Whisper's Estate Investigation

Whisper’s Estate is a 3,700 square foot mansion built in 1894. In 1899 Dr. John and Jesse Gibbons purchased the house from the original owners, Dr. George and Sarah White. The Gibbons allegedly adopted abandoned and orphaned children. One of these children, a 10-year-old girl named Rachel, started a fire in the front parlor, being badly burned, and died two days later in one of the upstairs bedrooms. A 10-month-old infant, Elizabeth, died in the Master Bedroom of unknown causes. Jesse died in that same bedroom after a bout with double pneumonia.

Dr. Gibbons was a prominent doctor and had his office in the lst floor rooms of the house. Considering the time period and medicine of the time it is quite possible that a number of his patients could have died upstairs during his 26 years of practice.

Stories of subsequent owners/occupants suggest others have encountered their own demise, such as a gentleman in the 50s/60s that died in the upstairs bathroom, a young boy that died from falling down the front staircase.

In 2006 the previous owner bought the house after being vacant for a few years. During its restoration, strange activity started to occur. Activity in the house continued, and even increased, subsequently earning the name “Whisper’s Estate” after guests repeatedly reported hearing disembodied voices whispering in their ears.

There are supposedly four graves in the backyard.

Mabel Hopper also lived in the house and was a music teacher who actually taught music to Dr. John’s nephew. When she passed, in 1955, her husband brought her back to lie in state for three days. Aura was her husband and when Mabel died, he married Vivian Bundy.

Every room at one time was rented out as apartments and it also used to be a B&B.

Located at: 714 W. Warren St., Mitchell, IN 47446

Telephone: 317-863-0874

Website: www.whispersestate.com

Hauntings:

In the room where Elizabeth died, reports abound of the scent of baby powder and sometimes hear her cries. Rachel has been heard running around upstairs from time to time. Guests sleeping in the room where Jesse died often awake to the sound of labored breathing and coughing. Some even report the sensation of someone sitting on their chest. The closet door will often jiggle on its own and then the door might pop open. Someone pulls the fingers of visitors sometimes leaving them with scars. Another visitor to the house, coming down the stairs, had their ankles pulled from the front causing them to fall down the stairs. The wall sconce had flown off the wall.

There is reportedly a portal/vortex which runs up through the house from the front parlor into the 3rd floor room/attic. The room in the attic is said to be the heart of the house. Guests that are brave enough to sleep in this 3rd floor room report horrible nightmares and sometimes hear something trying to get in the room via the door (door knob jiggling). In the séance room, people often get weird images while photographing the mirror. The Middle Room has the feeling of not being welcome and being pushed out. The Red Room has a ghost called the “man in the attic.” EVPs have said, get out and some have seen a strange darkness bleed out of the room while others have observed a “low to the ground thing” slither around.

Visitors have reported sighting a shadow, which is now called ‘Big Black’, an entity which psychics says ‘is not of this world’. While most commonly encountered in the doctor’s rooms, it has been seen throughout the house. An apparition has been seen carrying book or bag. This room is very active for dowsing rods and women often get touched inappropriately.

Guests have experienced earthquake-like tremors while in Doctor’s bathroom… No… not ‘those kinds’ of tremors… tremors of a paranormal origin. The door to the room and the medicine cabinet opens by itself from time to time.

EVP sessions have revealed many entities in the house at any given time, but you don’t always need recording equipment to hear these disembodied voices at Whispers Estate. Many young women have reported hearing Dr. John whisper in their ears, as well sometimes grabbing/groping them. Numerous EVPs have been captured here of women crying out for help, the bed shakes and the room often gets thick and heavy. A candle and a pillow have been levitated and thrown across the room.

Investigators often do ’rounds’ throughout the house at different times throughout a night. Sometimes, upon leaving the servant’s quarters, just after the last person exits the room, the solid, heavy, wooden door slams with unrestrained force by unseen presence.

There are times when guests notice pleasant smells of baby power drift throughout the house, but the scent of pungent cologne/aftershave; cigar/tobacco, rancid meat/cabbage, dirty medical bandages, and more are not uncommon.

Guests have reported their recording camcorders being moved by an unseen presence, thereby disturbing the viewpoint of the intended target.

The main room where the fire took place has been the scene of a full bodied apparition often seen on the staircase and the sound of a little girl whispering in ones ear. Something has been senses sitting in the chairs of the room and the chandelier has been smacked violently and was seen swinging to and fro. Footsteps are often heard from up above.

In Jesse’s Chamber, Dr. John’s wife caught pneumonia in 1934 and lingered for five days before she died. The bed is supposed to be a replica from the movie, “Interview With a Vampire.” This is the only room where the current owner won’t sleep because he’s come down with double pneumonia. People entering the room feel tight-chested and often enter into a coughing fit that lasts until they exit the room. There is a smell of rotting flesh and baby powder and the lock on the door has been turned and locked on occasion.

Inside Rachel’s room are a number of dolls. One in particular has a strange tale. Someone heard a loud commotion in the room from the bottom of the stairs after another person had asked Rachel what she looked like. The doll was eventually found but showed signs of being burnt as though it had been in a fire. Beach balls would often be knocked off the bedposts and two wet handprints have been seen at the end of the bed.

A Mr. H. broke his neck from a fall in the bathtub located in the upstairs hallway and wasn’t found for three days. EVPs of help me have been captured in the past. An apparition of a man has been seen walking from the left to the right side of the room.

In the kitchen, the sound of frantic footsteps running up the stairs. A full bodied apparition was seen walking to the back door which was the temporary morgue for Dr. John and is now a working restroom. Also an elderly woman has been spotted nearby.

In the basement, reportedly a female body was buried near the stairs and there is often a creepy feeling near the short wall. There is a story of two brothers who got into a fight and one hit the other in the back with an ax that was allegedly found in the basement just recently.

The GRS investigated Whisper's Estates on May 4, 2014 and the team included: Stan Suho, Kathie Para, Marge Sucha, Sandy Weber, Katherine Meagher, Jim Piscopo, Michael Wright and Dale Kaczmarek with help from Bob Davies, Lori Leger and Chris Williams from Champaign-Urbana Paranormal Society.

Equipment setup: I placed an IR camera with an IR illuminator in Rachel’s room and put a REM Pod on the bed along with the EM Vortex and a set of IR motion detectors at the foot of the bed.

Experiments performed: EVP sessions were conducted in the front parlor and Rachel’s Room.

Personal experiences:

Jim Piscopo: We arrived at Whispers Estates and were given a very informative walk through. After the walk through we started setting up equipment. I set up my IR camcorder upstairs facing the janitor’s closet. We conducted many EVP sessions throughout the house. I did not have any unusual experiences in the house and am still reviewing my tapes.

Michael Wright: Arrived at Whispers Estates Sunday evening, upon entering the home got a very heavy feeling had the urge to leave but did not give in to the urge, brought in the equipment and then went on a walk through with the caretakers. During the walk through the care takers gave a history of the house, I got the impression that because of the history of the home the owners capitalized on the tragedies and turned it into a business trying to contain whatever was there, I personally did not approve of that, it is just my view but if I would have been fine with leaving after learning the history. However, I did have something happen to me when we were doing an EVP session in the living room. While questions were being asked Marge Sucha got a scratch on her arm, within a minute after her scratch my arm started burning it felt as a hot poker went into my arm, I did not see marks but a small red mark appeared about 20 minutes later.

Went with the group to do an EVP session upstairs and then went into the car for the rest of the night.

Kathie Para: GRS, along with members of Bob Davies’ group CUPS, investigated Whispers Estates.

Present from our group were myself, Dale Kaczmarek, Stan Suho, Marge Sucha, Sandy Weber, Mike Wright and Jim Piscopo.

Because I had a terrible sore throat that night I didn’t participate fully in the investigation. The only experience I personally had was during an EVP session in Rachel’s bedroom. When Dale asked for a “shave and a haircut” knock to be completed we got two distinct knocks in answer.

I was a little disappointed in the way the walk through was done, in the dark and highlighting the negative things that happen in the house, with very little history told. My impression was that this is done to ramp up the “creep” factor, something I’m not in favor of.

Regrettably, because I was feeling so ill, I didn’t spend as much time in the house as I would have liked.

Stan Suho: This was an old multi-storied house in central Indiana with an interesting history. We joined up with Bob Davies' group to do an overnight. Because of the somewhat cramped conditions, our group did not do a complete setup. Bob had already pretty much covered the house with his camera system. After the guided tour we began the investigation. Dale set up a camera in one of the upstairs bedrooms and I set up in another. Neither one was monitored at the Command Post down stairs, but both were recording cameras, mine on a DVR. Jim had a camera on an upper floor monitoring a stair case. When everything was up and running the group started the EVP sessions. Since the owners insisted on keeping the lights out, I did not do any recording with my VHS Camera. The rest of the night I followed the various groups around taking IR photos of their activities.

Conclusions:
Nothing of interest turned up on my videos or photos. The sun was rising as Whisper's appeared in the rear view mirror, thus ending three long nights of ghost watching.

Marge Sucha: Weather was cool but clear. We arrived in the evening.

We had a tour of the house in the dark. This added to the dreariness of the house.

The first bedroom we entered upstairs belonged to one of the children. As soon as I entered that room I didn't like it. I felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave. The tour guide had told us it wasn’t' unusual to feel that way. Most people felt a heaviness in the chest in that room.

Parlor

After our tour we decided to do our first EVP session in the parlor.

About 25 minutes into our session I felt a strange sensation on my wrist. At first I thought it could be a strap from my camera so I moved my wrist. It started again I touched my wrist and felt a scratch. I turned on the flashlight and you could see three tiny scratch marks on my wrist. A few minutes later Mike felt a hot sensation on his arm. Then several of us started to notice the temperature in the room dropped.

Rachel's room: It was pretty quiet. Dale did the shave and a haircut and asked who ever was in the room to finish the shave and haircuts knock. He did get a quiet knocking response.

We switched on the Ghost Box and Dale asked whose room we were in and more than once the response was Rachel.

Dr. Waiting Room/ Dr. Office

Overall it was a pretty quiet EVP session. Using a FLIR camera I did notice the carriage on the old antique typewriter had a hot spot. Like someone would have done when they were typing.

The house on the outside was beautiful. On the inside the windows were nailed shut and darkened. This added to the dreaded feeling of the house and I left their feeling drained. Would like to have learned a little more of the history of the home and residence and less stories that are mostly hear say. However, I was glad to have had the opportunity to investigate there.

Evidence collected:

Gibbons1.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in Rachel’s Room, a question was asked, “What’s the doctor’s name?” The Ghost Box responds with, “Gibbons.”

Gibbons2.MPG - while conducting a Ghost Box session in Rachel’s Room, a question was asked, “What is the doctor’s last name?” The Ghost Box responds with what sounds like, “Gibbons.”

Giggles whispers.MPG – while doing the initial walkthrough in Jesse’s Chamber, a young girl’s giggle was recorded.

Go away good riddance.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in Rachel’s Room, a question was asked, “Do you want us to leave?” The Ghost Box responds with, “Go away, good riddance.”

Knocks whispers.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in Rachel’s Room, we asked any spirit to finish the Shave and a Haircut; “Can you finish this?” We heard two distant knocks come from down the hallway.

Mabel whispers.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session in Rachel’s Room, a question was asked, “Is there a woman here too? What’s her name?” The Ghost Box responds with, “Mabel.”

Conclusions: Many of us were extremely tired from our two day investigation prior at Old South Pittsburg Hospital in Tennessee so we did not hit this location as hard as we would have liked to. Many of the rooms we did not visit or conduct EVP sessions or other experiments. Very little was done in the way of a massive setup of equipment either.

I was a little dismayed that the initial walkthrough had to be conducted in total darkness; almost like it was a commercial haunted house and the darkness was added for effect. In fact, one member refused to append her comments to this report because of that fact. Since we were a professional team, I think the way of showing us around could have been altered a bit so that we could have seen more of the building in natural lighting. There was plenty of time later for total darkness.

There were some interesting possible communications with spirits through the Ghost Box especially the names Gibbons and Mabel coming through and something else apparently not very happy that we were in Rachel’s Room. While I believe that there is the possibility of earthbound or residual spirits still roaming the halls and rooms of Whispers Estates, I believe that guides need to change the way they show paranormal teams around prior to an investigation. While it might be okay for tourists or interested folk, the real paranormal enthusiast doesn’t need to be lead around in the darkness with flashlights in my opinion. Other than that we had a great time!