Green Cove Jail and Courthouse

Date: March 27th, 2015

Location:  901 N Orange Ave, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043

Contact: Vishi Garig

Investigators:

Terry Crew

Manny Hishmeh

CeeCee Maes

Karen

Nikki

Weather: 

76 degrees to 52 degrees throughout the investigation.

There was a high precipitation rate, and it had been raining throughout the day.

Lunar State – Wanning Gibson Moon

History: 

The jail was built in 1864 and was in use until the early 1970’s.  Over the course of these years, the jail was the site of several hangings and deaths, including that of several sheriffs.  In recent years, the jail has housed the Clay County Archives. The jail also features photographs and memorabilia from over the years.

The courthouse is still in use and houses Teen Court.  There is also a historical exhibit area where you can view some of Clay county’s history.  Both sites are available to Paranormal groups for the purpose of investigation.

Claims:

This site has large claims of EVP’s, mainly in the jail area.  It has been the site of several tv shows, and even has cited with causing ‘scratches’ on investigators in one of the cells.  Shadow people have also been claimed from other groups attending.

The courthouse is believed to have less paranormal activity, and is still actively used by Teen Court.  We were granted access to the exhibit area that is normally off limits to investigators.  Similar activity here has been cited, along with footsteps.

There is a portrait in the Courthouse that has alleged activity surrounding it.  This includes shadows and EVPS, as well as EMF readings.

Investigation:

Our investigation began at 7 PM when we met with Lynn and Nick of CAPE Paranormal.  They were our primary points of contact throughout the night, and stayed with us through the duration of our investigation.  We were given a very in-depth walkthrough, with different tales of murder and death; including: a sheriff who was accidentally shot and bled out a few days later after exonerating his murderer, a sheriff who was stabbed repeatably by an inmate, an inmate who cut his own throat and died in a cell with a can lid, and several stories of hangings out in the area between the Courthouse and the Jail.

The jail is in very good condition compared to some of the other jails we have visited in the past.  Part of the jail is partitioned off, and is not available to be investigated (as it houses some of the Historical Society’s belongings.  Part of the jail has been restored (mainly the part that is off limits).  Part of the ceiling was in bad repair, and instead of fixing it, was removed to create a large open ceiling.  A door upstairs remains closed off, prohibiting access to just fall through.

Several other notable points of interest include the following: 1) there is a window in a cell that moves with breezes and can create a real spook factor, 2) there are mannequins placed throughout the jail, especially hanging outside that can cause a sudden startle, 3) where the door is blocked off to the refurbished portion of the jail, there is a wall of exposed nails.  The jail is full of lead based paint and rusty bars.  The ground is uneven, and there is a genuine fall factor if one is not paying attention.

The Courthouse has windows that shake, probably due to a air conditioner.  The windows in either building are not closed off, and there is consistent road and train traffic throughout the night. Also, there are lights in some of the Courthouse exhibits that cannot be turned off.

We were warned of wandering neighbors and there are bells on the door that chime whenever the door is open.  There are no electrical outlets in the jail, but if you have an extension court and a splitter, there is access.

We first conducted a walkthrough of the premises, and did not notice any outstanding reasons for false readings.

In the first part of the investigation, Terry conducted an investigation of the room with the alleged haunted painting.  There were no EMF, EVP, or any other readings.  The spirit dice were also used, with only 1/3 visible words, which included “WRIST”.

Following this, an investigation of the court room took place.  It was decided that we would investigate around the defendants chair, because logic would label this as the biggest place of trauma.  True enough, we experienced amazing EMF readings in the chair! Ceecee conducted a sensory deprivation exercise, and mentioned that she felt that someone was talking to her, but nothing audible was collected.  Dowsing rods also identified this location as a hotspot.  Also mentionable, several batteries were drained or impacted at this point.

Downstairs, there is an exhibit featuring memorabilia from the first human loss in the War in Iraq.  Dowsing rods all clearly led to this exhibit, and we received intelligent response from them when Ceecee asked responses.  There was no EMF or temperature changes here.

In the jail, we received an EVP upstairs in the cells.  It sounds like a woman singing, but is not clearly decipherable.  Dowsing rods, which scientifically work with pipes, were not an effective form of test.

The Ovilus also talked about an “officer” briefly, but it’s meaning was thought to be incoherent at best.  There were no outstanding EMF detections in the jail.

We returned to the courthouse and determined that our prior finding of high EMF spikes was caused by wiring downstairs in the room we used as base camp.  When the light was on, it caused high readings.  When the light was off, we received normal readings.

We concluded the night in the room with the alleged haunting painting.  Here, the Ovilus started to experience some glitching that could potentially be attributed to paranormal activity.

In Conclusion:

There are several valid points of investigation that would move towards possible paranormal activity: 1) the dowsing rods and their intelligent responses to questions when asked by CC 2) draining of batteries upstairs in the courtroom (could this be a result of EMF?) 3) the EVP we collected of a woman singing in the jail.

Our evidence supports the possibility of intelligent haunting, but because of a lack of clear scientific proof, we are unable to affirm or deny the possibility of a haunting.