The May-Stringer House / Heritage Museum
601 Museum Court, Brooksville, Florida 34601
(352) 799-0129
Contact: Bonnie LeTourneau
December 17, 2013
Members Present:
Terry Crew
Ryan Roberge
Emmanuel Hishmeh
Keishla Burgos
John Castrianni
Joel Barnas
Chad Ridge
Eduardo Rivera
Michelle Meadow
Weather: Cloudy, crescent moon. No rain. Approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Claims:
The May-Stringer house is allegedly one of the most haunted sites in Florida. The house itself is said to host 8-9 different paranormal entities, including; Jessie May (3 years old), Marena May (her mother), John May, Frank Saxon, patients from a Sanitarium, a World War II soldier, and Mr. Nasty (who is tied to a chest). Upon arriving here, we were also informed of another ghosts who came with a wheelchair from a closing nursing home, and had sent a volunteer running.
Jessie May is said to be tied to an ancient doll which lies in a crib on the second floor. People who have touched the doll have been scratched, kicked down stairs, and worse. When the doll was sent to be appraised, museum staff say that the crib was dismantled and that a black mist could be seen racing around the house.
Mr. Nasty is said to be tied to the chest. His reports of contact include mainly women being groped inappropriately – something the curator apologized for in advance if it happened.! ! James is another name for Frank – a said visitor of the house, who when he heard his girlfriend married another man, hung himself in the attic.
History:
The home itself was made prior to the civil war, and was first owned by a man named John May. He did indeed live with his family there, and after his death, his wife did marry an awarded Confederate soldier named Frank Saxon.
The house then was passed to a man named Dr. Sheldon Stringer (which is the second half of the name derivation. He allegedly used the house as a sanitarium (although this seems to be much of a debate). The cook house (which is now the military room), was actually back farther from the house, but was moved closer. Also, a kitchen was installed, and more rooms were built on.
Today, a gift shop stands in part of a private porch. Gravestones have been moved to the outside of the house – which are markers for important people and pets that have at one point lived in the house. According to the curator, Bonnie, these people and animals are not actually buried there. However, Marena and Jessie’s unmarked graves may still lay somewhere on the property.
In the early 2000’s, the museum was not financially doing well. According to Bonnie, she proposed a ghost tour, and allowing Paranormal investigators to come in overnight. After much debate it was approved, and the museum now functions primarily off of the donations received from it’s paranormal industry. Bonnie says that the museum only receives free water from the water company, but is responsible and receives no public assistance, despite being on the register of historical places.
The Night Of:
JP and Terry first conducted an interview with Michael from Seeker’s Paranormal Society, based out of Port St. Richie. The group had gone before to the May-Stringer house, and was able to shed some light on different hot spots in the house, and methods of investigation.
In addition, there was correspondence with Jill Borter of Orlando Paranormal Investigations on the house, as well as Kimberly Rebman of Florida Ghost Hunters. Each person contributed a little bit of knowledge about the house, including where the May’s might lay at rest, to check out the nearby cemetery, to try knocking as a form of communication, and other means that the entities were familiar with at the home. These would later prove invaluable as evidence was collected.
The group was also able to do a drive through of the Brooksville cemetery, and met with some locals gaining a sense of community rejection of the paranormal. Nobody seemed to want to be associated with, or talk about it. One bar allowed us to film, but when the owner heard, asked us not to use anything that would identify it. One local started talking about the house, saying that it belonged to a family of judges. In the end, we were not able to gain valuable insight into the home, because everything was conflicting or asked not to be featured.! ! We did manage to find out that there was a single instance of police involvement in the house, and that because of this the police were unwilling to do an interview with us. On many documentaries about the house, people claim that the police say that they won’t come to the house, and that they see things. No police officers were willing to come forward to collaborate this with us.
We arrived at the house at 8, waiting for Bonnie to arrive at 8:30. Ryan, Joel, and JP started use of the ghost box outside the front door, and knocked three times, and allegedly heard a response of “3” – this brought on extreme excitement. I, Terry, took pictures of the group and through the open windows. Meanwhile, Mrs. Meadow went around the house, and shrieked a death cry when a cat jumped out of the bushes in front of her.
When Bonnie arrived, she came through the back door. She offered to do a walkthrough, and we took 3 members of our group (including myself). As we walked through the house, she told us stories of how her granddaughter could see ghosts, and how the top of the stairs was the vortex. She said there were 9 ghosts, mentioned the wheelchair as having moved by itself, and told us not to touch the doll. She also said that the attic was recently redone and that nobody on the board was happy with the changes the new curator had made (that he had thrown away a lot of stuff).
She refused to show us the attic, and then everyone headed downstairs, and said that the house was overly active tonight, that the ghosts seemed on edge. She recommended going in pairs, and then the rest of the group slowly came in the house.
Chad walked in the house and was met with a surprise – as a plaque that was sitting on the piano fell on the floor. Bonnie said that this was not a good sign, and after I mentioned to her that this was one of his first investigations, pulled Chad aside and told him that he needed to be careful who he hung out with that night. We set up base station in the first room, and put a static surveillance camera in the war room, doll room, attic, and medical office.
We held a meeting and discussed not touching the doll, not moving anything, not going past the front desk in the classroom, and that if anything fell Bonnie would order a cease and would check on things.
Before the lights went off, I realized that Ryan did not bring the cord to connect the camera kit to the television, rendering it useless. He asked me to send other people, but in the end went himself to get another person. At the time, Ryan was our equipment manager.
Manny, Keishla and myself took the second and third floors once the lights went off. JP, Joel, and Mrs. Meadows were on the bottom floor. Eduardo and Chad took the monitors. While in the attic, I set up another static camera, and then spooked myself out by looking at a creepy painting and mannequin in the room. I thought I heard a disembodied voice say, “Get out.” – but cannot find it on the camera I was holding, or the static camera.
I went downstairs and united with Manny and Keishla in the doll room. They were speaking on recorders, trying to get the attention of Jessie May. There was no notations on any detectors at this point. I gained some courage and went upstairs with Manny. This time, my night vision camera gained some lines in it, like it was a malfunction. There were no readings.
We switched floors, and I went in the Military Room. I first noticed that the windows were all open, allowing in a lot of light from the outside. This also affected my digital camera’s exposure. Another notation I made, was that the house is made of wood and is very wobbly. When you walk through the dining room, the plates clang, and it seems as though something may fall very easily. I checked this room, and the medical office, for any traces of human DNA using a UV flashlight. Nothing was discovered.
Then came a sudden crash. Bonnie went upstairs to meet Ryan. Ryan came downstairs asking for ice, because a ghost had bear hugged him, knocked the meter out of his hand, and then scratched his back. Joel took a first hand account of this with his camera.
I went into the bathroom, lifted up the back of my shirt, and was able to replicate Ryan’s scratches myself (the movement of a hand is limited towards the back). In addition, I scanned Ryan’s skin on his hand and compared it to other parts of his body. It was not any hotter.
EVPs I conducted from this point on cannot be validated, because the ghost box that was being used was on the highest volume possible. In direct correlation, JP and Ryan were trying to talk over it, so no matter where you were in the house, you heard them.
While in the attic, Manny did note that he felt a burning sensation around his neck. This was directly following a ghost box session where JP allegedly heard the word “rape”. This led to Ryan asking, “Did you rape any woman in here, Mr. Nasty?”
I took over monitors while Chad and Eduardo toured the house. I noticed that there was a large amount of dust in the house. The air conditioner was not on. While watching the monitors, the camera began to shake. A mouses’ nose appeared in the attic. All of our cameras were placed on the floor, only showing peoples legs and pants. Poor planning was put into the placement of these cameras.
It was at this point, that Chad asked Bonnie about Mr. Nasty’s trunk. She said it had been moved to the Communications room. The group mostly went there, except for Ryan, Keishla, and Eduardo. Video was shot of peoples pants, and Ryan decided he was done for the night, so he canceled the remainder of the night without consulting anyone else.
In the aftermath of the investigation, the group split. Ryan and Keishla went back to re- form the Paranormal Stalkers. Terry, Manny, Joel and Chad remained the AEJ. JP asked to remain available for either group, and Eduardo made note that he would not be doing another investigation again. The reasoning, was that AEJ did not believe Ryan’s actions were legitimate. He also did not comply to his position as Equipment Manager. In addition, he caused the group to leave nearly an hour nearly on his own accord. Ryan and Keishla defaulted based on the idea that they could no longer work with AEJ. According to Keishla, Paranormal investigations are only so that “Ryan has fun”.
Supporting Evidence:
Team A’s investigation of the Workshop proved to have some evidence despite the conditions. There was the malfunction of the camera. There is Manny’s notation of having a burning sensation around his throat. Also, there are several possible orbs/unidentifiable objections.
We do not feel that the ghost box rendered valuable data as a group because when they asked how many entities were present in the house, they got the answer 8. While some websites do say 8, it is clear by Bonnie’s interview that there are 9. We do not feel that Ryan’s incident with the ghost was legitimate. We do not think that the dust flying was orbs. We did not r!eceive increased readings on our tools.
Diagnosis:
Based upon the evidence we received that night, we determine that the May-Stringer house is not haunted. It is possible that the mindset of the group at the time could have influenced the manifestation of the ghosts (because everyone was in a negative mood because of Ryan’s actions, and lack of responsibility in preparing the equipment).
Also, it is true that ghosts sometimes require multiple visits in order to feel comfortable with individuals. In addition, we had 10 people in the home. And, the house was not that dark because of opened windows (if the paranormal requires total darkness – this is another assertion that has yet to be proven).
We would like to go back to the house in the future, with a smaller team.
One aspect the team has taken is that the Paranormal has become an apparent business for the home, in a place where other opportunities are not plentiful. There is not a large population, but ghost hunters from around the world come to this home. Also, in our interview with Bonnie, she said that this had allowed the museum to stay open.
The attribution of Chad’s plaque falling was also over exaggeration, as well as anything else “flying” in the home. The home is wood, and every step could cause something to fall or break. The walls are very thin, making EVP integrity nearly impossible. In the attic, the metal/ tin roof makes every noise sound spooky. The placement of the doll and strange painting contribute to an aire of a creepy feeling. By the end of the night though, everyone was walking around like we lived there.
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Hi, I read a book recently that made some serious allegations about Frank Saxton, Dr. Stringer and many other people involved in the May Stringer house. I’m not sure if the claims are true but it says that Dr. Stringer intentionally infected Mrs. May and her kids with TB so that he could acquire the house and that he belonged to a secret society. Is there anyway to get in contact with his ancestors?
The book is called “The Perfect Cushion: Based On Real Events” .
You all need to read this book.
Thank you.