Late in October 2001, Hollow Hill was contacted by a family that was having problems with ghosts in their home. The house is in central Massachusetts, and it is a private residence. The building includes several apartments, most of which are lived in by relatives of the building owner.

Four of us–including the woman who lived in the house–conducted an investigation and space clearing. I was expecting stagnant and residual energy, but the place turned out to be haunted with some exceptionally colorful/grisly imagery in a basement room that had been boarded up.

The apartment felt very unstable and oppressive from the start. Part of this is due to the building’s location and an irregular floor plan.

We began with a tour. The apartment seemed compact but a spacious enough floor plan, and it’s clearly being redecorated, updating it from a mixture of 40’s and 70’s decor.

There was a sense of stillness in the air, as if we wanted to open windows.

Generally, it seemed like an average student apartment.

BASEMENT

Next, we visited the basement. It was surreal. The decor was very home-y, from at least 50 years ago. However, it was completely dark, with almost no windows for air or light.

A typical room in this basement

When some of our group began space clearing (with traditional tools including a sage smudge) the atmosphere changed dramatically.

I thought we were dealing with residual energy, but there seemed to be a small city of ghosts, including one who was most evident and unpleasant, who did not like what we were doing.

THE BOARDED DOORWAY

The most dramatic moments were at a room that had, at one time, been boarded closed. Unlike the other rooms, it appeared to have a dirt or cement floor. The doorway was crossed with irregular cobwebs, suggesting black widow spiders, so we did not go in.

Inside the boarded-up room
(The white lines are from spiderwebs.)
Click on image to see a closeup of the stains.

One of the most fascinating moments was when the sage smoke the smoke wouldn’t go into the unpleasant room, even when the worker was practically hyperventilating, trying to blow the smoke in.

What finally worked was using a special spray bottle with a homemade space clearing mixture. First, one person would spray a mist into the room, and let it settle for about ten seconds. Then, the second person would blow the sage smoke into the room.

Spray bottle ingredients included:
Salt water
Holy water
Two bath/floor washes (Botanica products) This was repeated steadily. Each time, the smoke would go a little further into the room. It was a slow and tedious process, but worthwhile. The proof will be in the results, of course.

PASS THE SALT!

Realizing that we were dealing with something far more dramatic than the average stale energy of an unused area, or even a residual haunting, we took out a blessed salt used in extreme cases. It’s a mixture of salts, and specially prepared for this purpose. Generally, malicious spirits are unable to cross salt, or so the legends claim. In cases where ghosts are hostile, it’s a good idea to literally draw the line (in salt) and keep boundaries intact.

BACK UPSTAIRS

In the apartment, it was clear that some of the storage areas–closets and cupboards–seemed to suck energy like a sponge. When the singing bowl was used, the sound seemed to go dead. In other areas, sounds responded normally. In those same “dead” areas, the sage smudge (smoke) didn’t flow normally. This was odd. Incense can be used to detect drafts in a home, but it rarely balks at going into an open area, especially if blown in there.

EERIE SOUNDS

There were other odd moments, particularly spectral sounds. During the space clearing, we clearly heard pouring rain outside, but later discovered that it hadn’t rained.

I heard loud footsteps on the stairs, when no one was there.

After an hour of this work, we were extremely disoriented and left as soon as the work was completed.

AFTERWARDS

The woman who lived in the apartment had been warned that the noises might become worse overnight, and fade away permanently (we hoped) after a few days. This is what happened. We don’t know if the problems later resumed. In a house with such an obviously troubled history, it’s unusual when a single space clearing is enough. If I lived there, I’d do many things to that apartment, such as paint it bright, pastel colors.

But, I’d also board up that basement room again.

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