I must admit, I had my doubts about this place from the word
"go". Rick Bugera told me many tales about the Topton
House. It's one of the BLPA's "on-going" investigations.
On-going, you may ask ? You'd better believe it ! This place is
filled with paranormal activity from top to bottom.
This quaint hotel/restaurant is owned and operated by Gerry and
Francine Gore. It was built in 1859 and is located in the middle
of Topton,PA. They both knew when they bought the old hotel that
it was "special"...They just didn't realize how "special"
it was. The hotel plays host to several entities. One of the entities,
Emma, is the ghost of a small child that haunts the dining area
of the hotel. There's another entity, a priest, that hates Christmas.
He rips down Christmas decorations that are stapled to the wall.
Another entity, an old gentleman, still tends to his flower beds
which have long since vanished. He still lingers in the kitchen
area, searching for the warmth of the stove.
When we arrived on the evening of November 21, 2004, we were there
solely for the purpose of testing a new camera rig before our trip
to Eastern State Penitentiary the following week. We met the Gores
and Rick took us into the basement. He showed us the "secret
staircase" that existed during the prohibition years of the
old hotel. Rick then started to relay a story about the last time
he was in the basement. He and another member of the BLPA sat on
two barstools. After several minutes, Rick decided to "call-out"
the unseen residents of the Topton House. He said at the moment
he called out for the entity to make itself known, he heard footsteps
coming from the bar area (on the first floor). Those footsteps stopped
when they reached the top of the basement steps. Then as suddenly
as the sounds of the footsteps stopped, the chair he sat on began
to shake violently. Guess the old phrase, "Be careful what
you wish for", is an appropriate one in this incident.
Well, as you can imagine, by this time we were ready for some ghost
hunting ! We set up our equipment and then began our customary walk
through of the property. We were only several minutes into our walk
through when I got this piece of footage
In case you didn't hear it, here's the link to the sound clip I
took off this very piece of footage : Emma's
Greeting
This is the voice of the little girl that haunts the dining room.
I didn't expect to find her voice on my camcorder, but sure enough
there it was. Just for the record, there were no children present,
anywhere, in the building. It also sounds like there may have been
another entity "watching out" for her. You can clearly
hear someone "shushing" her after she said "Hello".
I did manage to get a few other lower quality EVPs from this same
room but they are very hard to understand as to what is being said.
Other than an incident with an unusually high EMF reading occurring
between the bar and dining areas, a few "orbs" passing
in front of the video camera set up in the kitchen, and the smell
of flowers wafting through an area of the kitchen where "the
old man" is said to hang out, the night was pretty quiet to
say the least.
I would love to go back there again someday. There's truly an abundance
of paranormal activity within the walls of that old hotel. It's
strong presence as a place of entertainment throughout the history
of Topton, coupled with the fact that a very active set of train
tracks ( drunks and oncoming trains don't mix ) rolls just outside
their front door creates a catalyst that would be a breeding ground
for a paranormal playground. |
