Church in Amherst Co., VA
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- Church, Amherst Co. VA
January 18, 2008: Investigation at church in Amherst Co., VA
Estimated near 110 years old, this small community church has seen many eras of construction and renovation. Reports of paranormal activity include audible footsteps, disembodied voices, the feeling of a presence, and moving shadows. Recent reports also include the sound of a car on gravel (there is no gravel road or lot near the church), and phantom car lights spilling through the windows when there is no car in sight. The sound of a car door closing has also been heard in the absence of any vehicle.
It was only after we began this investigation that we learned of a tragedy that occurred several years ago in close proximity to the church…
A new member joined our training meeting the week prior to this investigation. He called me the next day after hearing about our plans for this investigation and said he had some information about the church we might find useful. Apparently, several years ago, a young man parked his car in a small gravel turnout just across from the church and shot himself. His vehicle then caught on fire- this young man had attended a gathering at our new member’s house the weekend prior to the suicide. We found it rather strange that this member had joined us at that time without prior knowledge of this upcoming case.
After learning about the tragedy, our investigation focused on the area across the street from the church; we assumed the phantom headlights and sounds of the gravel crunching and door shutting may be residual- a playback of the events that transpired the night of the young man’s death.
Because of reconstruction of the road in front of the church, the gravel lot is no longer there, and the original road itself now lies under about six feet of hillside. Other than some superb examples of dust orbs and flare from a street light, we gathered no remarkable evidence of paranormal activity in that area.
Dust orb outside church
However, inside the church, several of our investigators experienced a heaviness in the pulpit area of the sanctuary, and we followed an anomalous EMF spike for a short distance from the podium to an exit door- a spike which could not be traced to any power source, such as the electric piano or speaker system. The spike dissipated quickly and did not occur again.
The most intriguing event of the evening occurred near the end of our investigation; Wanda, Tara and Blake entered the Fellowship Hall to find several metal folding chairs positioned in a semi-circle around a piano- chairs that no one on our team remembered having been there upon our initial walk-through. In fact, we would have had to walk right over them when we crossed the Hall earlier to look at some old pictures of the church on a far wall.
Unfortunately, we did not take any pictures of the hall prior to “going dark”, and therefore, have no comparison for the original placement of the chairs and how we found them later. Upon inspection of the area, there was no EMF or temperature fluctuation in the area, though an exterior dusk to dawn light just outside the Fellowship Hall turned off and on several times shortly thereafter. We set an audio recorder on the piano bench and a video camera in the hall after this event, with no EVP or remarkable video evidence upon review.
Amherst Co church, chairs
NOTE: ALWAYS take pictures immediately upon entering a room PRIOR TO the investigation. LESSON LEARNED. AND, even though you may focus primarily on an expected “hotspot” of activity, don’t ignore the possibility of activity where you least expect it.
Tags: amherst, apparition, EVP, ghost, haunted, investigation, monroe, paranormal
3 Responses to “Church in Amherst Co., VA”
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Spencer Says:
November 29th, 2009 at 12:16 pmhey i live right next door to this church and i was just wondering if you had a name of the man that committed suicide or a date of when he killed himself. thanks
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V Says:
December 24th, 2009 at 11:31 amWell i have been a member of this church for 48 years. Have also been one of the contractors that have done renovations and additions. Have been in this church many times alone, night and day have been in the attic, crawl space, kitchen etc. alone doing work. Have seen nothing and have only felt temp discomfort due to the fact the church cuts the system off the HVAC during the week.
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Graham Wiatt Says:
December 24th, 2009 at 11:55 amI’ve been a member of this church, Bethany United Methodist Church, 732 High Peak Road, Monroe VA, since the mid 1960s. I sing in the choir, and have since I was a child. I’m not aware of any paranormal activity in or around the church, but I have an open mind. The exterior lights just need work. Some the church owns, some are owned by either the highway department or the power company. As for the chairs around the piano in the fellowship hall, we rehearse with chairs in a sort of semicircle, but there’s so few of us in the choir that you wouldn’t have to walk over the chairs to get to the other side of that room. Contact me if you have questions.