Sandusky House; Lynchburg, VA

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Sandusky House, circa 1808

Sandusky House, circa 1808

September 14, 2007:  Investigation Sandusky House in Lynchburg, VA

Built circa 1808 by Charles Johnston, the home was named Sandusky House to commemorate Mr. Johnston’s escape from a band of Shawnee Indians near Sandusky, Ohio.  The house was sold in 1818 and purchased by George C. Hutter, who established strong ties with Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, a neighboring plantation.  In June of 1864, the house was commandeered by Union General David Hunter and used as headquarters for the famous Battle of Lynchburg. 

Throughout its unique 200 year history, the Sandusky House has changed little, and remained a private residence until purchased by The Historic Sandusky Foundation, Inc.

We are fortunate to have been allowed access to this Virginia Historic Landmark, and are thankful to the Foundation for the opportunity to investigate claims of paranormal activity.  One witness reported seeing a man standing on an upstairs balcony while she was descending the stairs, and another claim was of a cellar door continuously unlocking and opening.  There is also a story that two employees were in a back room talking, and there was a strong sudden scent of tobacco.  A second later, a purse that was sitting solidly on a table was flung to the floor, a movement for which the employees could find no explanation.

It is rumored that several union soldiers were buried on the property after Hunter’s Raid, and that amputated limbs of the wounded were piled somewhere on the grounds as well.  In the front parlor of the house there is a stain on the floor; some proclaim it is a blood stain, though I am not aware of any forensic test that has proven this.  Also, there are claims of the strong smell of pipe tobacco eminating from the same room.

The parlor has fabric wall coverings, and we quickly deduced it is likely that any phantom smells could possibly be residual, trapped in the porous texture of the wall coverings and released under certain circumstances, including breezes or even atmospheric pressure.  The lower floor windows are double- paned however, which would eliminate many drafts, but might also cause odd light play within the room, including moving shadows.

The cellar door has a bar latch which we witnessed come undone when weight was placed on specific adjoining floorboards in the hallway.  The lock requires a very hard press to latch completely, and it is possible that if lowered only slightly, it could easily come undone when someone walked down the hallway.

One investigator felt a “cold spot” in the basement, and another investigator reported watching his temperature decrease noticeably with an IR thermometer as he experienced the cold spot.  In one corner of the basement where the water heater and electrical box were located, several of our investigators experienced a typical high-EMF sympton- the feeling of a presence in the room.

LESSON LEARNED:  We had ENTIRELY too many people on this investigation.  Of course no one wants to come to the meetings regularly, but everyone wants to join in on the investigations.  Sandusky is about the equivilent of a two-story, four-bedroom house, and we had about thirteen investigators on-site.  Though our teams were split up between indoors and out, with creaky wooden floors and natural excitement and curiosity, there was too much ambient noise and distraction in the house for anyone to have a genuine and serious vigil experience.

FUNNY sidenote:  I went to check out the site during daylight hours with a co-founder who also happened to work there.  She brought me into a bathroom that had once been a nursery off to the side of the main bedroom and explained that the doorway had once been where the shower stall now covered.  Naturally, I pushed aside the shower curtain to see, and screamed until I started laughing-  there was a dismembered mannequin in the bathtub that had been used to display attire of the era.  My cohort assures me she did not realize the mannequin was there and did not intend to give me a heart attack-  I love her dearly, but I’m not really sure I believe her…

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Permalink | September 11th, 2009

One Response to “Sandusky House; Lynchburg, VA”

  1. Brenda Pritts Doyle Says:
    July 21st, 2010 at 8:45 pm

    This is a great summary of the stories of paranormal activity and the experiences of SHPS. I have a few questions: 1) Did the outdoor investigators have experiences? 2) Did you split up into teams and rotate time in the house? 3) You mentioned EMF and temperature readings. What type of equipment did SHPS use? 4) Did you use digital recorders, and if so, did you record any anomalies? I look forward to joining your group this autumn when I move to VA. See you on July 31 at Sandusky House, God willing! ~Brenda~