"MY HOUSE IS HAUNTED!"

The Situation

Recently, a retired science professor from UNC contacted us concerned over a series of creepy disturbances in her home. She was an extremely down-to-earth woman and embarrassed by her current situation, as she was a woman of science. She was pretty shaken up, but went on to explain how she started hearing indistinct whispers around her house over the last three weeks. She found things moved from one room to another and the lights in her house randomly flickered. 

Her first response was to get her hearing checked. She had an electrician come and check the wiring and hired an environmental engineer to check the house for air leaks within the HVAC system. Pretty much everything that I would have done. The professionals did not find anything that would explain the problems that she was experiencing.

The Assessment

I don’t believe in ghosts, but I believe in helping people. 

I set up a meeting with the Client in my office. All COVID precautions were followed. My wonderful assistant, Monique ordered face masks with our eagle logo on the front. If we have to wear these things, I'm gonna show off my company. I digress.

When it comes to ghosts, ghouls and other paranormal experiences, the first thing I do is rule out the obvious. There are many things other than ghosts that could explain the situation. Wild animals, old pipes or wiring and even phroggers (people who “live” in your house, unbeknownst to you. Yes, it's very real) could be causing such disturbances, but chances are pretty slim. Even worse, it could be a stalker, pervert, or a family member trying to take control of someone’s assets. In some cases, neighbors trying to drive a person out of their home are the culprit. (Hasn't anyone watched ANY episode of Scooby-Doo?) Anyway, I like to go down the list of possible explanations before taking the paranormal route, but we were concerned for this woman's safety so we took the case.

We Went to Work

The first thing we did was assemble our teams. This was going to be both the cyber team and the shoe leather team. We met at the Client’s house and got to work.  The cyber team began sweeping the house for listening devices, cameras, and other manners of electronic surveillance devices. The shoe leather team scanned the house from top to bottom, starting with the attic down to the basement. We were looking for evidence of human activity that wasn’t the Client.

While they were busy at work, I sat down with the Client to get a few more details about her life that may be important to the case.

She and her husband had married and purchased the home after he was released from the Army during the Vietnam war. He was badly injured and received a Purple Heart, as well as a new pair of legs. After his discharge, he went back to school and received his doctorate in History while she finished her doctorate in Science and eventually worked her way to where she is now. 

They raised three children and eight grandchildren. Unfortunately, her husband passed away three years ago from complications of Agent Orange exposure.

During our interview, the head of the cyber team reported that there was no evidence of electronic surveillance devices other than the security doorbell. The shoe leather team leader reported there was no evidence of any human activity other than that of the Client.

While we were learning all this, the Client made the off-handed comment, “I wonder if the real estate agent still wants this house if it’s haunted?”. Hmmm! That got my attention.

It turned out, the Client and her husband had invested wisely and the property sat on nearly 100 acres of prime real estate. Some of it wooded, but a good portion had been used to raise horses. Later, when it got too difficult to handle the horses, they raised and trained K-9 dogs for the military and police departments. 

The area the Client lived in was in high demand, but she didn’t want to sell. She wanted the land to go to the children after they died. Now, things were beginning to make sense. What's the number one rule in any investigation? Follow the money! In this case, the land was worth a small fortune.

To prove my suspicions, we were going to have to bust the real estate agent in the act. Something you may not know is that surveillance devices can be turned on and off remotely. My cyber team was looking for active signals. If the devices aren’t turned on, we can’t find the signal. This new information sent the cyber team looking more closely at the WiFi router. Normally, I would recommend that the Client change her passwords, but we wanted to catch this guy, so we were leaving things as-is for now.

Assuming the Client’s doorbell had probably been hacked, the realtor could see her coming and going and he would know when to “haunt” her. The shoe leather team continued to evaluate her house.

• They easily found a rock with the extra house key hidden in it (not something I recommend). 
• The windows were unlocked and the basement door didn’t even have a locking mechanism. 
• The Client was no longer taking care of dogs, as it had gotten to be too much for her to handle, especially after the passing of her husband. Therefore, her canine security alarm (barking dogs) no longer existed.
• Other than the security doorbell which was actually being used against her, the Client had very little security for her home. Plus, there was only one camera on the front door (most people are guilty of this oversight. By having a security bell on the front of your house and nothing on the back, you're just encouraging nefarious characters to go to the back door). After the case was wrapped up, we were going to get the Client’s home security updated.

The home was easy pickings for anyone who wanted to break in. While the methods used to encourage our Client to sell her home were quite entertaining, there was nothing funny about what he was doing. This was a criminal and to best serve our Client, we needed to catch him in the act. A list of potential charges we could put together for the police and the DA included:

• Breaking and Entering
• Harassment
• Stalking
• Electronic Peeping (a felony in NC)

I asked the Client if we could look out at her barn, and she didn’t need to bring her phone. She looked confused but went along with it. I asked her earlier how often she visited the barn. She admitted not often, once in a while to ensure things were in good repair. This was the perfect place for me to share my thoughts with the Client. It was less likely the real estate agent would have wasted the effort to bug that area.

I shared my suspicions with the Client and asked her if she would be willing to play along for a while. She was understandably relieved and angry at the same time. From the look on her face, I knew she wanted to catch this creep as much as we did. 

Since she was hearing the voices in her room, the realtor had probably put cameras in there. I explained how we would be placing surveillance cameras around the house, as well as specialized listening devices in rooms that were inappropriate to record videos, such as her bedroom and the bathroom where she stated she was hearing most of the voices (CREEP!). 

Unless the cameras were transmitting, it would be almost impossible to find them. Some cameras are so small they can be placed in the crack on a picture frame, on a clock, or even inside a smoke detector.

We walked back to her house and noticed the security doorbell was flashing. While we were in the barn, it was recording. Since LPR (license plate reader) software is readily available to anyone, I assumed the creeper had already determined who we were and what we were doing. As we walked in, my cyber team leader signaled that she had picked up a “signature” and it was receiving/transmitting. We saw this as an opportunity to set the bait.

It's Showtime!

We were right. As we walked in, we were greeted with sinister laughing and a voice that said “Get out you fools! Get out!” followed by more laughter. (Really?!?) I tried my best to look terrified and the crew looked confused and equally alarmed.

“Lady!” I shouted, “You don’t need a PI! You need a priest and a good real estate agent to unload this house!”

Then, I turned to my tech boss and made a ‘cut-it’ signal down low so that only she could see it. She hit the button on the jammer and the signal to every WiFi device was cut.

“Okay, everybody! We need all cameras, listening devices, and everything else we need to catch this guy wrapped up in two minutes!”

The tech smiled at me, “Already done, boss. We’re ready to roll.”

I quickly explained to the Client how we would be monitoring everything and should wrap up in three days. Then, I told the crew to make it look good. We needed the realtor to believe we left like a ghost was after us. The tech unjammed the signal and we ran out of the house. I even made a good show of spinning my tires in the gravel driveway.

Almost like clockwork, the realtor contacted the Client the next day asking her if she had changed her mind about selling. She told him that she was considering it but needed a couple more days to think about it. That was when he stepped up his game and really hung himself.

The next three days we witnessed this fool going over the top to drive our Client from her home. We recorded laughter and ghostly threats against her. He told her to leave the house and get off the property or she would be driven insane. He broke in several times to move things and flip lights on and off. You name it, he did it and we got it ALL on video.

With the videos, IP data traps/captures, and photo evidence of the real estate agent up to no good, we were able to hand the Client a nice package to take to the police to swear out a complaint.

Side note: The police are REACTIVE, and a crime must occur for them to do something. A Private Investigator is PROACTIVE, and we get involved before it gets out of hand and the police have to react.

EPILOGUE: A few things occurred as a result of this investigation:

• The Client sold 90 acres of her property to the actual Housing Developer (not the agent) and made a tidy sum to last her for the rest of her life, as well as pass on to the next generation.
• Her family realized how isolated she was so the youngest son and his family moved into the large family home and the Client built a nice 2 bedroom bungalow on the other end of the property. Far enough away to give her privacy, but close enough to the family home that they could be involved in each other’s lives daily.
• MG&A handled the residential security upgrades for both homes.
• The creeper real estate agent not only lost his license as an agent, but he was convicted of three felony charges and 6 lesser charges. He was awarded 8 years mandatory before parole consideration in prison.

While I still don't believe in ghosts, there are plenty of monsters out there who prey on the innocent. If you've been plagued by strange noises and things that go bump in the night, before you call "Ghostbusters", give us a call. Chances are there is more to the story and instead of becoming victim to some paranormal scam, we will happily put your nightmares to rest.

Michael Guadagno & Associates doesn't just catch the bad guys; we help prevent bad situations from occurring. If you're planning to make a big decision and need assurances, contact us.

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