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INVESTIGATION #031
Prospect Place
Trinway, Ohio
Date Of Investigation: May 22, 2010
Time: 9:00pm - 6:00am
Investigators on the Scene: Marty Seibel, Lisa Rose, Robin Tapley, Mychael Hottle, Kelly Hoynoski,
Amber and Lori McDonald
Weather: Clear, 65.8 degrees, 88% humidity, Wind: Calm
Moon: waxing gibbous with 69% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated
Background History
Prospect Place, also known as Trinway Mansion is a 29-room mansion built by abolitionist George W. Adams in Trinway,
Ohio, just north of Dresden in 1856. Today, it is the home of the non-profit G. W. Adams Educational Center, Inc. The mansion
was built with the intention of being used as part of the underground railroad, a major stop for runaway slaves, many of whom
are said to have died in the basement. It is mentioned little girl once fell from the balcony. It was in the dead of winter and the
family had to wait until spring before they could properly bury her. They kept her body in the cold storage in the basement.
George Jeffrey Adams, a family descendant now owns Prospect Place and is making some major restorations to the house.
Hauntings
Prospect Place is rumored to be haunted by many spirits. The first is a story of the little girl, Constance Cox, who reportedly
fell from the front balcony. The young girl was afflicted with a fever and wandered onto the balcony one cold night in the
winter. The girl's body was not buried immediately as the frozen ground would not allow for the digging of a grave. It was
placed on ice in the basement in a pit originally designed as a refrigeration system for the home. Today Constance Cox can
be seen at several location through out the house.
Anna Adams was the eldest daughter of G. W. Adams. She and her husband, William Cox, Jr., inherited the mansion when
her father died in 1879. The couple lived a happy and high lifestyle within the mansion for several years. William was
known for having lavish balls and parties and for spending lots of money. As soon as the money dried up, William
disappeared. One morning in the late 1890's William boarded a train for Columbus instead of taking care of some
personal business in Zanesville, as he had told Anna. He arrived at a hotel in Columbus, checked into a room
with a strange man. In the morning the two men checked out and William was never seen or heard from
again. Anna was left heartbroken and alone with her surviving child, George Cox.
Anna died at Prospect Place due to complications from a fall on the ice at the neighboring River Dale mansion. She died
lonely and broken, never knowing the fate of her missing husband. It is said that Anna still wanders the halls of the estate
searching for her husband. People have reported seeing William Cox walking the halls of the mansion.
Another story is that of a woman, a slave who suffered a head wound in her attempt to escape from the south. She was in
bad shape when she arrived at Prospect Place and although the staff of the mansion tried everything to save this lady, she
eventually died from the injury.
She has been seen and heard in the basement wandering around aimlessly.
The last story tells of the hanging of a bounty hunter (slave trapper) on the third floor of the barn. He came to Prospect Place
and demanded Adams turn over any slaves hiding on his property. An altercation took place as some of Mr. Adams ranch hands,
took matters into their own hands. Apparently they tracked the bounty hunter back to his camp and abducted him, brought him
back to Prospect Place and hung him from the third of the barn. It is now said, that the bounty hunter wanders around in the
barn seeking those who hung him. reports of voices, people being touch and seeing a dark human shadow are all common
in the barn.
We were also told that at one time when the house was abandoned (1980s), that satanic rituals had taken place on the third
floor. A worker eventually painted a cross on the wall in hopes to ward off any evil or give the room a more peaceful feel to it.
Investigation Objective
Prospect Place known as one of Ohio's most haunted locations if not the most haunted has been on the SVPS radar for some
time. Eager and excited to visit and investigate this historic mansion, we travelled to Trinway, Ohio with a group of seven
members divided into three seperate teams. Our goal was simple, capture and record any paranormal activity, document any
paranormal experiences if possible. Known hotspots we focused on were the basement, gentleman's parlor, upstairs daughter's
bedroom, third floor and the barn. We sincerely want to thank George Jeffery Adams for his kindness, support and
hospitality. He was simply a wonderful host.
Investigation Data
General Information
Base headquarters was set up on the first floor just across from the library. Teams rotated to monitor the dvr
and camera views set up through out the house. Shortly into the investigation, a heavy fog engulfed the house.
What a better atmosphere to investigate in, sitting up in the cupola doing evp work and watching this
fog roll in on the house.
Video Results
IR surveillance cameras were stationed in the basement, headquarters, gentleman's parlor and the upstairs bedroom of
Constance. All cameras ran from 9 pm until 9 am. No evidence was discovered at any time of paranormal activity via
the IR cameras. One experience was debunked through the use of the IR cameras. A team of Marty Seibel and Lisa
Rose were able to activate the geophones stationed in the gentleman's parlor (1st Floor) by walking around on
the third floor. We discovered that the vibration was enough to trigger the geophones to signal.
Photograph Results
Photographs were taken with both the digital and 35 mm cameras and revealed no evidence
of paranormal activity.
Views inside Prospect Place
Headquarters
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Parlor
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Bedroom
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Third Floor
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Bedroom
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Basement
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Basement
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Audio Results
A few class C evps were captured in the barn and cupola but could not confirmed or understood.
Personal Experiences
Our personal experiences were rare but one such was quite remarkable. It happened much later in the investigation
and involved the third floor. Between the hours of 1 and 2 am, Marty Seibel and Lisa Rose were on the third floor
conducting evp sessions. As is custom, we will use trigger to objects during evp work. Knowing there had been
reports of small children on the third floor, Marty placed a plastic Easter egg on the floor and asked if anyone
present could move it or open it as it was closed when placed on the floor. Not one thing happened with
the egg while Marty and Lisa were on the third floor.
A team of Mychael Hottle, Lori and Amber McDonald followed behind Marty and Lisa just about an hour later to
conduct evp on the third floor. Shortly after arriving on the third floor, the team heard movement of the egg, flashed
a flashlight on the egg to discover it was indeed open and had been moved. The team of Mychael, Lori and Amber
were present in the room when this occurred.
Final Conclusion : Inconclusive
Prospect Place was an incredible experience and a great place to investigate. With 29 rooms, a basement and barn, it
made for a lot of area to cover. Within the house, sound did travel quite easily from floor to floor and had to be accounted
for. Areas such as the barn and the third and fourth floor,
animals (birds, bats, cat) had to be accounted for. As far as
tangible evidence, we have very little to show. That is not to say that Prospect Place is not haunted or haunted, we simply
do not have the tangible evidence to suggest it was the night of
May 22, 2010. Our personal experience was quite incredible
to say the least as the egg placed on the third floor was sealed tight and later discovered open. Some investigators had sensitive
feelings concerning the third floor and the gentleman's parlor. However we could not come away with any strong evidence to
back up those feelings. For now we have to classify Prospect Place as inconclusive as to being haunted based on our one night
there. Certainly we would love to go back and investigate again as the potential to be haunted or have paranormal activity
clearly exsists. George Jeffery Adams is a wonderful host and clearly this is a location that is worth the trip. Every bit so!!
Copyright © Marty Seibel & SVPS
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Prospect Place Website