It’s not uncommon for paranormal investigations using video, voice, and image recording equipment to spark a change in the nature of the activity of a given location. Sometimes ghost hunting results in an increase in activity overtime, while others it simply seems to scare spirits away. Take the case of Donna Santos and her barn on West Hill Road in Barkhamsted.
The barn had begun normally as a lodging for horses, but in time it seemed like someone or something else was spending the night there. At night the horses, which were locked away into their individual stalls, would be found the next day all in different stalls. Normally it’s no simple task to move several horses about like what without making noise or being an experienced stableman or stablewoman. No noises were reported most nights, and it was simply that the horses would reappear in different spots than they were supposed to be in. In addition to that, the cat’s food bowl would be dragged around or end up far from where it was originally placed, such as up on a table or high on a shelf. And if that wasn’t enough to make the skeptical Santos suspect something else was going on, the family dog would regularly interact with beings that apparently weren’t there, growling at spots in the middle of a room or in the corner and looking up as though looking a person straight in the eyes.
The family wasn’t sure what to make of it all, and therefore called upon the help of the police department, suspecting someone may be coming into the barn in the middle of the night to cause trouble for the family. The police staked out the barn, but saw no one enter in the middle of the night. If there was a burglar, they were entering the barn invisibly somehow.
Soon it was suspected the explanation may lie somewhere else. The family soon contacted the Northwest Connecticut Paranormal Society with the intention of tracking down whatever mischievous spirit was lurking in the shadows of their property. The founder of the NCPS, John Zontok, made arrangements for the team to investigate the barn. The team is comprised of several experienced individuals in the field of the paranormal including a college professor, a former marine, a Reiki master, and myriad others each with their own interesting take on the paranormal. Mr. Zontok, himself a skeptic on the nature of spirits, soon found himself immersed in a world of strange happenings as equipment picked up readings all over. Electronic Voice Phenomena was recorded time and again as spirits relayed menacing messages to those involved in the investigation. The team soon became convinced that the house was indeed haunted.
As the investigation concluded, almost immediately Donna realized that the spirits were gone. Though the purpose of the investigation was merely to document the paranormal happenings, it seems the team inadvertently actually somehow exorcized the house as well. The paranormal activity ceased to bother the barn, the cat’s dish no longer levitates about the room, and the horses remain in their own stalls where they belong. A happy ending for the Santos family.