"What Did I Hear Upstairs?"

It’s exciting going to a new investigation location. Especially when planning to stay there two nights in a row; mostly because I know that I’ll get some sleep. I hate to admit that, even when I’m at a location, I put in ear plugs before I go to bed. It’s important to me to get the best quality sleep I can, no matter where I am or what I’m doing. When I’m investigating, I want to make sure that I am fully aware and thinking rationally. However, the next time I go to Boyd House in Minnesota, I’m going to prepare myself for sleeping without the ear plugs.

Upon arriving at the house late afternoon Thursday, I immediately put our dinner in the slow cooker. Per usual, I am walking into the house with no knowledge of the history of the house, the town, individuals or families who resided there, or the specifics of any reported paranormal activity. The house is in beautiful condition with a mix of original woodwork and relocated furnishings from the early 1900s, wood paneled walls and metal kitchen cabinetry from around the 1950s, and a nicely finished basement. There is nothing unsettling about the house, and it has just a few spots that feel a little energetically charged–places where one might experience goosebumps, headaches, or other subtle physical sensations. Jess and I chose a corner room in the basement to immediately start investigating. 

By the time supper was ready we had experienced some pretty underwhelming activity, conducted an Akashic Records reading of the location, and a few tarot readings of the location’s energy. Following supper Thursday night, Jess was reading journal entries written by previous investigators of their experiences in the house, which included hearing footsteps upstairs around 9:00 p.m. When 9:45  arrived, we were already pretty tired and realized that we hadn’t heard anything unusual and were likely not going to. We discussed heading up to put on pajamas and get our beds ready. Suddenly, we were taken off guard by a siren going off at 10:00 p. m., sounding just like the 6:00 bell we had heard earlier. After a quick internet search, we learned that three bells wail daily in this small town: at noon, 6:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m.

During this discussion, we were still sitting in the kitchen, which is directly under the upstairs bedroom where we would be sleeping that night. Around 10:14 p.m., Jess and I direct our attention to the sound of movement upstairs. There is a ceiling vent in the kitchen directly below the floor vent in the upstairs bedroom. Other investigators have reported lots of interactions in the bedroom, but this noise sounds like it’s coming from beyond the bedroom, which would be the bathroom, hallway or eaves closet at the end of the hallway. Being the closest device to me without moving, I start the recorder app on my phone. For about 15 minutes, Jess and I sit there waiting and listening. 

Unfortunately the refrigerator was running non-stop, so upon playback, you can’t hear anything in the audio file but a constant hum and us jokingly whispering that it was probably my packed cot that fell over and caused the disruption. Unless you’re in the basement, tiptoeing quietly around the house is not possible; the old wood floors creak with every step or shift of weight. Nonetheless, we slowly make our way up the old, adorned staircase. We don’t notice anything amiss, even when we open the bedroom door and see that my cot and all our belongings are just as we left them. I go out to the hallway to check the closet, which one can close loosely with a hook-and-eye latch or push on the door to close more tightly, like I did earlier that evening. The door was closed just as tight as I left it. 

On Friday we debated camping out in the hallway or another adjacent room in the hopes of capturing this activity again. In our experience, unexplained events are more likely to occur when we’re not paying attention, so we settled for setting up a video recorder aimed down the hallway towards the closet door, with the bedroom and bathroom doors on either side. We also set up an audio recorder with extended microphones into the bedroom and down to the closet door. After an hour or more of playing poker downstairs Friday night, we gave up and continued to quietly investigate on the first floor for the remainder of the evening. 

Usually, feeling refreshed in the morning, Jess and I will spend at least another hour or so investigating before we need to vacate the premises. However, being a 2-night investigation and a 5-hour drive home, we agreed to just get up and hit the road on our last morning. It is a luxury having a shower available to us on overnight investigations; Jess mentioned that she would like to take another shower in the morning before we leave.

Saturday morning I woke up at 9:00am. I went to the bathroom across the hallway to brush my teeth and wash my face. Soon afterwards, I heard Jess go downstairs to use the basement bathroom, I presumed. I heard her come back up to the bedroom, close the door, and move around for a while. She then went back downstairs. Again, I assumed that she was going to the basement to shower, since we discussed leaving right away. She had left her contacts in the upstairs bathroom, so I quickly got dressed, in case she was waiting to be able to put them in.

I went back to the bedroom and noticed that Jess had already folded up her bedding and packed away her personal belongings. I closed the bedroom door, since the window a/c unit was still running. I didn't want to turn it off because I needed to finish getting ready for the day, pack up my cot and the rest of my bedding, and I didn't want to get all sweaty in the process. As I anticipated, I heard Jess walk upstairs a second time that morning, but this time to the bathroom. I assumed she was just grabbing her contacts, so I was surprised when I heard her close the bathroom door. I thought she must have decided to just quickly get ready instead of taking another shower.

I was really hungry, so when I finished getting ready for the day, I decided to head downstairs to the kitchen and finish packing after breakfast. When I opened up the bedroom door, I was a little confused when I saw that the bathroom door was open and the room was dark. I had never heard Jess open the door and return downstairs. 

When I got downstairs, I was surprised to see Jess come from the dining room in her glasses and pajamas. I told her that I had just heard her come back upstairs to go into the bathroom, presuming it was to get or put in her contacts. She confirmed that she had gone to the basement to use the bathroom, came back to the bedroom to pack up, and then went downstairs to make and drink coffee. She never came back upstairs a second time.

I contacted the property owners, but unfortunately their motion sensor security cameras did not record any activity during those times. This has also been my experience with using motion sensor trail cameras on investigations, which I conveniently packed away the previous night. I’m curious if we hadn’t had a window a/c unit and 2 box fans running, would Jess and I have heard any disturbances during the night? If I also wasn’t wearing ear plugs, would I have heard anymore treks down the hallway or doors opening or closing? I’m looking forward to finding out during a colder season at the Boyd House.