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All of the photos in the Investigation Albums (parts 1 and 2) are captured from the video we taped during
the actual investigation. They aren't of as high a quality as the images taken with our film and digital cameras
and larger versions of them are not available, but they give a good feel for what it was like to be there. Browse
through...and read what interests you.
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We arrived a little early at Vaile Mansion and had time to look around the grounds,
walk all the way around the house and get some excellent outdoor photographs of this beautiful historic building.
We felt amazingly honored and excited to get a chance to investigate the paranormal activity at Vaile Mansion.
We all joined the Vaile Victorian Society as a way of saying, "Thank you." |
| Several of our mainstay investigators could not make it to this investigation, and
that gave us a chance to bring along some new Ghost Vigil members for the first time. This was the first investigation
for Jamie King, pictured on the right. It was also a first investigation for Matt Browning and Darin Lee. |
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While we were waiting, Laura noticed that the curtains on the 2nd floor, in the Surgery
Room were moving. We were fairly confident that once we had a chance to look around the room, we would find that
an air vent was blowing on the curtains. Later in the night, we confirmed this to be the truth. Being an observant
investigator and noticing every little thing doesn't pay off every time...but it always pays off eventually. |
| When our host, Sandy arrived, we entered Vaile Mansion as a group for the first time.
The home is so large and beautiful, and wonderfully furnished with antiques that it is almost overwhelming. The
ceilings tower above you, and many of them are ornately painted by Italian artists. Sandy spent about ten minutes
with us in the dining room, telling us some of the history of the mansion, and describing some of the paranormal
activity that has been reported there. |
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The Central Hall off of the Entry is tall and wide, and runs the full length of the
main portion of the mansion. The woodwork and the staircase that winds upwards three stories, make for an impressive
entrance into the mansion. The rooms off of this Central Hall were outfitted with huge pocket doors that withdraw
into the walls of the house. A new floor was recently put in to handle the traffic of visitors, and the new floor
unfortunately prevents the use of the large pocket doors. |
| Here Darin and Jamie listen to Sandy talk about the Ladies Parlor of the mansion.
All but a few pieces of furniture in the mansion are not original to when the Vaile's lived there. Almost every
piece of furniture belonging to the Vaile's was sold or taken away in the years between the Vaile's lived there
and the mansion became a museum. Over the years, the house has been furnished with donated antiques in much the
same fashion as it would have been furnished when it was originally built. |
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The Red Room was a smaller parlor off of the Ladies Parlor. Sandy took us through
the house, helping us understand the history of the mansion...and all the different purposes it had served over
the years. See the History section of this investigation report for more details. When possible, she also told
us the different purposes each room had served. Over the many years that the mansion was a Retirement Home, there
would have been many beds in each of the large rooms of the mansion. |
| The Gentleman's Parlor is opposite the Ladies Parlor, and like many rooms of the
mansion, it features the original wooden blinds in all of its windows. They are in great shape for being over a
hundred years old! When you conduct a paranormal investigation in a location as visually striking as Vaile Mansion,
its hard to not get distracted by the history and atmosphere of the location. |
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Here we stopped in the Music Room to discuss with Sandy our approach to paranormal
investigations. It is hard to reconcile why some people can work in a location like Vaile Mansion for years and
experience nothing unusual, while at the same time other volunteers working at the same location during the same
years have numerous paranormal experiences. Sandy has experienced nothing at the mansion, but she knows volunteers
that have. We explained that we come into an investigation just as skeptical as she is. |
| During the time period that Vaile Mansion was built, it was the fashion of the day
to bring painters over from Italy to paint the ceilings with ornate decorations. Many of the rooms at Vaile are
adorned with paintings like the one shown on the right. It was also tradition to give the painters free access
to your wine cellar, and there are mistakes in some of the painting at Vaile Mansion that are attributed to a few
too many visits to the wine cellar! |
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This painted portrait of Mrs. Vaile hangs in the Master Bedroom of the mansion. Wealthy
married couples like the Vaile's often had separate bedrooms and slept apart. But the Vaile's were apparently closer
than that as a couple, and shared the bed in the Master Bedroom. The Master Bedroom is apparently the focus for
paranormal activity in the mansion. See the Background section and the Strange Events section of this investigation
report for details. |
| This beautiful image of a reclining woman is painted on the ceiling above the bed
in the Master Bedroom. Reportedly it was originally painted with few clothes, but the Vaile's insisted that situation
be rectified. The painter tastefully added enough clothing to please the Vaile's. It is said that the facial expression
and the position of the woman's legs in the painting change depending on where you stand in the room. Its hard
to conclude that this can be attributed to anything more than an optical effect caused by the painting's relative
position to the viewer. But its still fun to observe the changes. |
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This is the winding stairway from the 2nd floor of the mansion up to the third floor.
Visitors and volunteers have seen a woman in period dress on this stairway in the past. See the Background section
of this investigation report for more details. During our Previsit to the mansion on a regular tour, we were not
taken up this stairway or allowed to tour the 3rd floor. On our investigation night, I was really looking forward
to finally getting to climb these stairs. |
| Here Sandy, with flashlight in hand, shows us some of the hundreds of faces painted
into the natural grain of the wood in the Nature's Bower at the front of the mansion on the 2nd floor. It is said
that Mr. Vaile would have his friends over to the house for a few drinks in this small sitting room, and they would
make a game out of "counting faces." This room is a very large example of the concept of Pareidolia,
or the tendency for the human mind to create order (false order) out of chaos.... |
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Much like we see pirate ships in the clouds, or the Virgin Mary's face on a piece
of cinnamon toast, the artist found faces in the naturally twisted grain of the woodwork in this room. He then
added just enough details to the apparent human and animal faces to make them less subtle...without making them
completely obvious. There are literally hundreds of faces on the woodwork in this room. I can only imagine in an
era before radio, television, or any other mass media...how much fun Mr. Vaile and his friends must have had "counting
faces." |
| Here Darin, Stew, and Matt look around the Library. This was Darin's first investigation,
and he was anxious about what we might come across at a location as legendary as Vaile Mansion. The more anxious
Darin became, the more I found myself hoping he did encounter something paranormal during our investigation. In
many ways, it is a positive circumstance to have one or two new people alongside the experienced investigators.
Their fresh approach and unspoiled sense of wonder can add some unexpected fun to the event. |
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In this picture Darin, Jamie, Stew, and Matt are in the Guest Bedroom. Stew's EMF
detector was picking up a seemingly out-of-place electromagnetic field reading in the middle of the room. This
was the first investigation that Stew used this new EMF detector. It has an analog read-out, as well as a flashing
light and noise indicator. Later in the night, we returned to the location of this strange reading, and were able
to determine that there was a large power conduit running under the floorboards. |
| When Vaile Mansion served as a retirement home, this room was the Surgery Room. This
was at a time when an in-house doctor would perform necessary surgeries on the residents/patients. Its interesting
this room, which once had a somewhat grisly purpose...is now the Vaile Mansion gift shop! Its a small gift shop,
but there's actually quite a few things I was tempted to buy. The one thing I did buy was a small book detailing
the history of Vaile Mansion. I lost my first copy, and had to go back and buy a second... |
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When this room served as a surgery, a concrete floor was poured over the original
wooden floor. The concrete was later removed, but this large piece was kept as an example. The red coloring on
the piece of flooring is the color it was painted. In the surface of the concrete you can see the imprint of the
wooden floor on which it was poured. |
| Here is our first trip up the stairs to the 3rd floor of the mansion. In the picture
on the right Jamie is making the first turn up the stairs. The light from above is from a skylight that is original
to the house. The glass in the skylight is 2 inches thick and has never had to be replaced. The Vaile's planned
to have a Billiards room on one side of the 3rd floor and a ballroom on the other side. But the Vaile's never finished
decorating the 3rd floor of the mansion. During the retirement home years, the 3rd floor was also used to house
residents/patients. |
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Here Darin, Mark, and Sandy look into a small room that was one of many partitioned
off of what was meant to be the billiard's room when the mansion was built. Rooms were partitioned off when the
mansion was a retirement home, in order to accommodate the various needs of the business. At the time of our investigation,
this particular room had a big old-fashioned bathtub stored in the middle of the floor. Since the 3rd floor was
never finished when the Vaile's lived here, it has not been restored and is not normally open to the public. |
| Here Sandy had directed us all into a small room and closed the door. She informed
us that the room had been used to restrain residents/patients that were emotionally disturbed, and pointed out
that the door still has bars on the window. This room is often reported as having a urine smell and being the site
of paranormal activity. We did not smell urine, but please read the Strange Events section of this investigation
report for more details on what we did encounter here. |
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There was something unsettling about knowing you were in a room that was once used
to restrain mentally ill people. And while we can only guess at the conditions, we can be fairly certain that during
the time period this was a retirement home, mentally ill people were treated a bit worse than they are today. We
realized very early on that we where going to have to focus equipment on this room...and perform vigils there. |
This is a large portion of what was meant to be the billiards room. The walls were
still a sickening "hospital" green color, from the mansion's retirement home days. This room is currently
used for storage.
The other half of the 3rd floor was meant to be a large ballroom. It is also used for storage. Its a shame the
Vaile's never completed the 3rd floor. At this time, the Vaile Victorian Society does not have the funds to complete
restoration of the 3rd floor. And, since these rooms were never really finished, there is nothing to restore. |
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With our introductory tour of Vaile Mansion complete, it was time to go downstairs
and begin setting up the equipment for our investigation. Sandy's depth of knowledge about the history of the
mansion was impressive. And we appreciated her generosity in allowing us to investigate Vaile Mansion. Its really
goes beyond words... |
Click here for Investigation Album Part
2 (of 2)
And check out the sections of this investigation report listed under the category
of "Analysis" for detailed discussions and analysis of the evidence we gathered during this investigation...
-Mark Stinson
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