Houses are like sponges it seems, absorbing history, memories, and emotion within
every wall. Would you believe us if we told you this is probably true?
It was summer of 2007 when the NWCPS received an e-mail from a concerned
Thomaston woman named Mae. She told us she believed that her house was haunted
and that she wasn’t just crazy. The activity all started one night when this single,
middle-aged woman was sleeping for the first time in her new home. Mae got up to go
to the bathroom, and then returned to her room smelling strongly of smoke, like a
campfire. She quickly rushed around the house searching for a possible fire, but found
nothing. When she returned again to her room, the smell had vanished. Disturbed, the
woman asked the previous owners, who are now her neighbors, if they have ever
smelled smoke in the house, or if there was a previous fire. They told her that they have
never experienced anything of that sort.
Earlier this year when there was still snow on the ground Mae’s niece, Jen, from
Maryland had stopped by to stay at her house for a few days. One night during her stay
while she was getting ready to fall asleep on the couch, Jen smelled smoke. She looked
around the dark house and then out the back door’s window. What she saw frightened
her. She saw flames rising outside the window. She then ran quickly to Mae’s room to
wake her up, but by the time they both returned to the window, the fire was gone. She
swore to her aunt that she wasn’t just dreaming, and it too frightened her as well.
Wondering if they should call the fire department or not, the two of them searched all
around the house for some sign of burnt matter, smell or flames, but they came up with
nothing. Later that night Jen had a dream about a fire. She saw flames, smoke, and
people in pain. She told Mae this in the morning, and it got them both thinking.
A little later, during the spring of 2007, Mae experienced some knocking, banging, and
the occasional shadows. She began watching TV shows about hauntings and started to
get an interest in the paranormal. She told us “As long as nothing is threatening me,
then I am fine with it. I’m lonely most the time anyways. Ha-ha.” With Mae, all was
well until one night. She had just gone to bed to be awakened suddenly by a strong
force upon her chest. The room smelled thick of smoke. She screamed for help, but
nothing came out. Her ceiling looked as if smoke was floating right under it. It only
took seconds before Mae snapped out of it. She was so afraid that she quickly tried
blessing the house with every prayer she knew. After a night of barely any sleep, Mae
went online and searched for a paranormal group nearby and found us.
Upon investigating the house, our historian and researchers checked out the town hall
for land records, but came up with nothing useful. Investigation day- Everything went
pretty well. We had about 4 members on the team that night and all of our equipment.
Mae had asked for a small group and wished not to publicize the activity. She agreed if
we change the names and not mention the address we could post in to the website. We
brought video cameras with IR lights, numerous digital voice recorders, cameras, a
DVR (digital video recorder), and more of our usual gear. We split off in teams then
assigned everybody to a different area of the house. The investigation was steady for
the first hour until a female member of the group felt something sweep past her body.
Right after they reported the occurrence another team came to tell us that they smelled
smoke on the first floor. We recorded all of our experiences and the times they
occurred so that we could try to match them up to what we catch on video cameras.
Next we all walked around the house and tried to debunk what Mae had told us about
the smell and the visions of flames, but found nothing.
After 2 1/2 hours of investigating, we collected all of our equipment and wrapped it up
for the night. The next week we spent reviewing our hours of video and audio. In the
end, all we picked up was some sounds that seemed like breathing and numerous
photos of what looked like smoke. The house was at a constant temperature of around
68 so we ruled out the fact that it could be breath mist or some type of condensation.
We were a little bit disappointed that the eerie house didn’t want to send us any signs
that night. When we called Mae to let her know about what we found, she asked us
what we could do about the activity in her home. We told her we weren’t exterminators
and she laughed. We offered to smudge her house and she quickly agreed. Smudging is
the act of cleansing with herbs, most commonly sage. American Indians believed that
the scent gave off an energy that purifies the atmosphere around where you burn the
smudge stick (sage in our case). Mae called us a few weeks later and told us that she
doesn’t feel like she’s in any danger. She said since the smudging she hasn’t had any
strange experiences in the house. She was relieved and we felt accomplished. Even with
no real success, our team does plan on going back to investigate sometime in the future.
In conclusion, we left the house in wonder. Is there something hiding in the history
of these walls? Was there possibly a fire that took place on this land?
We hope to find out some day.
Report by Mandi Zontok- Co-founder
every wall. Would you believe us if we told you this is probably true?
It was summer of 2007 when the NWCPS received an e-mail from a concerned
Thomaston woman named Mae. She told us she believed that her house was haunted
and that she wasn’t just crazy. The activity all started one night when this single,
middle-aged woman was sleeping for the first time in her new home. Mae got up to go
to the bathroom, and then returned to her room smelling strongly of smoke, like a
campfire. She quickly rushed around the house searching for a possible fire, but found
nothing. When she returned again to her room, the smell had vanished. Disturbed, the
woman asked the previous owners, who are now her neighbors, if they have ever
smelled smoke in the house, or if there was a previous fire. They told her that they have
never experienced anything of that sort.
Earlier this year when there was still snow on the ground Mae’s niece, Jen, from
Maryland had stopped by to stay at her house for a few days. One night during her stay
while she was getting ready to fall asleep on the couch, Jen smelled smoke. She looked
around the dark house and then out the back door’s window. What she saw frightened
her. She saw flames rising outside the window. She then ran quickly to Mae’s room to
wake her up, but by the time they both returned to the window, the fire was gone. She
swore to her aunt that she wasn’t just dreaming, and it too frightened her as well.
Wondering if they should call the fire department or not, the two of them searched all
around the house for some sign of burnt matter, smell or flames, but they came up with
nothing. Later that night Jen had a dream about a fire. She saw flames, smoke, and
people in pain. She told Mae this in the morning, and it got them both thinking.
A little later, during the spring of 2007, Mae experienced some knocking, banging, and
the occasional shadows. She began watching TV shows about hauntings and started to
get an interest in the paranormal. She told us “As long as nothing is threatening me,
then I am fine with it. I’m lonely most the time anyways. Ha-ha.” With Mae, all was
well until one night. She had just gone to bed to be awakened suddenly by a strong
force upon her chest. The room smelled thick of smoke. She screamed for help, but
nothing came out. Her ceiling looked as if smoke was floating right under it. It only
took seconds before Mae snapped out of it. She was so afraid that she quickly tried
blessing the house with every prayer she knew. After a night of barely any sleep, Mae
went online and searched for a paranormal group nearby and found us.
Upon investigating the house, our historian and researchers checked out the town hall
for land records, but came up with nothing useful. Investigation day- Everything went
pretty well. We had about 4 members on the team that night and all of our equipment.
Mae had asked for a small group and wished not to publicize the activity. She agreed if
we change the names and not mention the address we could post in to the website. We
brought video cameras with IR lights, numerous digital voice recorders, cameras, a
DVR (digital video recorder), and more of our usual gear. We split off in teams then
assigned everybody to a different area of the house. The investigation was steady for
the first hour until a female member of the group felt something sweep past her body.
Right after they reported the occurrence another team came to tell us that they smelled
smoke on the first floor. We recorded all of our experiences and the times they
occurred so that we could try to match them up to what we catch on video cameras.
Next we all walked around the house and tried to debunk what Mae had told us about
the smell and the visions of flames, but found nothing.
After 2 1/2 hours of investigating, we collected all of our equipment and wrapped it up
for the night. The next week we spent reviewing our hours of video and audio. In the
end, all we picked up was some sounds that seemed like breathing and numerous
photos of what looked like smoke. The house was at a constant temperature of around
68 so we ruled out the fact that it could be breath mist or some type of condensation.
We were a little bit disappointed that the eerie house didn’t want to send us any signs
that night. When we called Mae to let her know about what we found, she asked us
what we could do about the activity in her home. We told her we weren’t exterminators
and she laughed. We offered to smudge her house and she quickly agreed. Smudging is
the act of cleansing with herbs, most commonly sage. American Indians believed that
the scent gave off an energy that purifies the atmosphere around where you burn the
smudge stick (sage in our case). Mae called us a few weeks later and told us that she
doesn’t feel like she’s in any danger. She said since the smudging she hasn’t had any
strange experiences in the house. She was relieved and we felt accomplished. Even with
no real success, our team does plan on going back to investigate sometime in the future.
In conclusion, we left the house in wonder. Is there something hiding in the history
of these walls? Was there possibly a fire that took place on this land?
We hope to find out some day.
Report by Mandi Zontok- Co-founder
The Smoking House
( Names have been changed and no pictures added due to confidentiality reasons. )
( Names have been changed and no pictures added due to confidentiality reasons. )
