Havencrest Castle Investigation

The GRS was the first paranormal team ever to investigate Havencrest Castle on November 7, 2009!

Finished as Hillcrest in 1901 for Francis S. and Margaret Greenleaf. In 1899 four prosperous men entered into a competition to see who could build the grandest house. All four homes were designed by the same architect, Mr. Lester Cowen, in the Queen Anne Style. The Greenleaf's had four children, three sons and one daughter named Dorothy. The nanny was Harriet Harbaugh who lived in the northeast bedroom and fell in love with the oldest Greenleaf, Kenneth and carried on their secret love affair. She traveled to Chicago to spend time with her family for Christmas and made plans for her elopement. The day before she was to return to Hillcrest, she went with her sister Mary to see Mr. Blue Beard at the Iroquois Theater on December 30, 1903, the day of the great theater fire. A package with her personal effects was returned to the mansion, including a scorched program, which was hidden behind a mantel piece by Kenneth and wasn't found until 1979. Mr. Greenleaf died in 1944 and less than a year later, Margaret joined him. Hillcrest was sold by the children and passed through various hands until 1976 when Mr. and Mrs. Alan St. George acquired the house. It was re-christened Havencrest and began a life-long task of restoration. Eventually the building grew in size to three times the size of the original structure. More information about Havencrest can be found at: http://www.facemakersincorporated.com/weddingcastle.html However please respect the property and the owner at all times!

Located at: 104 N. 5th Street, Savanna, Illinois 61074

One of the ghosts may be that of his wife, Adrianne Blue Wakefield-St. George who died June 1, 2006 at the castle. Mrs. St. George was born September 9, 1950 in Connecticut. She married Alan St. George on March 21, 1975 in Wilmette, Illinois. Mrs. St. George would always say, "The day I was married was the happiest day of my life." Mrs. St. George authored an autobiography, A Very Special Person and a book of etiquette, Millennial Manners. She illustrated a series of children's books for Dr. Vickery of Lena, Illinois, and Adrianne wrote, produced and starred in a children's fairytale. The Day the Queen of Cold Got a Facelift. She also wrote and produced Havencrest Castle, History and Tour. She was the original founding member of the Carroll County Humane Society. Mrs. St. George and Alan restored and expanded their home, Havencrest Castle over the past thirty years in a manner in keeping with their mission of statement of creating an example of the way American aristocracy lived, at the turn of the century. Mrs. St. George has a passion and was well-known for hosting beautiful and elaborate dinner parties and events.

Other phenomena include the sounds of women singing in upstairs bedrooms and after a power outage all the television sets turned on to Big Brother Program, Mrs. St. George's favorite show. A heaviness in the chest is felt in a room called the Ivory Tower and Mr. St. George has felt strange in a small draped closet area.

Investigative findings: Several good EVPs were captured (see EVP transcripts) in various rooms and the image of woman was recorded on a static Nightshot camera in the Flemish Dining Room. The image is a woman dressed in what appears to be Victorian attire, all in white and moving extremely quickly from right to left. The unusual thing about this quick video image is that it is seen in a slit of a curtain that faces a bay window to the outside of the castle. It was already dark outside when this image was captured and the apparition appears to be self-illuminated. Another quirk is that where the image was walking was very steep and narrow and it would have been nearly impossible for any human to walk that quickly. Needless to say none of the three female investigators with us on that investigation were outside at the time or dressed in Victorian gown. They were all wearing blue jeans.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Havencrest Castle on November 7, 2009. Team members included: Jim Graczyk, Stan Suho, Joe Tito, Joey Tito, Nicole Tito, Andy Rhodes, Lisa Krick and Dale Kaczmarek. We were also assisted by Rob Johnson and Erica Behringer.

Lisa Krick: Equipment Used - Digital Audio Recorder, Digital Camera

Partnered with - Nicole Tito

Nicole and I started our EVP work in the "Princess Closet", which is a small bedroom in the guest wing. We started the audio recorders and were chatting as we were trying to turn out lights and such. At one point (about 7 seconds into the session) I said, "I don't even know how to turn all these lights off". There is an answer on the audio recorder. As we were sitting there with the door closed, we'd hear a random footstep here or there, but when I would open the door, nobody would be there. Early in the session, Joey came in to record us. After he came in, I asked, "are you here right now?" to which we heard a single footstep. We asked, "Was that you over by the stair?" Another answering footstep beside Joey. Every time I'd hear a footstep, I would see a shadow and the room darkened. All of this was captured on audio. We need to see if the video captured this as well. About 5 minutes after Joey came in the room, Nicole's audio recorder batteries died. She had just replaced them before we walked upstairs. We felt there was a presence in that room with us.

We also sat in the "Dress Closet" where all Adrianne's medieval dresses were being stored. While I didn't have any EVP evidence from there, I did see shadows beyond the curtain. Yet, when I looked to see who was out there, nobody was in the room.

In the "Doll's Room" we kept hearing single footsteps outside the room. We'd open the door to see if anybody else was out there and the hall would be empty. Also, I captured a voice on audio. It sounded like "hello or help" in a girl's voice right before I said, "it IS actually a pretty cool room".

Overall, this investigation was a dream. Absolutely beautiful estate with a gracious host. I felt completely at ease in the entire house. I never had a bad or queer feeling anywhere in the house. I felt welcomed and at peace.

Nicole Tito:

Havencrest Castle Report 11/7/09 from Nicole Tito

Team Partner: Lisa Krick

Personal Experiences/Impressions:

During the initial walkthrough, my digital camera batteries went dead approximately 5 minutes into the tour. My batteries were fully charged and I didn't take that many pictures for them to already been completely drained since sometimes I go through entire investigations without having to change the batteries.

When conducting the 1^st EVP session in Princess's Room with Lisa, Joey, and I, my batteries in my audio recorder went dead approximately 8 minutes into session. Again, these were fully charged batteries and I have gone through entire investigations without changing those batteries. During this EVP session, we kept hearing noises outside the door and what sounded like tapping when we were asking questions. At one point, the tapping sounded like it happened right under where Joey was squatting. During this time, I also thought I saw a shadow behind Joey and Lisa across the room.

When conducting the EVP session in the room with Alan St. George wife's shrine, I began to feel like I couldn't breathe and had a heavy chest feeling. This passed after 1 minute or so and happened during the middle of the EVP session.

The 2^nd time Lisa and I went up into Princess's room for another EVP session; we both hear footsteps to our left like someone was walking up the stairs. However, they sounded quieter and when Lisa and I went to investigate if anyone was coming up the stairs, no one was present.

Still Captures: Nothing out of the ordinary.

Jim Graczyk: Havencrest Castle is an enormous place that I was fortunate to investigate. I was teamed up with Joe Tito for the initial walk around the location. Joe and I were using a temperature / humidity sensor as well as carrying our own digital cameras.

Joe and I didn't notice any significant readings though you could feel the different zones that were heated. Humidity was a moderate reading somewhere about 50% throughout the building.

I didn't get any uneasy feeling throughout the building except when I was in the area next to the Ivory Tower. I had this feeling of being in a sacred area as I approached the tower area. I walked around the entrance and pondered the moment while also discussing the feeling with Joe. We eventually decided to walk into that area as a team and check out the room. I did notice an off balance feeling as I walked past the kneeler but found that the well padded carpet was the cause. Joe and I did not get any unusual readings in the Ivory Tower.

Throughout the castle I did not feel threaten or any other unusual feelings. The castle had a feeling of being welcomed and you were among friends.

My digital pictures did not have anything unexplainable or out of the ordinary that were taken at Havencrest Castle .

My video camera was set up in the dining room facing toward the Princess chair at the head of the table. The camera was set at an angle which was directly in the corner of the room, facing across the table, toward that chair. Behind the chair, there was a mirror that the camera could see activity that was happening in the hallway. As I was reviewing my footage, at approximately 1:03 into the recording, I observed what appears to be a woman dressed in white with whitish color hair or hat. This person glided from the right toward the left. This event happened quick such as gilding across the floor. (Correction: no mirror but actually a bay window) Ghostly image Here is a Zoomed Version and here is an Enlarged video

On the investigation we had our two female EVP investigators that were teamed up and always were in a pair. Erica and Rob were always together taking pictures and investigating the castle. Erica did join up with our EVP team but that would make them a three person team. None of our female investigators were wandering the castle by themselves. This video event was presented to Dale and the event was recorded and placed into the client file.

I can not explain the event that I captured on video. The castle needs to be further investigated is my recommendation.

Joey Tito: I ran a free hand camera during this investigation. I primarily shot the walk-thru of the hot spots by the owner Alan St. George. When finished with the walk-thru I joined Lisa and Nicole in the bedroom above the Merlin Room where they were doing an EVP session. During this session I filmed the entire time and recorded the battery drainage of Nicole's audio recorder. I found this to be strange considering she had just put fresh batteries in the recorder� While in the room Nicole also noticed a shadow behind Lisa and me. There was a chair positioned right behind me favoring my left side. Was it a ghostly visitor sitting in during our investigation???

Other than that I did not come across anything paranormal from my video footage. This castle was magnificent and I felt a warm sense while there. I did not sense any negative energy whatsoever. I was very impressed with Alan and really appreciated the chance to investigate his magnificent castle. I would personally like to do a follow up investigation of this castle as I feel there is some unexplained activity taking place there.

Dale Kaczmarek: I was so mystified and utterly taken aback by the sheer beauty of this house that I found it hard to concentrate on the job on hand, documenting the possible paranormal claims by Mr. St. George. However, I did conduct multiple EMF sweeps throughout the various locations mentioned as hotspots and got no higher than normal readings. The medieval hall was somewhat cold and clammy when we first entered but the rest of the house seemed warm and cheery. I don't believe there is any negative energy or bad spirits associated with this house and did not feel anything out of the ordinary when walking or taking readings. With all the love that has been poured into this house throughout the years, anything negative would have been sent packing a long time ago.

There was no command center set up or cable strung as I would be afraid to break anything within the building. The team was instructed to use hand-held devices, cameras, camcorders, tape recorders only.

EVP Transcripts

Adriane's Room EVP

Nicole Tito , Lisa Krick

We are sitting quietly in the room with the shrine of Alan St. George's late wife. You will hear a train in the background, then what I think sounds like a woman's giggle.

Merlin's Room EVP

Nicole Tito , Lisa Krick

Lisa was looking at the whiskey set on the table next to the bed explaining to me that whiskey can go bad if not properly kept. I believe you hear a quiet voice saying, "Stop." However, this is very hard to hear without headphones.

Princess Room #1 Thump

Nicole Tito , Lisa Krick

We are asking whether anyone is present in the room and you will hear a loud thump in which we both react to.

Princess Room #1 Thump Under Joey

Nicole Tito , Joey Tito, Lisa Krick

We asking again if anyone is present and you will hear a thump in which we react to that occurred where Joey was sitting.

Princess closet EVP ... Nicole and I are setting up for our EVP and I state, "I don't even know how to turn all these lights out." Right after that (at seconds 9-10) is a whisper, but I don't know what its saying.

Princess closet 2 EVP ... Nicole, Joey and I are in the room. (Same session as above, but Joey's come in to videotape us). We've been hearing footsteps, so I ask, "can you take another step?" and then you hear two footsteps at seconds 13-14. Joey then states, "That was right under me.�... Nicole asks, "Are you over by Joey?" to which there is another footstep at second 26. Every time a footstep happens, the room darkens, but I'm the only one who notices, because others are watching their equipment.

Havencrest doll room ... Nicole and I are in the doll room and just before I say, "it IS actually a pretty cool room" something speaks, but I don't know what it says. It happens at seconds 10-11.