The Story
The Inn at Edgewater Acres stands peacefully secluded in Huntington County, PA, and was built well before we were a country, in 1762. One could only imagine the events that took place here over a 248 year lifespan. What we know is that the Inn sits along the Juniata River, just 10 miles west of the original homeland location of the Juniata Indian tribe. This is significant because the Juniata River played a huge role in the French and Indian War. It was used as an advantageous point of attack by the Indians that populated Huntington County, PA. The Indians would coast the river and slaughter the Frenchman while they were camped out along the bank. The French and Indian War went on for over 10 years. For a long time, the land was owned by John Penn, the grandson of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. These facts highlight only the beginning for the Inn at Edgewater Acres’ long, illustrious life. Who knows what role the Inn played in each of the World Wars, slavery, the Underground Railroad, and more? The one thing we can be sure of is that there has been plenty of time and history for the Inn to accrue a reputation for harboring unearthly guests.
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The ClaimsCity Lights Paranormal Society was referred to Debra Saussure, the current owner of the Inn, who warmly welcomed us. Deb and her husband, Mark, have owned the Inn for over 4 years now, and anxiously told us of the weird experiences they and others have had. Deb’s stories were the most detailed, as she is the one who spends the most time alone in the building. Most frequently, Deb and others experience shadows darting by. Through their peripheral vision, people see figures glide past while they are attending to their normal business. Another common experience Deb has is in the dining room. On many occasions, Deb has opened the Inn doors in the morning to find the silverware rearranged on the tables. Aside from darting shadows and rearranged silverware, footsteps are often heard coming from the second floor when no one is up there. A male and female’s voice has also been heard on the second floor, as well as a female’s voice on the first floor near the fireplace. The Inn at Edgewater Acres wasn’t always the massive structure it is today. Originally, it was a much smaller, two floor log cabin, where the majority of the claims have been reported. Apparently, the spirits are quite interactive with Deb and other customers, but will they respond as well to 6 strange investigators in one evening?
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The InvestigationOn the night of March 27, 2010, Olivia, Kathy, Ed, Marissa, Oscar, and Joe arrived to investigate the beautiful Inn. They were shocked to see, upon arriving, that the premises not only included a massive main building, but a huge barn, a stable, and an implement shed as well. While we strategically placed all our equipment to catch the claims of activity, we were also ready to spend time investigating each of the outside buildings as well. It is a well-known fact that intelligent hauntings tend to run away from unusual activity and go to quiet, secluded locations. We took into account the fact that there was ample area to cover in the new building and the old building, as well as the 2 floor barn, the stable, and the gift shop. After we evaluated the situation, we split into 3 groups, allowing each group to investigate each location for a similar amount of time. At 11:15pm, the investigation was under way with Olivia, Kathy, and Deb as team 1; Marissa and Oscar as team 2; and Joe and Ed as team 3. As we all went our own separate ways, we began experiencing different things. All the way through the night, team 1 heard voices throughout the building, and Olivia even heard a male’s voice. Team 2 had similar experiences as well, and heard a few knocking sounds. While the occurrences seemed to happen for team 2 as well, they, on the other hand, were able to experience much more direct incidences as well. In the gift shop, team 3 heard a lot of unusual shuffling going on, as if they weren’t alone. From there, they moved onto the stables where they spent about half an hour in pure and utter chaos. In the stables they heard: a female’s voice on 2 occasions, a male’s voice, responsive knocking noises, and an intensive blast of air, almost as if someone had charged at them. While we did spend a lot of time trying to disprove claims, the overall investigation was very successful. As a whole, this was a very exciting investigation from the start. On the initial walk around, Joe and Deb witnessed an apparition dart into one of the upstairs bedrooms on the 2nd floor of the new building. As we got ready for bed around 4:30am, we decided to leave our equipment running in strategically-placed locations. While we had no trouble falling asleep, we hoped that some good, well-deserved sleep would leave us with even more well-deserved unquestionable documentation of ghostly activity.
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EvidenceRecorder 1 session 2, barn: “I’m a kid.”Recorder 1 session 5, gift shop: “Yeeessss.”Recorder 1 session 7, stables: “Halt!”Recorder 1 session 12, 2nd floor old building: Female voiceRecorder 1 session 12, 2nd floor old building: “Stop!”Recorder 1 session 12, stables: “Help!”
Recorder 1, 2nd floor placement at bedtime: Girl's voiceRecorder 2 session 1, basement: “Leave here.”Recorder 2 session 1, 2nd floor new building: Male's voiceRecorder 2 session 2, 2nd floor old building: Female speakingRecorder 4 placement at bedtime, stables: Slamming sounds |
The Debriefing
At 8am that Sunday morning, CLPS packed up our equipment, ending with about 2,000 photos and over 60 hours of evidence to review. The process was long and tedious, but came with great results. Teams 1 & 3 documented numerous EVPs throughout the evening that supported Deb’s claims. Better yet, Joe and Ed were able to document just about everything they experienced in the stables. Just moments before Joe and Ed felt the cold blast of air, they had heard a male’s voice that we now understand to be saying, “Halt!” City Lights Paranormal Society’s overall stay at the Inn at Edgewater Acres was more like a vacation than an investigation. We were very excited to get to know Deb as a person, and as our new friend. Even better yet, as we know that limestone and water are conductors of paranormal activity, we were excited to learn that the Juniata River’s bed is full of limestone. These elements were the perfect support to our evidence revealing that the Inn at Edgewater Acres is HAUNTED! In the future, City Lights Paranormal Society hopes to have many more dealings with Deb and the Inn at Edgewater Acres.