Ever wondered what it’s like to be a ghostbuster? Believe it or not, there are some people that do have an experience that comes straight from a movie. An experience that changes everything. An experience with ghosts. Every year for the last eight years, we embark on a chilling journey to somewhere nestled in the heart of Jones County, Iowa known as Edinburg Manor. A place that sends shivers down our spines, yet draws us back again and again without fail.
One of those people with the aforementioned experience with the dead is my dad, Joshua Bleadorn. He said, “This place is no joke, really it’s changed my view and beliefs when it comes to ghosts or the paranormal.” This is something we take seriously and are very passionate about. The manor built in 1910-1911 wasn’t any ordinary building but rather a home for the insane. A place people were promised care, however, the staff wasn’t as kind as they seemed. Many tales echo from the walls of how patients were mistreated and neglected. After its doors closed in November 2010, the manor’s presence looms, a haunting aura.
Some of the experiences at the manor have been nothing but full of nightmares. One particular incident still gives my dad the chills. We were in the midst of a recording session, asking questions into the dark emptiness. We didn’t hear anything at the moment, but upon replaying the recorder, the deepest voice echoed “HOME” in response to the question, “Is this your home?’’ This very moment gave us a different understanding as this was the first captured evidence of something strange that could be considered paranormal. Bleadorn added, “It’s crazy thinking about some of the incidents we’ve first witnessed here. I mean, it can be very emotional just remembering those moments. Reliving it.” It’s definitely strange thinking about certain phenomena that happened because they can’t be explained rationally.
On another occasion, in the so-called “nerve center,” where the equipment is stored like monitors that all cameras connect to, one of the cameras captured a heavy door opening on its own. The building was silent, yet the unmistakable sound of footsteps echoed through the halls. My dad whispered, “Can you hear that?” The footsteps were followed by loud bangs from opposite ends of the building. Throughout that visit, lights began to turn on or off on different floors within a seven-hour time span, adding to the eerie atmosphere.
The most unsettling incident was yet to come. Two years ago, we faced the manor in its most active setting we’ve ever seen. Shuffled footsteps, faint music, bangs, and disembodied voices of what sounded like faint conversations. Bleadorn said, “Looking back on it, everything we’ve experienced there was straight out of a horror movie.” The sound of someone walking up the stairs was unmistakable, the creaking floorboards a sign of the manor’s age. These sounds and experiences continued for hours, turning the visit into an unforgettable trip.
This year’s stay was a good one as we had a few ideas we had to try. One in particular involved one person sitting in a room with no lights while also blindfolded, and to take the fear up a notch, we had to wear headphones which were plugged into a spirit box. This device scans radio channels very quickly in reverse so one cannot hear any words, just white noise. The theory behind this device is it can pick up voices or noises and will play as the channels are changing. The person is sitting in a pitch-black room with no sense of their surroundings due to sight and sound being removed while another person would be in a room close by. They would be asking questions in hopes that the spirit box would pick up answers. If so, the person who is blinded and deafened would hear a word or sentence and say it out loud. An example from us doing this challenge was when my dad was asking questions, and I was under the blindfold, and he was using an EMF which detects electromagnetic fields. When he was asking questions, I heard a voice say “WANT,” and as I said it out loud, the EMF went off right in my dad’s lap. Coincidence? Who knows, but what I do know is whether or not someone believes in ghosts, something is happening at that Manor. “Every year we go out, we always come back home with more and more stories, and I love it,” said Bleadorn.
This secret activity has become a tradition, a hobby. Anyone who might not believe or is maybe just curious, go ahead and venture into the depths of the twisted building. One might be okay there in the daylight, but once the sun goes down, the place has an entirely different feel to it. Its eerie environment might make someone panic because one probably won’t be alone.
