The Kendrick House was built by slaves from 1849-1854. It was one of the few pioneer homes that survived the Civil War. In the Battle of Carthage during the Civil War, the house was occupied by union troops and used as headquarters with the parlor/living room serving as the commanding officer’s quarters. The commanding officer’s horses were brought in and fed in the built in cabinets adjoining the fireplace. The original dining table, which is still in the building, was used as an operating table during the battle. Descendents of the Kendrick family, including the Janney family, resided in the home into the 1980’s. The home was the sold to Victorian Carthage and is being preserved and used for various events.

There have been many reports of paranormal activity, including by the caretakers of the home. Some of this activity includes the following areas and phenomena:

• Slavequarters: There has been an apparition of a presumed slave man seen in the south east window in a white shirt which is torn with billowy sleeves, staring off in the distance, not known to interact with people.
• Stairwell: Multiple people have heard voices/laughter of a child thought to be a girl playing in stairwell, and an apparition of a young girl with long hair in a white gown or dress has been observed looking around corner at people on landings.
• Kitchen: voice of young girl heard saying "Ma'am"
• Children’s bedroom: Two beds are on display with children’s gowns lying on bed. It has been reported that employees have laid out the gowns on the north bed and upon coming back into room later that the gowns would be on the floor although no one else was in the house. It happened frequently to the point that the gowns were now displayed on the south bed and no disturbance to the gowns occurred while aid on that bed.
• Parlor/Living room: Antique piano. Music has been heard when no one there. People have reported having felt liked they were uncomfortable in areas of the house. People have reported feeling that the house is haunted.

The home is still beautiful, even 150 plus years later. For more information on the extensive history of the house, or to tour the house, visit The Kendrick Place Website.

First visit -
• Parlor/Living room: A bluish-white ball of light was observed floating near the top of the room first by Lisa and Eric. Both reacted to the light. It appeared to be the size of a softball and would move and elongate as it moved, then retract into a ball and repeat this action. It was observed near the ceiling above the piano and proceeded to the northeast corner of the room and west toward the archway, where it disappeared. During the course of the night, each investigator observed this phenomenon at some point. Additionally, small points of light, white, red and green in color, were observed in the room near the floor and around flashlights on the floor during the EVP flashlight sessions. These small lights were also observed in the children’s bedroom to a lesser extent during the EVP flashlight sessions.
  
  Also, during the first EVP flashlight session in the parlor/living room, Jeremy experienced repeated cold spots on his left arm and left upper leg, and when a laser thermometer was used to read the temperature of his body, his left arm and left leg repeatedly registered 8 to 10 degrees colder than his right arm and right leg. To test for drafts and other natural explanations, Jeremy switched seats with other investigators around the room between four locations, and Jeremy experienced cold on his left arm and leg at each seat, and the temperature readings consistently registered his left arm and leg as 8 to 10 degrees colder than his right arm and leg. As Jeremy was facing three different directions while experiencing the cold spots, the cold spots were likely not from a draft. Brian and Leon also experienced cold spots during this time period, but not to the same extent as Jeremy.
• Children’s bedroom: The EVP flashlight sessions were also conducted in the children’s bedroom multiple times and consistent responses were received in that room as were received in the Parlor/Living room.
• Stairs. Brian and Jeremy both observed a flash of light by the stairs which was not readily explained and did not appear to be a reflection of headlights or other natural cause. In fact, Jeremy drove around the side roads in his vehicle trying to debunk the flash of light, but headlights did not recreate the event.
• Slave quarters: Eric and Lisa were conducting an EVP session in the slave cabin, standing in the east half of the quarters and both responded to a noise that was similar to a harmonica. The audio evidence was inconclusive.

Second visit -
• Second floor landing: Upon entering the house and ascending the stairs all investigators felt a feeling of heaviness on the second floor landing. As we started to investigate in the children’s room, Brian heard a noise and turned to see what it was. He aimed the camcorder toward the doorway to the landing, hoping to use the light from the camera to see what the noise was, but the viewfinder was blacked out as if something was very close to the camera and blocking light. Then suddenly, the viewfinder was light again, as if something moved from in front of the camera lens. Neither Brian nor any other investigator observed anything to explain this event. Unfortunately, as the investigation was just getting underway, Brian did not have the camera on yet.
  
  Later, most investigators observed a black shadow in a general human shape that appeared to stand on the second floor landing near the door leading to the outside over the porch. An explanation was not found After the equipment was packed up and we were about to lock up the house and leave, a loud thump was heard on the landing on the second floor. Jeremy, Leon, Brian and Lisa were standing in the foyer at the bottom of the stairs. Leon asked if that was outside. Jeremy replied that it was not, and Lisa pointed up to landing. Leon looked up and saw a dark shadow at the railing on the second floor, between a rocking chair with a quilt and the railing. Leon described the form as a black mass, but it was not up on the wall as if it were a shadow. It appeared to be leaning over the railing looking back at him. The chair and quilt were not visible through the mass. The mass then moved away from the railing and the chair and quilt were visible. Jeremy, Brian and Lisa searched the upstairs and conducted a short question session (all equipment had already been packed away). They were not able to observe anything that explained this experience.
• Master Bedroom: Leon, Lisa and Eric conducted EVP sessions with flashlights in the master bedroom, and appeared to obtain responses that a Mr. Janney was present. While there were several seemingly consistent responses, the responses all came from the same model flashlights (as opposed to different models on the first visit), and there were not nearly as many or of such duration as during the first visit. We cannot conclude that these flashlight "responses were paranormal in nature.
  
  Leon, Eric and Lisa each experienced feelings of being watched in this room which were not experienced during the first visit. The Mel Meter (EMF detector), which has a vibration alarm on it, was sitting on the floor in the children’s room. The vibration sensor activated multiple times while no one was in that room. However, we cannot rule out that vibration from the first floor and master bedroom caused the sensor to activate.

First Visit-

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  EVP 1: This EVP was caught in the eastern upstairs bedroom. We believe the EVP says "Hey…..get out." Interestingly enough, the tour guides told us that other groups had gotten EVPS in the past that said "get out."
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  EVP 2: This EVP was also caught in the eastern upstairs bedroom. Brian and Jeremy were investigating in this room. Jeremy bumps into something, or shifts his weight, and says "That was me." Most of the voice is hard to hear, though we think it seems to say "put that out..." At the four to five second mark, you can hear what sounds to us like the word "burn." The voice is clearly not Brian and Jeremy, and the only other person in the house at the time was downstairs, in central command, and his voice would not have carried to the place where this EVP was recorded.
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  EVP 3: When this EVP was recorded, the entire team was sitting in the living room investigating. At the start of the clip, you can hear the refrigerator clicking in the kitchen, and the investigators are talking about what the noise was. At the seventeen second mark, a voice says what sounds like "Light this, or you can’t see me," or "Like this, you can’t see me." It was not the voice of any of the investigators. The second clip is of the EVP isolated and amplified
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  EVP 4: This EVP appears to be the voice of a female child. There were no children in the home at the time, and only one female. This EVP is difficult to understand, and caused much debate over what it says (the first version is the original, the second is slowed down and amplified to make it easier to hear). Some group members believe the EVP says "Carol." One group member thought it said "Carrot." At the reveal, we told the clients that one group member thought it said "Carrot." Their eyes got rather large, and they said that Carol’s sister could not say "Carol," so they called her "Carrot." The client did not tell us this before the investigation. We first learned of this fact on the reveal.
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  EVP 5: This EVP was caught during an investigation with Lisa's sister - Lisa and Jeremy were about 8 feet ahead of her sister, and as she passed through the room, this EVP was caught. There are some static pops on the recording, but a clear voice can be heard, and it seems to say, "I must kiss her."
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  EVP 6: This EVP was one that we caught during an attempt to "trick" the entities. We have had several situations where, either before setting up or after breaking down our equipment, we would have an experience - a touch, hearing a voice, or in one case, seeing a shadow figure at the top of the stairs. Lisa and Leon are discussing leaving for the night and leaving our equipment set up, when we catch this voice on the recorders. It is much louder than their voices, and says, "No..."
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  EVP 7: This is at the start of the set-up for the investigation and we're setting up the equipment for the night. As we are setting up the cameras and lights, a loud whisper is heard on the recording. At the start of the recording, it clearly says, "Lights..." and later in the recording says, "No..."
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  EVP 8: This recording was right at the start of one of our historical tours. Lisa is telling the guests about an interesting feature with the stairs and tells them they can go up and look at it. After she says that, you can hear a faint voice whispering "go."
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  EVP 9: This recording was during a tour, and Eric is asking if there is anyone there with him. At the very end of his question a voice starts talking over him. It sounds like a female saying, "Someone's coming."
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  EVP 10: This was during part of the guided tours, and Lisa is telling the group about the operating table with the blood stains on it. As she's describing the table being tilted to allow the blood to run toward one end, a loud voice begins speaking over her - but nobody heard it at the time. The voice appears to say, "Peter Hahn's wish." Needless to say, that is a strange thing to say, but interestingly, some historical research has indicated that Peter Hahn may have been a person connected with the medical field during the Civil War.
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  EVP 11: This was during a group presentation as part of the historical tour. Here, Kelly is telling the group about an old slave woman who remained part of the family's help until she died in her 90's. Kelly mentions her age, and then pauses, when you can hear a faint EVP saying, "Rose." Immediately after that, Kelly says, "They called her 'Old Rose.'"
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  Video opens in a new window: During an EVP session using up to four flashlights, the flashlights were turned off and on, seemingly in response to questions. The flashlights were regular MAG lites, which screw on at the end. The investigators screwed those to where they would only come on with a tap. Responses actually occurred at various intervals over a six hour period, with multiple consistent responses in multiple sessions. Two different makes of MAG lites were used and simultaneous responses were obtained on multiple flashlights, including four flashlights at one time. The investigators attempted to test for faulty lights and overly sensitive lights by, among other things, hitting the floor near the flashlights forcefully, which did not produce repeated events. The investigators were only able to recreate this anomaly once out of four times in their own homes, and certainly not to the extent and accuracy depicted in the video. The video depicts both answers and non-answers, and is only a sampling of the responses we received.
  
  During the EVP flashlight session, investigators asked various questions, including asking if various family members who were known to have lived in the home were present. There were multiple positive responses to asking if "Carol was here, which occurred over a period of several hours. There were multiple responses to "Carol" being four years old, and multiple negative responses to "Carol" being three years old (it was reported Carol was three when she died). There were positive responses for "Carol’s" favorite color being red, for her liking flowers and liking to play outside. These are just some examples of the numerous responses received over a six hour period in this room and in the children’s bedroom.
  
  Shortly into the first EVP flashlight session, our camcorder experienced a battery drain and turned off. However, the investigator was able to turn the camcorder back on and it continued to record properly for several hours. Unfortunately, the audio and video recorded prior to the battery drain was not recovered.

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  Video and Pictures of a Shadow Person, opens in a new window: This is quite possibly one of our most interesting and credible selections of evidence! On October 23rd, Brian was taking pictures, and snapped a couple of pictures facing into the kitchen. He used a tripod and had his camera set to an 8 second exposure. There were two pictures snapped at 7:26 p.m. In the first one, you can faintly see a shadow standing next to the doorway of the kitchen. In the second picture (snapped only seconds after the first), it is gone. If you look closely, you can see that the shadow actually casts a shadow/reflection on the floor between the camera and the doorway, as well as on the dresser to the left. The third picture is an enhancement to show the shadow better.
  
  We thoroughly tried to debunk this picture, but were unable to. Based on the layout of the kitchen, we determined that it is not possible for a person to stand between the light source (on the ceiling) and the doorway in a manner to cast that kind of shadow without being seen. The light source is in the center of the kitchen, and a large island spans most of the length and width of the room, so you cannot stand directly under the light (the island is just barely out of frame of the picture). In addition, the sole window in the kitchen is roughly parallel with the shadow and would be unable to cast a shadow forward into the room; instead it would cast it onto the wall to the left. The shadow appears to be standing freely in the doorway.
  
  The photo was exciting enough as it was, but it still left some doubt in some people's minds. Upon completing the evidence review from previous tours, however, we realized we had captured the shadow on video, multiple times! On September 14th, some of the PSL Members were at the Kendrick House doing some work and had the cameras rolling to test out equipment. Within the span of a few minutes, a freestanding shadow begins appearing in two different places in the house - the hallway, and the kitchen. In the first video, taken at 8:56:38, you will see the camera facing into the hallway. Keep your eyes behind the industrial fan - you'll see something appear to play peekaboo. As Leon and Lisa's son walks toward the hallway, you'll see the shadow disappear. The first assumption is that the shadow has to be made by a person. However, Leon (who is 6'3") walks past the fan, and if you watch his shadow, it is cast on the far left wall, and is only a couple of feet tall (because the only light source in the hallway is a small chandelier on the ceiling). We have repeatedly tried to explain or debunk this video. We haven't been able to.
  
  In the second video, taken at 9:11:14, you see the video camera recording from roughly the same spot Brian was standing in when he took his shadow picture. Because of a glitch with our DVR, the video is only a few frames long, but you will clearly see a shadow peek out from around the doorway - like a child playing hide and seek. In the third video, taken only 16 seconds after the second (9:11:30), you'll see the "peekaboo" shadow behind the fan again. We've tried to figure these videos out, and we can't debunk them. This seems to correlate to other evidence we have indicating there are possibly ghosts of children haunting Kendrick House.

Based on the evidence gathered, PSL believes that is a strong possibility there may be paranormal activity in the house. We have an ongoing relationship with the caretakers and are conducting ongoing investigations to further determine the status of the activity.