway and full spectrum camera down Jim P's hallway with EM Pump.

The final night I set up a static IR camera in the room where I had experienced the cold chills the first night along with an EM Pump on the table. The last night we did not monitor these devices from the command center.

Personal experiences: Brian saw what appeared to be the arm of someone go past the open doorway of the room directly next to the one I was staying in but no one was there.

While walking into a back room with a lot of pictures and memorabilia, I felt the hair on my arms stand up and a cold chill. Quickly calling to the rest of the group, they also felt it and actually videotaped the hair on my arms standing up!

Jim Piscopo heard what sounded like a cart being pushed through his hallway at night and footsteps.

I heard what sounded like a disembodied male voice come out of a room very near the television room. Immediately getting the groups attention, Jim, Jeanne and I investigated and conducted an EVP session. While in that room we all clearly heard a metallic sound come from the room directly behind us. Quickly entering that room, no one was there and we tried to find the source of the sound. The only object that made a similar sound was an old bugle sitting on a shelf.

While conducting an EVP session in the "cold chill room" with Jeanne, Dean and I with the Video Ovilus, I noticed an unusual wispy light formation on the wall behind Dean which quickly dissipated. Jeanne felt as though something or someone was attempting to remove her flashlight from her pocket.

Photographic Evidence: The first night on Jim P's camera in the lobby we got a strange white shimmering effect in the doorway that appears twice. After the tape was complete, we pulled the tape to review. At first glance it appeared to be the head and shoulders of an individual but on closer examination it may indeed be two distinct faces. We attempted to recreate this effect by walking past the window, shining lights in and out, flashing pictures, opening up the soda pop machine, illuminating myself with a flashlight from behind (which only created a nice shadow image) and even pulled a car into the driveway but nothing came close to the effect we captured.

While Jeanne was filming a handheld session in one of the bedrooms, she noticed a dark shadow that did not move.

Video review:

7-6-10 IR Static camera was placed in the far hallway along with a laser grid system, IR lamp and EM Pump.

20:47 cough (possibly Stan)

25:50 noise

49:08 voice

53:42 voice asking a question (?)

58:27 loud bang

2:00:53 female sigh

Jim Piscopo video review:

8-6-2010 00000.mpg sounds from upstairs and a possible light in the doorway window.

Chairshadow1.mpg chairshadow2.mpg and chairshadow3.mpg show an interesting light formation on the far right-hand chair in the lobby and in #2 a strange shadow is actually seen to obscure the light for a time.

Groundlight.mpg clearly shows a purple and green light on the floor momentarily in the lobby entranceway.

Light.mpg shows some streaks of light which could have been people dropping additional cables downstairs at the time.

Light malfunction.mpg during an interview with the owner of the Thomas House in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee, my camera light turns off at the exact point where he is talking about batteries and lights draining in the past.

Music.mpg a strange melody is heard for four notes and nothing more was heard the rest of the night. Daryl did say that there was an organ that his son used to play when he was alive.

Orb.mpg a bright white light or orb is clearly seen in between the lobby chairs to the right of the picture and never again throughout the evening.

Windowlight.mpg is a compilation of both of the strange shimmering effects seen in the doorway windows, followed by the car headlights and the streaking orb from left to right. This was captured without the display on the screen.

7-7-10 IR Static Camera was placed downstairs in the lobby facing the front door and the Al Gore, Sr. chair along with an EM Pump near the door.

29:48 high-pitched voice saying, "Help me!"

45:06 two white lights were observed in the lower left-hand side of the doorway. They looked like headlights but never appeared again in the 2 hours the tape ran even though cars were seen traveling from right to left only two time during that same tape.

1:10:37 another light flashed in the right-hand side of the window, very similar to what Jim Piscopo captured the first night. It was very short-lived.

Jim Piscopo video review: His camera was placed in the Cloyd Chapel the second night and closed up along with an EM Pump, Geophone, full spectrum camera, IR illuminator and digital audio recorder.

Churchmusic.mpg are some sounds resembling music that were heard only one time.

Churchsound2.mpg were faint noises recorded on the audio track of the video tape.

Footsteps2.mpg were faint footsteps recorded on the audio track of the video tape.

7-8-10 IR Static Camera was placed in the back dining room where we experienced the chills the first night. An additional IR illuminator, EM Pump was also employed.

There were lots of loud noises and footsteps but can’t be sure it wasn’t some of the researchers. Often it sounded like it was right inside the room.

59:35 a strange breath was recorded

Jim Piscopo video review:

The last night his IR camera was placed outdoors facing the bridge where the gentleman fell to his death.

Sound.mpg is a faint sound somewhere close to the camera.

Jim Piscopo: The first night upon walk through I didn't notice anything except the EMF readings in the upstairs right hallway was 10.0, the rooms off the hallway were fine at 1.0.My room was at the far right corner of this hallway and I was the only person staying in this wing.

I went to bed at 2:00am.at 2:15 I heard a loud metallic clang like a metal box falling over. At 2:20 I heard a sound like someone dragging a chest or box down the hallway, I looked but nobody was there.

The second night I heard laughing coming from down the hallway. It sounded like a woman's laugh, again I am the only one in this section and nobody was there. About 3:30am I heard chimes coming from inside my room with the last note lingering for about 30 seconds.

The last night I didn't notice anything but had a weird feeling of being watched.

Stan Suho: The setup began about dusk. This was a dual investigation of both the Thomas House and the Chapel about 150 yards away. G.E.I.S.T. was setup on the second floor hallway which was reported very active. I was setup in conjunction with Dale's IR Camera. The standard equipment was used along with the Ghost Microphone.

The Mic wasn't very effective because the air conditioner kept cycling on and off. But when it was off the hallway grew very quiet and every squeak and groan of the house was recorded.

An experiment was conducted to broadcast a TV signal from the Chapel to the command post using the Wi-Fi Cantennas.

This proved to be a (Bridge to Far). 3 or 4 walls and a big bushy tree proved too much of an obstacle. The next night the experiment was repeated, this time to a Bridge about 100 yards away, where a man was accidentally killed. This time the picture came in very clear and we monitored it all night till the rain came. This was a good test of the Cantennas and they will be used again in future investigations.

Also used for the first time was a pair of heavy duty 12 volt batteries to power Dale's Jumbo IR Lamps. These proved very successful, as the batteries were used 3 nights running.

On the third day we investigated a Cave not far away from the House.

This was done mainly with IR Cameras and Hand Held's.

Again the Jumbo IR Lights were used.

During the 4 investigations I constantly used my Night Shot Viewer and took numerous pictures as well as using the VHS Camera.

EVP was not conducted as this was covered by the other group.

Conclusion:

Nothing showed up on any of my experiments although my Ghost Mic recordings may be used to back up any sound picked up by Dale's cameras. The trip proved to be a good shakedown of several new devices and I'd like to go back sometime and retry some of my experiments.

Video evidence:

K-II response - Dean Thompson was asking, "Do you want us to leave?" The K-II lights up to red. A follow-up question about leaving was asked and again the K-II lit up.

Overall opinion: In my opinion, there may be ghosts at the Thomas House. There were enough personal experiences to warrant it. However there was much contamination due to loud talking and the television constantly being on during EVP sessions and investigation time. A lot of possible evidence and voices may have to be discarded because they could not be separated from the natural sounds in the room. Cell phones were left on adding to additional noise when ring tones sounded and interference from cellphone updating was noted on some audio.

There was a documented murder in the house, drowning in the pool and death on the bridge and yet no EVP sessions were conducted in those locations. In my opinion, these could have been excellent locations for spirit communication.