Tinker Swiss Cottage Public Investigation 2019

The Tinker Swiss Cottage is a historic place, museum, and park in Rockford, Illinois, USA. It was built as a personal residence by Robert Hall Tinker in the1860s. It is now a popular destination for school trips and wedding receptions.

Robert Hall Tinker was born in Honolulu to missionary Reuben Tinker (1799–1854) and his wife Mary Throop Wood (1809–1895) in 1836. Tinker moved to Rockford in 1856, where he was employed as an accountant by Mary Dorr Manny, the wealthy widow of John H. Manny of the Manny reaper works. Tinker traveled Europe in 1862 and was greatly impressed by the estates and gardens he had seen there. On his return to Rockford, Tinker built himself a 20-room Swiss-style cottage on a limestone bluff overlooking the Kent Creek and the home of Mary Manny. In 1870 Robert and Mary were married, becoming Rockford 's most influential couple. Tinker was mayor of Rockford in 1875 and a founding member of the Rockford Park District.

Upon the death of the Tinkers, the cottage was left to the Rockford Park District. The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on December 27, 1972.

Curator Hochmann reports that there used to be an orphanage on the property where the current main parking lot is now located. There was at least one shooting that also occurred in the parking lot where a man was shot in the chest.

Located at: 411 Kent St., Rockford, IL. 61102

Telephone: 815-964-2424

Executive Director: Samantha Hochmann

Website: www.tinkercottage.com

The Ghost Research Society investigated Tinker Swiss Cottage on September 28, 2019. Team members included: Ron & Laura Lovatt, Charles Williams and Dale Kaczmarek with help from Dean Thompson and members of Ghost Head Soup.

Equipment setup: Teams included Ron and Laura Lovatt, Charles Williams and Dale Kaczmarek in the barn; Ghost Head Soup members in the upstairs of the main.

Experiments performed: EVP, SB-11 Ghost Box, Ovilus X, ParaTek app and Radio Specter, Red Laser Grid and Phasma Box sessions were conducted in the barn.

Personal experiences:

Ron & Laura Lovatt: Session 1 Group 2

There were a lot of background noise and equipment malfunctions.

Ovilus X- the words November and vast.

Phasma Box- a--hole, were coming, right now, Steven, a prison, yes you are, trap door, operation, impossible, invasion, hello, go away, in his room, there's a number, if you’re looking, I think it's one

The K-II went off a few times

Phasma Box continues.... swine, ease, control, and center??? Dean said, vet out if the way, look out, go out there and..., Anne, it's very.., I've had it all, before, it's not too bad, it's coming, you can ask.

Not a lot of direct answers to questions.

Session 2, Group 3

Equipment malfunctions continued. Very loud in room hard to hear.

Ovilus- nothing

Spirit Box- Susan and yes

A black shadow ran in and out of the room via the door to the room that was the size of a child. As we started to use the 3rd piece of equipment I heard knocking sound in the ground but not sure where it was coming from.

The 3rd device- zero, raised, yes, x, quitter, enter, scandal, recluse, verb, hair, magnet, 9, yours, last, desert, said, sea, important, mad, quantity, adjust, industry, Rachel, record, hair, Jacob, object, Diego, you need, basement, x, device, being, next, information, gravity, David, thank you, kitty, Ava, near death, bill, flying, dollar, bad, Interest, train, Verne, Brianna, flat, Patrick, I am, 10, grove, knee, bean, glory, strip, afraid, bend, floor, 9, weight, use, understand, under, key, paranormal, gender, thermal..

Again, not a lot of answers to direct questions. The K-II did go off again a few times.

Session 3 Group 1

We were not able to stay for the 3rd session so we have no evidence to present.

Conclusion: We have attended many investigations at the Cottage; this one felt like the spirits did not really want to interact with us. So we only got a lot of stray words and not a lot of actual direct responses to our questions, but it does not mean it's not haunted just tired of speaking to us that night.

Dale Kaczmarek: I distinctly heard the sound of something rustling in the area near the restrooms and stairway. It was momentary but was picked up on the digital recorder. There were multiple equipment malfunctions throughout the three sessions and some equipment did experience a battery drain, even though they were all fully charged the night before. Also an unexpected computer update disabled by tablet for the last two sessions, therefore I was unable to use it for the Phasma Box app.

Too much radio interference stopped me from using the Radio Specter.

Evidence collected:

Fire tinker.MP4 – while conducting a ParaTek app for Session #3, Group #1 in the Barn, the device blurted out the word, “Fire.” (There was a fire that burned down the original barn in 1958. It was rebuilt in 1998.)

I’m forty tinker.MP4 – while using the Phasma Box for Session #1, Group #2 in the Barn, a question was asked, “How old are you?” The device replied with what sounds like, “I’m forty.”

It’s not too loud tinker.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session for Session #1, Group #2 in the Barn, a question was asked, “Do you mind all the noise and construction that we’re doing upstairs?” The device responded with, “It’s not too loud.”

Lamp tinker.MP4 – while conducting a ParaTek session for Session #3, Group #1 in the Barn, a question was asked, “Do you know who started the fire?” The app responded with, “Lamp.” (Was this possibly an old kerosene lamp?)

Rustle in the hallway tinker.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session for Session #3, Group #1 in the Barn, I distinctly heard a “Rustle in the hallway.”

Up need air hide here tinker.MP4 – while conducting a ParaTek app session for Session #3, Group #1 in the Barn, the device, at first, blurted out, “Up need air.” (Was this referring to the fire that destroyed the barn? Was someone in the lower level telling others to go “Up” to get out and then “Need air” makes sense because of the smoke created by the fire.

Yes park tinker.MP4 – while conducting a ParaTek session for Session #2, Group #3 in the Barn, a question was asked, “Do you know the little boy that we just saw running out of the barn?” The app responded with, “Yes.” A follow-up question asked, “What’s your name?” The app responded with, “Park.” (Was this short for Parker; first name or his last name was Park?)

Words spoken by the Ovilus X in dictionary mode:

Session #1, Group #2: November, sent and vast; in phonetic mode – You. Phasma Box – Asshole, it’s just like…, Steven, a prison, operations, it’s impossible to…, interesting, Dean said, go out, there are…, I’m forty and it’s not too loud.

Session #2, Group #3: (Ovilus malfunction, no words produced.) The SB-11 Ghost Box was quiet.

ParaTek app: Zero, raised, yes, park, X, quitter, inner, scandal, recluse, verb, hair, reached, magnet, nine, yours, vast, desert, said, sea, important, mad, quantum, adjust, industry, Rachel, record, here, Jacob, object, Diego, you, need, basement, X, yard, being next, information, X, fiddle, gravity, David, device, thank you, kitty, Ava, near death, Bill, fly, dollar, bad, interest, train, Vern, Brianna, flat, Patrick, I am, ten, grow, knee, beans, glory, strip, afraid, bend, floor, nine, weight, muse, understand, under, tea paranormal, gender and thermal.

Session #3, Group #1: fluid and accident; phonetic mode – terrible, up, here, cookie, need, air, horrible, hide, yeah, upstairs and need air.

ParaTek app: fire, lamp, Joshua and abrasive. Ghost Box – nothing. Radio Specter: nothing, too much radio interference.

Conclusions: This was a pretty active session in the Barn. There were quite a few responses to questions asked and words that were very relevant to what happened here in the past such as, fire and lamp when asked about a fire that had destroyed this barn in 1958. Many names came through the device which unfortunately doesn’t match with Tinker history. There were reference words relating to “train” and “accident.” Those are related to Robert Tinker and the loss of his leg due to a train accident.

There were numerous words that came through the ParaTek app of “up”, “need air” and “upstairs." Those words again seem to relate to a fire and possibly people trapped who needed air and wanting to go up and leave the burning building. And there was four questions asked that received direct responses while the others had relevancy.

In my opinion, a good session in the Barn.