MASSACHUSETTS AREA PARANORMAL SOCIETY
("M.A.P.S.")
Civil War Haunting
July 24th, 2009
After our usual briefing and a generous application of mosquito spray, we eagerly entered the historic old Carver Cotton Gin. We were fortunate to have Roy as our guide for the evening as well as International Psychic Medium Dawn Carr accompany us. We could almost hear the whistles blow as we meandered through the dark labyrinth of halls and corridors. The Carver Cotton Gin was built on 8 acres of land in June of 1872. It employed hundreds of local people and also many who travelled from Boston and Plymouth. Because of the nature of the work, many injuries had occurred over the years, mainly of the hands and face. These were first treated by local doctors, then later at the nurses station located on the property.
As we began, Ms. Carr picked up the names of Louie and Charlie who she felt worked together for a long period of time at work stations in the area. Roy informed us that indeed, this was the area where work stations were at one time. This was the machine shop which housed many mechanical pieces of equipment. Dawn said she saw people with scarred faces, as if scalded by steam. In the boiler room, she sensed a woman who was dressed as a witch who wanted to scare us away.
In the attic, we realized we were in the company of a scruffy old man (who had shown himself to us on a previous investigation) and a woman. Ms. Carr informed us that the woman called out a team member's name and insisted that she spoke to her during a past visit. On our last visit, one team member (mentioned by name) did have a conversation with the lady in the attic during an EVP session. How flattering to be remembered! Ms. Carr felt that something or someone was hung from a beam, and in one particular corridor she picked up the name Michael. Roy confirmed that a few Michaels had been employed there and that this was their area to patrol. We were told of a small boy who was hiding in the attic. In the room directly below, which was the oldest part of the factory, a face seemed to be looking out the window. Could it be the curious face of the little boy? Dawn asked if we knew a man named James Rogers. He was an employee who worked in the factory around 1901 according to Wayne Nye's research.
During the investigation Crystal and Karen were having a conversation about their EMF detector suddenly spiking and continuing to spike throughout an area of the building where there was no electricity. In the meantime, another investigator in that group, Rick, was snapping pictures in the area where the EMF spiked. During the review process Rick liked the picture of Karen and Crystal talking and wanted to lighten the picture. When he was showing Crystal the picture, Crystal said "That's me in the reflection in the window but who is that standing next to me?" That picture can be seen at the Carver Cotton Gin photo gallery. This may be the spirit that scared Rick on the last investigation at the Cotton Gin.
Various orbs of different sizes and colors were found as well as many EVP's. In an area near the nurses station, a voice seems to ask "What is your name?" On one occasion, three team members all heard the chattering of someone in conversation at the same time. The usual cold spots were felt as well as equipment failure. Toward the end of the evening, Dawn mentioned a boy who had drowned in the rapidly flowing river behind the factory. At this point, Wayne Nye stepped forward to tell her of two young employees who rented a canoe near the Waiting Station. The owner inquired as to whether the two could swim, then rented them a canoe. The adventure turned deadly as the canoe capsized, and one Cotton Gin employee drowned.
We have been fortunate to learn some of the history of the Carver Cotton Gin through the helpfulness of Roy, the research of Wayne Nye, and the psychic abilities of Dawn Carr. This was our third investigation there and we've developed a great fondness of this historic old Carver Cotton Gin Factory.