The 1875 Inn At Tilton, Tilton, NH
 March 20, 2010

On March 20, 2010, the Souhegan Paranormal Investigators had the opportunity to investigate The 1875 Inn At Tilton in Tilton, NH.  Not only were we given the opportunity to investigate this beautiful Inn, but we had been invited to be their guests for Paranormal Night which is held monthly.  Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a friendly staff of employees who were eager to show us around and tell us stories of paranormal activity.  Soon, the proprietor of this beautiful Inn, Joanna Oliver, arrived to greet us and share stories and photos with us about the haunts of this beautiful Inn. 

An audience of dinner guests arrived for Paranormal Night. Paranormal Night included a presentation of the history of the Inn by Joanna, a presentation from Souhegan Paranormal Investigators, a tour of the Inn, and a wonderful meal prepared by their well-known chef, Nick.

History:  Proprietor/Innkeeper, Joanna Oliver, purchased the Inn in 2001.  Prior to the purchase, the Inn had stood vacant for seven years.  Before opening the doors of the Inn to the public, it required a tremendous amount of renovation.  One day while Joanna was painting on the second floor, an elderly woman stopped by to tell Joanna a bit of history about the Inn.  Joanna wondered, "How did she get in here?"  The doors were not opened to the public.  Distracted because she was so busy, Joanna paid minimal attention to the elderly woman and to her stories, one of which was about a young girl named Laura who died in a fire at the Inn over 100 years ago.  In the late 1800's, the Inn was a rooming house.  There was a fire, and a 12 year old girl named Laura died in the fire.  The elderly woman left a picture of Laura and told Joanna that Laura still remains at the Inn.  When Joanna turned around to speak with the woman, she was gone.  She had disappeared.  Did the elderly woman have enough time to walk down the stairs and leave through the door?  It would have been nearly impossible, but we will never know for sure.

Unexplained Events at the Inn:

Months later, a guest told Joanna that she had seen a young girl sitting on her bed in the Samuel Sanborn Room. There were no young girls staying at the Inn at this time. While listening to her guest, Joanna remembered the story that was told to her by the elderly woman. Approximately, one year later a male guest who had reserved the Mary Baker Eddy Room, which is right next door to the Samuel Sanborn Room, told Joanna that he had seen a young girl leave his room and disappear into thin air.

In 2006, a motorcyclist stayed at the Inn during New Hampshire bike week.  He told Joanna that he saw a teenage girl in his room.  The young girl disappeared, and then he saw her again in the hallway.

In 2007, a female guest was staying at the Inn in the Mary Baker Eddy Room.  She had just taken a shower and was walking out of the bathroom and was startled by the presence of a young girl in her room.

In the rooms closest to the streets, guests set their room thermostats to a temperature of comfort that suits them.   They sometimes find the thermostats get turned down and the room is cooler than they would like.

A couple had reserved the Dodge Room for the night.  While attempting to sleep, the gentleman's mattress flipped over and fell to the floor. 

In the dining room, a guest was having dinner and was taking pictures.  She captured a large black mass/shadow on the back wall.

In the foyer entrance of the Inn, placed on an easel, is a large picture of Laura.  Laura is the 12 yr. old that died in the fire and is said to be one of the entities that haunt the Inn.  If you turn the picture around and look at the back, you will see what looks like burn marks all over the back of the picture and some even have faces in them.  You can see pictures of the phenomena in our photo gallery.  The mystery about this is that this picture has been there for a very long time.  Only within the past four months has the phenomena begun to appear.  On the front of the picture you will also notice that Laura's clothing has begun to fade, but Laura's face, hair, etc. remains in tact.  This picture is sealed tight in a heavy plastic covering to protect it.  There just isn't any way that a chemical or any other substance could have gotten inside the plastic covering to contaminate the picture.  We asked our two photographers what could cause this to happen, and they didn't have an explanation. 

The Investigtion:

Attending the investigation was, Sue, John, Patti, Rita, and Matt. Matt Wheeler is our newest member of SPI. The investigation proved to back up some of the events mentioned above.

Note: Using headphones will enhance the audio for your listening pleasure.

The Mary Baker Eddy Room:  We set up our base command center in the Mary Baker Eddy Room which is the room where a young girl has been seen on many occasions. While investigating this room, we captured some EVP's. Rita said, "Laura, are you in this room now with us?" and there is a response that is either "Yes, I'm here", or "Yes, I am."     A second EVP was captured in this room. We were talking about the mattress being flipped over while one of the guests was staying in the Dodge Room. Rita said that she thought a grown-up spirit would have been the one to flip the mattress. You will hear her say, "...kind of heavy" and right after the word heavy, a response is heard saying "mmm". 

The Glover Room:  Sue and Matt were investigating the Glover room and captured this EVP. It sounds like a little girl approximately four years old. There is a little bit of mumbling and then it sounds like she might be saying, "mommy." We will let you decide what you think is being said.     To the best of our knowledge there were no children staying at the Inn that evening.

The Foyer:   Near the end of the investigation, Sue, Patti, John, and Matt were sitting in the conversing about a noise Sue has experienced in her home. Matt responds to the conversation and you can hear him say, "yeah" a couple of times. Following the second yeah, you will hear a whispered "yeah" or "yup".     We also captured a "clicking" noise that we are unable to explain. While this clicking is going on, you will hear Matt say, "It takes people a while sometimes." If you listen closely, you will hear a whispered "yeah" right after Matt said sometimes. 

Personal Experiences: 

Matt was in the Sanborn Room taking temperature readings. Each room has it's own separate bathroom. The bathroom door was closed. Before long it opened and closed by itself.

Patti and John were investigating in the dining room. Patti had her flashlight lying next to her and it rolled toward the back of the seat where she was sitting. She thought she might have moved causing the flashlight to roll backward, but when she tried to create the event again, she could not recreate it. We are not saying this is something paranormal, but because it could not be recreated, we are saying it is unexplainable.

While Patti, John, Sue, and Matt were investigating the tavern area, they were sitting down talking. All of a sudden we heard footsteps, and a door that leads from the dining area into the kitchen and tavern area closed on its own.

Upon Sue and Matt finishing their investigation in the Glover Room, Sue was trying to turn off her EVP recorder. Neither Matt nor Sue could get it to turn off. The only way we got it to go off was to remove the battery. Sue didn't have any trouble the rest of the night with her recorder. We definitely could not explain this.

Sue and Matt were in the Mary Baker Eddy Room watching the video on the DVR. Sue was doing a little EVP work and said, "They tell me that ghosts do not sleep. If that's the truth, then you should be awake and know that we're here and should be able to give us a sign of your presence. Could you do that for us please?" Within a few seconds on the DVR, Matt and Sue observed an orb that seemed to move close to the camera, stop and flash itself twice, and move onward out of sight of the camera. Was this something paranormal? We are not saying it was, but it certainly was very coincidental. Sue and Rita had the pleasure of spending the night at the Inn and slept in the Mary Baker Eddy Room. In our photo gallery, you will see an astounding photo of a huge energy strike that was nearing the bed where Sue was sleeping. This occurred at 4:35 a.m. Sue was not sleeping at the time, but did not see any of the activity that was taking place. It was only captured on the DVR using our infrared camera. You will also be able to view the video of this energy strike by clicking on the link below.

From our experience and the evidence we collected from our investigation, SPI deems the Inn as having paranormal activity.

To visit our photo gallery from this investigation, please click on this link: Pictures From The 1875 Tilton Inn Investigation, Tilton, NH March 20, 2010.

Please click on this link to view the video of the energy strike that we captured during this investigation.  Video of Energy Strike at The 1875 Tilton Inn Investigation - March 20, 2010.