ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. -- I am, by nature, a skeptic.
I have never been one of those people who are overly sensitive, and I don’t let emotion cloud my judgment. I am a “just the facts, ma’am” kind of gal who believes the proof is in the pudding.
So, when I was asked to write about the upcoming paranormal event being hosted here this upcoming Halloween weekend, I chuckled and said, “Why not?” It’s not like anything was going to happen at 10 a.m. on a Friday morning … or ever, for that matter.
Let’s get serious -- ghosts aren’t real.
I arrived at historic Quarters One, built over a time span from 1870-1872, and met up with Anna Winters, the “gatekeeper” of the massive former residence who works for Morale, Welfare and Recreation. The home no longer serves as a residence, but is available for rentals for receptions, promotions and other events. It’s a beautiful space with many original 1800s era architectural details and antique furnishings. At 51 rooms and just over 21,000 sq. ft., Quarters One is the second-largest federal residence in the United States, behind the White House.
Winters introduced me to Cheryl Torres from Illinois Paranormal Research Group. Cheryl is a second- grade teacher who looks, well, no different than me. I had a picture in my mind of what a “paranormal investigator” would be like -- a dark, serious person with a sprinkle of new age mysticism thrown in. I was surprised that she was really energetic and friendly. She certainly wasn’t your typical Hollywood paranormal character portrayal, and that intrigued me. So, I started the interview with how she became involved in ghost hunting.
“Well, I grew up in a haunted house,” she said. “My dad still lives there. I didn’t even know there were paranormal research groups and investigators, but my sister introduced me to one eight years ago and I went to a few of their events, and gradually became more interested and joined the team.”
The IPRG has been investigating Quarters One on RIA since 2011. It appeared on their radar after multiple stories from current and former RIA employees and visitors swirled around the community. Tales of conversations heard in empty rooms, footsteps in unoccupied hallways, doors slamming, shadowy outlines on stairways ascending and descending and even touches from invisible hands have long been rumored to happen to people within the walls of the residence.
It was also the first place Torres saw her first full-body apparition. “I actually saw a person in the basement,” she said. “We were at the bottom of the stairs and looked up and there was a form that was fully formed from head to boots.”
Amy Lefler, another member of the IPRG, told me the basement is definitely a hot spot for activity. Of course, I made a mental note that the basement was the first place I wanted to visit following the interview.
I asked Winters if she has ever had any firsthand experiences, since she is the person who is in the home alone much of the time, and she said she hasn’t seen anything, but she has definitely heard things. “I’ve heard full-blown conversations in rooms I know are empty, because I am the only person in the house.”
Her grandchildren were upstairs playing in another room known for activity and heard them laughing and talking. When she called up to them and asked how they were doing, they replied that they were having fun singing with a lady in the room named Rose.
She then asked them to come downstairs.
I looked at the table in the foyer at the equipment they had with them. They were actually just unloading and setting up for an event they were hosting at the house the following day/night in honor of National Ghost Hunting Day. They had arrived just before me, and had not been alone in the house at any time.
I tell you this for a very specific reason, as it is relevant to the events that unfolded next.
They showed me thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth of high tech equipment that measures electromagnetic waves, temperature variations, motion, sound waves, and a host of other things that measure any kind of “activity” not detectable by human senses. They also employ advanced imaging infrared cameras, a digital video recorder and integrated high performance mics that are set up all over the house during an investigation.
“The theory is, their (paranormal spirit) energy can interact with the tools and that is one way they can communicate and make their presence known,” Torres said.
One simple way this can be done, she said, is with flashlights carefully calibrated to be just between on and off -- in a kind of “bridge” that cannot be affected by motions, only by an energy connection. To show me, she set up several Maglite flashlights and turned them off and on to show they were operational.
Then she twisted them ever so slightly so they were not on, but not off. She pounded the table next to each one to show that they wouldn’t turn on if actually touched or moved -- they would only turn on from an energy “bridge” provided by a paranormal spirit.
I watched each one carefully; none of them even flickered when she slammed her hands on the table. It was then that Lefler noticed on another meter that there was something cold that had appeared in the room in the corner, and that it was moving around the room. I looked down and you could see the progress of the shape.
It was moving towards us.
As we continued talking, I noticed an unusual sensation. I was different temperatures. The front side of my body was substantially colder than the backside. It felt like I was cross-sectioned. It wasn’t the air conditioner as we had been there an hour in the same spot and it hadn’t done this. No one had left the room, and no one else had entered the building. I didn’t say a word, I just kept listening.
Lefler interrupted and asked me if I felt different or unusual. I played it off and asked why she would ask that. She picked up the meter and said, “Because the air in front of your face just dropped about 30 degrees colder than the air on the back side of your body.”
We continued going over the equipment and they pulled out a sort of “voice to text” thing that takes electronic pulses and converts them into words or phrases, along with a percentage of how accurate the logarithms believe the word was interpreted.
As they were going over the details of that, one of the flashlights went off. And then another. And then another. I was told we had a visitor, and they were ready to communicate.
Torres started out asking questions, and responses came via the flashlights. If no, the flashlights stayed dark. If yes, they came on. And not flickered on - came ON, like someone turned it on. And then would go off when the answer had been given.
They asked if I wanted to give the Q&A a whirl, and I started asking questions. And Lefler began to monitor the talk to text feed as it spit out potential words that were pulsing in the air electromagnetically.
I am a reporter, and I DO ask a lot of questions (which can feel like a cross-examination), so I found it pretty funny one of the high percentage words that popped up was “attorney.”
It was less funny when, with a 98 percent predicted accuracy, it reported a voice I couldn’t see or hear said, “Watching you.”
I think that was also the point I decided I didn’t want to go into the basement that day. Or ever.
Other unsettling things happened during this interview that are hard to put into words. Some of it was in the form of feeling emotions I didn’t necessarily feel were mine.
There were times Torres and Lefler were trying to communicate with whatever could be in that house that I felt waves of profound sadness, when I wasn’t sad at all. And just as soon as I felt them they would dissipate. There were moments I could feel tears welling and I had no idea why.
I don’t know if it was the power of suggestion, or an empathetic response to someone, or thing, that was lonely and seeking contact somehow. All I know is it was not what I expected to experience. I woke up happy in the morning that beautiful fall day and, by noon, I wasn’t so happy anymore.
Was it scary? Yes. But more than that, I felt a connection to the history of that house and its former inhabitants who have been long dead before I stepped foot in it. It sounds bizarre, but I felt haunted -- not necessarily in the way one would think -- but a heaviness that stayed with me the rest of the afternoon and evening, like I was carrying an emotional weight from origins unknown.
Winters said since the end of May, the paranormal researchers have identified the spirit of a little boy they have never come across before. She asked the researchers why he just now came out of “hiding” – what could have stirred his spirit into showing itself? They said they had no idea.
But, I knew.
I reminded Winters that, in the middle of May, MWR hosted a prince and princess event at Quarters One, and 60 children were in the house playing and laughing. Could that have drawn the little boy out of the darkness?
Maybe.
I am not sure about that. I am not sure about a lot of things I experienced during my two hours with the IPRG team. I cannot explain them, but I cannot disprove them, either. I told you, I am a skeptic, and I need hard evidence to convince me about what is true.
I am sure of one thing -- I will never, ever go into the basement of Quarters One.
Will you?
Tickets are still available for the Halloween weekend Quarters One paranormal event. The doors open at 5 p.m., Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, and the U.S. Army Sustainment Command historian will present some historical info and facts beginning at 6 p.m. The Illinois Paranormal Research Group will begin their investigation at 7 p.m. The cost is $25/person and participants must be at least 18 years old to attend. Face masks, social distancing and Arsenal visitors’ passes (if needed) are required.
Please RSVP and prepay at the Leisure Travel Office in Building 333 or call (309) 782-5890 for more information.
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