Thornhaven Manor Investigation

Thornhaven was built in 1845 by Simon T. Powell on land purchased from the State o f Indiana in 1821. Simon Powell married in 1842 Elizabeth (Hoover) Thornburg, b. (1807) the widow of Jacob Thornburg who’d passed to his reward in 1840.

Jacob Thornburg had come to Indiana in the early days with his parents, Walter and Mary Thornburg, from the Lost Creek neighborhood near Knoxville, Tennessee. They settled around Economy, Indiana in Wayne County.

Jacob and 16-year-old Elizabeth Hoover were wed Nov. 17, 1825 in Economy. Elizabeth was a daughter of David and Catherine Yount Hoover of near Richmond. David had come to Indiana from North Carolina and settled on land north of Richmond the year before Elizabeth’s birth. An original Wayne County settler, Hoover was considered a well-educated man, a writer of good, plain hand and a reader of the French language.

Elizabeth Thornburg bore Jacob eight children: Hiram, David, Oliver, William, twins Edwin and Calvin, John and Jacob. Oliver and the twins died in infancy. Hiram, born in April of 1827, became the first child born within New Castle corporate limits. His parents by that time were well-honored and respected citizens, and they educated Hiram as best they could in the New Castle that still was a wilderness.

But Jacob died when Hiram was 12. By the time he was 15, Hiram apprenticed with local tanner John Powell and remained a tanner for 14 years. Afterward, Hiram dabbled in boot and shoe-making and the grocery trade. He passed in 1888.

Two years after Jacob’s death, Elizabeth married Simon T. Powell and set about bearing him children. By 1850, Henry, 7, Orlistus, 5, and Ester Catherine, 2, had joined the brood.

Jacob, (the son, Simon Powell’s stepson) Thornburg was now 10 and also lived at the manor. As an adult, Jacob became one of the Darr-McDowell parties to reach Pike’s Peak in 1859. He died of typhoid returning from that trip in Nebraska later that year, and is buried at South Mound Cemetery.

At the beginning of 1851, the Powell’s welcomed their last child, Lizzie, who passed away unexpectedly at the manor in March of 1853. In 1869, Ester Catherine was married in 1869 to William Elliott, and passed away in Thornhaven six short years later. Simon and Elizabeth were living in New Castle at this time.

Noted in Elizabeth’s 1881 obituary was mention that Ester Catherine “was a loving and affectionate woman, possessing all the noble virtues belonging to womanhood, (who) surrendered her young life into the hands of its Creator but a few short years ago, beneath this same roof, surrounded by a host of devoted relatives and friends, who vied one with the other to smooth the pathway of her departure to that home not made with hands eternal in the heavens.” When Elizabeth Thornburg Powell died in 1881, Simon and her son Henry were the only relatives left nearby.

Many stories have been written about the tragedies that befell this family, including the death of their son Orlistus, whom Simon found in a mass grave during the Civil War at Chickamauga battlefield. Simon brought Orlistus’s remains home to New Castle to be buried in the family plot. Family legend also says that the home served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.

In 2012 the building was purchased by Steven C. Miller and he began to restore the property. The house has four staircases, seven doors that lead to the outside, four chimneys, two actual bedrooms and approximately 6,000 square feet. The back side of the house was once used as a restaurant owned by the Bells and later the kitchen was attached to the main house.

There is no commercial power to the complete house however Miller uses extension cords to supply some power for bare necessities and paranormal groups.

Located at: 2172 Spiceland Rd., New Castle, Indiana 47362

Telephone: 310-720-7980

Owners: Steven C. Miller

Hauntings: The Main Room where most investigative teams set up their Command Center is a good location for spirit box sessions. The Living Room is called by Miller as the “heart of the house.” In the Drawing Room which was currently off limits due to the entire floor having to be removed, a TV investigative team apparently caught something unusual on a FLIR camera. The main staircase leading up the second floor is fairly active as most ghosts have an affinity for stairs. There is also a very tight winding staircase that leads up to a tower that is considered to be another good place.

The only negativity ever reported in the house is said to be more like frustration or even “child-like” said Miller. There have been rare cases of people being scratched when the spirits don’t want them around.

In one of the rooms upstairs people have seen lights on in the windows, shadow figures have been reported and batteries are often drained.

The GRS investigated the Thornhaven Manor August 13, 2016 and the team included: Stan Suho, Chuck Williams, Sandy Weber, Damaris Miles, Greg Kos and Dale Kaczmarek

Equipment setup: The Command Center was deployed inside the main room upon entering the mansion through the front door. Cameras were set up upstairs and downstairs in various rooms throughout the manor.

Experiments performed: EVP, SB-11 and Ovilus X sessions were conducted in the basement, living room, orange carpeted room and the room with the walker upstairs. The X-Cam SLS system was employed in all locations. Williams conducted a live Facebook feed from the upstairs.

Personal experiences:

Greg Kos: I was doing OJT with Stan on the operating functioning of the Sony Cybershot IR camera. We set up all cables that led to one camera set up in living room which malfunctioned about three minutes due to dead batteries. Shut down the Movie mode and shot stills throughout the house and reviewed all the still pics and found nothing unusual.

There was no K-II activity. I did hear a moan in the day room where we all were doing a EVP session and hopefully Chuck picked it up on the voice recorder.

Because of road activity we left at 1130 pm.

Damaris Miles: Equipment: Infrared camera (FLIR), dowsing rods, and Tri-Field Natural EM meter

Summary: I did not observe or witness any evidence that Thornhaven Manor is haunted.

Sandy Weber: Equipment: Sony night shot video camera, Infrared camera (FLIR), dowsing rods, and Tri-Field Natural EM meter

Phenomena witnessed by investigator

At the beginning of the investigation, another investigator and I took electro-magnetic readings throughout the first and second floors without finding any unusual levels of activity. Then we conducted dowsing rod sessions in two of the second floor bedrooms without finding activity. These sessions were followed by three EVP sessions, in the basement, living room and one second floor bedroom. During the EVP sessions, another investigator and I used my night shot video camera and FLIR. No activity was seen on the FLIR in any location. In the second floor bedroom, the video camera picked up a thump that appeared to come from somewhere outside the room. Since all members of the team were in the room, as well as the resident cat, the sound cannot be attributed to team contamination. However, outside sources are not necessarily paranormal, since a road and gas station are nearby. Also my video camera may have picked up a whisper—again, not necessarily paranormal. Other investigators in the room heard a “growl” that was not picked up on my video camera. (The cat was still in the room but not in the area from which the sound appeared to come.) I would postulate that the sound emanated from someone’s stomach.

Summary: I did not record or witness any clear evidence that Thornhaven Manor is haunted.

Chuck Williams: Equipment: GoPro Camera, Panasonic 4K Camera, IR Lights, Full spectrum camera, Zoom recorder, REM Pod, FLIR Camera for iPhone.

Personal Experiences: While doing an EVP session in the red carpeted room, Greg and I heard growling noises coming from where Damaris & Sandy were sitting. It sounded like someone’s stomach growling. Both denied it was them, and that they didn’t hear it. My recorder and none of my cameras picked it up.

Nothing paranormal about the 2^ndevent. After Sandy & Damaris left, the four remaining investigators started a session in the 2^nd floor forward bedroom. Greg noted a truck sitting in the road, or on the property that kept backing up, moving forward and stopping. It gave a creepy feeling, but I felt it was someone exploring a spooky place and telling ghost stories, or someone saw our lights and became curious, or thought someone had broken in, and was going to call the cops.

Experiments: It was rainy that night, which lent to the atmosphere, but put a damper on the group pic, and with the basement access through an external door, I didn’t feel comfortable taking equipment in the rain, so I skipped that portion.

I set the GoPro in the room that was featured on Ghost Adventures, and carried the rest of the equipment with me. Several clear responses were heard during a spirit box session in the living room.

This was the 1^st time we used Facebook Live during an investigation. You need some kind of light source, doesn’t work well in total darkness. I think this will serve us well as a promotional device, or getting attention to the group page, and letting members be with us, even if they can’t attend. Maybe the best use will be to summarize what we are doing, unless we have a little light.

Conclusions: I would like to do an all nighter there, we were tired from the Hannah House Meet & Greet, and creeped out by the pickup truck, so we cut it short.

Stan Suho: After a long rainy day at the meet and greet in Indy, we made the short trip to New Castle, Indiana. We found a large old style farm house with two big rooms on the first and second floors, with several small side rooms. After we got the group together we were given the guided tour by the man of the house, accompanied by a friendly cat that was into everything. Our crack EVP team set out on their mission to capture disembodied voices from yester year. I took our new member Greg under my tutelage to show him how to set up a Sony IR camera and run cables to the small command post. It will be nice to have another IR camera probing the darkness. With Greg's camera on the first floor, I set up mine on the second floor assisted by the cat. The EVP team was busy making the rounds of the second floor so I directed my attention to them. Chuck was busy doing a live Internet broadcast from the investigation site. This added a nice professional touch to the investigation. Chuck’s on the cutting edge of technology. Using all the technology we proceeded into the night, covering the whole house.

Conclusions
I did not pick up anything of a paranormal nature but had a good time and gave Greg a good introduction into the ins and outs of ghost hunting.

Dale Kaczmarek: This was surely a creepy place out in the middle of nowhere and very run-down. The weather didn’t help much due to an almost constant rain. I felt that there were several locations that I assumed would be ideal for a spirit materialization including the stairs leading up the second floor. Ghosts seem to have an affinity for staircases. Several bedrooms upstairs and a very strange basement were also other locations that should have been great for picking up something.

Greg was being trained with Stan and Damaris was working with Sandy. Chuck and I pretty much free-styled throughout the evening allowing Chuck the opportunity to set up a lot more cameras and gear.

We had the location until the morning but several of us got a little spooked by “real people” that were trespassing on the property and the driveway. Not knowing what their intentions were we decided to close our investigation just before midnight.

Evidence collected:

All right Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the living room, a whisper was recorded in the background that says, “All right.”

Barry Thornhaven.MPG – while looking out the upstairs window at a car outside that was backing up on the property and acting strangely, a whisper was recorded that sounds like “Barry.”

Believe it’s a microbe Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting an EVP session upstairs in the orange carpeted room, a whisper is heard that sounds like it’s saying, “Believe it’s a microbe.”

Chuckle Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting an EVP session upstairs in the orange carpeted room, a “Chuckle” was recorded that sounds like, heh heh.

Coming through Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the living room, a whisper was recorded that says, “Coming through.”

Don’t stop it sucks Thornhaven.MPG – William’s GoPro camera deployed upstairs picks up a whisper that says, “Don’t stop, it sucks.”

Fire Thornhaven.MPG – William’s hand held FLIR camera that was being used in the living room picks up a loud crash and “Fire” is heard right after the crash.

Get fucked Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in the living room, Kaczmarek says something that sounds like “Monster use thing” and the Ghost Box responds immediately with, “Get fucked!”

Good night Thornhaven.MPG – William’s GoPro camera deployed upstairs picks up a voice that says, “Good night.”

Great Thornhaven.MPG – William’s Panasonic 4K camera being used during an EVP session in the orange carpeted room, a comment was made, “Steve wants to fix this place up. How do you feel about that?” “Great” is recorded.

Growl Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the living room, a growl was heard and recorded and nobody claimed that the sound came from them.

Hi Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session upstairs in the orange carpeted room, a question was asked, “Can you say hello?” The Ghost Box responds with, “Hi.”

Hi2 Thornhaven.MPG – William’s Panasonic 4K camera deployed upstairs picks up a faint whisper that says, “Hi.”

Hi3 Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in the living room, a question was asked, “Can you say hello to the group?” The Ghost Box responds with an immediate, “Hi.”

I’m getting out Thornhaven.MPG – William’s Panasonic 4k camera deployed upstairs picks up a whispered sentence that says, “I’m getting out.”

Its awful Thornhaven.MPG – during the initial walk-through Williams picks up a whisper that says, “It’s awful.”

Jim Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in the living room, a question was asked, “Can you tell us your name?” The Ghost Box responds with, “Jim.”

Lord Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus session in the basement, a question was asked, “Did anyone ever die in this space?” The Ovilus responds with, “Lord.”

Loud bang Thornhaven.MPG – Weber’s hand held IR camera picks up a very loud bang somewhere nearby but nobody made the sound.

Moan Thornhaven.MPG – William’s Panasonic 4K camera deployed upstairs picks up a low “Moan.”

No Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session upstairs in the orange carpeted room, a question was asked, “Anyone in the room with us?” The Ghost Box responds and was captured on William’s GoPro camera with, “No.”

No2 Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the upstairs bedroom with the walker, a question was asked, “Can you tell us whose room this was?” A whisper is then picked up on William’s GoPro camera that says, “No.” I can’t be 100% sure that the sound wasn’t made by the cat, however it doesn’t sound like a cat and nobody in the room heard that response.

Seven Thornhaven.MPG – while conversing in the living room, underneath the chatter a voice says, “Seven.”

Son Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in the living room, the Ghost Box says, “Son” and it had said this word several times.

Son2 Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in the living room, the Ghost Box again says the word, “Son.”

Son3 Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in the living room, a question was asked, “What’s your name?” The Ghost Box responds with, “Son.”

Sorry Thornhaven.MPG – Williams’ Panasonic 4k camera deployed upstairs picks up a voice that says, “Sorry.”

Stay Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in the living room, a question was asked, “Stay or leave?” The Ghost Box responds with, “Stay.”

Whisper Thornhaven.MPG – while setting up for an EVP session in the living room, Weber’s IR camera picks up a series of whispers.

Why Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in the living room, a comment was made, “Guess we’re going to another room.” The Ghost Box responds with, “Why?”

Yell Thornhaven.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus session in the living room, a question was asked, “Anyone else here with Anna or are you by yourself?” William’s GoPro camera picks up a loud crash in the background followed by a strange “Yell.”

Yell2 Thornhaven.MPG – William’s Panasonic 4K camera deployed upstairs picks up a yell near the end of the clip.

Yell3 Thornhaven.MPG – William’s Panasonic 4k camera deployed upstairs picks up a very loud yell. We can’t be 100% sure that it didn’t come from a real person but it sounds very strange.

Yell4 Thornhaven.MPG – William’s Panasonic 4k camera deployed upstairs picks up yet another strange yell.

You’re right Thornhaven.MPG – William’s Panasonic 4k camera deployed upstairs picks up a deep male voice saying, “You’re right.”

Conclusions: A creepy but interesting location. The inside looked like something right out of a haunted house Hollywood movie. While using the X-Cam SLS system, a stick figure was observed very briefly apparently standing by one of the windows in the living room. It appeared to be around six feet tall and Miller commented that others have either both seen and sometimes captured something on their cameras looking into that window. It’s not possible for a real person to do that because they would have to be over ten feet tall!

There was consideration contamination by others during some of the EVP sessions. Some was caused by people moving around and not sitting still and during the first session conversation and talking was heard coming from the Command Center several times. It must be stressed that all talk should cease during the length of any EVP session.

Otherwise, a very enjoyable time dampened a bit by the weather and some locals apparently trespassing and backing up in front of the property late into the evening.