The following is an excerpt from Brian J. Corey’s new book, published October 7, 2026, by Antiquarium Publishing. 185 pages, $14.99.
ON SALE
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Chapter Three
“Home is a shelter from storms -all sorts of storms.” -William J. Bennett
From time to time, I get a request from a concerned individual for a private consultation or for some advice on perceived paranormal activity. These requests usually come to me through my podcast’s website or from people that have heard me speak at a public event. However, I recently received a request from a personal friend of mine. This is someone who was rather skittish to admit that there was unusual activity occurring in their home and was somewhat hesitant to reach out for assistance in the matter.
My friend, who I will refer to as David for the sake of confidentiality, is a warm, friendly and very outgoing person. Both David and his wife, Jessica, are professional, highly educated, and successful people in the Omaha area. They are exceedingly involved in the communities’ creative arts scene and are the parents of two delightful children. They are sensible, generous, and all around wonderful people.
You would absolutely be proud to call them friends and would welcome them as neighbors.
They were also living with a secret. Behind the friendly demeanor and the seemingly peaceful life was a family that was experiencing troubling events in their own home.
David reached out to me because of an escalation in perceived paranormal activity occurring in their home. He knew that I research and investigate such phenomena and because of my podcast, I have an abundant resource of past guests that I can consult with and draw upon their experiences and expertise. I was quite surprised when David texted me one evening asking for my opinion and for my assistance.
Despite being friends and knowing David for a few years, I have never been to his house. I assumed, because of his place of employment, that he lived in an older and more central area of Omaha. To my surprise, I learned that not only did they live in a newer subdivision, but he and Jessica lived in close proximity to my own home. After referring to our schedules, we settled upon an evening later in the week for me to stop by, spend a few hours, and talk about what they were experiencing.
I arrived at their home at the scheduled time and was immediately struck at how charming their house was. Their home is located in a quiet, upper middle class neighborhood situated near some public schools and neighborhood parks. Their home is comfortably ensconced close to a nearby dog park and a walking trail as one might expect in a thoughtfully designed development that is attractive to families.
Tasteful landscaping and manicured lawns greet you when you proceed into their subdivision. The 25 mile per hour speed limit signs are necessary because of the amount of school age children riding bikes, playing, and enjoying a carefree lifestyle there. I pulled my automobile into their driveway and made my way up the walkway leading to their home. I felt no sense of dread or feeling of unease or anything else out of the ordinary. This in itself was atypical from the usual requests for consultation or investigation.
Before I went over to their home, I did my research on the home and on the property. Through my research of deeds and titles with the county assessor’s office, I was able to trace the history of the subdivision, the development of the property and surrounding areas, as well as a listing of the current and past owners of the specific property.
What I uncovered could not be more unremarkable. Every place that I checked, there was truly nothing that one could consider out of the ordinary.
The home was not quite thirty years old. Before the neighborhood area was sold to a developer, it was an undeveloped piece of land that historically was utilized as farmland and was owned by one family for many decades. The family sold the farmland and it was purchased by a real-estate developer during the always ongoing western expansion of the Omaha area suburbs. Generous sized lots were plotted and made available to a variety of established homebuilders and contractors to develop the subdivision into what we see today.
The original homeowners, a gentleman and his wife, selected this particular plot of land and a homebuilder was contracted to build them their dream home. After the construction of the home was completed, the couple lived and enjoyed their custom home for over fifteen years.
As the couple grew older, they decided to downsize and put the house on the market. As of this writing, the original homeowners are still alive and are enjoying their golden years together in a condominium.
By all accounts, they were well regarded by the neighbors as pleasant, easy to get along with, and generous with their time and community involvement. To this day, from time to time, the gentleman drives past this house and visits with my friend, the current owner of the home. He compliments my friend on the upkeep and upgrades that he has made on his house…and for good reason.
You see, after the original owner decided to downsize and relocate, he sold the house to another family. This second homeowner was a complete and polar opposite in demeanor and temperament from the original homeowner. Over the next nine years, the condition of the home deteriorated inside and out. The lawn that once was manicured, maintained, and meticulously cared for was neglected and became overgrown with weeds.
The plants that were once the envy of neighbors who dreamed of similar curb appeal for their homes, withered and died from neglect. The driveway was reduced to a depository for rusting work trucks that were utilized for this homeowner’s private business.
Storm and sun damage hastened by Mother Nature was largely ignored and went unrepaired. Fence boards that once elegantly framed the property line, slowly over time became broken and resembled a mouthful of crooked teeth. Shingles went missing from the roof and peeling exterior paint resembled scabs on the sickly body of the home.
The inside of the home fared just as poorly. My friend told me that the entire inside of the house needed repairs. Fist sized holes were shabbily patched before the financial closing. All the carpeting and flooring needed to be removed and replaced due to the nine years of abuse and neglect. My friend and his wife got this once pristine house in a wonderful neighborhood at a steeply discounted price because of all the necessary repairs that were inevitable.
These were not just cosmetic fixes. Considerable structural and safety concerns needed to be addressed to bring the house up to reasonable livability.
The reputation of this second homeowner was also just as blighted. I was told that he once pulled a pistol on a group of children he suspected of throwing eggs at one of his work trucks.
There was evidence of hard drinking, potential domestic violence, and disputes with neighbors. There was a collective sigh of relief from those nearby residents when the realtor’s FOR SALE sign was posted in the front yard. After nine years, the neighborhood wholeheartedly welcomed the opportunity for a new family to purchase and live in the house.
When my friend, his wife, and family moved in, sleeves were immediately rolled up and they went right to work. The roof was repaired and re-shingled. The ignored exterior of the house was painted a fresh and inviting modern color. The dilapidated fencing was restored and the landscaping was revitalized. Slowly and surely, pride of homeownership returned and was once again made clearly evident to those who passed by.
On the inside, the cabinets and appliances in the kitchen were repaired, restored, and replaced so that family meals could be prepared with love. The walls were properly repaired and painted.
Most of the flooring was refinished and what was deemed unsalvageable was ripped out and professionally replaced.
Drafty and damaged windows were removed and new units were installed. Finally, a backyard patio area with an emphasis on spending quality family time and entertaining friends and loved ones in mind was designed and constructed. The sweat equity they invested in the house was joyful work. By completing and restoring much of this fixer upper themselves, they were able to live in a home that they wouldn’t have been able to under ordinary circumstances.
In all, tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of hard work went into the renovation and restoration of this home. When all the work was complete, it was now a residence where my friend and his family thought that they could settle in and enjoy the years ahead of them and create new lasting memories. This was the intent of course…until the disturbances began to intensify.
Now remember, these are hard-working and very reasonable people. At first, when they moved in, it was hard to describe…but they described things just seemed a little “off”.
They told me that there was a feeling of unease in different parts of the home that each of them felt. They didn’t know if they necessarily could feel a “presence” with them, but they told me that they did at times feel like they were being watched.
At first, they attributed all of this due to the fact that the house was always in some state of disrepair. Whether because of the initial condition that they bought it in, or because of the ongoing repairs, remodeling, and renovations, the house was always in a state of disorder.
However, even with all of the restoration efforts that they were engaged in, there were strange occurrences that were happening that could not be attributed to painting, dry walling, and carpentry work. A large clock repeatedly fell off of a wall. It was not because of a faulty anchor securing it to the wall. The anchor remained on the wall, and the clock’s fixture was intact. The clock appeared to have been lifted off the anchor and away from the wall and then dropped.
An indiscernible voice was sometimes heard. A voice that was not heard emanating from the outside or from an unattended television or radio, but from somewhere inside the house in close proximity.
David and Jessica are not what you would consider “paranormal enthusiasts”. They have a cursory
knowledge of paranormal concepts mostly gleaned from occasional viewings of the popular television programming available on cable TV. They couldn’t explain to you the difference between a Ghost Hunter from a Ghost Stalker, or even begin to tell you what constitutes a proper Ghost Adventure. Although they believe in the concepts of a Christian God, they are not regular attendees of a particular Church or religious denomination.
Because of the escalation and steady increase of these disturbances, they had consulted with some friends and acquaintances who they described as having “psychic’ or ‘mediumistic’ abilities. The family also had these people investigate their home. These individuals, who came on separate occasions (free of charge) and never conferred with each other, all said that they picked up on a presence of a dark figure lurking in the basement and in the garage. Each of them reported seeing or had some kind of perception of someone or something standing in the basement in a far corner of the main room.
The psychics/mediums also “saw” these shadowy figures appear to be peeking around a corner looking up from the staircase that leads to the basement. This figure or presence was also witnessed in the garage near some cabinetry installed on the back wall adjacent to the main part of the home. Jessica herself was also keenly aware of this as she had stopped going into the basement and tried to limit her time in the garage as much as possible some months earlier. By the time they reached out to me, they were living in much distress in their dream home.
When they requested my help, I was very clear that I was there to listen to their story and make some observations. I am not a psychic. I am not a medium. I visited them as a friend wanting to listen to and potentially help another friend.
When they welcomed me into their house, they asked if we could talk outside on their patio. They said that they were nervous of “it” being able to hear us talk about the disturbances that were affecting them. They graciously offered me a cup of coffee and we sat under the night sky by the glow of their natural gas fire pit and had a deep and honest discussion about what they were experiencing.
I presented my findings from my research into the property records and I took notes on what information and insights that they had to offer. Preserving all of the eyewitness accounts and documenting the precise information about the circumstances before, during, and after a perceived paranormal event are critical to the investigation.
Most often, when a person begins to consider what they consider to be a “haunted house”, they will think of an old, dilapidated structure. They will imagine a place that has stood for generations. Their mind begins to envision a scenario where some unspeakable tragedy or a horrific event occurred inside its walls or on its grounds. They conjure up a scenario where if those walls could talk, they might reveal some dark and sinister history.
While that might be true in some instances (the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum located in Weston, West Virginia, for example), that was certainly not the case here. These common misconceptions are oftentimes the fruit of the imagination of the storytellers in Hollywood and the response to our love of being scared and embracing the delight of Halloween culture.
This specific house and surrounding neighborhood were approximately thirty years old. Only three families have lived in this particular residence. All the members of each family that dwelled there were still living. No death or unspeakable tragedy or horrific event occurred under its roof.
Yet, the current residents were experiencing feelings of dread and unease that prevented them from entering certain parts of the house, and that hampered them from fully enjoying their time together in the home in any meaningful way. It should be noted that these feelings of dread or unease were not present in any of the residences that they previously owned or occupied. By all accounts, nothing seemed to have “followed” them to this home.
After spending an hour or so talking to them outside on their patio, I asked for a tour of the house and they obliged. Other than the normal clutter that every household has (I have three children and two dogs, so I know a thing or two about clutter), nothing seemed strange or out of place to me.
When descending the stairs and upon entering the basement, I did feel something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but when standing next to their large, built-in television and shelving wall unit, I had to speak up.
“Can you tell me about this wall unit?” I asked. As it turns out, the previous owner (the second homeowner) was a carpenter. That was the nature of the business he owned and the reason for the work trucks he always had parked out front.
The previous owner built the large television and shelving unit himself and left it there when he moved. Since it was a quality piece, was specifically built to occupy that space, and accommodated their own television, my friends decided to keep the custom unit in place and use it themselves.
I found that of particular interest and continued the tour and discussion.
When the tour continued and they took me to the garage, they showed me the spot where one of their medium/psychic friends sensed a “dark” or “angry presence”. The medium/psychic told them that they sensed what they described as a “shadowy figure” that was lurking by the back wall of the garage next to some custom cabinetry. This garage storage cabinetry was also the handiwork of the second homeowner.
A pattern was beginning to emerge.
After finishing the walkthrough tour, we returned to the outside patio area and chatted some more. I brought up the pattern of these experiences that seem to happen with more frequency around the custom cabinetry. We came up with some possible scenarios as to what might be happening.
First and foremost, I believed what they were saying was absolutely true. Looking in their eyes as they told the story, I knew that they certainly had faith in what they were saying. Their story didn’t waver as they recounted it to me. I told them about a conversation that I had with famed parapsychologist Loyd Auerbach on my podcast. During the conversation, Loyd explained to me and my listeners how a residence can seemingly be “haunted” by the psychical imprint of the living.
“We seem to leave information behind in places, and possibly on things too. So it’s almost as if some form of the environment records information” Loyd stated.
“It’s called “place memory” in our field…because we’re really talking about a memory of things that have happened in that place.” (Necronomicast, Episode 247)
So this could be a possible explanation of the disturbances that are centered in David and Jessica’s home. It would explain why there were no reports of unexplained malevolent episodes or disturbances with the original owner. The original homeowner loved the home and took meticulous care of it. That homeowner also returns in good “spirits” on occasion to look upon his former residence and to compliment the current owner.
Imagine then how that home could seemingly become a container for the emotions of the second homeowner. This could be a possible reason why the psychics reported picking up what might be the psychical imprint of an angry individual. It could conceivably be the residual psychical energy of an angry individual which they interpret as a “shadow person” in the basement. They described how they seem to feel or sense this over in the proximity of the custom television cabinet.
In almost every home in the United States of America, the television is a focal point of attention. People gaze at the television and experience a range of emotions. People laugh, they cry, they shout in celebration, and they scream in frustration, all depending on what they are watching and what their emotional investment in the programming is.
Fist sized holes in the walls by the television cabinet could perhaps be made in a fit of rage after focusing on the events unfolding upon the television screen.
As the house started to crumble, deteriorate, and almost rot around this man and his family, what could the aftermath be on a spiritual level? This continued day after day for nine years. The potentiality of over 3,200 days and nights of anger, hostility, rage, and sadness was accumulating and compounding in the house. When my friend and his family moved in, they were walking into a place that was not a very pleasant place to call home to say the very least, for nearly a decade.
Later on, as I continued to work on the case, I reached out to renowned paranormal and occult expert John E. L. Tenney to ask his advice on my theories.
With his vast knowledge on anomalous phenomena and drawing upon his decades of experience and research into such matters, I figured he would be the perfect one to ask.
I have had the pleasure over the years of attending many of John’s signature “Weird Lectures” in person and online. His unique approach to these topics that incorporates fun as well as fright has made him one of the most respected voices in modern paranormal investigation and research.
I have also had the great fortune of welcoming John to my hometown of Omaha as part of my podcast’s live show, “Historic Haunted Heartland” on a few occasions. His appearances have always left the crowd absolutely spellbound with his uniquely honest and distinctive lectures.
My email to John and his response is as follows: “Hey John-
My friend invited me to his house tonight. They’ve
had some troubling experiences. Newer house, they are the third owners. Long story short….Do you think a house can be “haunted” by a past owner even if still alive?
Like a psychical imprint?
That’s what I keep coming back to. Hope you are well-see you later!
-BC”
“Indeed. I’ve had a number of cases where it seems the former owners, still living, left some kind of trauma or memory-based “experience” in a location. In a larger sense this happens a lot in institutional situations, schools, prisons, etc. It’s sometimes easiest to recognize in “haunted” schools because the children “ghosts” aren’t really ghosts since the person who unintentionally manifested them is simply an adult now. But anyway, “yes” it does seem former living owners can still create a type of experience-able environment in previously lived in locations.
-Tenney”
As we sat in the comfortable seats around the fire pit patio we discussed a short term and long term plan of action. This wasn’t a ritualized house spiritual cleansing, but rather a chance to issue a bold declaration. This home is a place of love. This place is now unique to this particular family.
This is their place to share holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries. It is a place that is now tied to their collective energies, not any lingering memories. So that night before I left, we walked around the house and verbally expressed and remarked about the different choices made in the refurbishing in the house.
We talked about the art that was framed and displayed on the wall. I complimented them on how they refinished the kitchen cabinets, going from golden oak to a sleek mahogany finish. In essence, we talked about what made the house theirs.
A technique described by Loyd Auerbach is to “record” over the perceived haunting. One simply holds a festive and positive emotionally charged event in the home, such as a party or celebration. The intent is to record over or neutralize the old place memories that we interpret as the negative haunting. One could think of it like spiritually recording over an old VCR tape with a fresh new show.
Over the weeks and months since that initial consultation, David and Jessica have had much success with a long term strategy to reclaim their space.
They have made a concerted effort to infuse the home with positivity and have openly verbalized and proclaimed repeatedly that this is their home. This is a place that they now consciously own and their intent is to live together in peace and in love for many years to come.
One interesting note, they have removed the cabinetry in the house that they previous homeowner built and installed. This includes the large, custom, built in television wall unit that was installed in the basement that served as a focal point.
After doing so, they have had no other disturbances or feelings of unease in the house. Or
should I say, in their home.