Last night, we had the pleasure of hosting a fundraising event. We conducted tours of the downtown area, with all proceeds going to help defray costs of the upcoming trip to the State History Fair for the students at Fort Pierce Westwood High School who won at district competition. We really enjoyed the chance to showcase some of the more unique aspects of Fort Pierce’s history, and loved getting to spend time with so many local residents. We managed to have some photographs taken (thanks to Stacy Reckard for manning the camera!) during the final tour. Hope you enjoy them! “The GRIM Society Haunted History Tour in downtown Fort Pierce, April 14, 2012. This event was a fundraiser, with all proceeds going to help pay for students from Westwood High School to attend the State History Fair competition.”

From The GRIM Society Haunted History Tour, posted by on 4/15/2012 (20 items)

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery(function(){ jQuery(".gallery-icon a").lightBox({ imageBlank:"http://thegrimsociety.com/wp-content/plugins/facebook-photo-fetcher/jquery-lightbox/images/lightbox-blank.gif", imageBtnClose:"http://thegrimsociety.com/wp-content/plugins/facebook-photo-fetcher/jquery-lightbox/images/lightbox-btn-close.gif", imageBtnNext:"http://thegrimsociety.com/wp-content/plugins/facebook-photo-fetcher/jquery-lightbox/images/lightbox-btn-next.gif", imageBtnPrev:"http://thegrimsociety.com/wp-content/plugins/facebook-photo-fetcher/jquery-lightbox/images/lightbox-btn-prev.gif", imageLoading:"http://thegrimsociety.com/wp-content/plugins/facebook-photo-fetcher/jquery-lightbox/images/lightbox-ico-loading.gif" }); }); });

Daily we are surrounded by cell phones, wireless Internet, cordless phones, satellite TV, AM/FM radio and all kinds of other forms of communication. For that reason, our group has long been hesitant to point to EVP’s as iron clad proof of a paranormal experience.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a gentleman that is at his wits end. He explained that he has been hearing voices, beeping and other sounds in his home for nearly two years. During the discussion, he and I agreed that there was certainly no paranormal activity going on due to the fact he was hearing (and recording) TV programs and phone conversation along with a  beeping sound. We also agreed that he had exhausted his mainstream options and was desperate for help. I saw it as an opportunity to do some research on sound and to lend a helping hand to someone in need, so I agreed to bring a small team to his home to see what we could find.

This Saturday, Tamara, Samantha and myself  went to the home and were surprised at what we discovered. Our client is a gentleman in his 60′s and widowed. Apparently, two years ago, he had one of the large cable companies sell him on installing their service in his home. Almost immediately, he began to hear the sound of conversations and other noises in his home. As we sat talking to our client he explained what lengths he had gone through to eliminate the sounds in his home. He has contacted three cable companies, his alarm company, the electric company, electricians, the FCC and several other municipal agencies. He has also purchased six voice recorders and has hours of sounds and even about 15 minutes of a Jeopardy episode recorded in May of last year. He has gone as far as purchasing a complete map of cell phone towers in the county. The gentleman has even visited several doctors to have his hearing checked among other things. He is desperate for answers and hopefully a solution.

Most of these groups that he contacted were more than happy to sell him a new service or upgrade his existing service, but all ignored his claims of noises. That is how we ended up in his home, after two years of calling, letter writing and pleading for help, we were the only people that would take him seriously. As we sat and talked, our group actually heard voices in his home and the mysterious beeping.

We went to work and quickly discovered the city has installed individual sewage lift stations at each home through the area. We found that when any of these systems have any kind of issue, a loud, continuous beeping alarm begins. The current economy has hit this area hard and many of these homes are vacant or in foreclosure, so often these alarms will beep for days without anyone coming to turn them off. Fortunately, one of the neighbor’s was beeping. We were able to walk the client around and point it out to him. With one of the mysterious sounds identified, we began to look into the voices.

As we search the home, the client pointed out an intercom system he had disabled hoping to stop the sounds. It was disabled at the panel, but the speakers and wiring are all still in place. Our suspicion is that when the cable company did the installation two years ago, they either connect or disconnected something that has allowed the speaker and wires to make an antenna of some sort. We have a lot of research to do in the next few days to find a way to solve the problem. We are hoping that some of our friends in the music and audio fields can give us some suggestions to help this man.

Our client was very happy to have anyone that believed him and would take their time to help. We not sure we have the knowledge to solve the problem, but are going to try. This case is not going to provide our group with any evidence of the paranormal, but we are helping a person in need and it feels pretty good.

 

We would like to thank Curtis Boyd for providing access to The Governor’s House (also known as the McCarty House). He granted us the unrestricted opportunity to investigate and research, which we took advantage of on multiple occasions. Without his support and patience, we would not have been able to conduct such an extensive and complete investigation. Hopefully, the documentation captured there will help to further the field of Paranormal Research.

Below is our final report on our first investigation at the McCarty House .There are a few unique aspects to the location; most importantly, the construction of the building created an unusual acoustic situation. A person could be speaking on the first floor in a normal conversational voice and be clearly heard in the attic-two floors away. Our first concern was contamination, but, as we were to discover later, it allowed us to match every conversation and movement of team members by comparing audio and video from different floors.

Investigation Overview

Date of Investigation: August 27 and 28, 2010 Team 1: James Dourney, Samantha Dourney Team 2: Tamara Dourney, Elizabeth Sockol Start Time: 7:00 p.m. End Time: 12:00 a.m. Temperature: 85° F Relative Humidity: 75% Wind Speed: East 10mph Barometric Pressure: Steady Weather Notes: Partly Cloudy Lunar Status: Waning Gibbous, 91% Full Solar X-Rays: Normal Geomagnetic Field: Unsettled

The group arrived at the location at 6:30. After an initial walk-through with the owner of the building, equipment locations were discussed. Set-up began at exactly 7:00.

Team One

Team 1 installed stationary equipment, placing the JVC camcorder on the first floor, the RCA cassette recorder in the attic stairwell and the Flip camcorder in the eastern attic room. Team 1 also placed the motion detector in the western attic room. After Team 1 left the area, the detector began to indicate motion, so they returned. They made several attempts to discover the cause of the alarm, but were unsuccessful. After relocating the device and trying to muffle the natural vibrations of the building, it was determined that the sensor would not be viable for the investigation. It should be noted that, prior to the investigation, all equipment was tested in good, working order- this included the motion detector.

After removing the motion detector, Team 1 returned to the first floor. Taking the Sony Handycam, Team 1 proceeded back up to the attic, then began a walk-through of the upper floors. At approximately 8:20 pm, Team 1 was standing in the central room on the east side of the 2nd floor when they heard what they believed to be the sound of a woman. Unsure of the source, Team 1 contacted Team 2 via the radio and queried them regarding the sounds. When Team 2 reported no sounds, Team 1 proceeded to the first floor in an attempt to locate the source.

After meeting up with Team 2 at the entrance to the building, the teams separated and did a perimeter search. Team 2 proceeded around the building to the west while Team 1 proceeded around the east. Unable to locate any reasonable source for the sound, the Teams returned to the entryway to further discuss the incident. At this time, Team 1 proceeded back to the third floor to change tapes in the RCA cassette recorder, then continued on their walk-through. At 10 p.m. both teams met outside to empty memory cards from the digital devices. After removing the data from the cards, Team 1 remained downstairs in the entry room. After thirty minutes, Team 1 proceeded once again to a walk-through of the building. At approximately 11 p.m., Team 1 moved upstairs to the attic where they once again changed the cassette tape. They also relocated the Flip camcorder so that it covered the attic stairwell. During the final trip through the home, the Sony Handycam began to malfunction. Just before midnight, the team began to break down the equipment.

Team Two

Team 2 took initial outside temperature readings with the laser temperature gauge. These readings were measured at 7:00, 8:00 and 9:00 and recorded. After the set-up was completed, Team 2 took the Sony Handycam and did a complete walk-through of the building, starting outside at 7:30, then proceeding to the interior. The team arrived on the second floor at 7:40, then moved on to the attic. Pictures were taken during this time using the Fujifilm S3100; after the walk-through was completed, Team 2 stationed themselves in the western porch area with the Olympus digital recorder.

While sitting on the porch, Team 2 took pictures of the area. After taking only 25 photographs, the FujiFilm A210 flashed the low battery light and shut off. The batteries, which were opened and installed just prior to the investigation, were measured at full power once the camera was removed from the building. Team 2 continued taking pictures with the Panisonic Lumix. Less than five minutes later, the Lumix experienced the same battery drain; it was also fine once removed from the building.

At approximately 8:20, Team 2 was contacted via radio by Team 1, who reported the sound of someone unauthorized possibly outside or entering the building. Team 2, unable to hear the sounds reported by Team 1, nonetheless moved towards the entryway to investigate the sounds. The teams met up at the main door to the building and, having discovered nothing to that point, proceeded to move outside the structure. While Team 1 moved east towards Indian River Drive, Team 2 took a western route towards the back of the building. Unable to locate any person or persons outside the structure, the teams met up at the entry once more.

Before the teams split up again, Team 2 reported hearing an unexplained sound, similar to a sigh. Team 1 did not hear the noise.

Team 2 then proceeded back to the porch, moving from there into the office area. While reading an old newspaper clipping on the shelf, they heard the sound of bottles rolling on the porch. Moving into the front room, they took several pictures of the porch through the doorway, but were unable to locate any bottles in the area. Team 2 then took several pictures in the office; during this time, the camera’s flash refused to fire on two separate images. As the team moved from the office past the JVC video camera, they heard what appeared to be a male voice speaking from above them. Proceeding up the stairwell, they tried to locate the source. As they reached the rooms on the west side of the second floor, they radioed Team 1 and requested they stop speaking, hoping to isolate the sound, but were unable to locate the source.

Team 2 continued to walk through the house, using the Olympus digital recorder while they explored the upper areas of the home, until midnight, when they began to break down the equipment.

Equipment Malfunctions

Motion Detector – Tested and working prior to investigation. Once installed in the attic, it began to continuously fire. After several attempts to remedy the problem, Team 1 removed it from the building. At this point, they covered the motion sensor with tape, blocking it completely. It continued to register motion and was determined to be broken. Removed from the remainder of the investigation.

Cameras – Two separate cameras experienced battery drain (one after 8 images, one after 15) within five minutes of each other. Both cameras worked fine (with full battery) once removed from the house. One incident of the flash not firing. At the end of the investigation, the Sony Handycam stopped working, yet continued to record at odd intervals for several minutes.

EMF Reader

Though the EMF reader was used throughout the night, it never registered any fluctuations. All readings for electromagnetic fields turned up zero. While this is encouraging for the investigation (since strong fluctuations can interfere with other equipment) it is somewhat unusual, given the proximity of power lines and other large electronic equipment to the building.

Flip Video Camera

The Flip video did not record any visual anomalies. However, the entire video is rife with audio anomalies; there are 18 separate instances of banging, bumping or knocking within a 35 minute time frame. Here are a few of the more remarkable instances:

Timestamp: 21:20

The first remarkable sounds appear at this point. A double knocking sound is made by a car moving over a nearby manhole; this is followed by what sounds like the noise made by walking and shuffling feet.

Timestamp: 1:46:45

The very odd noises that are recorded here go far beyond the more simplistic sounds in the other locations. The sounds are so loud they are heard by the group, which is confirmed by Team 2 downstairs.

Additional banging, bumping and or knocking can be found at the following timestamps:

22:06, 25:11, 29:40, 31:55, 32:09, 33:31, 39:02, 47:45, 1:27:50, 1:27:58, 1:41:10

Sony Handycam

The Sony Handycam provided several interesting anomalies, most of which documented on other investigative equipment. The two most impressive instances are described below.

Timestamp: 28:05

The Handycam picks up what appears to be the sound of a woman crying. This is the sound reported by Team 1 which spawned the sweep of the property as the group searched for any unauthorized persons.

Timestamp: 58:40

The entire group is gathered downstairs near the entry way. As they discuss the next steps they will take, Elizabeth sighs. The sigh is caught clearly on video, but is followed immediately by a second sound, which is reminiscent of either a sigh or of someone blowing onto a microphone. Tamara responds to the sound, searching for the source, but there is no obvious explination.

Additional anomalies can be found at:

27:57, 35:48, 40:55, 45:22

Digital Voice Recorder

There are several unexplained incidents captured on the Olympus digital voice recorder. Because this device was recording nearly without stop throughout the entire investigation, we have broken the sound files down into more manageable sections. Both these shorter clips and the full, original audio files are included on the data disk.

File: VoiceRecorder-McCarty2-Team2 Timestamp: 01:23

This section of the audio recording provides a secondary transcript of the incident with the possible intruder. As Team 1 contacts Team 2 via radio to determine if both teams are hearing the same noises, Team 2 is clearly unable to hear the sound. When the audio was loaded into Audacity (the audio software used to enhance the files) it became apparent that there is an additional sound on the recording, one heard by neither team, which sounds distinctly like a voice.

File: VoiceRecorder-McCarty2-Team2 Timestamp: 18:54

As Team 2 investigates the second floor, they pause in the room that occupies the northeast corner of  the structure. Tamara, standing in the doorway to the raised bathroom, asks Elizabeth to pause so that the height difference between the bathroom and the main room can be documented. At this point in the audio recording, a very loud knocking sound is evident. The team, unable to hear the sound, continues with their investigation, moving out into the hallway.

In an attempt to replicate the noise, the team recorded the sound of someone tapping/banging the digital recorder. The resulting sound file did not match the audio recording.

Tape Recorder

There are multiple unexplained bumps and knocks; however, due to the odd acoustics, the group was unable to determine their sources or rule out the teams as the cause of the sounds. At the end of tape one, side A, there is an unexplained sound which builds and has no obvious source.

JVC Video Camera

Even with the addition of a light in the room, the area the JVC camera was placed in proved too dark to allow the camera to focus. However, using the audio to place the team (since it can be matched to the video from the Sony Handycam), an anomaly occurs at time stamp 14:20, roughly 8:20 pm. This incident is approximately two minutes after the group has left the house to sweep the outside in response to odd sounds heard upstairs by Team 1. While the JVC’s audio recording clearly shows the team is still outside of the building, near the entryway on Boston Avenue, a strange light appears on the camera.

This light has the appearance of a flashlight, yet comes from the southwestern corner of the house. After returning to the house during the daylight hours, we discovered that, in order for the light to appear in the location it does on the video, it would have to have come from inside the concrete block addition at the southwestern corner of the structure. An individual shining the light would have to point the flashlight through the door of this concrete block room into the back porch area of the house. However, the outside door to that room is screwed shut; additionally, the door between the two rooms, which is a solid door, is and was closed. Anyone opening the door would have caused a noise easily discernible on the audio from the JVC.

Summary Analysis

After reviewing the data collected during the investigation, the team attempted to locate a reasonable source for all unusual sounds. Explanations were located for two of these sounds; the double thump heard across all the audio equipment was determined to be the sound of cars as they drove over a manhole located just down the southbound lane of Indian River Drive, while a noise that resembled the sound of a horse was determined to be caused by cars moving over both decorative brickwork on 2nd street and the Citrus Overpass.

Despite these successful efforts, there are many instances where no plausible source can be determined.

This is the video we provided to the home owner after our first investigation:

 

We initially assumed that the flash of light you see in the video is from a team member’s flashlight, but once we reviewed the video and audio, we determined that all teams were on the outside on the northeast side of the building while the camera was inside on the southwest corner. We tried on multiple occasions to recreate the light but were unsuccessful.

Over the past year, the audio and video of the incident have been sent to several different people, including both paranormal groups and sound experts; none have been able to come up with an explanation for the sound, though all agreed it sounded like a crying woman.

Here is a cleaned version of the audio from the “Crying Woman” provided by our friends Jayde and Crow at Guilty Creatures Productions: Crying Woman – G.C. Studio by theGRIMsociety  

We would like to thank Curtis Boyd for providing access to The Governor’s House (also known as the McCarty House). He granted us the unrestricted opportunity to investigate and research, which we took advantage of on multiple occasions. Without his support and patience, we would not have been able to conduct such an extensive and complete investigation. Hopefully, the documentation captured there will help to further the field of Paranormal Research.

McCarty House under construction 1905-Florida Photographic Collection

 

The McCarty Family has been one of the most influential families in both Fort Pierce and the state of Florida since they arrived in the region. They boast a long line of lawyers, councilmen, civic leaders, state representatives and even the only governor to hail from Saint Lucie County. Along with the many public offices they have held, the family was also instrumental in creating the pineapple, citrus and cattle industries which this area was famous for long before condos on the beach.

With such an illustrious past, it should come as no surprise that the family was responsible for building the well-known house stationed on a high bluff overlooking the Indian River Lagoon, originally positioned just south of what was then the town. C.T. McCarty (the local patriarch of the family) commissioned the building as a wedding present for his oldest son, Daniel, and Daniel’s new bride. The year was 1905, and the undertaking quickly gained the attention of the community, as seen in the clipping below, taken from the front page of the St. Lucie Tribune in June of 1905.

July 21st, 1905 St. Lucie Tribune

Though little information is known about the building, much of the history of the family who resided there is of interest. Only two years after the completion of the house, the first in a string of tragic events took place involving the home. Early on a January morning in 1907, local resident W.C. Rawlinson waited calmly in the street  for P.P. Cobb to show for his daily breakfast. Angered over a land deal gone bad, Rawlinson planned to kill Cobb, but as fate would have it, Cobb had risen early and had eaten before Rawlinson arrived to carry out his plan.

Frustrated when he was unable to locate Cobb, Rawlinson’s attention was drawn by the arrival of C.T. McCarty, who was walking into the barber for his daily shave. McCarty was Cobb’s attorney and, in Rawlinson’s eyes, just as much to blame for the current misfortune Rawlinson found himself facing. When McCarty exited the barber’s shop, Rawlinson moved into place behind him and coolly shot him in the back three times.

C.T. McCarty Assassinated by W.C. Rawlinson-St Lucie Tribune 1907

His deed done, Rawlinson casually walked down the street whistling while twirling his gun. He proceeded directly to the butcher’s shop, then owned by the county sheriff. He set his gun on the counter and surrendered to Sheriff Dan Carlton. Amazingly, McCarty was not killed instantly, even though one of the bullets had entered his brain. He was attended to by two local physicians. In an attempt to make him more comfortable, McCarty was moved from the doctors office to his son’s home, where the doctors continued to operate in a desperate measure to remove the bullet from his head. McCarty was awake and talking during their efforts. In a tragic ending to the day’s violence, C.T. McCarty succumbed to his wounds and at 1:45 p.m. died in the home of his son.

In 1909, a mere two years following the death of the family’s patriarch, a small announcement in local paper highlighted another tragic event which had taken place in the home: the birth and death of an infant. The McCarty’s baby girl lived only four short hours.

Infant Death -St. Lucie Tribune, 1909

Thirteen years passed before tragedy once again struck the family. In April of 1922, C.T. McCarty’s son, Danial McCarty Sr. had been feeling poorly for a few weeks. On Friday April 14th, he woke and, as was his norm, went to work in his citrus groves, only to return home shortly thereafter complaining of chest pains. At around 2:00 p.m. the doctors was called, but it was to no avail. Daniel T. McCarty passed away at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, April 14th in his home at the age of 42.

30 years later, his son, Daniel T. McCarty Jr. would die while holding office as governor of the State of Florida. He was 41 years old and died of a heart condition.

Despite the tragedies they faced, the family continued to flourish and the stately house on the bluff remained in their possession until the mid-1980′s. It then became a series of law offices, surviving all that life threw its way until, in 2004 and 2005 the area was subjected to a series of hurricanes that, combined with old age and odd building additions dealt a death blow to the grand old home.

Several attempts were made to save the house, which had long been accepted by residents as a local landmark, but estimates to move it from it’s location were well over $1 million; the cost to modernize, renovate and restore the structure would have far exceeded that amount. After several years of legal struggles, the owner was finally given permission to have the building razed.

I can tell you that no one wanted that building saved more than our group, but after spending countless hours inside, we came to realize that it just wasn’t feasible. The cost was too high and the structure itself was not sound enough to give a base to start from. In order to restore the structure, the entire building would have had to have been dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up.

The house was torn down on a cold December morning in 2010. The owner, Curtis Boyd, took a lot of heat in the local news and from local historical groups at the time for allowing the demolition, yet after several discussions with him, we can state—without a doubt—that if another option would have presented itself, the house would still be standing today.

The Governor's House (McCarty House) Fort Pierce, Fl-March 2010

 

 

 

 

 

We would like to thank Curtis Boyd for providing access to The Governor’s House (also known as the McCarty House). He granted us the unrestricted opportunity to investigate and research, which we took advantage of on multiple occasions. Without his support and patience, we would not have been able to conduct such an extensive and complete investigation. Hopefully, the documentation captured there will help to further the field of Paranormal Research.

The Governor's/McCarty House, Fort Pierce, Florida

Having grown up in Fort Pierce, I had driven past the old Governor’s House countless times. It stood on the hill over looking the Indian River Lagoon and it made one wonder about the good times and the bad it had seen. Unfortunately, time began to take a toll on the house. The back to back hurricanes (Francis and Jean) in 2004 dealt a severe blow and Hurricane Wilma in 2005 was in “reality” the coup de gras. As the years past, the house began to take on the ominous look of a haunted house from a classic horror film.

Our interest in the house began to develop in 2007, when while conducting research on another nearby building we were given our first hint there might be something to investigate in this building too. This is from a post on our website in October of 2007:

The other night we were at our current extended-investigation location, taking pictures of the outside of the home when I was surprised to hear someone (female) say something that sounded like “Help Me” from the McCarty house next door. Let me set the scene….this is the McCarty House, built in 1905 and currently slated for demolition.

My husband, who was standing next to me at the time, did not hear a thing, which was interesting, but the oddest thing was that the sound came from the top of a tree in the back yard of the home. The tree is near a 2nd floor window, which is boarded up. We searched the area for about 20 minutes, but couldn’t find anything that would account for the noise. We finished up the pictures of the outside of the house we’re investigating and headed home.

The next morning a friend messaged me to tell me she had just had the chance to read our recently posted research. She also commented that she wished she were at work (as a 911 dispatcher), as they get a lot of calls from the area. I inquired about the calls and here is what she said:

we get “ladies of the evening” calling up that there are screams coming from that area but they never say its from that house you’re researching. they are about the house next door.

I of course ask if it is the McCarty house. She responds:

AAAHHHH yes that sounds right. they call to report a woman asking for help. they always say someone is calling from UP…..and we always get calls, can’t remember what time of the night or what nights are the “norm” but i do remember getting calls, and they are always drunk chicks and ‘ladies of the night’, always female now that i think about it and they always say it sounds like a female voice yelling for help. of course when the cops get out there the person calling it in is long gone and theres never anyone screaming

There is one officer that you cant PAY to go to that location- she REFUSES to respond to either house, flat out, unless someone is getting shot at she ain’t going

Now we’re really interested. The house has no history of paranormal activity that we can find, other than these people reporting the woman screaming. Well, last night we went back to our investigation house but also spent a bit of time investigating the McCarty house. While we were there, we couldn’t find anything that would account for the ‘screaming woman’.

Then we came home and started reviewing our evidence. Here is what we found:

Note the two feral cats in the bottom left of the image. You can’t see them when you’re there in person, but we’d be willing to bet $100 that one was in the tree the other night. In case you haven’t heard a feral cat cry, they can sound just like a woman.

At that point, we had relegated the McCarty House “haunting” to wild cats, but the reports kept coming. Some of them were just the sound of screaming, though one report was of a person in the building banging on the window as people were walking by outside. Our interest was cemented and we began to conduct in depth research into the history of the location and of those who lived there.

In March of 2010, one of our team was given permission to photo document the house before it was demolished. During the photo session, the gentleman working to salvage fixtures from the house, Dean Thomason,  stated that he daily heard footsteps, doors opening and closing, light switches being turned and the sounds of talking on other floors when he was the only one inside the building.

What will follow in the next few weeks is our research into the history, our investigations and finally, what we found during our many visits the McCarty House.

Hi everyone! I need your help again, but this time we’re not looking for battery drain reports (although we still want those, so don’t forget to send them in!).

I want to hear about the haunted trees in your area. I know that many communities have them, so if yours is one of them, I ask that you please stop by and fill out a haunted tree report for me.  The form is quick and easy, and should only take a couple minutes, but would help me immensly with my research.

 

Thanks in advance!

Our group is comprised of mostly family and friends. For that reason, safety is always our primary concern. No investigation is worth risking injury or death, and this applies to both strangers and our own group.

I just read an article about a group of hunters and enthusiasts waiting on a railroad bridge for the return of a spectral locomotive. Well, the tragedy occurred when an all too real one came down the rolling down the tracks.

‘Ghost train’ hunter killed by train in North Carolina

Please remember to use good judgment. Nothing is worth the risk of becoming a ghost yourself.

We recently create a Youtube Channel. Take second to subscribe and keep an eye out for a new video coming soon.

The Grim Society on Youtube.com

Here is a video of us using an EMF meter to track a high field reading.

William Turpin Jones was born in Carnesville, Franklin County, Georgia on August 31, 1868. He came to Florida in 1892 to work as a machinist helper for the Saint Augustine railroad shops. His career in the FEC was quite successful and in 1900 he was promoted to engineer and relocated by the company to Fort Pierce. As an engineer he operated the trains between Jacksonville and Key West.

During his career he survived two train accidents. The first took place when workmen left dynamite on the tracks and the train hit it; Mr. Jones was seriously injured in the incident and given a settlement by the FEC. The money he received was used to pay the $6,000 needed to build his new home, Cresthaven, which was located at 239 Boston Ave, Fort Pierce. The home was built in 1909 and was a marvel, with most of the materials being brought in by railway from Georgia and other points throughout the US. The second accident took place on a rainy afternoon when the station master sent Jones a note written in red pencil, warning him of an oncoming train and instructing him to switch to a separate track. Unfortunately the rain smeared the note and the train remained on course, meeting up with the oncoming train at a curve in the tracks, where they collided head on. Both engineers and firemen jumped into the watery canals running alongside the tracks and survived the incident.

Mr. Jones was married to a woman named Margaret and together they had five children:

• Fred, born about 1896
• Louis, born about 1898
• William L., born about 1901
• Margaret, born about 1905
• Clifford, born about 1909

Jones’ career with the FEC came to a stop in 1913, when he retired and began to raise oranges and pineapple and sell real estate. It was in this same year that Jones’ son Fred A. Jones was involved in a motorcycle accident that took a life. Fred, who was 17 years old and engaged to young Ada Daniels. On Friday, May 16th, a party was held at Cresthaven and Fred decided to take Ada for a moonlight ride on his motorcycle. They were joined by Fred’s best friend Raymond Saunders, who was driving a second motorcycle with Ada’s sister, Nola on the back. Shortly after leaving Cresthaven, something went terribly wrong and the two motorcycles collided. Fred, Ada and Raymond were seriously injured; Nola was pronounced dead on the scene. Fred would later recover from the accident, but walked with a limp and never married Ada Daniels.

After the accident, life continued fairly quietly for the Jones family until 1915, when a fateful incident in downtown Fort Pierce (which we will report on later), ended with Jones being appointed Sheriff of Saint Lucie County around June 4, 1915. He ran for reelection in June of 1916, and continued to serve in the office of Sheriff.

On Friday, September 6, 1918, Mr. Jones’ son Clifford was involved in a fatal shooting. Clifford, age ten and his nine year old playmate William M. Fee were in the living room of Cresthaven when Clifford reached to take the cartridge out of his fathers gun. The gun fired, shooting William Fee in the abdomen. William was taken by train to the hospital in Miami, where he died shortly after 11:30 p.m. that night.

During that same year, Sheriff Jones made national headlines in the case of E.D. Griswold and David P. Valley; the former having perpetrated a scam that cost Mr. Valley over $11,000. Jones was made famous for refusing to accept a bribe from Griswold, instead choosing to prosecute a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Jones continued to serve as Sheriff until May of 1920, when he resigned the position due to the financial loss it was causing him. As a side note, he was replaced by Sheriff William R. Monroe, who was killed on March 25, 1921 while piloting a confiscated rum running boat. The boat, loaded with 200 cases of rum from the Bahamas, exploded in the Indian River Lagoon across from the Oslo area.

Rather than returning to work as a Sheriff after the death of Monroe, Jones went back to work for the FEC. He was beginning to feel the strain of the Depression and was having trouble covering his investments. In order to save his orange groves, he negotiated with a friend, Irving C. Whitney, who loaned him a sum of money and Cresthaven was used as the collateral. Sadly, Mr. Whitney soon passed away and the note went to his sister and heir, Rose P. Whitney, who was a retired school teacher hailing from Massachusetts. At the time of Mr. Whitney’s death, Rose was 62 years old and living in a modest house on S. 12th Street with her sister who was 74. Rose Whitney inherited the note on Cresthaven and on September 3, 1932 she forced the immediate sale of the home to her. Both spinster sisters moved into the house.

While the Jones family’s involvement with Cresthaven ends here, their story is an interesting one and we thought you’d like to follow it all the way through. They were dispersed throughout the area. Mr. Jones and his wife moved to a small one story home north of Fort Pierce, overlooking US 1 and his beloved FEC Railway tracks. They had 40 acres of grove and hammock that later became Vero Shores. When trains would pass by the home, the engineers would sound the whistles and the Jones family would come out to wave to them. The sons opened the Jones Brothers Garage, which was located at 618 N. 4th Street.

In 1938, the 3rd son, William L. Jones, was severely injured in a motorcycle accident. He was taken by rail to Philadelphia, but died after surgery; he was only 36. Two years later, William Senior became very ill. He was taken by railway to the FEC hospital in Saint Augustine, where he died December 7, 1939. His wife passed away on January 10, 1944. In 1948, their daughter Margaret, who was in perfect health and working as a clerk at Canaday’s Pharmacy, suffered a heart attack and also died. On October 2, 1957, Fred Jones, the eldest son, took his own life, shooting himself in the bedroom of his family’s home at 135 N. 10th Street, Fort Pierce.

Returning to the story of Cresthaven, we find that the home has been renamed to the Boston House and that both Rose Whitney and her elder sister died in the home. Rose suffered a drawn out illness before her death on April 5, 1954.

Her will, which was read into record on April 21, 1954, included a dispersement of nearly $150,000.

After her death, the executors of her estate held an auction, selling off the contents of the home. An advertisement was placed in the local paper, dated Sunday, December 19, 1954, and they also attempted to sell the Boston House.

Because the home did not sell, the executors petitioned the city for a change in zoning. On May 31st, 1955, the notice was printed in the local paper that a public hearing would be held on June 20th at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall to determine if the home could be rezoned to a commercial property; the zoning change was granted.

It is interesting to note that, according to the local historical society, Cresthaven was sold to John McCarty in 1949, but that he never resided there. According to the records, this is not possible, as there is a clear line of possession that does not include a sale to any of the McCarty family.

The home was sold in 1957 to Wood, Beard & Assoc., an Engineering Firm. They in turn sold the home to Diane & Leanord Cottem in 1976. Mr. Cottem began holding séances in the attic. This time period is the birthplace for the numerous ghost stories which surround this historic home.

The ghost stories include reports of Indians sitting on the front lawn, maniacal laughter sounding throughout the building, moving objects, and perhaps the most well-known haunting tale in Fort Pierce, the story of the Perkins family. The legend (as shown below in an article from The Fort Pierce Tribune, December 28, 1995) is reprinted nearly every year at Halloween.

“According to legend, the Perkins family was vacationing at the Boston House, which at the time was an inn. Young Tim and his father went fishing and drowned when their boat sank in a storm. The father’s body washed ashore, but Tim’s corpse never was found. According to local lore, the ghost of wife and mother Aleacon Perkins has been spotted at a third-floor window still awaiting the return of her lost family.”

In 1984 the Cottem family sold the Boston House to the current owners. During the renovations, old bottles from bootleg rum were found hidden in the walls behind the plaster. It was also discovered that Louis Jones, the 2nd son, had carved his name into a 2nd story window of the home with the engagement ring he was preparing to give to his girlfriend. The renovations by the newest owners caused quite a stir, yet again. Here is another quote from the Tribune:

“The law firm’s employees often are greeted by a whiff of perfume or the smell of coffee when opening the office in the morning. And sometimes office doors that were locked tight at closing time are found standing open the next morning. “We weren’t aware of the history of the building until after we bought it,” Phillips said. “After we bought it we talked to the former owner and he had experiences in the Boston House. The owners before him said odd things happened to them and some of their employees wouldn’t work on the third floor after dark.”

Phillips said he realizes that stories sometimes get exaggerated over the years, but the things that have happened to him and other in his office are not tall tales. “What has happened here has happened here,” he said. “There has not been any embellishment. There are certainly some oddities going on here.” The stories has led author Chaz Mikell to list the building in his book of haunts, “Florida Ghost House Directory.””

In addition to the Florida Ghost House Directory, Cresthaven’s ghost tales are retold in “Stories from the Haunted South” (page 62), as well as other books on hauntings in the area. As you can see from the research posted above, Cresthaven was never run as a boarding house or inn. Additionally, there are no records of a Perkins family in the area at the time frame in question. Searches of historical records (which have been corroborated by two independent researchers) show that there was no Perkins family in the area at that time; there also were no deaths of anyone with the last name of Perkins in Saint Lucie County at that time.

While researching the history of this home, we took the time to visit Riverview Memorial Gardens, the cemetery where the Jones and Fee families are interred. We were startled to find that the Fee family crypt contained not only nine year old William Fee, victim of the shooting at the Boston House, but also his mother, Emma Morgan and father, Fred. Fred was buried in the same grave as William Mixon Fee, grandson of Emma Morgan and Fred, who is listed as having passed away at the same time as Fred in 1939. Could this be the source of the tale of two lives lost by drowning on a fishing excursion? We can’t say for sure at this time, but we will continue to research the topic.

Cresthaven was added to the National Register of Historic Places is 1985 and is currently for sale.

Resources:

• The Palm Beach Post
• The Fort Pierce News Tribune
• The Saint Lucie County Tribune
• Census Records dating from 1910-1930
• Saint Lucie County Historical Museum
• Downtown Main Street Association
• Clerk of the Court, Saint Lucie County
• FRF B Jones, William T, The Building of Cresthaven by William Paul Rogers, Jr., Grandson of William T Jones. Available at the Saint Lucie County Library, Fort Pierce.
• The Florida State Archive
• The Florida Photographic Archive