MARS HILL
Mars Hill is located near Ottumwa Iowa. It is believed that a evil entity may haunt this building. ICPR has started research on this site.
Mars Hill is located atop a hill southeast of Ottumwa, Iowa surrounded by cornfields and woods. It is a very remote and quiet location. The cemetery was well maintained, and although a few headstones had been knocked over, very little evidence of vandalism was noticed.
It is rumored that satanic rituals had been performed inside the church. We noticed nothing to support the rumor, and although there was candle wax on a table, there were no satanic markings to suggest any rituals had taken place there.
At 5:30 p.m., we focused our attention on the inside of the church where we set up our equipment and begin an E.V.P. attempt. At that point, nothing out of the ordinary was observed and the sensors we had weren’t picking up anything.
For the E.V.P we had research assistant Jill sit in the middle of the church asking questions such as, “Who are you?” “Why are you here?” etc. There was no response until she asked, “Are you evil?” At that point the needle on the sound detector spiked to about 450 Hz.
Jill continued the questioning, and again she asked, “Why are you here?” Then one of our equipment bags moved. Jill then asked another question and the bag moved a little further. There were no people within three feet of the equipment bags at that time. We shot about a dozen photos in the location where the object moved.
After that, the needle on the sound detector went flat. We asked a few more questions with no results. After reviewing the audiotape we discovered that we did pick up a very distinct E.V.P. The unidentified voice is a faint whisper, possibly a male voice. We could not hear the voice at the time, but on the tape, it appears to have been conversing with us.
This is a transcript of that tape:
START
Sounds of researchers moving around in the church.
Unidentified voice: What are you?
Don: Did you see what was moving over there?
Unidentified voice: No.
Don: Did you hear it?
Unidentified voice: Yes.
Jill and Jenny: Um… Yeah.
END
E.V.P reacorded from Mars Hill on May 26th 2001Mars Hill wav
A total of 48 photos were taken at Mars Hill on May 26th 2001, only two of the photos had anomalies. Photo Fig. 1A was taken inside the church, four photos were taken in this spot, the camera was mounted on a tripod and all four photos were taken within fifteen seconds. One of the photos at first glance had what appears to be a light reflection above the window, however on further analyses the light orb appears to be moving and since the photos were taken within only a few seconds of each other it makes light reflection unlikely.
Photo FIG 2 was taken in the cemetery, I broke the first rule in paranormal photography and only took one photo, the photo has what appears to be a transparent orb shape and some smoke, unfortunately only the one photo was taken so we have nothing to compare it two.
We gathered enough information from Mars Hill to merit another trip, although we are not prepared to say that there is paranormal activity taking place at the location at this time, more research is necessary.
Objects moving-cause unknown
E.V.P recorded on tape. Source unknown
Two anomalous photos showing orbs.
Next trip on was 01/26/02 at 4:30 PM
Weather conditions
Temp 70 degrees Wind from the SW at 14 MPH Dew Point 22 F Humidity 20%
Barometric Pressure 29.88% and steady Conditions Clear
Equipment list
Disposible 35 mm camera; Digital C200 Hewlitt Packard Camera; Olympus D400; Olympus Stylus 35 mm,
Camcorders Sony330; Sony CD with infrared; Sharp VL-WD235
Trifields 2 and 1 Gauss master
Audio
Sony Cassette recorder with external microphone; GE 3-539A Recorder with external microphone;
RCS Digital recorder; Targus Digital recorder
We noticed once again the condition of the cemetary which was vandalized. We took several pictures outside and then proceeded to enter the church. Those entering were Brian, Rick and Jason. Craig, Bob and Shaun stayed outside. We set up the video camera in the right rear of the the church just as you come in the door to get the main part of the church in focus. We made several EVP attempts with no success. But we did photograph several orbs floating around the church. We also had a problem with large rat or Possum that wanted to play games with us while hiding in the ceiling. We left about an hour later. However upon my reaching home I set up my camera and hooked it up to the TV. We were at a part of the tape where the door to the church blew open. Brian had closed it and then said "I'm going to take a picture of this door so if it blows open again, I can prove it was shut". (It was barred with a big plank) You can hear Jason laugh and then on my camcorder we heard what sounded like a low rumble. I hooked the camcorder up to my computer where I have a program called CoolEdit which will enhance sound files. Upon increasing the level by almost 10 decibels and filtering the frequencies, the rumble turned out to be what sounded like a voice. We believe the voice to be saying "I'm going to start in the corner" and that was the end of it. No more was heard on the rest of the tape.
End of investigation
