Paranormal investigators search for haunting evidence

As the sun sets tonight, and Halloween day turns to Halloween night, curiosity will draw seekers of the paranormal to investigate the unknown universe of ghosts and spirits. Halloween night ignites the minds and spirits of both the living and the dead, giving paranormal investigators one special night to connect the two universes.

Don’t believe in ghosts? Tell that to the ghost hunters at the Mordecai House, in downtown Raleigh.

Hair-raising research

Paranormal investigators first took an interest in the historic house when strange, reoccurring events continuously puzzled guests. Using electronic voice phenomena recordings and precise photography, these investigators have found physical proof that paranormal life exists within the Mordecai House.

EVPs are sounds picked up on a recording device for which there is no known physical source.

Chris Roberts, co-founder of P.A.S.T Researchers, recalled one EVP that revealed the voice of a man reading a letter that had been delivered to the Mordecai House more than a century ago. On another occasion, his crew picked up the unmistakable voice of a young boy talking inside the empty house. He explained that the voices of children are often the easiest to detect because “they want you to know they’re there.”

Finally, the most spine-tingling EVP the P.A.S.T Researchers detected was the faint but clear voice of a woman uttering a haunting plea to the investigators. Although her voice barely reached a whisper, her two short words, “Get out!”, keep paranormal investigators eager to learn more.

Still skeptical? The P.A.S.T Researchers have also captured “orbs” and “mists” on camera, which only exist when physical energy is present.

According to Roberts, the researchers have photographed multiple orbs in the kitchen of the house, where George Burke, a past resident, allegedly committed suicide. In addition to the orbs, the researchers have captured unexplainable mists that are visible in one photograph, but disappear in the following photograph taken less than a second later.

These paranormal professionals have even tried to recreate the mists by blowing smoke or steam in front of the camera lens, but none of their attempts can recreate the ghostly original, said Roberts.

The Haunting History

According to Erin Callis, the mansion’s assistant director, the Mordecai House is Raleigh’s oldest standing mansion built by Joel Lane in 1785, as a wedding gift for his son, Henry. According to Mordecai investigators, the Mordecai House thrived as a plantation for decades, until the Civil War swept through the South, leaving the Lane family fortune in shambles. 

After the war, Polly Lane and Moses Mordecai married and moved into the house together. However, the next generations of children born into the house were forced to live in the shadow of ruins left by the Civil War.

For this reason, the P.A.S.T Researchers said they believe the Mordecais' great sorrows have caused them to cling to the house that was once home to the most powerful families in Raleigh, ultimately tying the family to its house, this time as ghosts. 

The spirits that remain attached to the house are now forced to tap on the windowpanes of life, waiting helplessly for a resolution that may never come.

Burke Little was the last Mordecai descendant, and last owner, to ever sleep in the house. Upon his death in the 1960s, the curse of bad fortune that plagued his distant relatives finally ended.

However, until Burke’s death, the curse had wrapped its fingers around each member of his family, leaving the spirits of his relatives to forever linger in the Mordecai house.

A fateful landmark

Following Burke’s death, the Mordecai house became a landmark in Raleigh, allowing tourists and historians to visit the historic site.

But soon after the tours began, guests started to notice unusual and unexplainable things occurring inside the house, Jeremy Ogborn, a Mordecai employee, said. Investigators attribute these strange events, unquestionably, to the generations of Mordecais, still clinging to the past, who now want to make their presence known as the rightful owners of the house.

On multiple occasions, Callis said guests have explained feeling patches of cold air in the hallways, when the rest of the house felt hot and balmy from the summer air. Others have reported portraits of past residents spontaneously falling off walls at the mention of a family member’s name, while others have heard silverware ratting in its drawer with no one else present in the room.

“It’s usually fun working inside the Mordecai house,” Ogborn said, “When something unusual happens, like strange footsteps or voices, we always try to find some kind of explanation — but sometimes, you just never know.”