Couple's experiences in home defy logic 'Haunted' house featured on TV
show
http://www.telegram.com/article/20070621/NEWS/306210014/1008/NEWS02   
 
Couple's experiences in home defy logic
'Haunted' house featured on TV show
By Pawel Z. Binczyk Special to the Telegram & Gazette

Donna L. and Gerald A. MacLean describe their experiences with odd
phenomena in their Rutland house. (T&G Staff / JIM COLLINS)
Enlarge photo

RUTLAND? When Donna L. MacLean speaks of the past coming to life, she
isn't simply quoting a middle school history teacher. For Mrs. MacLean,
the past is an everyday presence. It is an uninvited and unwelcome
guest.

"It started right after we first bought the house seven years ago," she
said, referring to the house on Orchard Hill Drive in Rutland that she
shares with her husband, Gerald A. MacLean, and her son, Nicholas
VanKleef. "I would feel a presence or I would hear sounds in the
basement, but there was never anybody there."
Resting on a calm, suburban side street, the MacLeans' home does not fit
the traditional image of a haunted house. Built in 1996, its modern
design and trim lawn seem better hosts to a group of playing children
than to supernatural phenomena, yet the MacLeans describe occurrences
that are, to them, without explanation.

"In the beginning, I didn't really know what to make of it, until there
was a time I got slapped on the leg," Mrs. MacLean said. She described
sitting in the kitchen with her daughter and husband when she heard and
felt the sudden slap.

"And I turned to my husband, who's never hit me, and said `Why did you
hit me?´" Neither her husband nor her daughter believed that she had
been hit until the next morning, when she awoke with a large bruise.

The MacLeans described a range of odd phenomena in the house, from rooms
shaking at the walls and windows to Mrs. MacLean's purse being
inexplicably flung across a room, landing at Mr. MacLean's feet. The
events became more frequent and more noticeable as time went on, and the
fear began to wear on Mrs. MacLean.

"Sometimes there'd be weeks where nothing would happen," Mrs. MacLean
explained, "But sometimes it would happen days in a row."
As they became less and less skeptical of what they described as
paranormal activity, the

MacLeans began to research the supernatural. While searching the
Internet for a way to remove ghosts, Mrs. MacLean stumbled upon the Web
site of The Atlantic Paranormal Society, commonly known as TAPS, which
is known for its paranormal investigations done on the television
program "Ghost Hunters."

"I had never seen the show, but I sent them an e-mail describing the
situation," she said. The society took an interest in their case and,
last October, came to perform a full investigation that was taped for
television.

The MacLeans were impressed by the attitude and professionalism of the
investigative team.
"It's not like you can open the Yellow Pages and look for something like
this," Mr. MacLean said.

Mrs. MacLean described them as understanding regarding the situation,
but added, "They try to do everything they can to disprove what you're
saying and come up with a good explanation for what happened."
A group of investigators, described by Mr. MacLean as "electricians and
plumbers," thoroughly examined the house, searching for possible causes
in its structure or construction.

Investigators also spent an evening in the house, during which they
captured footage of strange phenomena as it was occurring. Although
there were some things the team observed that they could explain, other
occurrences, such as a faucet turning itself on, eluded their expertise.

To the MacLeans, the conclusions of the investigation, aired during the
episode of "Ghost Hunters" on the Sci-Fi channel, verified their
experience.

"The information we got has made me feel better about it," Mrs. MacLean
said last night, but added, "We'll move out eventually."