Investigation Report

Location Status:
This is an active one story fire station with a partial basement.

For years, the personnel working at this fire station have reported witnessing doors closing or opening by themselves, hearing the sound of someone whistling coming from the area of the truck bays, seeing shadows and hearing strange footsteps after the sound of doors closing. Many strange banging and knocking noises were also reported to come from the basement when no one was down there. To their knowledge, no deaths or tragedies have occurred on the property.

AUDIO and EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon):
VR1 (Digital Voice Recorder: Stationary in basement) No physical evidence captured on this device at the time of the investigation.

VR2 (Digital Voice Recorder: Stationary in back room) No physical evidence captured on this device at the time of the investigation.

VR3 (Digital Voice Recorder: Stationary in truck bays) No physical evidence captured on this device at the time of the investigation.

VIDEO:
DVR Cam1 - (Viewing banquet hall) No physical evidence captured on this device at the time of the investigation.

DVR Cam2 - (Viewing back room and door that opens) No physical evidence captured on this device at the time of the investigation.

DVR Cam3 - (Viewing basement) No physical evidence captured on this device at the time of the investigation.

DVR Cam4 - (Viewing kitchen and hallway) No physical evidence captured on this device at the time of the investigation.

Camcorder #1 – (Mobile with investigators) No physical evidence captured on this device at the time of the investigation.

Camcorder #2 – (Mobile with investigators) No physical evidence captured on this device at the time of the investigation.

EMF (Electro Magnetic Field):
Standard baseline readings were taken throughout the building with expected spikes near electrical appliances. No anomalous EMF’S detected.

Investigator Feelings / Experiences:
Mark – Nothing to report
Rob – Nothing to report

Conclusion:
Our investigation at the Slocum Twp Fire Station proved to be an interesting night. During the course of the evening, the fire department had two back to back ambulance calls that reportedly only happens once in a great while. Although unexpected, this helped to observe the acoustics in the building when fire company personnel were coming in and out of different doors. Sound travels well throughout the building and sounds from the banquet hall entry doors to the building were picked up very well by our recorders in the truck bay area. It is difficult to distinguish in some cases what doors people are coming through. This may account for the sound of doors closing and footsteps being heard if someone looks and expects to see someone in a location and no one is there.

When we addressed the sound of someone whistling, it was reported that the whistling was more of a monotone sound and not that of a tune or melody. In the truck bay area where the sound is reported to be heard, we discovered that many of the trucks are connected to an air system to maintain the pressure in the airs brakes on the truck. One of the lines had a slight leak causing air to lightly hiss as it escaped the fitting. During times of increased moisture, it is possible that a whistling sound could be coming from the air system or from the air brakes on the trucks themselves if the rubber diaphragm should allow air to pass through. We did not experience this directly but it is another option to look for if the whistling sound is heard again.

In the basement, our team discovered several items that can, and did in this case, cause loud banging noises that can be heard from the main floor. An ice machine producing ice made several noises while making ice including banging as the ice fell into the main container. An air compressor and heating system created various noises including the sound of banging as the duct work for the heating system warmed up and later cooled down. It is believed that no paranormal causes created noise in the basement and most sounds can be attributed to the workings of the equipment in this area.

No cause could be determined for the opening and closing of the backroom door as being witnessed by the fire station personnel. The door has some friction to it as you try to open and close it and it takes a decent amount of pressure to move it either way. It seems unlikely that air from the heating system would move it and tests were done to dismiss that theory. Fire station personnel report no wind or breezes when it occurs so this activity remains undetermined at this time.

While the majority of the activity could have possible ordinary explanations, we could not totally rule out the possibility of a haunting. No evidence was produced to conclude that a haunting is taking place however. The PPA recommends that fire station personnel look into some of our theories as they experience things to further track down the causes and eliminate anything found to be naturally caused as being paranormal.