Tinker Swiss Cottage Private Investigation 9-29-2018

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 Litteral 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, 815-964-2424

Executive Director: Samantha Houchmann

Website: www.tinkercottage.com

Equipment setup: Mostly hand-held equipment was used and it was brought from room to room as we investigated. Full-spectrum and Nightshot camcorders were employed as well as REM Epod, Tri-Field Natural EM Meter, EDI+, X-Cam SLS device, digital recorders, dowsing rods and Melmeters.

Experiments performed: EVP, Phasma Box, Ovilus X, Ghost Radar and dowsing rod sessions were conducted in the Red Room upstairs, Master Bedroom, Parlour and Summer Kitchen in the basement.

The Ghost Research Society privately investigated Tinker Swiss Cottage on September 29, 2018. Team members included: Greg Kos, Mike Rosario, Kathie Para, Mike Wright, Chuck Williams and Dale Kaczmarek

Personal experiences:

Greg Kos: The members present for this private investigation were Dale, Mikey, Kathie, Mike, Chuck and I. We didn’t have a lot of time to investigate the cottage.

The equipment used by me was The EDI+ meter my IR camera and my voice recorder.

I captured nothing on my voice recorder or my EDI+ meter except for 2 brief periods of vibration outside the Red Room and fleeting EMF lights. In the bedroom down the hall down stairs in Robert Tinker’s basement residence, I caught a large orb like mass in the kitchen.

We definitely needed more time.

I love Tinker Swiss and would really love to be locked down in there for a solid day!!

Kathie Para: GRS members included in this investigation were: Dale, Mike Wright, Chuck, Mikey Rosario, Greg and I. We were joined by Samantha, the new curator of Tinker.

We used various pieces of equipment to try to communicate during the evening, including the Phasma Box, dowsing rods, Ovilus X, digital cameras, audio recorders and various EMF meters.

Our investigation focused on several areas of the house: the “Red Room”, Master Bedroom,

Parlor, Library and the Basement Kitchen. We had many interesting and relevant responses from the Phasma Box and dowsing rods as well as some very good K-II activity, including going to the red when asked specifically for that to happen.

I only captured one EVP when reviewing my audio, a whisper that may or may not be saying “asshole”.

Having investigated Tinker Swiss Cottage several times over many years, I have found the spirits there are subtle but definitely make themselves known. This night was no exception and didn’t disappoint.

Mike Rosario: Introduction: I had another great time at the Tinker Swiss Cottage!! It was my second time visiting such an exciting, and notably haunted place! This was a private investigation that we did that night, and it went tremendously well!

Equipment and Initial Investigation: Our investigation took off at approximately 7:20pm on Saturday, September 29, 2018. Weather was luke warm, scattered thunderstorms, and some wind. Equipment used was my K-II meter, a Philips Digital Voice Recorder, a Sony Night Shot Handy-Cam DCR-TRV13 NTSC 560 Digital-8 20X Optical Zoom video camcorder, and a Police Security Elite Blackout 615 Lumen Hands-free Heavy Duty Flashlight. We first began in the Red Room doing some EVP work. Dale's Phasma Box was in use at the time to help converse with the spirits that were there. I received some slight K-II hits on my meter, but nothing substantial. From there, we moved to the master bedroom. We received most EVP responses from this room hands down, in my opinion. It was extremely active in this room compared to other rooms in the cottage. We had mostly intelligent responses from the former family that lived there, and possibly Mary and her children as well. 'Twas very impressive to say the least! From there, we moved downstairs to the parlor. Here we conducted another EVP session, and Mary came through about three times during our question session. Some questions were actually diverted over to myself, as a few female spirits wanted to converse with me. Nothing ever happened to me like that before. Some of the information was just that, very informative, and personal. I did get very emotional, to say the least, but it was all very mutual, nonetheless. Lastly, we moved to the basement for another EVP session, and possibly picked up Mr. Tinker himself. It was such an interesting night. And very well done by everyone!

Investigation Wrap-Up: The investigation ended approximately around 1:30am Sunday, September 30, 2018.

Evidence: Upon reviewing all of my evidence, it’s sad to note that nothing appeared image-wise on my night-shot camcorder. However, plenty of EVP's did come through for us that night; mostly in the Master Bedroom, the Downstairs Parlor, and the Basement. We did pick up on more than ten spirits, for sure, during our voice sessions; some of them children, too.

Conclusion/Overall: As always, it was a very good investigation; very well conducted. I really enjoyed being here, as it was my second time visiting this amazing location! Truly a wonderful experience, I had! Many thanks and kudos to Kathi Kresol and her team there at Tinker Swiss for allowing us the opportunity to investigate this very beautiful structure. We definitely would love to come back and visit again!

Chuck Williams: Equipment: I kept it simple- Zoom Recorder, IR Lights (Which weren’t needed since we kept lights on), Go-Pro camera.

Experiments: EVP sessions- with aid of Ovilus X, Phasma Box, dowsing rods.

Personal Experiences: I heard a ringing downstairs during our 1^st session, Kathie thought in may be her phone, but I suspect it wasn’t, will have to examine her phone noises next time we are together.

4 sessions held in the limited amount of time we had, Red Room, Master Bedroom, Parlor, Basement/ Summer Kitchen. Positive responses received from devices, but little from bare senses.

Conclusions: I would suggest some quiet time and or just EVP sessions as well as instrument use.

Michael Wright: This was a private investigation at the main cottage, I was looking forward to finally being able to do a regular investigation at this location, have been here a number of times but this was the first private investigation. In the past at this location I have had very good responses with the dowsing rods; this time around everything was different.

The rods were moving but weak in the range of motion. There were some interesting responses on the Ovilus and Phasma Box but nothing like the past sessions.

Dale Kaczmarek: This was one of the more active investigations here. There were a lot of words spoken and many times the words did indeed answer questions posed. There were some sounds heard downstairs while we were conducting a session in the Red Room. We could not determine that the sounds were paranormal or coming from a natural origin.

There was some interference when using the Mini-Portal in the Red Room. This could have been natural or caused by something within the device.

Very little in the way of actual equipment interaction during our sessions there.

Evidence collected:

1bridges tinker.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Summer Kitchen, a huffy voice in the background said, “1 bridges.”

4 answered A tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device blurted out, “4 answered A.”

66 Master Bedroom tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device said, “66.”

Ahh tinker.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Summer Kitchen, a question was asked, “Is there anyone with us?” A deep guttural sound said, “Ahh.”

Am I what tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, a question was asked about women in this room and the device answered with, “Am I what?”

Basement kitchen whisper tinker.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Summer Kitchen and while discussing equipment and fields, a whisper was recorded in the background.

Born in a hen house tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Red Room, a question was asked, “You got to tell us your name.” The device responded with what sounds like, “Born in a hen house.”

Bows and thank you sir tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device blurted out, “Bows and thank you sir.”

Call Dave tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Red Room, the device said a few unrecognizable words and then said, “Call Dave.”

Clarence tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, a question was asked, “Who are we speaking to? What’s your first name?” The device responded with, “Clarence.”

Danke basement tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Summer Kitchen, the device said what sounds like, “Danke.”

Date tinker.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Red Room, the Ghost Radar said, “Date.”

Donn Master Bedroom tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device blurted out, “Donn.”

Fuck you tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device said what sounds like, “Fuck you” very softly.

Greg tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, a question was asked, “Who’s your favorite person in this room?” The device responded with, “Greg.” (Greg Kos was in the room.)

Haha Master Bedroom tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, it sounds as though someone speaking through the device said, “Ha ha.”

Hello people tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Red Room, a question was asked, “What’s the name of this house?” The device responded with, “Hello people.”

Hello1 tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Red Room, the device sounds like it says, “Hello.”

Hello2 tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Red Room, the device clearly says, “Hello.”

Help basement tinker.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in phonetic mode in the Summer Kitchen, the device says, “Help.”

He’s special tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Summer Kitchen, a comment was made, “...his energy maybe.” The device said, “He’s special.”

Hey big guy tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Red Room, the device said, “Hey big guy.”

Hey what’s up tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Red Room, a comment was made, “Hello?” The device responded with, “Hey what’s up?”

I can see him Master Bedroom tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device said in the high-pitched child’s voice, “I can see him.”

I love you Parlour tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Parlour, the device said. “I love you.”

In German tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session, the device said, “In German.”

It was really important tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Red Room, the group was conversing when the device said, “It was really important.”

Just watch me Master Bedroom tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session it the Master Bedroom, the device blurted out, “Just watch me.”

Let’s not fight, where’s Chuck tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device said what sounds like, “Let’s not fight” and follows up with, “Where’s Chuck?”

Never Master Bedroom tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device said, “Never.”

Number 1 Parlour tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Parlour, the device said, “Number 1.”

Rosario Parlour tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Parlour, the device said either, “Rosario” or “I’m so sorry now.” (Rosario is the last name of one of the investigators.)

Sometimes Master Bedroom tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, a question was asked about the ladies being with you and the device responded with, “Sometimes.”

Stressed out Parlour tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Parlour, a conversation ended with, “…like I was saying.” The device said, “Stressed out.”

Sure Master Bedroom tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, a question was asked, “Do you know what Halloween is? Samhain?” The device responded with, “Sure.”

That’s special Parlour tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Parlour, the device said, “That’s special.”

Up up up basement tinker.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in the Summer Kitchen, a question was asked, “Are you down the hall?” The Ovilus responded three times, “Up up up.”

Watch me Master Bedroom tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device clearly said, “Watch me.”

We’re getting passed tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Master Bedroom, the device said in a female voice, “We’re getting passed.”

Yeah1 Parlour tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Parlour, a question was asked, “Have you known me in a past life?” The device appears to say, “Yeah.”

Yeah 2 tinker.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in phonetic mode in the Summer Kitchen, a question was asked, “Got your pajamas on?” The device responded with, “Yeah.”

Yep yep Parlour tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Parlour, a question was asked, “Do you think her life will be okay?” The device responds in a high-pitched child’s voice with, “Yep yep.”

You’re in my house tinker.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Parlour, the device says in a woman’s voice, “You’re in my house.”

Conclusions: This place did not disappoint again and it was one of the more active investigations to date. Some of the responses appeared to sound like German language. This was the group’s first private investigation of the location. We have conducted numerous public investigations for Haunted Rockford in the past.

Ideally it would have been great to set up more equipment on various floors and let them run while we were conducting sessions in other rooms. This would have required more set-up time and we wanted to limit our investigation to around three hours.