Peg Knickerbocker's Blog

This is one event you should not miss
It will NOT be streamed
It is live September 18th 2010 $30 paid in advance on the Knickerbocker web store page.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2010 GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS PAGE 7A
THE NEWS
EDUCATION
BY JOHN S. BROOM
Gazette Newspapers
LINESVILLE — After
several ghost investigations
in northern
Ashtabula County for
our Hauntings of
Ashtabula County section
(which ran in the
Jan. 28 editions), with
less than convincing results,
I was glad to get
to the Knickerbocker
Hotel in Linesville – a
place that has confirmed
paranormal activity
in all parts of the
building.
Little did I know
that I was walking into
the building on the anniversary
of the death
of a former resident of
the building.
People had reported
some odd sounds and
occurrences earlier in
the day, and so did the
seven of us who headed
into the basement for a
90-minute, webcambroadcast
investigation
last Thursday night.
We did hear lots of
little noises, but 90 percent
of them can be explained
as little pops
BY JOHN S. BROOM
Gazette Newspapers
LINESVILLE — The
ghosts are local. But
people looking to see or
hear are doing so from
just about any corner of
the world that has
internet access.
The Knickerbocker
Hotel in Linesville is
home to the latest wave
spreading around the
world – armchair ghost
hunting.
Unlike the paranormal
shows on television,
ghost hunters don’t have
to pack up and drive to a
haunted location. Instead
they log on, sign in
and watch from the comfort
of their living room
or anywhere that has
internet access.
Each week, local ghost
hunters get together
face-to-face to talk about
ongoing investigations,
and share their paranormal
experiences.
Some nights, like last
Thursday, the group did
some investigation work
in the building’s basement.
Pat Knickerbocker, coowner
of the building,
said people had reported
seeing a shadowy figure
on the webcam, and the
family dog was reacting
to something in the area
during the day Thursday.
February 4 was the
anniversary of the death
of Clara Arnold, one of
the former residents of
the home. She died in
1885.
For more than 90 minutes,
seven local ghosthunters
and more online,
watched, listened and
waited for sights or
sounds of paranormal activity.
“We heard some footsteps
overhead, and
some moans or sobs,”
Knickerbocker said.
Some of the sounds
heard during the 90 minutes
can be explained by
water pipes or the furnace
or the home settling,
she said.
But others like the
sobs have no earthly explanation.
“They were very clear.
It was someone sobbing,
Knickerbocker
Hotel plans
paranormal
weekend
Keeping up with ghosts online
Something wanted me to know it was there
or moaning,”
Knickerbocker said.
The Knickerbocker
Hotel may be familiar to
fans of such shows as
Paranormal State, or
other ghost hunting television
programs.
The building was featured
on Paranormal
State in early 2008, and
the investigators on the
show say they want to
come back again.
In fact, one told
Knickerbocker that they
feel “drawn” back to the
place.
Another group returning
to the hotel is the
Western New York Ghost
Hunters. They’ll return
in May, during a special
paranormal seminar, to
show the results of their
investigation late last
year in the hotel.
Also on hand for that
paranormal seminar will
be Tim Brainard, from
Ashtabula County’s
Wellness and Total
Learning Center.
The Knickerbocker
Hotel was built 130 years
ago, and for most of that
time has been a place for
weary travelers to prop
their feet up, or spend
the night. It also served
as a bar and restaurant
for the community, but
mainly as a hotel.
But no one meant for
the stay to be permanent.
“We have some people
who checked in, but
never checked out,”
Knick said, laughing.
The Knickerbockers
bought the property a
few years ago, and intended
to refurbish it.
But strange things
started happening almost
immediately.
Knickerbocker said
they’ve seen ghostly apparitions
in the home, as
well as shadowy figures,
strange lights, and heard
all sorts of odd sounds.
T h e
knickerbockerlinesville.com
website has dozens of
video and audio recordings,
as well as photos
showing a variety of
paranormal events.
One photo, captured
by a viewer of a webcam
shows a cat laying on a
noise of what
sounded to be someone
playing
marbles or rolling
a coin or other
object across the
floor.
Then there were the
temperature changes.
I kept a digital thermometer
pointed at different
areas of the room
around us.
The bodies in the room
were all registering 63 to
67 degrees, while the dirt
floor and air were 55 to
57 degrees.
As I was pointing the
thermometer at an area
to the right of a man in
front of me, the temperature
shot up from 57 to 63
degrees, then reached as
high as 65 before steadying
out at about 64.5.
About that time, Clara
Hyder, a clairvoyant from
Mentor Headlands, told
us that Henry (a ghostly
child) was standing next
to the man in front of me.
Wow, the temperature
changed just seconds before
she said that.
After four or five minutes,
the temperature
went down to 57 again.
and
creaks that
old houses make, or
the pipes that run
through them.
What can’t be explained
easily is the
sound of footsteps walking
or tapping above our
heads. Only one person
and a dog were on the
main floor, on the other
side of the room above us,
so there was no way they
made the noise.
And when they did
make the noises, they
sounded hollow and distant
since they weren’t
right above our heads.
The spookiest sound,
which we heard at least
three times, was an audible
sigh or sob or moan.
We tried to find an
earthly explanation
(pipes, wind blowing outside,
etc.) but the noise
moved around the room
when we heard it.
There was also the
A ghost, or some
warm air from the furnace?
It never did it again
in that area or around
us, until late in the
night, when a warm
spot could be physically
detected in the back
corner of the room.
Sure enough, the
thermometer was up a
few degrees again.
But the most meaningful
experience for
me was on a tour of the
home’s upstairs.
In a room that used
to be a hallway leading
to an opera house next
door, something started
tugging on my shirt.
At first I thought it
was the woman behind
me, but she was
too far away to do it
without having to
move near me or make
a noise behind me.
It did it a second
time when I was leaving
the room, while
she was in front of me,
and no one behind me.
A ghostly presence?
Apparently something
want to let me
know it was there.
chair. But the
Knickerbockers do not
have any living feline
friends around – just
dogs.
Knick said based on
their experiences in the
building, they decided to
open the home up to
paranormal groups, who
can visit and train at the
facility, and around
Linesville.
“Just about everyone
in town has had some
sort of experience,”
Knickerbocker said.
To preserve the facility
for those doing scientific-
type investigation,
the family doesn’t map
out where the ghostly
events occur and specifically
what they are.
Investigators can
come in and explore the
building as desired, then
return to compare notes
with what others have
found.
Knickerbocker said
she’s found it to be an effective
way to prove the
6X6
SUBSCRIPTION
First-handexperience
paranormal nature of
what is going on in the
building.
Several books contain
notes and drawings from
people who’ve visited the
home over the past few
years.
The News Editor John
Broom can be reached at
jbroom@gazettenews.com.
PHOTO BY JOHN S. BROOM
Pat Knickerbocker uses a voice recorder to listen for spirit voices during a live, online ghost investigation last week
at Knickerbocker Hotel.