Cheney's clanking chains

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Cheney's clanking chains
November 8, 2010
By FRED POLLARD
The Telegraph.com

JERSEYVILLE — Despite a growing pile of photographic and audio evidence of the unexplained occurring at the Cheney Mansion, the investigators with Paranormal Researchers of Southern Illinois still are hesitant to jump on the "haunted house" bandwagon.

"We rule out everything else before we call anything evidence," investigator Brian Lavigne said. "We are not one of these groups that takes any little thing and run with it. We investigate houses; that is what we are there to do."

Over the last two years, the team has made approximately 20 visits to the regal Jerseyville structure, looking for something to prove that the house is, in fact, haunted.

"We do this by using only scientific fact, not hearsay evidence," the research group’s home website states. "It is our job as paranormal investigators to gather facts, and do all that we can to make sure that our clients feel safe and understand exactly what may be happening to them."

The Cheney Mansion, located at 601 N. State St. in Jerseyville, was constructed in 1827 by James Faulkner as "The Little Red House," the first frame structure built in Jersey County. The original four-room structure served as a tavern, stagecoach stop, bank and doctor’s office, as well as being the very building in which city founders chose the name "Jerseyville."

Located in an area proven to be a firing line for the slavery debate in the 1800s, the house also served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, hiding freedom-bound slaves in a false cellar.

Carol Senger, secretary of the Jersey County Historical Society and "unofficial caretaker of the house," has been involved with the society for more than five years.

"This was one of the few banks in the area that stayed open during the Civil War," Senger said. "There is a lot of history here, and I think the ghosts take as good care of the place as I do."

In 1997, the mansion was purchased by local benefactors Clayton Brown and Richard McCauley and donated to the Jersey County Historical Society.

Currently furnished with 19th century pieces donated by local residents, such as period clothing, kitchen utensils, furniture, toys, books, and a cabinet filled with doctor’s instruments from the 1800s and early 1900s, the structure also houses a billboard overflowing with snapshots of what Senger believes could be the resident spirits, including ghostly apparitions and glowing eyes.

Last month, the Paranormal Researchers of Southern Illinois (ProSI) team investigated several rooms throughout the house, including the master bedroom where previous owner Prentis Dana Cheney’s original bed still sits, along with cigarette burns still visible in the floor from Cheney falling asleep in bed while smoking.

"Miss Dorothy’s Room," named for Cheney’s childhood nanny, reportedly houses two ghost children, as well as a phantom cat that regularly messes up the bed sheets and clothing lying on the bed. The "children’s room" showcases a closet door that reportedly opens and closes on its own.

The investigation team uses a variety of video and audio equipment, including electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors, to search for anything that cannot be explained away logically.

"These things are very sensitive," investigator Dean Thompson said. "If it beeps once, that could be anything. It is when they start beeping in response to your questions several times that you can start looking at something more."

Thompson, one of the founding members of the 4-year-old team, says he encourages skepticism, adding, "You have to have a personal experience before you really start believing."

"(Susan and I) met (Brian and Michelle) on one of the local ghost tours," Thompson said. "We were each doing our own thing independent of each other. We started talking and decided to team up. Brian came up with the name, and we all work really well together."

While the group says its biggest hope is to investigate a location and be able to tell the owners it definitely is not haunted, research manager Christopher Lofts admits some things just remain unexplained.

"One thing I have not been able to explain is a voice we all heard," Lofts said. "We set up in the kitchen area and were all together when we heard a little girl giggle, as clear as anything. Everyone turned in that direction at the same time, so I was not the only one to hear it. What that was, to this day, I have no idea."

PRoSI also has a collection of electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) recordings from the house that seem to be phantom voices, including screams, as well as ghostly voices saying "Can you see me?" and "Kill me."

"People often assign things they can’t explain on their belief patterns," Lofts said. "Some people also claim they have irrefutable evidence and expect us to take their word for it. Nothing has been proven, so therefore, there are no experts. It is all theory."

Saying up to 95 percent of investigations conclude with logical explanations, the team continues to balance an open mind with a healthy dose of skepticism.

"There has been an influx of teams on television lately, most of whom we have little in common with," Lofts said. "We have a mixed belief pattern when it comes to paranormal events. I prefer to call us ‘paranormal researchers,’ not ‘ghost hunters.’ We are all about getting to the heart of the matter. We are not mediums or psychics, and we don’t use them.

"I don’t know if ghosts exist or not, but I am sure trying to find out."