CLARKS SUMMIT — Homes aren’t supposed to shake on their own. They may creak, they may grumble, but a living room’s walls usually won’t shudder without a catalyst. Despite logic, that’s what we experienced in the living room of The Bedford House – and it wasn’t even the most illogical thing to happen on a recent Monday night.
Owners Kevin and Anne Marie Frederick bought the century-old home in September 2014. Their initial plan was to remodel and rent it, but the first tenants left after six months, citing unexplained occurrences.
Paranormal Forensic Investigator Joe Shock set up cameras as Anne Marie gave an incidental tour of The Bedford House. While there, we experienced a few inexplicable happenings: A voice captured on a recorder, shuttering walls, flickering lights and a crystal reacting to Shock’s explicit commands.
The 25-year investigation veteran led us to the basement’s cobweb-covered coal bin. Shock said the small room once stored furnace fuel but now is a portal to the other side.
I used an infrared thermometer to monitor temperature changes while Shock watched an electromagnetic frequency (EMF) reader for spikes.
He asked questions. If someone is here, lower the temperature, he asked.
A slight drop was recorded, but was it a paranormal presence or just the setting sun?
In the attic, Shock asked more questions. Is there a child present? Were they angry with our presence? Did they want us to leave, he asked.
No audible responses.
Shock said TV shows make paranormal investigations look suspenseful, but in reality they’re similar to a fishing trip.
“Ghost hunting is not like what you see on TV, not even close,” Shock said. “Sometimes it gets boring, sometimes you’re sitting there; you hear nothing. It’s the amount of things when you’re sitting there and you’re going through the recordings and you actually hear a voice respond to your questions that I find so amazing.”
Shock was right.
While going through an audio file that my personal voice recorder picked up, there seemingly is an answer to one of shock’s questions.
“Is there are child here,” he asked.
“Yes,” a wispy yet clear voice seems to respond.
It could be a convincing piece of evidence, but there was more to come.
In the living room, a spacious area to the left of the home’s main entrance, Shock retrieved an amethyst crystal attached to a chain he said mediums use as a communication tool.
The crystal reacted differently to each person. When I held it, the chain vibrated and it became cold. It also moved “clockwise” and “counter-clockwise” and even “stopped” when Shock asked it to.
Our attention was drawn away from the crystal by the front porch’s motion lights. They flickered on and off like camera flashes, stopped for a few moments, then repeated the erratic outburst.
Then the house shook.
We tried to explain it rationally. There are train tracks nearby; the home sits close to the street. But it didn’t seem to originate outside — it started inside, with the reverberation shaking the radiator, windows and ceiling. Anne Marie described it as “coming from two sides.”
It’d be possible to fake these experiences, sure, but they’d be elaborate ruses, very well-hidden in an otherwise empty house.
Whether it’s really paranormal activity, or just old walls at The Bedford House, a unique and unexpected experience had this group second guessing whether they were in the company of some who could not be seen.