Location: Throw a dart at the spot on the map between Bucksport and Ellsworth and you'd be close.

Date: May 18, 2007

Time: 7:30 P.M. yes that's right P.M.

Friday afternoon, the day is dragging, thanks to the horrendous rain. Bringing up fond memories of that Ray Bradbury short story about the planet that rained continuous, and the astronauts that landed, and slowly went crazy and drowned, by laying on the ground and letting the rain fall in their mouths.

Suddenly, there's hope, a email pops up. Some painters are doing a home nearby, and they had quite a night, Thursday, actually being driven from the house, by unseen spirits.

First thing that comes to mind, as I check under the desk for a camera, "what's the catch?" I've always dreamed of having a haunting handed to me, without having to hustle, and negotiate my way in the door, like a seedy encyclopedia salesman.

The Phone rings, a guy, is looking for information on a house, that they’re painting, "I'm like, hey wait a minute, are you the guy who has been emailing?" Turns out, it's the Guy’s co-worker, also looking to get answers to what attacked them the night before.

Forget the week's worth of prep work, forget the research normally done on a case, to find out who to call out to, who's died in the house, or just who we were dealing with. Forget even attempting to get the co-investigator roped in. She doesn't do nights. So I'm thinking as the guy on the phone is giving me directions. This is it, this is the show, do what it takes to get in there. The Guy's like we're going over there at 7:30, I'm looking at the clock it's 3:30. I don't get out till 5, I got batteries to recharge. Okay, I'm there.

I meet up with the guys, thinking one guy, cause the other guy said he wasn't going back. Turns out he's going, the third guy there, and another is on the way. I'm thinking 4 guys plus me in a haunted house on a rainy Friday night. Being the catch phrase king, I'm instantly thinking a reference to the mythical movie First Blood, "You send that many man, you better bring a good supply of body bags."

The cool bunch of guys, turns out weren't going to work, but go room to room on the hunt with me. Hey, I ain't complaining, but I‘m also wondering if I have enough MESUPER Hats and T-Shirts to go around. Guy 1 and Guy 2 walk me through, what happened the night before, painting sponges, thrown down from the upstairs, when nobody was there or had been up there. Other things moved around, shadows seen. Cold spots, the works.

Guy 3 and Guy 4 follow, as we move around. I'm still thinking, okay, guys

The Guys opted to take a break, and adjourned to a back porch area. At which point I put my head down, and headed for the upstairs bedroom. Here I was in the upstairs of a haunted house alone, and all I could think of was how good were the evp's going to be. I ran 5 at minute intervals, the second one turned out to have the best of the night. A multi voice, deep talker, that could have only been in that room with me. Can't quite make it out, sure It sounds like the patented "Get out", but could also be "Get them" Thankfully, all I heard personally, was the beating of my own heart and the stillness, so desired in EVP sweeps.

The guys came back in, and we took up posts around the stairs, of paint sponge fame. I had surmised that the things being thrown, seemed to be playful. So maybe I child spirit, was haunting the place and wanted somebody to play with. Guy 1 came up with a golf ball of all things. We bounced it down the stairs, a few times. Then I started getting tricky calling my shots, like a Pool player. Bank off the back wall, then clunk, clunk, bouncing every step. Second try, bounce it off the back wall, roll it down the hallway, into the bedroom, around the closet, and back down the stairs. I hit the back wall, the ball sounded like it was rolling down the hallway, then stopped. We waited a bit, and then went up after it. Thinking it had rolled into the bedroom, I walked right past it, keen observer I am. Guy 4 had followed me up, and hadn't seen the ball at first, but then called out when he spotted it.

Second Break time, and everyone was getting a little disappointed. I left one of the recorders going on the steps. I didn’t explain, that 95% of my time to date investigating, wasn’t of the personal experience kind, and more of the sifting through the evidence, and finding it days later kind. I was trying to think of the boldest thing to do in a haunted house. You've heard of the fearless vampire hunters. Well, I've developed a kind of show me attitude over the years. So I have become a fearless ghost hunter. Sure at some point it will probably get me killed, but not tonight. I went down in the dark, to the cellar. So I'm alone in the cellar in the dark, and I snap one pic off. The camera flashes, and then reads memory out. (Turns out, probably a good thing, because the Green Man was at the far end of the cellar)

Frustrated I trudge back upstairs, get the replacement camera, which isn't the best in the dark, and headed back down in the dark, to the basement. By the time I trudged back down, I could hear the guys faintly on the other side of the foundation, up the outside cellar door. Earlier in the night, Guy 3 had scared the beejeezus out of Guy 1 and Guy 2, so after that all gloves were off. I banged 5 times loud on the door, making a hell of a racket. I could hear 4 screams timed perfectly, running, then more screams, then laughter, when the guys saw the cellar door open, realizing I must have been the culprit. If that didn't get everything rolling, nothing would.

Later, I found out that Guy 4 had actually taken cover in the open refrigerator, waiting for what ever spirit was charging, to get it, on the way by, sounded remotely plausible. Sure he was the first one, to have be somewhere, that was else, but nobody could hold it against him. After a quick trip to the cellar, and the Guys debunked the flushing sound we’d been hearing all night. Turned out the sump pump had a hole in it so the water was just traveling in a loop, and turning on every so often. They had already debunked most of the central heat related noises, with the expansion of the hardwood floors and vents everywhere.

With my very professional prank, even without finding anything, the night was sure to be memorable. Just because the place had come unglued the night before, and hadn’t to much that night, didn’t mean the place wasn’t haunted. To talk to the guys, they wanted to know the truth. They were level headed non-believers. Until the sponge flew. They certainly weren’t the type to make up stories, and receive the criticism from family and friends. The night before they had even been willing to believe that somebody had been hiding upstairs, waiting to play a joke on them before believing in spirits.

So hopefully, the Photo’s I did manage to capture, will put their minds at rest. If they don’t, I’m sure the EVP will. Faces do tend to show up in camera flashes. Sure I’ll buy that, full body matrixes do tend to show up in dark corners, but in the case of the Green Man, I don’t think so.

As for the next occupants of the house, the days will be counted. I have several recently purchased houses, on the clock, to see how long the new tenants last.