Baker Cemetery Investigation

Has two interesting graves on the back row near the tree line, Row 1, of Leonard Reed and Elizabeth “Betsey” Reed. Leonard died August 19, 1844 “Death By Murder”, while Elizabeth’s grave says, “Death By Hanging” May 23, 1845. Betsey Reed was convicted of murdering her husband Leonard and at a trial in Lawrenceville, Illinois was found guilty and was the first woman hanged in Illinois; a story that many locals appear to know and one that inspired a book written in 2009 by Rick Kelsheimer, “The Hanging of Betsey Reed: A Wabash River Tragedy on the Illinois Frontier.” Betsey was thought by many to be a witch and was allegedly responsible for setting fires without any matches or combustible material.

Reed was convicted of killing her husband with arsenic on the testimony of a single witness, 16-year-old Eveline Deal. Deal claimed to have watched Reed pour a white powder into her husband Leonard’s sassafras tea, which, the teen testified, “seemed to make him very sick and caused him to vomit immediately.” Leonard died three days later in great agony from “inflammation of the stomach, induced by some poisonous drugs.” Elizabeth was held at a jail in Palestine, Illinois.

There is also one, Samuel Baker who was a Corporal in the 1^st Regiment of the Ohio Militia during the War of 1812 and Andrew Baker who was a Private in the 2^nd Regiment, 2^nd Brigade Illinois, during the Black Hawk Wars.

This cemetery has been surveyed three separate times by people associated with the Crawford County Illinois Genealogical Society with the oldest known survey in the 1940s by Mrs. Merle Richards. Cemetery compiled by Imogene Bailey and Wilma Roesler, August 4, 1972 and updated by Alan Ayres and Burl Rich, October 31, 2002. Note: Row numbers start on the west side of the cemetery. Gravesite sequences start on the south and go north.

There are a number of graves with the name Heath; founders of the Heath Candy Bar.

Address: Baker Cemetery is located Section 6, Township 5 North, Range 10 West, Montgomery Township (Northeast of Heathsville), Crawford County, Illinois.at GPS coordinates: 38.5406, -87.3338.

Hauntings: Reed haunts this cemetery and members of the Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunters Society have evidence in the form of EVPs and other strange events recorded on their equipment during past investigations. Others have heard a female weeping near her grave and seeing a lady dressed in white moving about the tombstones.

According to local lore, another woman whose car slipped off a ferry just north of the cemetery in the Wabash River and drowned has also been reported here. Allegedly a family murdered by marauding Indians in 1812 has also been recorded by Snider’s group.

Equipment setup: Digital camcorders were employed along with digital tape recorders and a Phasma Box was used. A live Facebook event was shot there during our EVP session.

Experiments performed: An Ovilus X and Phasma Box session was conducted by the Reed grave in Row 1 near the tree line.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Baker Cemetery August 3, 2018. Team members included: Jim Piscopo, Mike Rosario and Dale Kaczmarek with help from Jason Snider, Jason Dickerson, Riley Miller and Courtney Breanne from Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunters Society

Personal experiences:

Jim Piscopo: We were met at the hotel by the crew of the Crawford County Ghost Hunters about 11:30 Saturday morning for a two day investigation of various places in the area .We did mostly bridges and cemeteries and one school house. It was very hot during the day with temps in the high 90s cooling down to the 70s at night. On some of the locations I used my Sony Handy Cam with night vision. We did many EVP sessions over the two days using the Phasma Box and the Ovilus. I did not get anything on video but got a few things on audio. I had one experience in the van when my headlamp came on by itself. Another thing happened at home when I was finalizing the discs on the camera. I had two discs that would not finalize which have never happened before. All in all it was a great trip and thanks to the Crawford County Ghost Hunters for their time and hospitality.

Mike Rosario: Our excursion took off at approximately 2:30pm on Saturday, August 4, 2018. Weather was extremely hot and muggy, with hardly a cloud in the sky. These were not 'set investigations,' per se, because of constant outdoor/field element contamination. These were only short site visits to and from various haunted locations. Observing, and the reporting of evidence (if any), was the main objective of this trip. Equipment used was my K-II meter, a Philips Digital Voice Recorder, a Sony Super Night Shot Handy-Cam DCR-TRV13 NTSC 560 Digital Hi-8 20X Optical Zoom video camcorder, a Police Security Elite Blackout 615 Lumen Hands-free Heavy Duty Flashlight, Sony Handy-Cam HDR-XR160 AVCHD 42xEZ video camcorder, and a handheld green laser grid device for the excursion. We conducted both daytime and nighttime investigations at these locations noted above. However, it seemed that out of all of the locations we've visited, Baker's Cemetery, in Heathsville, Illinois, seemed to have an abundance of activity, in terms of EVPs.

Investigation Wrap-Up: The excursion ended at approximately 1:00am on Sunday, August 5, 2018.

Evidence: Upon reviewing all of my evidence, it is sad to note that I didn't pick up any evidence photography/video-wise. However, upon reviewing my digital voice recorder (DVR), I did pick up a few EVPs at Baker's Cemetery. In the first nine minutes of the EVP session, through Dale's Phasma Box, I have confirmed at least eleven distinct EVPs that were said when that device was used. The EVPs are as follows:

1. 0:11: "She's Guilty."

2. 0:23: "The Smell."

3. 0:42: "Lucifer," or "Lucy Burke."

4. 1:12-15: -a disembodied voice, then "Who Told You That?"

5. 4:23: "This Is An Investigation."

6. 5:25: "The Woman."

7. 6:20: "Trying To."

8. 7:13: "I Am [Innocent]."

9. 8:07: -sounds like "Dank Je Wel." (Which means 'Thank you very much" in Dutch.

10. 8:31: "Attack Them!"

11. 9:24: "Yes, I Believe."

Conclusion/Overall: This was a very cool ghost excursion! I really enjoyed being with the Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunters Society team, and for them hosting this excursion for us that weekend! It truly was an honor for them presenting some of the history and hauntings associated with these great locations! We couldn't have done it without them. It would be a delight seeing them again, and venturing out on another tour of the many places of the unknown down in southern Illinois!

Dale Kaczmarek: This was a hot day but we were able to experiment in the shade of trees near the perimeter of the cemetery. This was a more time that last year’s stop here with a lot of relevant phrases and direct answers to some of our questions. I used the Phasma Box with my newly purchased external speaker which made all of the difference in clarity and sound quality.

Through later research, I discovered some items in Betsey’s past including charges of witchcraft that seemed to make sense in some of the responses that we received that afternoon.

Evidence collected:

Dale baker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session, the device yells out what sounds very much like, “Dale.”

Help me baker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session, the device screams out, “Help me.”

Lucifer baker.MPG– while conducting a Phasma Box session, a question was asked, “What’s your first name? Who are we talking to?” The device responds with what sounds like, “Lucifer.”

She’s guilty baker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session the device spoke over one of us and says, “She’s guilty.”

Thank you for that baker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box sessions, a question was asked, “Are you still there?” The device responds with, “Thank you for that.”

This is an investigation baker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session, a question was asked, and “Did you murder your husband?” The device says, “This is an investigation.”

Trying to baker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session, a comment was made, “We’re giving you a voice here. If you need to say anything, you need to say it now.” The device responds with, “Trying to.”

Who wants that baker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session, the device says clearly, “Who wants that?”

Yell baker.MPG – while conducting an EVP session a loud yell was recorded in the background.

Conclusions: Excellent location with verifiable history and excellent EVP sessions! This might be a location to revisit during the nighttime, if possible since there have been visual occurrences that have been reported in the past. A lot of the responses weren’t just random phrases but actually seemed to not only answer questions but point to a possible history of Betsey while she was alive.

While most cemeteries are not considered to be haunted because there is really nothing to draw back spirits to a location where their earthly remains are buried, this location has tragedy, murder and an execution. If we then incorporate the other alleged untimely deaths, it does make for a fascinating place to investigate day or night!