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Large orb in McPike Mansion's basement on August 31,2002.
Kodak ASA 800 GOLDMAX film. John Cachel
McPike Mansion Alton's Most Haunted House! I went to many haunted houses as far as Key West, New Jersey and New Orleans. I rated McPike Mansion as one of top ten most haunted houses in the United States. McPike Mansion was build in 1869 by Lucas Pfeiffenberger for Henry Guest McPike.
McPike's family stayed until around 1908. Paul A. Laichinger purchased the house in 1908 and lived there until his death around 1930's. No one lived in McPIke Mansion since about the 1950's until Sharyn and George Luedke purchased the house at an auction.
McPike Mansion, the house has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. However it's the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois' list of the 10 most endangered historic places in the state!
Several deaths in McPike Mansion. Some might be tenants, who rented it by Paul A. Laichinger.
McPike Mansion tour or camp out on the grounds, contact Sharyn Luedke at 618-462-3348 for McPike Mansion pricing or to make reservations.
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Mists on the left side and also by the door at the right.
Kodak ASA 800 GOLDMAX film. John Cachel
MCPIKE MANSION
We arrived at McPike Mansion at 6:30 pm on August 31,2002. We started the tour with our tour guide Sharyn, the owner of McPike Mansion. It was starting to get dark when we started the tour through the old mansion. We first went into what Sharyn calls the ballroom. She told us some stories like how a woman drowned in a bathtub and also how a woman is said to have fallen down some stairs and broke her neck and died.
Next, we went into another room where my friend Ed Merritt and I were talking. Ed was standing in the doorway and I was looking at some stairs and another room on the left, when all of a sudden something zoomed from the stairs into the room on the left. I did not know what it was, but something went from the stairs to the room.
Then, we went up the stairs where I saw the thing and went into some other rooms and then we passed the stairs wehere we came up and my father John Cachel saw a black shape of a head and a shoulder, then it disappeared behind a wall. It was then that we developed a theory that the ghosts were going behind our backs and when we least expect looking.
After that, we went up more stairs to the top story and only one thing happened up here and it was the other members of a different group felt a coldness in one room, and when I went there when they were saying it was cold. I felt nothing.
Next, We went down to the wine cellar where My father John and I began to set up our equipments. My father John set up his video camera with nightvision, and I set up my tape recorder. After we finished setting up both ghost groups and Sharyn the owner held hands and made a circle. When we made a circle, we sang a song three times and then we waited to see if anything happened. After about a minute or so I felt something on my right leg. It felt like something was leaning on my leg.
After the circle, we started taking pictures when all of a sudden we heard footsteps coming down to the basement, but we later knew that a man came to fix the house, but he was all the way up on the top floor and we heard the footsteps coming down to the basement. Sharyn said Hello and right after that I heard a childs laughter on my tape recorder. Then everyone went outside and My dad and I left the videocamera and tape recorder on in the cellar.
Finally, after about 20 minutes, my dad went down to the cellar, and took a picture and said that he could not see a thing because of a white mist. So then he called for me and Charlie Solis to go down to the cellar. When we got to the cellar, the mists left the cellar. My dad went in front of the camera and I saw an orb.
Michael Cachel
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Mists right front of my camera. You can see no mists at the far left and the lower right of the photo. Olympus Digital D-360L with flash and ASA 500.
Investigation on August 31,2002
Psychic Lucy Solis could hear little kids giggle around us, and she got a name in the air...KATHLEEN. She didn't feel evil there, but wonders when they are there. She thinks maybe sacred ground or someones memories keep them there...little kids die of sickness.
Photographs results- orbs, mists and a shape of a doll on the wall. The doll probably came from little ghosts...Sarah and Kathleen.
Videocamcorder results- Saw lots of orbs and mists.
Tape recorder results- Heard footsteps and child laughter.
John Cachel
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