Bluff City Cemetery

We began our investigation with our group rotating to 5 different sites within the location. We were fortunate to have a medium present with us at this investigation. The following are the combined results from the group of investigators and our medium.

Information collected by our medium will be highlighted in yellow.

Information collected using equipment or physically experienced by our investigators will be written in white.

Site #1 - Log Cabin of Benjamin Burrett - first pioneer of Elgin.

EVP Session - Traffic from the nearby road makes this a difficult area to record EVP's

Log Cabin – I didn’t get any information, didn’t feel anything different. Rebecca did an EVP and asked if anyone wanted to join us. I felt a female presence and knew that she wanted to join us. I silently asked her what her name was and she replied Rachel. Rachel seemed very young - 20ish.

Rebecca had asked me to just make notes of anything I got, so I didn’t say anything to anyone, but I did ask Larry if his EMF thing registered anything. He said no. So I just wrote down Rachel’s name. Rachel said we had to go see the monument with an angel on it. I wrote that down on my paper and asked Rebecca if there was one. Rebecca said yes.

Site #2 - Stopped at SNOW mausoleum to check on reported sighting of a face in the window from a previous group.

At the Snow monument - Rebecca was telling us that some prior group had noted seeing a face in the window. Rachel told me that they saw a 10 year old boy. I saw a flash of lightening, but no boy. I took a picture - nothing showed up on the image.

Our team has come to the conclusion that the setting sun creates an image that reflects on the stained glass window of the SNOW mausoleum, which makes it appear that there is something in the window.

Near Central and Dell there is a patch of grass in the shape of a triangle where several roads run past. Rachel told me that they cut down a tree here. She seemed a little irritated by it but didn’t explain. I didn’t ask either

Site #3 - Proceeded to Civil War G.A.R. section -

As we continued around the area, I heard Rachel tell me we were going the wrong way, so I asked Rebecca if we were going away from the place I wrote down. She confirmed. The mosquitoes were pretty heavy in that area so we hurried around and up the hill. As we were getting to the top of the hill we saw some military equipment. Rachel said (very sarcastically) “Everyone is interested in them!”

We turned a corner and I saw a lady sitting on a bench watching us. (About 30, wearing a pencil skirt and blouse and had her hair curled, but I could tell she didn’t wear it that way.) Larry had an EMF down on the road, but it couldn’t be recreated. Paige did an EVP, but nothing happened. I asked the lady her name and she said it was Cathy, but later corrected me and said Cassie. I looked at stones in the immediate area, but did not see a Cathy or Cassie.

Site #4 - Road near Spring Fen Preserve - One of investigators thought they saw something along this road, we had a momentary EMF spike and stopped to do an EVP session.

We went past the place where a number of groups smelled tobacco and perfume, but we had just put on mosquito spray so we didn’t notice it. When Rebecca told us, I immediately flashed on a couple walking - he had a long cigarette and she had an umbrella in one hand and her other hand was on his arm. They didn’t seem to notice us and just walked down the hill. I didn’t get any other information.

We went in that direction and someone got a hit near Reverend Hiram Hubbard’s stone. The team explored for a few minutes. I silently asked what was here and I saw Julia Hubbard. She said she waited here for her husband and it was a nice place so she comes back sometimes.

Site #5 - Hendee Brown Monument - Near the southwest corner of Maple and Highland is an Italian marble statue of an angel bearing a cross. After it was placed on the Hendee-Brown plot, it was shipped to Paris for an exhibition at the expense of the Italian government.

We got to the Angel monument and it was very interesting. I asked Rachel to tell me about it. She said she feels good here. It’s a place she visits often. I asked where she lived and she pointed toward another area where the Munshaw’s monument is. I looked around for Rachel’s name, but didn’t see anything. After we were done, I asked Larry to go back and take a picture of the Munshaw monument for me. He took 2 photos. (Looking at it on the computer it appears there is a man’s face on one of the photos.)

Site #6 - Burial Vaults -Before there were machinery to dig the graves, if someone died during the winter months when the ground was frozen, they would be stored in the burial vaults.

We went down a hill to an equipment storage place where they used to store people that passed in the winter when it was too cold to bury them in the ground. I said “How many people are in there?” It just felt like a lot. But I was assured there is only equipment in there now.

On our way out I stopped at the same place to go out of the records and saw flowers on the ground. I don’t remember them being there. Larry put them back where they belong.

I took a photo after we went out of the gates and it came out blurry.

We had kept my digital recorder on in Larry’s pocket the entire time. We listened to it at home. I was at the dining room table and Larry was playing with our dog in the living room area. The recording had been playing for almost an hour and suddenly the dog came over to where I was and started barking and growling at me. I held the recorder up for him to see what it was and he continued to bark for a minute or more. Then just stopped and went back to playing. The recorder was a 26 minutes left, which would have been sometime around the Munshaw’s and the equipment storage.

Bluff City Cemetery - June 13th- 2009

Site #1 - Log Cabin of Benjamin Burrett - first pioneer of Elgin.

Site #2 - Stopped at SNOW mausoleum to check on reported sighting of a face in the window from a previous group.

No EMF Readings

Infra-Red seems higher, but we believe it to be the heat lingering from the day and lasting longer on the monuments.

Site #3 - Proceeded to Civil War G.A.R. section and experienced an unusual scent, first a tobacco / floral mixture and then vanilla. Everyone in the group experienced this in varying degrees. This is a recurring incident at this intersection. We checked the area for sources of the scent, but found only artificial flowers.

EVP session - 7:20 - Intersection of Dell and Lincoln - Deep grunting sound - Apprx - 2:31

Note early in the session there is an audible EMF spike and one of the investigators feels she has been touched.

Site #4 - Old City Burial Vaults - Noticed an odd scent once again, members of the team reported smelling a burnt wood scent. This continued to linger as we walked to the main gate.

Bluff City Cemetery - April 11th- 2009

We arrived at 7:00pm at Bluff City - after getting our gear together we headed towards our first site for investigation.

Site #1 - Log Cabin of Benjamin Burrett - first pioneer of Elgin.

7:10pm - One of our group experienced a battery drain from a camera and had to return to the vehicle to obtain a video camera to replace it. The same member experienced a feeling of pressure on her chest.

EMF spike - At the site - group decides to do an EVP session.

Infra-red temp 29 degrees

7:30pm - heading towards second site - Crossroads of Cherry Dell and Central.

7:34pm - Burr Oak and Dell Ave -

Infra-red temp - 35 degrees

Stopped to take picture of deer, experienced a blurred picture and sudden camera battery drain.

Picture of Deer (center) and Monuments - Sudden Battery Drain at this site

Site #2 - Stopped at SNOW mausoleum to check on reported sighting of a face in the window from a previous group.

7:37pm - Infra-red temperature spike near SNOW mausoleum of 49 degrees (20 degrees warmer than other readings) later dismissed to be from the stone holding the heat of the day longer then the other smaller stones around it.

7:40 - EMF on SNOW mausoleum - Witnessed flicker in the glass (determined to be reflection of a flash camera)

7:50pm - EVP Session held at the crossroads of Cherry, Dell and Central.

Site #3 - Proceeded to Civil War G.A.R. section and experienced an unusual scent, first a tobacco / floral mixture, then the scent changed to floral. Everyone in the group experienced this in varying degrees.

We formed a circle in the center of the road and the scent wafted in and amongst us.

After checking nearby flowers as the source, we found them to be plastic and have no explain at this time for the odd scent.

EVP - Session at Dell and Lincoln - site of the unusual scent.

Proceeded to the top of the hill to the memorial honoring the soldiers. Had a ground temperature spike near the flagpole of about 10 degrees - unknown as to the underground possibilities for an explanation of this.

Temperature spike was discovered near the cannon monument, but it was concluded that it was holding the heat from the day.

We stopped to admire the unusual Hendee Brown monument (Angel with Cross) as we headed towards the old city vaults.

Additional stop at the James. T. Gifford Monument and ended the evening.

Many thanks to the staff at Bluff City for their help.

Site #1 - Log Cabin of Benjamin Burrett - first pioneer of Elgin.

EVP Session - Traffic from the nearby road makes this a difficult area to record EVP's

Log Cabin – I didn’t get any information, didn’t feel anything different. Rebecca did an EVP and asked if anyone wanted to join us. I felt a female presence and knew that she wanted to join us. I silently asked her what her name was and she replied Rachel. Rachel seemed very young - 20ish.

Rebecca had asked me to just make notes of anything I got, so I didn’t say anything to anyone, but I did ask Larry if his EMF thing registered anything. He said no. So I just wrote down Rachel’s name. Rachel said we had to go see the monument with an angel on it. I wrote that down on my paper and asked Rebecca if there was one. Rebecca said yes.

Site #2 - Stopped at SNOW mausoleum to check on reported sighting of a face in the window from a previous group.

At the Snow monument - Rebecca was telling us that some prior group had noted seeing a face in the window. Rachel told me that they saw a 10 year old boy. I saw a flash of lightening, but no boy. I took a picture - nothing showed up on the image.

Our team has come to the conclusion that the setting sun creates an image that reflects on the stained glass window of the SNOW mausoleum, which makes it appear that there is something in the window.

Near Central and Dell there is a patch of grass in the shape of a triangle where several roads run past. Rachel told me that they cut down a tree here. She seemed a little irritated by it but didn’t explain. I didn’t ask either

Site #3 - Proceeded to Civil War G.A.R. section - As we continued around the area, I heard Rachel tell me we were going the wrong way, so I asked Rebecca if we were going away from the place I wrote down. She confirmed. The mosquitoes were pretty heavy in that area so we hurried around and up the hill. As we were getting to the top of the hill we saw some military equipment. Rachel said (very sarcastically) “Everyone is interested in them!”

We turned a corner and I saw a lady sitting on a bench watching us. (About 30, wearing a pencil skirt and blouse and had her hair curled, but I could tell she didn’t wear it that way.) Larry had an EMF down on the road, but it couldn’t be recreated. Paige did an EVP, but nothing happened. I asked the lady her name and she said it was Cathy, but later corrected me and said Cassie. I looked at stones in the immediate area, but did not see a Cathy or Cassie.

Site #4 - Road near Spring Fen Preserve - One of investigators thought they saw something along this road, we had a momentary EMF spike and stopped to do an EVP session.

We went past the place where a number of groups smelled tobacco and perfume, but we had just put on mosquito spray so we didn’t notice it. When Rebecca told us, I immediately flashed on a couple walking - he had a long cigarette and she had an umbrella in one hand and her other hand was on his arm. They didn’t seem to notice us and just walked down the hill. I didn’t get any other information.

We went in that direction and someone got a hit near Reverend Hiram Hubbard’s stone. The team explored for a few minutes. I silently asked what was here and I saw Julia Hubbard. She said she waited here for her husband and it was a nice place so she comes back sometimes.

Site #5 - Hendee Brown Monument - Near the southwest corner of Maple and Highland is an Italian marble statue of an angel bearing a cross. After it was placed on the Hendee-Brown plot, it was shipped to Paris for an exhibition at the expense of the Italian government.

We got to the Angel monument and it was very interesting. I asked Rachel to tell me about it. She said she feels good here. It’s a place she visits often. I asked where she lived and she pointed toward another area where the Munshaw’s monument is. I looked around for Rachel’s name, but didn’t see anything. After we were done, I asked Larry to go back and take a picture of the Munshaw monument for me. He took 2 photos. (Looking at it on the computer it appears there is a man’s face on one of the photos.)

Site #6 - Burial Vaults - During the winter months before there were machinery to dig the graves, if someone died during the winter months when the ground was frozen, they would be stored in the burial vaults.

We went down a hill to an equipment storage place where they used to store people that passed in the winter when it was too cold to bury them in the ground. I said “How many people are in there?” It just felt like a lot. But I was assured there is only equipment in there now.

On our way out I stopped at the same place to go out of the records and saw flowers on the ground. I don’t remember them being there. Larry put them back where they belong.

I took a photo after we went out of the gates and it came out blurry.

We had kept my digital recorder on in Larry’s pocket the entire time. We listened to it at home. I was at the dining room table and Larry was playing with our dog in the living room area. The recording had been playing for almost an hour and suddenly the dog came over to where I was and started barking and growling at me. I held the recorder up for him to see what it was and he continued to bark for a minute or more. Then just stopped and went back to playing. The recorder was a 26 minutes left, which would have been sometime around the Munshaw’s and the equipment storage.