Special Note From the Author: Greetings reader. The following conclusion to the investigation of Primrose Road is fantastical in its scope and implication and will undoubtedly cause you to speculate as to whether or not I am relaying to you an accurate account of the evening of September 13th, 2005. Rest assured that to the best of my ability what follows is an accurate chronicle of the events, as the members of WISP and myself have perceived them to be true.
Before relaying to you the conclusion of the investigation, we should also discuss the evidence that was gathered on Primrose Road and what is known as “energy manipulation.” Lets start with the evidence, which is in the form of multiple EVP.
EVP: Included with this article is an audio file of the EVP that were captured on a digital audio recorder during the investigation of Primrose Road. At the end of this article I will discuss the EVP and what the members of team WISP believe the recorded voices are saying. I would prefer that you listen to the audio file before reading WISP’s interpretation of it and make up your own mind about the evidence and what the voices may or may not be saying. Doing so will release you from any preconceived notions and subliminal influencing. The power of suggestion is a strong force and can unintentionally distort personal perception.
Energy Manipulation: In the following conclusion, you will read about how at one point during the investigation of Primrose Road I used what is known as “energy manipulation.” Unless you have a deep understanding of occult practices, Witchcraft in particular, the concept of energy manipulation may seem a bit preposterous to you and perhaps even laughable. I assure you that not only is energy manipulation real, but that an adept practitioner can use it to affect immediate change. Differing forms of occult energy manipulation include: Creating an area of protected or “safe” space, creating balls or “bubbles” of energy, and thinning the walls between the worlds of the living and the dead; the seen and the unseen. Even though energy manipulation typically cannot be seen with the naked eye, it can be felt, and in some cases, measured. In recent years there have been quite a few scientific attempts to quantify psychic energy that have produced some interesting results. If you wish to investigate some of the scientific approaches being used to measure psychic energy, I suggest Googling the keywords “scientific verification of psychic energy” or something similar. You might be surprised by what you can dig up on the subject.
When placed in proper context, occult energy manipulation isn’t that hard to understand. Science tells us that literally everything is made up of energy. You are energy, I am energy, your dining room table is energy, the food you eat is energy, and the ground beneath your feet is energy. These energies are simply in different forms. The way in which an occult practitioner manipulates energy is not that dissimilar from the way that you manipulate energy. Like energy itself, it is simply a different form of manipulation. Imagine yourself picking up a baseball (a seemingly solid ball of energy) and holding it in your hand. What are some of the things you could do with the baseball? You could carry the baseball around in your pocket or use it to play catch with your child in the backyard. You could use the baseball to smash out a window or throw it into a puddle of water to see how big of a splash it would make. In very much the same way that you could use the baseball to affect a series of outcomes or create change in the physical world, an occult practitioner uses their mind and willpower to gather what is known as “universal energy” and use it as they see fit. If you don’t believe that such energy manipulation is possible, that’s just fine by me. We all have our own beliefs and opinions, and I have no desire to change yours. I will, however, point out that belief is a very powerful thing. If you disbelieve in occult energy manipulation, your disbelief is precisely why you would fail if you were to attempt it; just as I would fail at anything I didn’t believe that I could accomplish.
Paranormal investigators, be they Christian or Witch, scientist or psychic, amateur or professional, all believe in the same thing: That ghosts exist. It is this belief, no matter the process used for investigation, which keeps us in search of the unknown. It is this belief that keeps us searching for something that we know exists but can’t quite put our fingers on; something more than what we can see with our eyes and touch with our hands. Just like occult energy manipulation, something that most of us don’t quite understand: Something supernatural…
Investigation of Primrose Road; The Conclusion:
“Too far away, oh love, I know, to save me from this haunted road, Whose lofty roses break and blow, on a night-sky bent with a load”
–Drunk by D.H. Lawrence
As we left Adams Street Cemetery and made our way back to Primrose Road, the morale amongst the members of WISP was somewhat low. The cemetery investigation had been a complete wash, and thus far the only evidence of paranormal activity we had gathered was the feeling of extreme foreboding that Becca and Amber had experienced on Primrose Road earlier in the evening. Not a very promising start. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Sampsun pulled out his cell phone and made a jovial remark about “ghosts making phone calls.” Not to be outdone, Becca pulled out her phone as well, and the two of them began making lighthearted quips back and forth to each other about cell phone signals and the legend of Primrose Road. Soon enough, the entire team was laughing over the silliness of that part of the legend. Well, at least we were laughing for a few moments. As I pulled the van onto Primrose’s rough gravel surface, the laughter came to an abrupt halt and was replaced with an eerie silence. I stopped the van and turned on the interior lights. Becca and Sampsun were staring at their cell phones as though they’d never seen one before. “Holy shit!” Becca exclaimed. “Yours too?” she asked Sampsun, thrusting her phone in his direction. “Yep, mine too,” Sampsun quietly responded. The batteries on both of their cell phones had simultaneously drained from a full charge down to nothing in a matter of seconds. Both phones were inoperative. It seemed that the spirits of Primrose Road didn’t appreciate being laughed at.
In absolute silence, I pulled the van onto the shoulder of the road and killed the engine. Even though no one was talking, it was obvious that the collective mindset of team WISP had taken on a much more serious tone. With a newfound eagerness and determination, we gathered our ghost hunting gear and exited the van. The absolute blackness of Primrose Road after nightfall is difficult to comprehend unless you have experienced it firsthand. Without a source of light, you literally cannot see your own hand in front of your face. I wanted to keep the use of flashlights to a minimum, so I queried the rest of the team as to how they felt about using the four-way flashers on the van to provide us with a source of low-level illumination. My suggestion was met with a great deal of resistance. My teammates agreed that that using the van’s flashers would add a safety factor to the investigation, but Becca and Amber in particular were concerned that the flashing lights might contaminate the video footage and still photographs they planned on taking. I hesitantly submitted to their logic, clipped a digital recorder to my leather coat, and we began a slow walk down Primrose Road.
After several minutes of walking, I could see headlights moving toward us in the distance. I signaled the rest of the team to move onto the shoulder of the road and wait until the car passed us by before proceeding. Becca had begun snapping digital photographs as soon as we had started walking, and several of the photos in the viewfinder revealed orbs. The orbs were nothing more than airborne dust particles illuminated by the flash of the camera, but Becca was enjoying herself just the same. As the vehicle approached, Becca readied her camera for another shot. Just as the vehicle passed us by, Becca snapped a photo, looked at the viewfinder of her camera, and started laughing her ass off. “You’ve got to see this,” she giggled. “Its an amateur ghost hunter’s wet dream!” The rest of the team gathered around her and began laughing as well. The cameras viewfinder revealed thousands, perhaps millions of orbs. “Cool”! I exclaimed, shaking my head at the thought of anyone taking the picture seriously. At that moment, I noticed the headlights of a second vehicle moving toward us. “Are we ever going to get any peace and quiet?” I asked aloud. What happened next was priceless.
As the vehicle approached us it began to slow down, and in my mind I started practicing my “explanation to the police” and “we don’t need any help” monologues. Instead of a police car or a concerned motorist, an old, dark blue Chevy Blazer pulled up along side of us and stopped. Someone inside the Blazer rolled down the passenger-side window, and an eager young voice asked “are you out here ghost hunting too?” I clicked on my flashlight and shone it inside the Blazer. What I saw put a proverbial ear-to-ear grin on my face. Manning the wheel of the Blazer was a rather excited looking adolescent male of approximately seventeen years of age. Sitting next to him in the passenger seat was his young girlfriend who was doing her best to not look frightened. She was smiling, but her eyes kept darting to the dark woods. Her eyes told a different story. I informed the young man that we were indeed conducting a paranormal investigation and that we hadn’t found anything yet. After asking team WISP a few questions about what we knew of Primrose Road, the youth politely excused himself, managed to get the Blazer turned around, and headed back down Primrose the way he had driven in. Several blocks down the road he stopped the vehicle and opened the door. In the glow of Blazers headlights I could see him inching his way toward the edge of the woods. His hand never left the door of the Blazer. Several moments later he turned his attention toward his vehicle and seemed to be responding to something his girlfriend was saying to him. He immediately jumped back inside the vehicle, slammed the door, and sped away down Primrose Road, leaving a thick trail of dust behind him. After a few remarks from the girls about “how cute it was” for the young man to take his girlfriend out for a little scare, we returned our attention to the task at hand and proceeded with our investigation.
As soon as the young couple and their vehicle had disappeared from sight, we resumed our slow walk down Primrose Road. Before long I started getting an uneasy feeling: It felt as though we were being watched. A loud snorting sound suddenly emanated from somewhere close to us in the woods. The entire team froze in their tracks. “What the hell was that?” I whispered, and a second loud snort sounded, seemingly from the opposite side of the roadway. Silent and unmoving, we stood in the middle of Primrose Road for what seemed like an eternity, listening to the sounds of the night. Two more snorts sounded from somewhere close to us in the darkness. As though we had read each other’s minds, the four of us clicked on our flashlights in unison and scanned the tree line for any signs of life. Nothing was there. At least nothing that was visible in the beams of our flashlights. “That sounded like a horse,” I stated in a very serious voice. My teammates agreed. Even though there was probably a rational, earthly explanation for the snorting sounds, the scenario was plain and simply odd. Other than the snorts, there were no other sounds of any kind. Not so much as the snapping of a twig or rustling of a leaf. Whatever was in the woods making the snorting sounds certainly didn’t seem to be afraid of our flashlights or of us. If some type of animal had made the snorting sounds, it never moved. Not once. We deduced that whatever had made the snorting sounds was large, probably the size of a full-grown buck or a horse. The problem was that neither of those explanations made any sense. I have come across many a deer in the woods after nightfall. Deer can remain motionless for quite some time, but as soon as they are alerted to the presence of a group of humans talking and wielding flashlight, it’s adios muchachos. A deer running through the forest is anything but quiet. The horse theory didn’t work either. The odds of a horse standing completely still in the woods after nightfall, snorting, and making no other sounds of any kind, was remote in the extreme. It also didn’t explain why the snorting sounds seemed to emanate from both sides of the woods. Whatever had snorted at us in the darkness seemed intent on remaining a mystery, and with no rational explanation in hand; we continued our increasingly strange trek down Primrose Road.
As we continued along, Becca kept snapping photographs and Amber tried to pick up on any strange feelings or vibrations. Nothing seemed to be registering on any of our ghost hunting gear, and it seemed that other than the unexplainable draining of the cell phone batteries and the strange snorting sounds, nothing unusual was happening on Primrose Road. I was about to suggest to my teammates that we implement a metaphysical approach to making contact, when all at once my body seemed incredibly heavy and the air around me grew thick. It felt like I was walking through honey. “There’s something here,” I stated to my teammates. “The air just got heavy,” I continued, and at that very moment we came upon an opening in the woods that revealed a small, dimly lit field. What happened next left little doubt in our minds that Primrose Road is one of the most haunted places in northern Indiana.
What happened next is difficult for me to put into words, but I will do my best. As we moved toward the opening in the tree line, I started hearing what sounded like very feint whispered voices. I stood motionless, concentrating on the sounds, when all at once I felt the presence of a ghostly entity, seemingly attempting to manifest itself in the field. It wasn’t alone. I felt the presence of another entity, and then another. All told, I sensed between seven and nine distinct, tightly grouped entities approximately ten yards away from us in the field. The sheer numbers of entities was overwhelming, and for a moment made me question my grip on reality. I focused my eyes, ears, and mind: “are they really there?” I asked myself. The answer was yes. Their quiet, whisper-like voices were growing louder; I was catching glimpses of their shadowy figures moving around in the dimly lit field. The easiest way to explain to you what the entities looked like is to tell you that they seemed to be slightly out of phase with the world of the living. The entities had definite outline and form, but they seemed to flux and change like shadows being projected onto a wall by flickering candlelight. “Show yourself to me,” I asked the ghosts aloud in a bold and confident tone. Their whispered voices seemed to grow louder; their shadowy forms became more active. Was this a response to my request? I decided that it was time to test a theory about spectral entities: It was time to put my metaphysical skills to a challenge.
It is widely stated and believed that ghosts need to draw upon an energy source other than their own to materialize on the earthly plane. In an attempt to validate this theory, I created a large ball of energy and concentrated it in the field directly in front of the shadowy figures. It seemed to have an effect, although not quite the one I was hoping for. I stated aloud to the entities that I had created the ball of energy, and that they were welcome to use it if they needed to. I kept my mind and will focused on the energy ball in case it needed reinforcing. I soon felt Amber’s hand on my shoulder. She was gathering and projecting energy into the ball as well, helping to keep it strong and stable. Even though none of the entities fully manifested, the visuals occurring within the energy ball were quite impressive to behold. It was obvious that the entities were interested in the energy ball, but it was also obvious that they didn’t understand what to do with it. The best way to describe to you what we were seeing is to compare the energy ball to a huge, water-filled snowglobe that was slowly being injected with black ink. The shadows and forms within the ball of energy seemed to be flowing and fluid, whereas the shadows outside the ball seemed to be static and unchanging. I once again asked the entities to show themselves. The activity inside the energy ball increased significantly. I could sense that the ghostly entities were attempting to use the available energy. The activity inside the ball increased exponentially, and just as I felt that one or more of the entities might actually manifest, they vanished without a trace. Their whispered voices and flowing forms disappeared into the night; the overwhelming sensation of a powerful supernatural presence had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. I stood with my teammates on the shoulder of the road in near disbelief of what we had just experienced. The question of whether or not Primrose Road is haunted had just been answered.
After several minutes of quiet, reflective surveillance of the surrounding area by team WISP, nothing else unusual seemed to be happening. Whatever had visited us on that dark and lonely stretch of Primrose Road showed no indication of returning. We decided to head back to where the van was parked and investigate the opposite end of the roadway. As we traveled along, Becca continued snapping digital photographs and I attempted to verbally coax the ghosts back out of hiding. Nothing was showing up in the viewfinder of Becca’s camera, and there was seemingly no response to my vocal pleas for further contact. After several minutes of walking, we passed by the van and entered the stretch of Primrose Road that we had yet to investigate. We had only traveled a few blocks beyond where the van was parked when things once again started getting weird. Amber claimed that she was catching glimpses of ghostly flashes of light moving through the woods, and Becca complained of an intensifying feeling of unease. Becca stated that she felt strangely unwelcome in this section of Primrose Road and that each time she snapped a photograph the feeling was growing stronger. I asked Amber if the flashes of light she was seeing could possibly be an aftereffect caused by the flash from Becca’s camera. She stated that she was uncertain of what might be causing the strange flashes, and that she was also beginning to feel unwelcome in this area of Primrose. A few moments later, the sensation of being unwelcome became so intense for them that Becca and Amber stated that they could no longer continue with the investigation. Becca asked me for my key ring, and both her and Amber returned to the relative safety of the van.
Unlike the girls, Sampsun and I felt completely at ease in that section of Primrose Road. Well, at least we felt at ease for a minute or two. After walking a few more blocks down the road in the darkness, I clicked on my flashlight and scanned the tree line and roadway before us. I told Sampsun that I believed we were very close to where I had originally parked the van when we first arrived earlier in the evening. He agreed, and stated that the girls might have picked-up on the same feeling of foreboding that forced the team to evacuate Primrose Road for the cemetery, subsequently causing the girls premature cessation of the investigation. I once again started hearing whispered voices, so I turned off my flashlight and listened intently to the sounds of the night. The voices grew louder, and far ahead of us in the distance, Sampsun and I could see lights moving toward us through the woods; the voices and lights were of earthly origin. It was apparent that a small group of humans with flashlights were approaching. I was about to suggest to Sampsun that the advancing group might be another team of ghost hunters and that we should check it out. All at once, an overpowering sensation of danger washed over me like an invisible wave. Sampsun felt it as well. It was at that very moment that realization hit home, and Sampsun and I simultaneously whispered the same two words to each other in the darkness: Shotgun blast. There was little doubt in our minds that the premonitions of a shotgun blast on Primrose Road that we had both experienced earlier in the day had a strong chance of becoming a reality. We were almost certain that if we remained where we were that one or more of us were going to get hurt. Maybe worse. Our calm demeanors were replaced with a sudden sense of urgency: a strong instinct of self-preservation. The woods that surround Primrose Road are private property and we knew it. Bright orange “No Trespassing” signs are posted all along the tree line, and even though not a single member of our team had violated the sanctity of the property line, the sensation of impending danger was unrelenting. Moving as quickly as we could without making any undue noise, Sampsun and I headed for the van. Certain that discretion in this case was indeed the better part of valor, team WISP made a hasty escape from the humans and spirits that haunt Primrose Road.
Photographic Evidence: No photographic evidence of paranormal activity was captured during the investigation.
Play the audio evidence before reading any further. (1 MB file)
Audio Evidence: Although indiscernible and barley audible at the times they were recorded, multiple EVP were captured on a digital recorder during the investigation of Primrose Road. WISP was able to capture six distinct EVP at the scene. All six recorded instances sound as though they are emanating from a separate entity. WISP’s interpretations of the EVP are as follows in chronological order of their capture:
1. Investigator: “Were not here to hurt you or anything”. Disembodied Voice: A woman’s voice can be heard saying “Won’t hurt you”. An English accent is detectable in the woman’s voice.
2. Investigator: “Show yourself to me”. At this point three separate EVP were captured. First Voice: The voice of a young (male?) child can be heard saying, “Can’t now.” Second Voice: A male voice can be heard saying, “Catch up.” Third Voice: A male voice can be heard saying, “Important.” This voice is distinct from the others, as it sounds almost electronic. If you listen carefully to the audio file you can hear the male’s voice saying the word “Important” a second time. Interestingly, the second time the voice sounds you can hear the investigator pause mid-word (during the word “air”), as if interrupted by the disembodied voice.
3. Investigator: “Can you say that again please?” Disembodied Voice: “Never.”
4. Disembodied Voice: Either “Dig bog”, or “Big dog” sounds right before the investigator says “Very dark in here.” This voice is much lower in tone and is difficult to hear. Of all the EVP captured however, this voice is perhaps the most disturbing due to its dark, animal-like quality.
The Conclusion:
Primrose Road seemingly lives up to its haunted reputation. Although no photographic evidence was captured during the investigation, we feel the audio evidence speaks for itself (no pun intended), and backs-up many of the occurrences experienced by WISP that we believe were paranormal in nature. Even so, many of the team’s experiences, however odd, were explainable and cannot be considered paranormal. Although some of our experiences (the sudden draining of Cell phone batteries, strange snorting sounds in the woods, and vehicular trouble) seemed to back-up the legend of Primrose Road, these experiences can be explained naturally and cannot be considered legitimate evidence of a haunting.
By far, the most disturbing experience on Primrose Road was the encounter with multiple spectral entities. Even though the entities didn’t seem threatening and we never once felt that our safety was in jeopardy, the sheer number of entities gave us pause and left us with many unanswered questions. Not the least of which is the question “Were all of the entities indigenous to Primrose Road?” As practitioners of the occult arts, it is not uncommon for ghosts and spirits to be drawn to the enhanced aura of energy that naturally surrounds us. Even though a standard part of WISP’s operational procedure involves putting a barrier in place to keep non-indigenous entities from entering and contaminating an investigation site, the encounter on Primrose Road left us questioning the effectiveness of the barrier in this particular instance. The members of WISP mutually agree that some, but not all, of the entities we encountered were indigenous to the area.
Overall, the investigation of Primrose Road was a fascinating and productive glimpse into the world of the supernatural. There is no question in my mind that Primrose Road is in fact haunted, and is quite possibly a hotbed of paranormal activity. For me personally however, the truly wondrous encounter on Primrose Road wasn’t with the dead, but with the living. Although I experienced many fascinating supernatural things during the investigation, I would be hard pressed not to trade them all for the encounter with the teenage boy and his girlfriend in the old, blue, Chevy Blazer. The world of ghosts and the supernatural is magical without question, but even more magical still are the memories of youth; the memory of taking my girlfriend out for a late-night drive down a haunted stretch of road in hopes that she would become frightened and snuggle close to me: The stuff urban legends are made of.
Next Month: The Investigation of Belle Gunness and the Blood Farm Horror