Investigation: Poor House Road Tunnel

Location: Lexington, Virginia

Date Of Investigation: August 22, 2010

Investigators Present: Jeff Stanley - Jim Tarazewich

Length Of Investigation: 6:54 p.m. to 12:40 a.m. ( 5 Hours 46 Minutes )

Weather Conditions: Temperature 85 - Low 60's with  high humidity then cooling down as night approached. Winds were moderate to slight as night approached.

Moon Phase: 97% Full

Evidence: Personal Experiences - Evps - Photos

Status: Extremely Active

History

Poor House Road Tunnel was part of an old railroad system that ran from Lexington to Staunton in the early 1900s.

 Claims

Poor House Tunnel Road has a very dark history to it according to the locals that live there. It was an area where lynchings took place in the early 1900's  Not Verified . It has been said that two young girls were shot and killed by an unknown male in the woods nearby ( Not Verified ). A female was raped in the tunnel then murdered ( Not Verified ).

Other Paranormal groups have reported sounds of children laughing in the tunnel, and dark mists appearing in the tunnel as well. It is said that dark mists will surround you if you venture into the center of the tunnel. Paranormal groups have produced evps, and photos with strange anomalies in them.

We talked to some locals and they shed more light to happenings around poor house. One individual in particular told us that he and some friends parked one night just outside the tunnel  on a  little offset from the road. He stated that they were sitting in their car watching for strange sites or sounds, when out of nowhere a thud sound rocks their car, he said it sounded like a body being dropped on the vehicle. They all jumped out of the vehicle and shined their flashlights only to find an elongated hand print on the hood of their car which he stated  left a dent. Another women and her daughter told us that a widow women had fallen in love with a black man in that area, and the white men found it out. It was said that they hung the women, and beat her daughter to death while she screamed out for help. The women that told us this story came by later that night during our investigation  with her daughter. They stayed for a little while but the daughter was starting to feel sick, and she would not enter the tunnel. They left and soon came back and showed us an elongated hand print that had been left on their car. They both look very disturbed from it so we took pictures.

 Our Investigation

 We entered Poor House Tunnel Road from Old Valley Pike Road. The road itself is not very wide and is made up of gravel. We drove down the winding road until we saw sight of the tunnel. We then pulled our cars over into little offsets which left barley enough room to get a vehicle by. We got out of our vehicles, and gathered what equipment we wanted to start with, and walked to the beginning of the tunnel. I  noticed that a steady stream of water was moving through the tunnel. My first thought was evp contamination. We would find out later that this was not the case when reviewing our evidence.

We started our recorders at 6:54 p.m, but Jim could not get his recorder to work. It kept telling him that his files were full. He had never had this problem before, so we had only my recorder to work with for the night. We both thought this was strange but proceeded.

I walked through the tunnel several times doing what we call EMF ( Electromagnetic Field ) tests to see what kind of energy was present in the tunnel. Spirits are believed to be energy, and this device is supposed to detect it. During my second or third sweep Jim alerted me that we were being observed by a female about 40 yards away from us. I looked up and she stepped back towards the woods, and peeked out again. I thought that was odd but i continued to do my sweeps. My first thought was that she lived around there and was  curious to our activities. We later found out by walking to the spot we had seen the girl earlier, that there was no house in that area, but only thick woods. We did find a house about a quarter of a mile, and determined that the girl probably lived somewhere close by. Getting back to the EMF tests that  i was taking  in the tunnel showed a peak of ( .5 ) in the center of the tunnel. This is not deemed very high. Usually a (1.0 ) or higher is sure signs of something going on.

We then decided to place my digital recorder in the center of the tunnel. It has been stated that a lot of the activity happens in the center. I then took out my laser light and turned it on to see if we could elicit a response. This is when i noticed my highest EMF detections peaked to a .5 in the center of the tunnel.

Jim decided to investigate the area above the tunnel about 45 minutes into the investigation. He found that it was very dense in woods and looked like the tracks have never been laid there, but the claims are that a railroad bed linked Lexington to Staunton, and this was part of it. Time has a way of covering up the past so there  could have been a railroad bed there at one time.

The longer we investigated the tunnel the more it sounded like we were hearing voices. The water running through the tunnel made it difficult but we hoped for evidence on the digital recorder in the end. Many times during the investigation we could hear voices underneath the sound of the water. Every so often you would hear cries or pleads of terror. We often thought we could hear children laughing. Many times during the night i could feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck. More than once it felt like someone watching you. The atmosphere in the tunnel felt thick at times with a layer of helplessness or hopelessness.

Later we tried what we call the flashlight experiment. We would lay a flashlight on the ground and ask questions to see if something would cut the light on or off to various questions. We asked various questions to elicit a response, but we never did get one. I did get a rude awakening later in the night when i went back to our vehicles. I walked up the road and stopped at Jim's car to pee. We had no bathroom, and you know when you have to go, you have to go! I was standing there peeing and my flashlight comes on in my pocket for no reason at all. I have a light that is pushed in from the back, and it  is spring loaded, so it takes some pressure to turn it on. I could find no reason for why  it came on. Then as i was walking back towards the tunnel, something hit me in my back lower left leg below my knee. I concluded that that was probably a bug flying into it, but still that had to be an awfully big bug to get that sensation.

We next tried a piece of equipment called sonic ear, or amplified ear. This helps to hear the most insignificant sounds out there. Jim and myself  could still hear  voices in the tunnel. The running water would not let you put your finger on where the  sounds were coming from. At one point we could hear loud crying sounds that were so loud, that i told Jim to come with me to check on our automobiles, because i thought someone might be messing with us. Immediately after walking out of the tunnel you could hear silence, so the cries were from inside the tunnel. We caught this on evp  when we did our evidence review.

Later we tried a motion detector device that Jim brought. It had two different alarms on it. We set it to the loudest alarm. The detector will pick up anything in a 30 foot radius, and goes off after about a 5 to 10 second delay. Many cars passed through the tunnel during the night, and we noticed it took about 5 to 10 seconds to set the alarm off. We did a little experiment and asked questions to see if something would set the alarm off. This is were it got interesting. A car came through the tunnel and set the alarm off. No big thing except for the fact that it was laying on the ground. The detector had been placed in the center of the tunnel, and laying back in a crevice at a 45 degree angle. It would be impossible to knock it over, but we assumed that was what happened when the car came through. Jim resets it and walks out of the tunnel. He no more gets out of the tunnel, and it goes off again. When we inspected the detector we found it turned over again. This time with no car going through. He sets it for a third time, and i say if anyone is here, please go ahead and set the alarm off, and it goes off at that instance. We have that for you in our evidence area.

 At around 9:30 p.m. the activity  really picked up. We then tried an experiment were one person stands alone in the tunnel while one person stands outside the tunnel. Claims are that anyone in the center of the tunnel will have white or dark gray mass surround them. We tried this experiment while taking photos. The tunnel was extremely dark that night. Even with the moonlight at 97% full phase.

During the investigation Jim kept seeing what he thought was a shadow move across the other end. Several times i thought i could see a shadow move, and it was always when we were at the opposite side of the tunnel. Later in the night a local resident came by with her daughter, and she too thought she could see a shadow figure moving on the other end of the tunnel.

All in all the investigation was great, and we have a lot of evidence to present. The whole night consisted of strange sounds, voices, cries, shadows, two way radios going off for no reason. This place proved to be very active indeed and The Spirit Watchers have concluded that it is haunted!!!!

 Evidence

 This Photo has three reddish streaking anomalies in it

 Above Photos show  two versions. One on the left is a normal blow up of the elongated  figures we captured. The photo on the right shows the blow up lightened up.

 The above Photo shows a strange anomaly  to the lower left

 The above photos show a blow up of the anomaly captured on the left. The photo on the right shows the photo lightened.

 The above Photo has three anomaly figures in it. They look to us to be spirits that have manifested . Look at the pictures below to see the detail that we see.

 The above photos is a blow up of what we believe is three spirits that have manifested themselves. We see faces - bodies - legs - breast on the center figure.

 Strange Mist Form Captured in Tunnel

 Here you can see an orb with a commit tail attached. It is located at the intersection of the two trees.

 This is a colored enhanced version of the orb picture above.

 Orb Captured In Tunnel

 Strange Streak Anomaly

 Streak Anomaly shown in a lighter version

 EVPs

 This evp capture you hear me say hello. Then I comment on hearing a little child say hello. I say hello a second time, and you can hear a little child respond  " Hello".

 This evp capture you hear me say are you male or female. I get a response of "Female".

 This evp you hear the creepy crying sounds we heard. We heard these sounds off and on all night in the tunnel.

 In this evp capture you hear me say I hope we are picking up some of this weird stuff, and you hear something say "Yea".

 Sounds like children Laughing. The laughing starts after I ask for something to set off the motion detectors again.

 Sounds like conversations going on under the water. We heard this off and on all night.

 Here is another example of the conversation sounds that we were hearing in the tunnel all night long.

 Something Mocking me saying " No".

 Faint HA HA HA laugh! You really have to listen close. You will hear it after Jim says I'm going to get out of the way I'm sorry, I'm going to try something. That is where you hear the HA HA HA !!

 Motion detector goes off to direct question! Please note that we used the motion detector all night long. We had at least 12 vehicles come through the tunnel, and it would take anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds to go off.

 Something set motion detector off, and it was knocked over. We had placed the detector in the center of the tunnel, and it war wedged back in a cut out  section of the rock at a 45 degree angle. The motion detector had some weight to it, and the way we had it placed made it impossible to fall over and move away from the stone wall the way it did on three occasions. It had moved a couple of feet from the wall, when we found it going off.

 Strange Sound after I say set off at a distance. It sounds like that honk sound we heard in the evp under this one.

 You hear us talking. Then you hear this strange sound  like a honk. No clue to what it was! There was no cars present at the time.

  After I say activity happens in the center of the tunnel. I hear three sounds. The first noise sounds like " YEA" which was mocking Jim saying yea,  followed by a growl sound, which I respond to, Did you hear that ? Then it sounds like it says " IT WAS", after  I say It sounds like a thump in it.

 Hear Unknown Voice mocking me after I say get in here then you hear it say " GET IN HERE". We get real quiet after that because we are trying to figure out where it came from.

 Two way radio goes off for no reason! Please note that my two way radio never makes this sound we caught when it went off. Then you here a lot of static coming from my radio. The button HAS TO BE PUSHED REALLY HARD TO SPEAK.

 Strange Thud sound inside of tunnel.

 Sounds like something was stepping in the water inside the tunnel.

 We kept on hearing these strange tapping sounds inside the tunnel. I caught this sound on three more different evps, and during different times of the investigation.

 Video