The Man in Overalls - Barkhamsted, CT
Sometimes it's funny when you think about it, ten years ago a family innocently buys a
property containing a 1700's farm house with a barn one hundred feet uphill from the residence.
They begin to experience paranormal activity the very first night, though they had no idea at the
time that it was in fact, haunted. Casserole dishes shatter in the kitchen, footsteps run through
walls, the smell of a pipe smoke fills the air then disappears as quickly as it came, the scent of
floral perfume grows then fades away, and clothes packed in a suitcase mysteriously return to the
closet. The family realized there was more to the situation than could be seen by the naked
eye,they were sharing their home with spirits. They accepted it and continued their lives.
In the early summer of 2008 the homeowner contacted NWCPS and asked if we would be
interested in doing an investigation there. She spoke of a 1800's soldier appearing beside her
fireplace. She mentioned that her son and his friend were playing video games when they were
both startled to find the reflection of a little blond boy sitting between them on the couch. She
went on to tell us that her daughter and son in law had been awoken by the voice of a child calling
"Daddy!" Months later the daughter woke up during the night to see a small dark figure crossing
their bedroom, thinking it was her three year old son, she had called him to her bed, the figure
came closer, she reached out for his hand and put her fingers right through him.
The owner went on to say that a figure manifested one day when in the hayloft. She said it was
a dark figure that was hunched over, as it shuffled across the loft it turned and made eye contact
with her, its eyes were red. "I got out of there as quick as I could and swore I wasn't going back!"
she said.
The most commonly repeated story was of a farmer in overall. This spirit was seen in the field
behind the home, at the end of the driveway and near the barn. She then described activity going
on in the barn.
Her horses were being moved at night into each others stalls. With the doors locked securely
behind them. As one of the horses is completely blind, she feared for his safety. Halters and
bridles would disappear then show up weeks later in a different place in the barn. The woman
thought it may have been neighborhood kids fooling around so she thought she would set traps.
She tied string to the barn door knob, knowing that if someone entered they would hit the string
and her traps would be sprung. She put small pieces of tape on the windows, and checked the next
morning to see if any of them had been opened. She was shocked to find all her traps in place,
tape secure on the windows, but her horses had still be moved. She told us of other incidents, of
anomalies found in photos they had taken, red orbs, mist without explanation.
The owner showed us quite a bit of paperwork on the history of the house that had been
collected from libraries and town halls in the area. She had received the majority of it from a
former owner and when contacted, they admitted that their paranormal experiences were similar
to hers. They relayed several incidents of a man in overalls being spotted on the property when
they lived there. They also said their daughter saw a man in overalls looking in her bedroom
window one night. She screamed when a stick came crashing through the window and landed on
her bed. When the parents arrived in her room, the stick and broken glass cluttered the bed. The
strangest part of the story is the fact that the bedroom in question was on the second floor, nearly
sixteen feet off the ground. Our group went in to investigate the home the first time when the
family was off on vacation for a week. We set up our 4 channel DVR with infrared cameras and
let it roll for four days. We stayed the first night and ran standard tests. After the forth day we
tore down and brought the video home. It took our team well over a week to review the hundred
plus hours of DVR and we were upset we didn't catch a thing. No voices, no soldiers, nothing.
The following week we asked if we could come back and investigate the barn. We set up cameras
in the main area as well as the hayloft.
Wanting just a small group inside we broke up. Our youngest investigator Mandi was the first
to enter. She was running an EVP session when something seemed to startle the horses. Mandi
asked "did you just scare the horse?" and we found later on the voice recorder an answer! A
male voice says :"Sorry". Regina and Leah then entered the hayloft. They sat on hay bales and
set up a voice recorder while Leah held an EMF detector. They were about to start their session
when Regina heard something that sounded as if it was scuffling in the hay behind her and told
Leah: "Theres a mouse behind me!" After reviewing the voice recorder we found our second
EVP, a responding whisper clearly says "don't be scared".
The other EVP we recorded in the barn happened when Channel 30 News was there doing a
report on us. The reported asked us to begin investigating and he would tape us doing 'our thing'.
Three investigators began filming with a infrared camcorder, using EMF detectors, thermometers
and a voice recorder was rolling . The investigators asked several questions, suddenly we all
heard footsteps running above us in the loft. No one was up there at the time. The cameraman
continued to shoot. We continued our investigation. After the news crew left we were playing back
the recordings when we heard one of our investigator say :"talk to us" and a quick crisp whisper
replies "here I am". That night was the most active we have found. Since then we have been back
to investigate a couple times with no evidence.
Of all the places we have investigated I would have to say, that as a sceptic, this was one of the
most interesting places I have been.
- John Zontok -Founder NWCPS
property containing a 1700's farm house with a barn one hundred feet uphill from the residence.
They begin to experience paranormal activity the very first night, though they had no idea at the
time that it was in fact, haunted. Casserole dishes shatter in the kitchen, footsteps run through
walls, the smell of a pipe smoke fills the air then disappears as quickly as it came, the scent of
floral perfume grows then fades away, and clothes packed in a suitcase mysteriously return to the
closet. The family realized there was more to the situation than could be seen by the naked
eye,they were sharing their home with spirits. They accepted it and continued their lives.
In the early summer of 2008 the homeowner contacted NWCPS and asked if we would be
interested in doing an investigation there. She spoke of a 1800's soldier appearing beside her
fireplace. She mentioned that her son and his friend were playing video games when they were
both startled to find the reflection of a little blond boy sitting between them on the couch. She
went on to tell us that her daughter and son in law had been awoken by the voice of a child calling
"Daddy!" Months later the daughter woke up during the night to see a small dark figure crossing
their bedroom, thinking it was her three year old son, she had called him to her bed, the figure
came closer, she reached out for his hand and put her fingers right through him.
The owner went on to say that a figure manifested one day when in the hayloft. She said it was
a dark figure that was hunched over, as it shuffled across the loft it turned and made eye contact
with her, its eyes were red. "I got out of there as quick as I could and swore I wasn't going back!"
she said.
The most commonly repeated story was of a farmer in overall. This spirit was seen in the field
behind the home, at the end of the driveway and near the barn. She then described activity going
on in the barn.
Her horses were being moved at night into each others stalls. With the doors locked securely
behind them. As one of the horses is completely blind, she feared for his safety. Halters and
bridles would disappear then show up weeks later in a different place in the barn. The woman
thought it may have been neighborhood kids fooling around so she thought she would set traps.
She tied string to the barn door knob, knowing that if someone entered they would hit the string
and her traps would be sprung. She put small pieces of tape on the windows, and checked the next
morning to see if any of them had been opened. She was shocked to find all her traps in place,
tape secure on the windows, but her horses had still be moved. She told us of other incidents, of
anomalies found in photos they had taken, red orbs, mist without explanation.
The owner showed us quite a bit of paperwork on the history of the house that had been
collected from libraries and town halls in the area. She had received the majority of it from a
former owner and when contacted, they admitted that their paranormal experiences were similar
to hers. They relayed several incidents of a man in overalls being spotted on the property when
they lived there. They also said their daughter saw a man in overalls looking in her bedroom
window one night. She screamed when a stick came crashing through the window and landed on
her bed. When the parents arrived in her room, the stick and broken glass cluttered the bed. The
strangest part of the story is the fact that the bedroom in question was on the second floor, nearly
sixteen feet off the ground. Our group went in to investigate the home the first time when the
family was off on vacation for a week. We set up our 4 channel DVR with infrared cameras and
let it roll for four days. We stayed the first night and ran standard tests. After the forth day we
tore down and brought the video home. It took our team well over a week to review the hundred
plus hours of DVR and we were upset we didn't catch a thing. No voices, no soldiers, nothing.
The following week we asked if we could come back and investigate the barn. We set up cameras
in the main area as well as the hayloft.
Wanting just a small group inside we broke up. Our youngest investigator Mandi was the first
to enter. She was running an EVP session when something seemed to startle the horses. Mandi
asked "did you just scare the horse?" and we found later on the voice recorder an answer! A
male voice says :"Sorry". Regina and Leah then entered the hayloft. They sat on hay bales and
set up a voice recorder while Leah held an EMF detector. They were about to start their session
when Regina heard something that sounded as if it was scuffling in the hay behind her and told
Leah: "Theres a mouse behind me!" After reviewing the voice recorder we found our second
EVP, a responding whisper clearly says "don't be scared".
The other EVP we recorded in the barn happened when Channel 30 News was there doing a
report on us. The reported asked us to begin investigating and he would tape us doing 'our thing'.
Three investigators began filming with a infrared camcorder, using EMF detectors, thermometers
and a voice recorder was rolling . The investigators asked several questions, suddenly we all
heard footsteps running above us in the loft. No one was up there at the time. The cameraman
continued to shoot. We continued our investigation. After the news crew left we were playing back
the recordings when we heard one of our investigator say :"talk to us" and a quick crisp whisper
replies "here I am". That night was the most active we have found. Since then we have been back
to investigate a couple times with no evidence.
Of all the places we have investigated I would have to say, that as a sceptic, this was one of the
most interesting places I have been.
- John Zontok -Founder NWCPS
Below are 3 EVP's collected at the barn. "Here I am", "Don't be scared" and "Sorry"