Milton School Investigation Revisited

Milton School was built in 1904 and remained open for 80 years, serving students until it closed down for good in the summer of 1986. The original part of the school constructed in 1904 consisted of four classrooms, boiler room and restrooms below. Later two additions were made to the school. The first in the 1930s where twelve additional classrooms were added on a wing and another six on another wing including a full cafeteria. The last addition was the gymnasium which was added in 1937 and the configuration of the school resembles the capital I. The school served as the main school for the town of Alton until 1986. After the school closed, it was abandoned for some time and then re-opened by Gary Levi (Levay) in the early 1990’s as a factory for Intaglio Design, a company that manufactures items of decorative glass. Other businesses have also taken up residence in the old building, including a martial arts academy. While some believe that only old memories still haunt the corridors of the school, the legends of the place tell a different story. The building was bought in 1987 by Richard. A warehouse was added in 1993 covering the old courtyard and playground. It was purchased in June 2008 by Meredith Elston.

Address: 1320 Milton Rd., Alton, Illinois 62002

Phone: 217-971-3627

Owners: Meredith Elston (meredith.elston@gmail.com)

Hauntings: See complete story in Milton School investigation #1. Other activities include noises in the boiler room, footsteps, shadow figures seen in the basement near the stairwell to the front door, a shadow figure of a person peeking into the 2^nd floor classroom from the hallway

Equipment setup: Spectercam4 was placed in the gym; IR camcorder was placed in the basement facing the steps again where the shadow figure was recorded last time along with the EM Vortex and Epod, G.E.I.S.T. was set up in the boiler room with the Command Center on the main floor.

Experiments performed: EVP sessions were conducted in the 2^nd floor classroom, gym, basement hallway and girl’s shower room downstairs.

The Ghost Research Society revisited Milton School on May 19, 2012. Team members included: Stan Suho, Lisa Krick, Nicole Tito, Kathie Para, Marge Sucha and Dale Kaczmarek with help from Jeanne Chilton, Dean Thompson, Susan Thompson, Mike McElhiney, Chris Crum, Kelly Davis, Michelle & Jim Little.

Personal experiences: While conducting an EVP session in the gym either a bug hit me in the face or I felt a hand brush the side of the face. It was soft and fast. I swung the camera quickly in that direction but didn’t see anything.

Kathie Para: I, Kathie Para, was teamed up with Marge Sucha, Lisa Krick, and Nicole Tito for the night. We started my investigation in the boy’s locker room and had my K-II meter, camera and digital voice recorder. While I had no experience in this area, others talked of a possible shadow, a cold breeze and the odor of chocolate and mint. Mike (from another group) was also with us in the boy’s locker room and also the girl’s locker room.)

We moved to the girl’s locker room with the same equipment. We heard noises and saw lights & shadows in the area of the pottery wheel. Mike tried to find a cause of the lights but wasn’t able to find one.

Our next session was in the upstairs “peek a boo” room. I had my voice recorder, camera and K-II meter. There was no activity in that room. There was also a lot of noise contamination from outside and also the group in the room below.

Next we (Marge, Lisa, Nicole and Dale) went in the gymnasium to conduct EVP an session. There once again was not much going on and there was some contamination from a group below us. However, Dale did feel he was possibly touched at one point.

Our last EVP session was back in the girl’s locker room. Lisa, Marge, Nicole and Dale

I had my voice recorder, K-II meter and camera. There were many noises coming from the same area as before, the pottery wheel area. There were also shadows and lights but nothing concrete. Other than feeling very cold I felt nothing personally.

All in all I felt Milton School was quiet that night.

Nicole Tito: Team Partner: Lisa Krick

Equipment Used: Audio recorder, EM pump, K-II meter, Ovilus, Ghost Box, Ghost Radar

Impressions/Personal Experiences:

During this investigation, I feel like the most active place was the two downstairs locker rooms. Lisa and I both had strange feeling during our EVP sessions down there and often saw shadows darting back and forth in the distance. I had strange feelings like something was watching us and did not want us there. We did manage to capture two EVPs during the same session in the girls’ locker room. Throughout this session, we kept seeing shadows out the one door and this area would grow brighter and dim randomly. We searched later on for possible light sources and could not locate any. The rest of the evening proved to be uneventful for me.

EVPs/Audio Evidence:

Girls Locker Bent Whisper: Dale Kaczmarek’s Ghost Radar states, “Bent,” in which Lisa asks Dale to clarify the word as she could not hear it. Dale spells it out and immediately after that there is a male voice that whispers, “Bent,” not heard in real time. At this point, Dale was the only male in the downstairs locker room and his voice is different.
Girls Locker Laugh: During the same session, Lisa and I were joking about something coming out of the shadows and getting one of us since we kept seeing strange shadows moving in the distance. We laugh about it not wanting us because we would be annoying and managed to capture a strange laugh not heard in real time.

Still photos: Nothing out of the ordinary captured in both exterior and interior shots.

Stan Suho: This was our second visit to the school, and this time the Weather Gods were friendly. We were given a quick guided tour and shown to an Air Conditioned Command Post. During the tour I had my VHS Camcorder running. We were joined by Jeanie and Dean and several other members of her group.

This time I chose to setup G.E.I.S.T. in the Boiler Room as the other hot spots were already covered by the other investigators. The standard setup was used along with Ghost Microphone and Ghost Camera. Device wise it was unusually quiet with just a few hits on the Geiger Counter and the Tri Field.

About half way through Dean's EVP Team came in and started. The session was recorded on Ghost Cam and Ghost Mic. I like it when these EVP sessions are recorded on independent Audio and Video devices it gives what’s called” corroborating “evidence. I spent the rest of the evening following the various teams around with my Night Vision Viewer and taking pictures.

Upon reviewing my findings, nothing unusual showed up on any of my photos, VHS recordings, or Audio and Video recordings. If anything shows up on Dean's sessions, I'll re-review my evidence with more amplification.

Evidence collected:

Clank.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the gym questions were asked, “Are you a teacher? Are you a custodian?” A metal clank is heard in the distance.

Four of them.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the girl’s shower room a question was asked, “Are the people back?’ The Ovilus responds with, “Four of them.”

Get out.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the basement hallway a question was asked, “If you want us to leave, tell us to go.” The Ghost Box responds with, “Get out.”

Girls Locker Bent Whisper.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the girls locker room, the Ghost Radar says “Bent” followed by a whisper.

Girls Locker Room Laugh.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the girl’s locker room, a strange evil sounding laugh is heard in the background. (See also Weird laugh.MP3)

Gruff voice.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the gym a question was asked, “What’s your favorite game to play?” A gruff male voice responds but cannot determine what was said.

I hate you.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the gym the Ovilus says, “I hate you.” Nicole asks, “Why do you hate Dale?” The Ovilus responds with what sounds like, “You’re an ass.”

I’m not sure.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the basement hallway a question was asked, “Do you like Stanley?” The Ghost Box responds with, “I’m not sure.”

Let’s Jeff Let’s Rape Her.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the basement hallway Lisa makes the comment, “I cam a long way to talk to you and I’m thoroughly disappointed.” The Ghost Box responds with, “Let’s…Jeff, let’s rape her.”

No2.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in girl’s shower room questions were asked, “It is fun to sneak into the girl’s showers?” A whispering voice responds with, “No.” A follow-up question is asked, “Do you peek at the girls while they’re taking a shower?” The same whispering voice responds again with, “No.”

No.MPG – while Dean was conducting an EVP session in the boiler room a question was asked, “Do you know each other?” A whispering voice responds with, “No.”

Response.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the girl’s shower room a question was asked, “Do you like the new owner’s?” There is a response which is hard to make out at the same time my IR hand held camera suddenly goes out of focus.

Whisper.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session a whispering voice is heard in the background at the same time Lisa said she saw a shadow in the doorway.

Who are you.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the basement hallway the Ovilus says, “Who are you?”

Conclusions: The location probably wasn’t as active as the last time we investigated it however we were able to conduct more experiments, EVP sessions and set up more equipment due to the difference in the inside temperature of the place. Nothing visual was picked up on full spectrum, IR or digital cameras however there more EVPs and interactive encounters however the ambient noise level was higher due to more people investigating the location this time. I do find this place to be most interesting and most of the EVPs seemed to be intelligent rather than residual indicating the presence of interactive ghosts.