Category: US – New Hampshire

Starting in 1999, several of us continued to visit Gilson Road Cemetery regularly, sometimes several times a week during good weather. Though the site is more active sometimes than others, it’s been a consistently good place to train new investigators, and to test EMF meters and other equipment.

These are a few notes from 2000 – 2003. After that, we stopped reporting our investigations at Gilson Road.

Frankly, very little changed during those years. We still encounter a wide range of phenomena, including strange lights, noises, and voices that only our clairaudient researchers hear. Our photos show unexplained orbs, weird streaks of light, and misty images on dry evenings.

30 Apr 00

Who: Several ghost hunters

When: Arrived before dusk Purpose: To more formally investigate Gilson while it’s still “haunted.”

Results: EMF activity. The energy at Gilson started dropping as soon as the construction work began across the street from the cemetery.

However, we did a more formal investigation of the site on Walpurgis, April 30th.

The results were inconclusive. There were no clear patterns to the experiments with pendulums. Our main EMF meter flared dramatically throughout the southern half of the cemetery for several minutes, the meter did not react the same way during our follow-up visit the next day.

(During EMF flares, we routinely check our meters against cell phone activity, cameras that use considerable electricity, and so on. In this case, we could not artificially create the flare.)

23 Oct 00

Who: Several reporters, casual investigators, photographers, and one ghost hunter from Hollow Hill.

When: Arrived at about 6 p.m., stayed until about 8 p.m. Purpose: Investigation and photographs, for October 27th Nashua Telegraph articles.

Results: Unsettled and inconclusive energy. We hiked into the Gilson area at dusk. The energy was very low. Compass readings by skeptics reached only a 10-degree shift, max. This is still anomalous, but not so exciting as Gilson used to be.

There was a brief and very minor “cold spot” next to one stone. The headstone glowed slightly more than it should have as night arrived, but it was mostly a big disappointment. If I hadn’t been actively looking for these usually-reliable manifestations, I wouldn’t have noticed them at all.

However, the gate glowed more than we’ve seen in the past, well past dark. Maybe they’ve painted it with a more reflective paint?

My “sparkles” camera showed inconsistent sparkles in the woods. Maybe one out of five flashes produced the silvery images. (A year ago, the ratio of successful flashes would have been nine out of ten, or better.) However, the newspaper staff commented about the sparkles in the beam of light from the flash, inside the cemetery walls.

We compared these with flash results from two other cameras and there were no sparkles with them. Even if we try to explain the sparkles as dust motes in the air, they should have appeared consistently with all cameras within, say, a two-minute period.

Listening intuitively, there was far more rustling in the woods. It sounded like people brushing against branches or evergreens. However, even on a psychic level, there were no corresponding sounds of footsteps.

Listening naturally, with one’s ears, the woods were (pardon the pun) dead quiet. Except for an unusually brief serenade by the frogs in the swampy area, there were no animal noises at all. No owls. No birds shifting weight as they slept. No scampering little animals, even at dusk. It was eerie. Usually, there are far more natural noises at Gilson.

Mostly, the visit was uneventful. The gate creaked and moaned once; it’s never made a sound in the past. Branches fell in the woods across the street from the cemetery. A couple of cars raced past the cemetery, illegally, and did not slow down even to look at our flashlights in the cemetery.

At about 7:30 p.m., something felt very wrong when the photographer was setting up his tripod, lights, etc. However, that energy subsided as the evening progressed. My impression in hindsight is, perhaps a spirit was nervous about what we were going to do, and then calmed down once it was obvious that we weren’t malicious.

2001 – 2002:

As Tanglewood Estates (the new subdivision) moved in across the street, accessibility to Gilson Road became an issue. In addition, the energy would surge one week and then drop the next. Sometimes it seemed more haunted than ever, and then we were convinced that the ghosts had left.However, during 2002, the energy seemed to stabilize. If anything, it seemed as if Gilson Road was more haunted than it had been before the construction.

As of late 2003:

Gilson is still a “sure thing” or as close as it gets, at least for anomalous activity with a compass, day or night. Any hiking-type compass will work. We’ve had success with an L.L.Bean zipper-pull compass (but not cheaper counterparts), and with the $8 Coleman compass available at Target and WalMart. What’s key is to make certain the needle doesn’t tend to “stick” as it floats. Also, be certain to pause if the needle swings, so it’s not a false reading from simply motion as you walk. Make certain you’re holding the compass level, too. Walk through the cemetery and watch north seem to shift directions, from ten degrees on a tame day, up to 90 degrees on a high-energy day.

You can do this at any time of day, but the later in the day, the better the results. You’re likely to get positive results anywhere in the cemetery. The “hot” compass regions seem to change from one day to the next.

We find the most consistent anomalies in the vicinity of the Walter Gilson stone (with the hole in it), near the break in the stone wall (back left corner of the cemetery, which people seem either repelled by, or drawn to), and towards the left front of the cemetery.

By contrast, the EMF meter reads most often at the headstones nearest the gate.

Reminder: When visiting any isolated spot — but particularly cemeteries frequented by teens who are drinking — it’s never wise to go ghost hunting alone.

We’ve said it often: The biggest risk for ghost hunters is not the dead, but the living. Gilson Road Cemetery is no exception.

During November and December 1999, a couple of us returned to Gilson Road Cemetery.  We went back several times after our first formal investigation at Gilson. The following are notes from some of those 1999 follow-up visits.

8 Nov 99

Who: Two of us

When: Early afternoon

Purpose: To check for daytime phenomena, also for things that may have caused anomalies in first rolls of film that came back.

The photo at left has a small, reddish orb above a grave, and at the far right side of the photo there are a couple of “eyes” just above the wall. I enlarged them in the right photo. Results: Didn’t find anything to explain the “eyes.” I expected to find mushrooms or something similar. Energy seemed to be building at left corner of cemetery. Hiked to back wall past the cemetery, took photos. No anomalies.

9 Nov 99

Who: Two of us

When: Early afternoon

Purpose: To check for gypsy moth nest, or anything else in trees that accounted for “sparkles,” some of which showed up in photos.

Results: The trees were nearly bare, with nothing to explain the reflections/sparkles of the 5th. Energy building, not so much as on the 8th, but still coming from the area past the back left corner of the cemetery.

25 Nov 99

Who: Two of us

When: Late morning

Purpose: Just to check it out

Results: Saw a ghostly figure that vanished. Sensed two or three entities (male forms) in wooded area past back left corner of the cemetery. Saw, in our time, an adult-sized figure in a dark capote, probably brown-black suede. Figure was about 30 feet past back wall of cemetery, had to be near swamp. He was there for a few seconds, walking through the woods. He passed in back of a narrow tree — narrower than his body — but didn’t emerge out the other side.  I couldn’t believe that he vanished. I walked around, looking for him, still thinking he was a hiker or something. Nobody was there.

Otherwise, very low spectral energy. Average for an apparently haunted cemetery in bright sunlight.

26 Nov 99 (1)

Who: Two of us at first, then a third person

When: Dusk

Purpose: To take some photos

Results: Encountered what seemed like ghosts. Misty night produced questionable photos, but some anomalies other than orbs. Saw steady phosphorescent flickering around one headstone at top of cemetery. Flashes of light, bands of blue-white color, in woods behind cemetery. Most appeared to be about ten feet behind wall, determined by which trees lights were behind and which they were in front of.

Energy building, especially at back left corner of cemetery. Bands of spectral energy along left wall, and apparently across the street. Spirits (as “people”) arriving one or two at a time, from far right, behind cemetery. Flurry of violence perceived, then totally quiet again.

Our late 1999 research reports continue at part two, Gilson Road Cemetery – 1999 follow-up visits

26 Nov 99 (2)
Who: Six of us When: About 8:30 p.m., for about a half hour

Purpose: To use disposable cameras (one for each person) and random photos. Goal was to estimate how many “ghost photos” a beginner can expect, using the cheapest disposable camera available, with almost no how-to instructions, and on a random night…which turned out to be too damp for reliable results.

Results: Many ghost photographs. Averaged three anomaly photos per roll of 27 pictures. Orbs were discounted due to damp conditions. Anomalies included unexplained lights, particularly a blue line in two of Alan’s photos that corresponded to similar lines in my photos and one other person’s pictures, as well. Other anomalies included some odd mists.

The best photos of the night were a dense mist rising from near two graves, and a baffling, swirling mist at another grave.

Note: With what I’ve learned from my photo research since then, the photo might show my own breath. I’d say that’s a 50/50 chance, since I haven’t been able to fully duplicate it, but came close. Maybe.

ADDITIONAL VISITS

28 Nov 99

Who: Two of us When: About 7 p.m., for 10-15 minutes

Purpose: To use spray bottle of water to try to duplicate the damp conditions of the 26th, and compare with “dry” photos taken at same time on the 28th.

Results: Active entity present. There was some other energy present, like something there for dinner. It wanted us to leave, so we did. Telepathic communication was almost verbal, “Get out. Get out NOW.”

On 6 Dec, some of the photos were printed. The two I took when I was getting that telepathic message, have a purple smear across them, similar to the photo I use on the opening page of this website. (It’s not a light leak; I was using a different camera, and the light doesn’t extend outside the frame.)

30 Nov 99

Who: Three of us When: About 8:45 p.m., for 10 minutes

Purpose: To check the energy levels, and take a few photos.

Results: Numerous active anomalies. Strong sulphur smell in area, probably from swamp. Something grazed the edge of my hat, sounding like a higher-pitched bumblebee, and much faster. I could feel the heat from it as it passed. Left no mark on my polarfleece hat. No other sound before, during, or after it passed.

Alan’s brand new flashlight dimmed, flickered, and then went out as if the batteries had died. It was fine immediately before and after the cemetery visit, even when we tried to make it fail again.

No significant energy, even at the back wall of the cemetery. Quite flat, in fact. Like almost every other sort-of-haunted cemetery. Nothing remarkable.

My cameras recorded some odd light effects, but I’m 90% certain it was a glitch at the camera lab. It affected four photos in a row, almost identically.

2 Dec 99 (1)

Who: Four of us When: Noon

Purpose: Verify headstones, check locations of anomalies to start compiling data relative to graves and cemetery “hot spots.”

Results: The vicinity of certain graves remains the most active for non-orb anomalies. However, photos taken near the wall itself were not productive.

2 Dec 99 (2)

Who: Three (?) ghost hunters When: After 6 p.m.

Purpose: Felt drawn to the cemetery

Results: Many anomalies. Rampant spectral activity. Whispered warning from entity. Found an unexplained warm spot over a depression/grave near the Lawrences’. Police asked group to leave, and waited while they did.

We’ve agreed to stay away from this cemetery at night, for awhile at least.

4 Dec 99

We didn’t visit Gilson again, but met a young woman who’d been there with friends about two months ago. After her nighttime visit to Gilson, she’d told several mutual friends the story she told me: She saw the black shape of a man in a hood rushing towards her and her friends, and then he vanished. The girls left the cemetery, screaming in terror. This matches with a story from about two weeks ago, when two other ghost hunters encountered an entity described as a black shape like a man in a hooded garment.

It could also be the nighttime appearance of the man that I saw during the day on November 25th. I was thinking along Colonial lines, so I described him as wearing a brown-black capote (hooded garment).

GILSON ROAD CEMETERY, NASHUA, NH – PART FIVE OF FIVE

I think all of us were pretty rattled by what happened. Maybe we should have admitted how scared we were.

We each responded in our own way.

Most everyone headed for their cars. Some locked themselves inside.

I climbed back over the cemetery wall and tossed another roll of film into my camera. I didn’t want Nancy to feel as if we were waiting for her, so I started taking more pictures.

About a dozen photos later, Nancy was also ready to leave. She and Alice headed north in their car. Alan, Jane, James and I decided to go back to my house.

All of the way home, I kept hearing Jane’s shaky voice. She promised that she’d never joke in a cemetery again. She was very apologetic, and repeated that she hadn’t expected anything like this.

Alan slowly emerged from the apparent haze he’d been in during his first lengthy and intense encounter with the paranormal. He said over and over again that it was like a movie, but better… and worse.

James – most comfortable insisting that ghosts aren’t real – seemed to think the whole thing was pretty cool and didn’t say much.

I remember that I kept babbling, hoping to put it in a context for Alan so he’d understand the experience better.

(Also, I was still annoyed with Jane’s daytime joking in the cemetery, because I know that a flippant attitude or a vocal skeptic in the group can dash all hopes of getting good anomalies on film.)

Once we got home, Alan and Jane stayed to talk for awhile. About an hour later, Alice called from her mother’s cell phone.

Alice and Nancy had gone to Vale End (Wilton, NH), another, more famous haunted cemetery, and Alice had been chased by something dark and terrifying.

She was okay, but rattled. We agreed to talk about it later in the week.

The evening was finally over. I went to bed, but didn’t sleep well. Something seemed… wrong. Was it a premonition? I couldn’t decide, and tried to dismiss that thought.

But still… something felt wrong.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND ANOMALIES

Three days later, my film was back from the developer: Over a third of the photos had anomalies in them.

During the time when I felt an intense energy rushing past me, like a train (but the air didn’t move), I had – apparently – taken two photos with startling purple energy in them.

One of these photos – now famous – is below.  Click on it to see it larger, with an article about the picture.

None of Nancy’s photos had anomalies in them. She wasn’t surprised. She said that people who experience paranormal phenomena probably pick up things on film that others don’t.

She had studied my earlier photos and the negatives from them, and had said that they were exactly what they appeared to be: Anomalies. Things that “couldn’t be,” as she put it. But they were not developing or printing mistakes, double-exposures, or anything like that.

Nancy had hoped to capture similar anomalies herself, but she seemed content to have a few great photos from an eerie cemetery. I’ll use at least one of her photos in my upcoming book on ghost hunting.

Since then, I’ve tried scanning my Gilson Road photos from November 5th, to show the anomalies. One photo has six anomalies in it, including a black orb. (Black orbs are very rare.) However, they’re very dim, even with 800 ASA film.

I’ve abandoned my scanning efforts with most of those photos. Even looking at the originals, it’s like “Where’s Waldo?” trying to find the orbs. They’re easy to spot when you know where to look, but otherwise, you’d never notice them in most of the photos.

But the purple-streaked photos are my trophies from that evening, along with the chilling memories of what we witnessed.

Alan and I went back to the cemetery one sunny afternoon the following week, so I could compare my anomalies with the surroundings. I was looking for things to explain the odd lights and orbs in my photos.

We climbed over several stone walls, and studied every corner of the cemetery. The anomalies in my photos remain unexplained.

Alan and I left after about an hour at the cemetery. I could feel the energy building up again. Although it was many hours before dusk, I could feel the “people” gathering again. The massacre probably happens again most nights, whether the living are there to witness it or not.

Gilson Road Cemetery is the most intensely haunted place I have ever visited. Whatever lives and dies there each night, is still a very powerful force.

The ridiculous thing is, soon after our visit, a developer began building Tanglewood, an upscale community across the street from Gilson Road Cemetery. Most people consider me a fearless ghost hunter, almost foolhardy at times. However, I’m not sure that I’d be willing to live near Gilson Road Cemetery.

NANCY’S DEATH, SOON AFTER

One personal note about this story: My friend Nancy died of an apparent heart attack in the middle of November 1999, about a week after our first formal investigation at Gilson Road Cemetery.

A reader asked if there was any link between Nancy’s death and the Gilson visit. At the time, I didn’t think so, and I still don’t consider Gilson “dangerous.”

However, Nancy also went to Vale End Cemetery that same night.

I didn’t write about Vale End Cemetery for a couple of years. Then I did, and several networks and local TV stations swarmed at Vale End, claiming that it’s a “world’s scariest” place. In my opinion, it’s not especially “scary”, but there are some risks if you go there.

Since removing my reports from the website did not discourage people from going to Vale End Cemetery, I’ve put them back online. (There are four articles about Vale End Cemetery among our New Hampshire pages.) I talk about Nancy’s death in this article: Possible demons at Vale End Cemetery.

Right now, I prefer to think that Nancy’s intense interest in ghost photography was due to a premonition she may have had, about her own time drawing short.

Also, I’ve talked with many people who’ve visited Gilson Road Cemetery. Not one ghost hunter’s story, from recent or distant past, has tragedy linked to it.

In my opinion, the only dangers at Gilson Road Cemetery are encounters with boisterous party-goers (at keggers behind the cemetery), the usual risks if you visit a cemetery after its closed, and the occasional turned ankle since Gilson has many snake holes and depressions that indicate unmarked graves.

For additional reports about Gilson Road Cemetery, see our next page, Gilson Road Cemetery – Nov 1999 follow-up visits.

Our friend Annie brought us this picture, taken by a friend of hers. Annie wanted us to see the figure in the window.

Right away, I saw the small – perhaps winged – figure in the left lower corner of the window. She has wavy hair, and she’s looking across the landscape, perhaps slightly down.

Nice, but… Who knows what these things really are? The figure isn’t distinctive enough to be significant, but it’s a charming photo anyway.

Then I enlarged just that portion of the window.

I’m not saying that this is the image of a ghostly girl trapped in an abandoned New Hampshire house, held captive by something with a wicked gleam in its eye.

However, it’s one possible explanation.  It’s just not the happiest one, and I don’t think that’s the real story.

I’m sensing loneliness but not terror or even significant fear, but I could be wrong.

No matter what else this is, it’s an intriguing image.

BEFORE YOU GO GHOST HUNTING…