Monroe House Investigation

Built in 1851, this 16-room house is owned by Eddie Norris who originally wanted to flip the house. Norris purchased this location as a rental property in 2003. It has 10 foot high ceilings. One of the previous owners was a man by the name of John Saxon who lived here while awaiting the construction of the nearby Hartford City Jail in 1867. Other families also once lived here including John and Mary Berger who were originally from Belgium and lived here from 1900 to 1930. They had five children. The Berger’s rented out the upstairs to Ulysses G. and Mary Miars and their three children Earl, Edna and Ernest around 1905. Then came Sydney Faulkner who lived upstairs with his wife Myrl in 1940. Sydney died August 18, 1940 when his car struck a support beam of a bridge. They moved out of the upstairs apartment after the death of Sydney and a family with children move in. (The modern claims of paranormal activity begin around this time.)

Living downstairs at the time was Harry B. Meyers, his wife Emma and their adult son Clayton, 23. Clayton later lived here with his wife Pearle.

Ground penetrating radar was employed in the back yard and it showed at least seven targets but nothing more was done about discovery. This location has often been referred as the “Demon House.” There were possible human remains found in the basement crawlspace.

Eddie grew up in Virginia and as a youngster had jaunts into cemeteries including the Governor’s Mansion in Richmond, Virginia.

Doll Room contains a piece of broken china from Alexander Crowley’s house that burnt down in 2015. Jimmy Page from the rock group Led Zeppelin once owned Crowley’s house. There is a room filled with Ouija boards.

Address: 219 N. Monroe St., Hartford City, Indiana 47348

Phone: 765-717-8726

Owner: Eddie and Pam Norris

Email: 218monroehouse@gmail.com

Hauntings: Norris believes that most of the dark stories concerning this house are not true; however his wife has been concerned about possible attachment issues for the last couple of years at the time of this investigation. A high percentage of people after investigating here have had problems in their own homes.

Many believe that the sources of the hauntings are due to various reasons including the satanic activity and rituals in the basement along with human bones and implements used in dark rituals. There has been infidelity, untimely death, child abuse but apparently no deaths that have ever been noted of dying in the building.

A number of years ago Eddie was at home when he thought he heard his wife come in and even his pet cats reacted; but she wasn’t there. Three or four days later, his wife tells him a very similar thing; sounds of a piece of furniture turning over or making a huge crash.

Sounds of a door opening and footsteps have been reported here. Strange fires have started in the basement for no reason. Disembodied voices have been heard in the hallways.

Eddie had a strange dream of a deceased friend that warned him not to enter this house anymore.

One day Eddie was working on the upstairs floor with the radio on and flood lights when he saw a silhouette in the hallway enter into another room. He knew he was along but investigated the room where the figure had disappeared but there was no one in the room.

He has stated his position on ghosts to the group and said that he found that to be “grossly unnatural and something’s wrong.” He has done a lot of remodeling in the house and that can sometimes stir up activity.

Neighbors has seen someone move through a section of the house and former surveillance cameras used to alert Eddie to various rooms that had picked up some motion. A neighbor whose house faces the rear of this building told Eddie that he too saw what he thought was a real person in the house, moving around upstairs past the windows in broad daylight. According to Eddie, nobody has ever broken into this house; so it can’t be real people that neighbors have seen.

One afternoon while Eddie was in the crawlspace, he experienced a clunk and then footsteps above him. The doors were locked and nobody else was in the house. Eventually the sounds became softer and softer before totally fading away altogether. He said that he was frozen with fear at the time. At that time he was no further than 15-20 feet away from where they had discovered possible human bones. The noises started in the kitchen and headed into the hallway.

Some past researchers have surmised that the activity started in the 1990s after former tenants began to dabble with the occult. Some others say that a Belgian family actually began to report strange phenomena during the 1930s.

The Ghost Research Society  investigated the Monroe House on April 12, 2019 and the team members included: Dale Kaczmarek with help from Bob Davies from Champaign-Urbana Paranormal and Dean Thompson and Melissa Johnson from Ghost Head Soup

Equipment setup: Most of the group used handheld equipment that they carried from room to room. The equipment used were digital recorders, Sony Nightshot camcorders, full spectrum cameras with IR and FS illumination, Tri-Field Natural EM Meter, Melmeter with proximity probe, SB-11 Ghost Box, Phasma Box, Ovilus X, REM Epod, X-Cam SLS device and several Facebook live sessions were broadcast.

Experiments performed: EVP, Ovilus X, Ghost Box SB-11 and Phasma Box sessions were performed in the Blue Room, Buggy Room, Ouija Board Room and another bedroom. We also turned off the microphone on the tablet when using the Phasma Box just in case it was broadcasting our questions and others listening in responded or repeated the same word back. I highly doubt that this was possible but we experimented with that idea anyway.

Personal experiences:

Bob Davies: Impressions: The house has different feels to it. There were times when the energy in the house just made me feel that something was about to happen. Other times the house just felt like an old house.

Evidence: I captured several EVP though none seem relevant to what was going on at the time. I recorded a Phasma Box response that seemed to acknowledge Dale directly. There were several unexplained knocks throughout the night.

Experiences: When the words stair and third came through the Ovilus X, I checked the stairs and did see a shadow coming up the stairs. A moment later the temperature dropped and I felt someone go by me. Had other experiences with cold spots.

Melissa Johnson: The Monroe house was a memorable experience. The main equipment I used was a full spectrum camera, Zoom audio recorder, and X-Cam SLS.

I did not capture anything significant on my equipment. However, I noticed immediately upon entering that the house itself had an unsettled feeling. The entire time we were there it felt like the atmosphere was spring loaded. I did not have any significant experiences during our investigation other than that charged up feeling. After a very unsettled night of very little sleep, the next morning did not bring any calmness to the atmosphere. After we packed up our equipment I decided to take a last walk through the house and take a few pictures with my cell phone. I was on the ground floor in the front living room taking pictures when I heard a very loud whispered voice from behind me say "Get out of here!" I listened for about 30 seconds to make sure I was not hearing any people from outside but I heard nothing more. After snapping a couple more pictures around the room I returned to the back of the house where I found Bob sitting on the couch. I could see Dean walking around out in the back yard and Dale was still upstairs packing up his stuff. 

After we left, I felt like a part of the house stayed with me and for a couple of weeks and I felt a strong pull to go back. I found out my partner Dean from Ghost Head Soup had similar feelings. One night, about 3 or 4 days after we were there, I even had a dream that I got out of bed with the intention of walking all the way back to the Monroe house. I woke up just as I reached my front door in my dream. 

Although I did not catch any evidence with my equipment, I have no doubt there is something there. Whatever is there did not manifest in ways that I could document but I definitely felt it energetically and spiritually. I intend to go back very soon.

Dean Thompson: The Monroe House seemed to just materialize as we approached the intersection of Monroe and Franklin Street. The house itself is elevated, towering down on the homes around her. The stairs leading up to the structure were overgrown with untrimmed saplings, and all the windows were covered with brown paper. It was explained that people walking by would see spirits and think someone had broken into the home, and Eddie, the owner, had to drive out for each report. Eddie was a great host and made us feel welcome. After an hour tour with lots of questions, we, the small group of four, couldn't wait to get started.   

We focused on the blue room, front living area, and the two rooms upstairs. The basement was small and the floor was covered with water, so we decided against doing a session there.   

I followed the team around with my hand-held night vision camera and my H2 Zoom audio recorder. Sadly, I did not capture anything on audio or video. I did clip out some video footage to show us reacting to a noise and how Bob had an experience with a shadow figure. We also tested the Phasma Box by muting the laptops microphone while in use. The responses from the Phasma Box seemed to be on their own, like they couldn't hear us during this test. I walked away to wait for the pizza delivery. So yeah! Get this...we are in a haunted house, a supposed "Demon House" and I call and order two pizzas to be delivered, LOL - I couldn't resist. So as for the Phasma Box or any other related windows driven applications or cell phone apps is that they have the ability to be programmed, eavesdropped upon, and an interaction by third parties. I hope for further testing of the Phasma Box before I am sold on it.   

We stayed the night in the room with the dolls, it was no B&B but that's not why we came, the night was uneventful no dreams or being scared awake, however the next day. The next day, here is where it gets odd; while Melissa and I are driving home we talked about a lot of different things, everything but the house. We started to have this sensation or a need to go back, like it was still with us but not happy we weren't talking about it, it was like we were being drawn back. We hope to return some day but please contact me if you had a similar experience.   

Dale Kaczmarek: The house seemed very cold, however this was mid-April and it was somewhat cold outside. Parts of the house just seemed to be much colder than the outside while investigating which I felt was odd because we were indoors even though there was no heat except a small space heater in the downstairs parlor and radiant heat upstairs in the bedrooms which we didn’t turn on until just before we went to sleep.

We were going to conduct an EVP session in the basement however it was very wet and quite cold so we passed on that floor. It was definitely a hot-spot but we were actually standing in water on the floor.

Evidence collected:

Anytime Monroe.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Ouija Board Room, a question was asked, “Do you like Bob?” The device responded with, “Anytime.”

Billionaire Monroe.MPG – while discussing the Ouija Boards in the room, a whispered voice was recorded that said, “Billionaire.”

Chuck Monroe.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in the Buggy Room, a question was asked, “Who is the man’s name in the room?” The device responded with, “Chuck.”

Coldness Monroe.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in the Buggy Room, a noise was heard in the background, followed by a coldness in the room. The Ovilus X said, “stair” and “third”, so team members went to the stairs and were met by an extreme cold and Davies said he saw a shadow figure.

I’m happy I love it here Monroe.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Ouija Board Room, a question was asked, “Why do you stay here?” The device replied with, “I’m happy. I love it here.”

No Monroe.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Blue Room, a question was asked, “Do you stay because you want to?” A whispery voice was recorded that said, “No.”

Probably not Monroe.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Ouija Board Room, a question was asked, “I guess you only like Dean?” The device responded with, “Probably not.”

Slow Monroe.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Blue Room, a series of low whispery words were recorded that sounds like it says, “Get…slow…”

Unexplained knock Monroe.MPG – a loud tap or knock was recorded in the Living Room.

Unexplained thud Monroe.MPG – during our initial briefing in the Living Room, a comment was made to Eddie about feeling generally uncomfortable when a soft thud was recorded.

Unknown sound Monroe.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Buggy Room, a comment was made about going somewhere else when a sound was both heard and recorded nearby.

Wife Monroe.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in dictionary mode in the Buggy Room, a question was asked, “Is Paula related to Gregg?” The device responded with, “Wife.”

Yep Monroe.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Blue Room, a comment was made, “It is a lot colder here than it was in there.” A whispery voice was captured in the background that says, “Yep.”

Words spoken by the Ovilus X in dictionary mode: government, law, channeling, hike, radio, Gregg, shoulder, view, daddy, marry, ride, waves, beckon, kite, rust, boy, jog, hat, field, climbed, stair, third, him, always, knee, Paula, running and wife – in the Buggy Room and in phonetic mode in the Buggy Room; look up, yeah you and help.

Conclusions: Two names came through, Paula and Gregg and they seemed to be related to one another, possibly husband and wife. While conducting an Ovilus X session in the Buggy Room, three words came one after another which seemed to make some sense; climbed, stair and third. About that time a cold rush of air seemed to enter the room and a few went to investigate the third stair when Davies claimed to have seen a shadow figure.

Another series of words came through; knee, Paula, running and wife. This was right after the shadow figure was encountered. When beginning a Phasma Box session in the Ouija Board Room, the device said, “Starting now!”

There were some words that came through the SB-11 Ghost Box but nothing that I could discern as absolute responses or cognitive.

All in all it was an interesting night but I think the entire group thought we would get much more from “The Demon House” but perhaps it was just television hype. It was a quiet night while sleeping overnight upstairs and it was warm with heat in all of the bedrooms along with cots.  Our host, Eddie, was gracious and was a great guide! We were in sight of the Old Blackford County Jail which this group had investigated back in 2015.