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Investigation
Photos
BACKGROUND
About 45 minutes West of St. Louis, on Hwy 70, is the town of Danville, Missouri. About 1 mile east of town is one of the oldest remaining buildings in the area, the Baker Plantation. The Baker family settled in Missouri as part of a land grant given to the Baker family after the War of 1812. The Bakers engaged in a number of business ventures from operating a lumber mill to a mercantile. Parts of the Baker Plantation structure date back to the mid 1830's. At that time a building was erected to serve as a school for young women. That part of the building burned, but the foundation was left intact. The Bakers built the current home on top of the original foundation. The bricks were made on-site from local materials.
The Baker family supported the Union during the Civil War and the home was occupied by Union forces for part of the war. The field just North of the house served as the encampment area. Even with close ties to the Union, the area was still at risk from Rebel incursions. The most noteable occurred on the night of October 14th, 1864, when "Bloody" Bill Anderson and his men burned the town of Danville and killed a number of its residents. After burning the town, he led his troops to the Baker Plantation and demanded to see Mr. Baker as Anderson intended to kill him. He was met at the door by Anna Baker and her infant child. Enraged, but at that time unwilling to kill innocent women and children, he rode his horse through the house as a sign of disrespect. He then ordered his men to burn the house and while the flames grew, he rode toward New Florence, Missouri. Luckily, one of the Bushwackers asked to return to collect some guns he had forgotten, and upon returning helped Mrs. Baker extinquish the fire. To this day parts of the building still show the charred reminder of that night.
Eventually the Baker family members died or moved away and the building ended up in the hands of Mary Crowson, the current owner. Mary and her family removed all of the electrical and plumbing additions, returning the house to its original condition. They filled the home with period antiques and as many of the original family furnishings as they could. They operate the building as a museum and often run tours for local school children and anyone who stops while travelling I-70. Mrs. Crowson is a friendly and well informed hostess and we thank her for allowing us the opportunity to investigate this historical treasure.
There are several stories concerning the paranormal that have happened at the plantation. One incident happened during the restoration work when two workers reported seeing a woman in 1800's attire looking down at them from one of the upper bedrooms. After investigating to see if anyone was in the house, they became unnerved and left. Another incident involved one of the heavier pieces of furniture. One of the large desks had a habit of moving of its own accord. Mr. Crowson, Mary's husband, tried in vain to determine a natural explanation for the movement but to this day has no rational explanation. Many people who visit the home often capture orbs in their photos, and everyone from our group captured some.
| Date and Time: | April 2nd, 7:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. |
| Weather: | Clear, 62 degrees outside, 68 degrees inside |
| Solar Activity: | Normal |
| Moon Phase: | waning crescent with 42% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated |
| Geomagnetic Field: | Stable |
| Investigators: | Mike, Brian Baker (no relation), Eric S., Eric K., Tracee & Melinda |
| Photo's Taken (Digital): | 113 (See notes below for more explanation) |
| Photo's Taken (35mm): | 24 |
| Anomalous Photo's: | 4 |
| Video: | 2 (See notes below for more explanation.) |
| E.V.P.'s: | 1 |
| EMF Readings: | 0 (See notes below for more explanation.) |
Our team arrived by 7:30 pm on Saturday, April 2nd. Some of the early arrivals were treated to a guided tour by Mrs. Crowson herself. Before investigating, we checked the NOAA Site and found that there was low geomagnetic activity and that solar storm activity was calm. The moon was not set to rise till after 3:03 am on Sunday morning. It would be a clear, cool, night. About as pleasant an evening as you could ask for provided you wanted to sit on the back porch and stare at the stars. However, we were on a mission and the fact that the atmosphere held so little energy was working against us. Also, the building is unoccupied, and as has already been stated, has no electricity. This left the building's atmosphere starved for energy. The house remained tight against the air outside and remained comfortable till almost midnight. Our impressions seemed unanimous, that the building felt comfortable and calm.
We set up camcorders in several of the rooms for 1/2 hour intervals, closing the doors behind us to reduce airflow and to reduce false orb activity. Other members of the team went to separate rooms and started working their audio recorders to capture EVP's. We swept the house with EMF and Tri-Field meters, taking hundreds of pictures over several hours. One of our members did capture a series of photos that have an orb appearing in several different places. It should be noted that the construction of this house predates central heating and this home has no ventilation beyond the windows and doors. This is important to factor to note when reviewing orbs captured inside of the house. We took several photos outside and noticed no insect activity.
After reviewing our videos, we have not found any solid paranormal activity but there remains a few sections that are still open for debate. There were no EVP's recorded. The building is located only a few hundred feet from I-70, a very heavily trafficked highway, and there was considerable road noise. We recorded no abnormal readings on the EMF or Tri-Field meters. I recall putting the unit into Battery Check mode to see that it was still working and everything seemed to be operating as advertised.
Try as we might, we were not able to capture much paranormal activity. We hope to continue to work with the owner for repeat visits, but our first visit came up empty for ghosts but full with the richness of the location.
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