Mayhem at Malvern Manor

Malvern Manor is a fascinating location that was built in the 1880s. When it was first built it was known as the “Cottage Hotel” and was one of the first hotel’s in the town. Later on, in the mid 1950's, it was turned into a nursing home and then after that, a home for mentally ill. It ended up permanently closing in 2005. That's not that long ago! During the 100+ years that the building was alive, it did see up to 100 confirmed deaths and some alleged mistreatment of patients. While I was there I was told the stories of Grace, Inez, Hank & some other spirits who may haunt the building. Some died in the facility, some died near…and some may not have ever been alive in human form. The story of Grace interests me the most. In life, she suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder, known today as Dissociative Identity Disorder. Nurses supposedly heard some crazy voices coming from her that chanted “The Devil is coming to get me”. Maybe Grace was just extremely troubled & riddled with mental illness, but maybe there was something more at play. I truly believe that the mentally ill are more susceptible to dark energies and attachments. I plan to do more research on that topic in future posts. Over the years many different people and energies have come in and out of Malvern Manor, both good and bad. Some of the darker energies have manifested into the inhuman entity that’s been called “Shadow Man”.

Photos: Something Wicked Photography

Back in April I had the opportunity to visit Malvern Manor for the first time. We'd just done the Sallie House the night before, but were ready to head up to Malvern for Round #2. My first time around was for a paranormal event so I didn’t get the chance to explore/investigate as much as I’d have liked. The event was great, though! Dustin Pari was in attendance along with Richard Estep, Josh Heard & Johnny Houser. After a wonderful Q&A, everyone set off to try and investigate. It was difficult with so many people, but Dustin Pari came to spend a few minutes with my friends and I while we investigated in Inez’s room. It was pretty exciting being able to share that moment with someone I grew up watching. Dustin is incredibly kind, and I really enjoyed hearing him speak about kindness. He's pretty inspiring & has such a big heart!

As we wandered around the building, there were groups of people doing experiments, such as the “human pendulum”, and others just hanging out around the house. I’m much more of a solo/small group, quiet investigator so I didn’t participate. Also, experiments like that kind of make me cringe. Once your eyes are closed, your balance is off, and it's really hard to trust a bunch of strangers to be honest and not let the hive mentality take over. Anyways, I'm glad I was able to attend and spend some time in this location.

Since I couldn't wait to go back I had to make it happen fast. Last month I was able to return with some para-friends and we had a great night! Driving 18 hours in 2 days is definitely very intense, but when you’re passionate about the paranormal, it’s not so bad.

Upon my return to Malvern, The DAMM Ladies, Chris Case, his son, his son's friends & our friend Paul (who is an incredible sound engineer), all joined us. The DAMM Ladies were so much fun & probably one of the coolest teams we’ve investigated with. Initially we had the spirit box type device going. It definitely called out the kids for being “pussies” which gave us all a good laugh. They didn't think it was so funny, though. We got lots of great responses and during this time people kept seeing something at the end of the hallway. Mostly in their peripherals.

My favorite part of the night was using one of Paul's INCREDIBLE devices. It really is an amazing, and one of a kind experience. Hopefully I'll have a chance to experience it again soon! The field needs more people to think out of the box and create and experiment with engineering and electricity. That's not me, though, so I asked Paul to explain how his device works:

“Here's basically what it's doing:

1) My device listens and ascertains the audio level of the "noise floor" in the environment.

2) When it hears something that exceeds the established "noise floor", it begins committing audio to internal memory.

3) Once that sound stops (or in the event a human were to speak), it stops capturing and writes the accumulated audio to an internal SD card.

4) It then immediately plays back that captured audio very amplified through its internal speakers.

I use an *extremely* sensitive microphone, and have tried very hard to construct audio circuitry that is extremely electrically "quiet". Because of those factors, the *slightest* movement by anybody near (shifting one's weight, shuffling feet, handling objects in hand, etc) will sound "thunderous" to my device, and manifest in played audio as quite loud pops, creeks, and bangs (etc). Those kinds of "human" sounds are inevitable, but even when those kinds of sounds are present, we can at times still hear the slightest of spirit voices.”

Below are just a couple of the EVPs. My videos don't do them justice!

I'm a little bummed I didn’t get to see anything with my own eyes, but definitely heard footsteps in an empty corner down in Shadow Man’s Hallway & thought I felt something touch my arm at one point. Things seemed to be pretty hot for awhile, but as quickly as the activity ramped up with Paul’s Box, it died soon after. The rest of the night was pretty quiet…but I absolutely loved Malvern and cannot wait to return and investigate again. The adventure was absolutely worth it. I would drive 18 hours round trip any day to have the opportunity to see Paul’s equipment in action.