Michigan Paranormal Alliance finds ghost activity at Fallasburg village

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Fallasburg, MI – Just in time for Halloween to get spooked by findings of ghost activity at the Fallasburg pioneer village located three miles northeast of Lowell.

The Saturday night ghost walk organized by the Fallasburg Historical Society in conjunction with the Michigan Paranormal Alliance (M.P.A.), brought out more than 40 people. They split into four groups and set out to hunt for ghosts at different locations throughout the 1840s pioneer Fallasburg village.

As the one-room Fallasburg schoolhouse dipped into pitch black, ghost hunters from group two heard a distinct thump, thump, thump of feet walking by the desks near the windows. And then, came a bang from the storage room. Ghost hunter Peggy Kotecki ran out to see if it wasn’t coming from the outside.

Indeed, it wasn’t.

“I would suspect the most ghost activity would be here at the schoolhouse,” said Ken Tamke, president of Fallasburg Historical society, (FHS) and leader of group one.

Watch the  slideshow below from the Fallasburg Vilage Haunting.

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During the first session at the schoolhouse, M.P.A. ghost hunters, Jason and Peggy Kotecki called on ghosts to speak, make noises or to show up. They placed a teddy bear in the second desk.

“Could you light up the fuzzy bear, if you’re here,” Peggy challenged ghosts. “Did you go to school here?”

Jason explained that the darkness heightens the sense of hearing.

“It’s easier to investigate,” he said. “You like to be able to hear things.”

The M.P.A. team members handed out EMF and ghost meters to detect electromagnetic activity indicating that a ghost could be present. If the meter goes above two points, there could be significant activity close-by. At one point, the meter went to 2.5, and the red light started flashing. However, Jason explained, this could be due to movement in the room.

Walking in the dark, group one passed the creepy Tower Farm on the right, and the lit-up Dave Misner house museum on the left. Different museums recorded different activity, accord to the team members.

M.P.A. medium Rosemary Leleiveld with Edwin Leleiveld were stationed at the John W. Fallass house. Rosemary explained the difference between a ghost and a spirit.

“A ghost is a soul that hasn’t crossed over,” Rosemary said. “Spirit is a human soul that has crossed to the other side. The whole idea is to communicate with the ghosts that are present.”

Another group experienced a ghost talking about his lost chair, according to Rosemary.

“It’s true, we moved all the things out of here, including the chair,” said Tamke.

Edwin said everything is a matter of energy, even ghosts give out energy.

The small house had a creepy Michigan crawl basement. It was like a labyrinth, and a paradise for ghosts.

The most interesting were the writings by the founders of the Fallasburg village, John and Phoebe Fallass.

“They both were accomplished writers; Phoebe was a poetess,” said Tamke.

On the other side of the Covered Bridge Road shining into the night was the Dave Misner House. The Misner House dubbed as “ground zero” by the FHS members is the society’s treasure depository. It is the only heated building in the pioneer village designed to preserve the collections in proper temperature. It houses gems like the “Fallasburg Footprints,” a property title book, WWI women’s cards, the newspaper scrapbook and the Vergennes Women’s Club yearbook.

“We had a lot of activity around the glass display case with the flowers,” said Lil Kotecki. “EMF’s were going off. There is some kind of energy.”

The ghost meter went off flashing by the case and on the second floor, it went off by a black women’s jacket. A feeble voice could be heard from behind the display.

The hayride was waiting outside. The ghost hunters boarded the wagon and headed up the hill past the Fallasburgh Flats Base Ball field to the Fallasburg Cemetery.

Ghost hunters Lisa Sekeet and David Mason were standing in the middle of the cemetery close to the front white gate.

“We’ve had the most activity here,” said M.P.A. team member Sekeet. “A ghost by the name of William Moon showed his presence by always pointing the rods in the direction of the Moon graves.”

At the Fallasburg Cemetery, the divining rods went crazy; at one-point crossing and then pointing in the direction of the Moon gravesite.

The team picked a person with “abilities’ here to use the divining rods. Divining rods are also used to locate ground water, buried metals, ores and gemstones. Lori from Lowell held the rods that first crossed and then pointed to the Moon gravesite.

“I blocked my abilities, I am trying to get them back with meditation,” she said.

Group one searched the grave’s headstone and footstones. Vergennes resident Catherine Haefner discovered a W. on one of the grave stones. Flashlights and cell phones illuminated the big Moon grave stone.

“I liked the cemetery where the most activity was,” said Haefner.

During the final findings session back at the schoolhouse, Jason Kotecki used an Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) recorder to play back the thumping sounds to all the ghost hunters.

“It sounded like hard sole shoes, like a teacher was coming up,” Jason said.

The M.P.A. team travels around the country to conduct paranormal investigations such as the one at the Fallasburg pioneer village. One of their most interesting locations was the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky where 63,000 people died of tuberculosis, otherwise known as “The White Plague.”

“You sit for eight to 10 hours in the dark talking to nothing,” said team member Sue Nielsen.

However, the pay-off comes when you do hear or see something.

“It’s that golden nugget, that you’ve been waiting for,” said Peggy.

The participants spoke about their various paranormal experiences.

Amy Ryan of Hastings shared her experience from 1992 when she lived above what was known as “The Haunted Floral Shop” in Grand Rapids. The curtains that she had shoved in the corner were all of a sudden hung up and straightened out.

“It was the real deal,” she said.

Teresa Medich of Burton spoke about her encounters with the dead at the schoolhouse.

“I am really enjoying this, the history and the museums,” she said. “The Tower Farm is really creepy.”

Local villagers’ lore has it that builder Orlin Douglass comes back to haunt the Tower House.

“There’s got to be something out there,” said Peggy, “and we want to know.”

Rosemary said the M.P.A. team has a lot of evidence of ghost activity at Fallasburg.

Some personal experiences included hearing footsteps and knocks in the schoolhouse when everyone was seated and quiet.

At the Fallass House, participants heard voices and knocks, EMF meter and Rem pod activity, as well as shadows.

Participants also reported feelings of being watched at the Misner House.

“It was a great investigation,” said Rosemary. “I think this year people had more personal experiences. Our group is always happy to assist in meaningful endeavors. This is a great example; raising funds for the historical society to maintain and restore the history of Fallasburg, and give voice to the past.”

For more info go to: http://www.m-p-a.org

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