The Tenney Gatehouse, Methuen, MA
(Second Investigation) November 14, 2009

On November 14, 2009, the Souhegan Paranormal Investigators and guests had the opportunity to investigate the Tenney Gatehouse in Methuen, MA.  We had 10 people attend this investigation.  Attendees from the SPI group were Susan, Irene, Mario, John, and Patti.  Also, attached to the SPI group, were our friends, Distant Wolf and Dianne, and our guests Gloria, Paul, and Mandy.  We also had the pleasure of being in the company of Joe Bella, President of the Methuen Historical Society. 

History:  We explored the history of Tenney Gatehouse in the write-up of our first investigation.  If you would like to revisit the history, please click on this link.  The Tenney Gatehouse, Methuen, MA (First Investigation) August 29, 2009. 

The Investigation:  Upon our arrival, John and Mario set up the equipment. We then assembled as a group, broke up into 3 teams, and began the investigation at approximately 7:20 p.m.

The Parlor:  Sue, Gloria, and Paul were the first team to investigate the parlor.  We began doing some EVP work and taking pictures.  Approximately 12 minutes into the investigation Gloria said to Sue, "Can you take a picture behind me?"  Sue snapped a couple of photos and within seconds, Gloria said her ear felt like it had been pinched.  Sue and Paul looked at her ear and it was bright red.  We compared it to her opposite ear and we could definitely see that something had happened.  Gloria then told us that her ear was burning really bad.  We took a picture which can be viewed in the image gallery.  At first, we thought perhaps she had been bitten by an insect such as a spider. However, we noticed there was no swelling to her ear and after about an hour or so, the redness disappeared and her ear returned to normal.  We concluded that if an insect had bitten her, the redness would have remained for quite some time along with swelling.  We are questioning if the pinch could have been caused by a spirit. Maybe Mrs. Tenney?

We used the K-II meter in hopes to make contact with a spirit.  We advised the spirits that we could communicate with them through the K-II meter by asking them questions.  All they needed to do was make the K-II meter light up for the answer yes.  If their answers were no, they didn't need to light up the meter.  The K-II meter has five lights beginning with a light green, and then moving on to a darker green, yellow, orange, and red.  While asking some of our questions, the meter did light up to the second green which means that the responses from the spirit(s) were not very strong, but nonetheless, we did receive a response.  There were several times when we asked a question, and the meter didn't light up at all.

Note:  It is noteworthy to advise the reader that we had not done an EMF sweep in the parlor with the K-II meter which will cause the meter to light up and display high EMF readings if there is a high magnetic field in the respective area.  However, we do feel our communication using the K-II meter was genuine because it seemed the meter lit up only when there were responses to some of our questions.  The meter was not lighting up on it's own accord until we were leaving the parlor, at which point spirit seemed to want to continue communicating.  So we stayed a few minutes longer and continued our communication.

We captured the following EVP's in the parlor:

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

• At pos :06, Paul said, “If I knock, will you knock back? Okay, here I go.” Then Paul knocked 5 times and at pos :17, there is a response by a male entity that sounds like “Why?”.
• We were discussing not knowing for sure if we were communicating with Fannie Tenney. At pos :16, Paul said, “...but we are not 100% sure. Last time I’ll ask…if it is you, can you just change the light; light it up yellow?” At pos :28, there is a response that sounds female saying, “I can’t” followed by two loud stomps/bangs at positions :29 and :30. The word “can’t” sounds as if it is being pronounced with a British accent. Paul then said, “One more time” (referring to lighting up the K-II meter) and at pos :35 another stomp/bang can be heard. (Note: During this period of questioning, the meter did not light up to yellow, but it did light up to the darker green.)
• Irene, Mandy, and Mario were investigating the parlor and Irene asked, "Who pinched Gloria's ear?" At position :07, there is a high pitched response that sounds like "Me".

The Attic:  While Gloria, Paul, and Sue were investigating the attic, Sue captured this EVP.  The spirit of a little girl named Karen, approximtely 10 years old, is said to be found in the attic from time to time. 

• We were in the attic asking questions of the little girl that is called Karen. At pos :13 Paul was asking if the little girl Karen was the one playing the organ down there (downstairs), and at pos :21 there is an inaudible response. At pos :25, Sue said, “Was Mrs. Tenney your mother?” and at pos :27, an entity is heard saying, “No”. 

We attempted to use the K-II meter while in the attic, but we only received one response.  Paul said, “I would really like to know if you’re here.  It would make me happy to know.  Sue saw the K-II meter light up to the fourth light which is orange, but Gloria and Paul were not looking in the direction of the K-II meter, so they didn’t see it.  We tried to get it to light up again, but it didn't light up more than that one time.

Patti, John, Dianne, and Distant Wolf were investigating the attic doing some EVP work.  Patti said to Dianne that she thought she had seen a small black shadow move very quickly across one of the chairs. When reviewing her EVP recorder,  Patti found she had captured this EVP at position :19 which sounds like a very faint, distant meow.  It is quite faint, but if you listen very carefully after hearing Dianne say, "Here kitty, kitty" the second time, you might be able to catch it.  

The Basement:  Though we were really hoping for some real activity in the basement, we didn't get much of anything.  The only thing we might have captured was a photo taken by Mandy of what we think might be a moving orb along the ceiling.  This photo can be viewed in our image gallery.  While using the K-II meter in the basement, Sue said, “Are you here in the daytime when Joe is in his office doing his work? Do you watch him?” and the K-II meter lit up to the fourth light which is orange. Sue asked Gloria if she saw the meter light up and she replied, “I sure did.” Though we continued to ask that the spirit light up the meter again, it did not.

We were hoping to find additional evidence over and above the evidence we collected in our first investigation, but unfortunately, the spirits were not being cooperative.  It appears that our collection of evidence was less than we captured on our first investigation, but as we all know spirits don't come out and join us just because we want them to.  They "allow" us to be in their company when they feel they want to share their presence with us.  However, this second investigation did determine that paranormal activity does exist at Tenney Gatehouse.

We captured some pictures during the investigation to share with you.  To view the image gallery, please click on this link.  Pictures From The Tenney Gatehouse, Methuen, MA (Second Investigation) November 14, 2009.