Old House Woods November 2007 On November 3rd 2007 Virginia paranormal went to check out "The Old House Woods". Located in Mathews County, Virginia, just outside the small unassuming town of Diggs, the area is mainly comprised of woods and marshlands. At first glance, it is a quaint area nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and White's Creek. If it were not for the capricious and eerie stories told about this area, one could easily imagine long summer nights spent lounging on the back deck watching the waves hit the shore. We arrived just before twilight and drove around the dirt roads to get a better understanding of our surroundings while it was still light. It was decided that we would first investigate the public beach area. The beach area has claims of a large phantom three-masted sailing ship seen moored just off the coast. There have also been claims of mysterious "diggers" seen shoveling as if looking for a long ago buried treasure. Along with apparitians of redcoats, pirates have also been associated with this area. While attempting EVP in the beach area, we captured what we believe to be a cannon fire. I can attest that there was no loud boom heard while we were there. The caliper that this gun shot would have to have been to be picked up on EVP should have been heard at the time by all who were present. It was not, and was only detected later while reviewing the clips. |
| Our next stop was an area in woods that we believe the orginal house (for which the area is named) once stood. It has been rumored that before the turn of the century the original house caught on fire while no one was occupying it and somehow extinguished itself before fire fighters could respond. Sometime during the 1920's, the house again caught on fire. This time it burned to the ground. I have attempted to verify this story to no avail. As urban legends often do, this one will get chalked up as unverifiable. The claims in this area are of strange lights that resemble lanturns or a green glow that illuminates the entire wooded area. Phantom dogs, horses or cows appearing and disappearing. A witch that glows green, who has been purported to be a fore-warner of doom. There have also alledgedly been people who have gone looking for the treasure that is buried there, never to be seen again. While walking down the road towards our destination, some of the investigator's batteries and cameras were acting strange. One camera refused to be shut off even though the owner had used it many times before and had never had problems turning it off. One of my flashlights kept blinking off and on as if the batteries were low. I had placed new batteries in all of my equipment before leaving Virginia Beach. By the time we reached the area where the house once stood, it was quite dark. According to the website North American Skies, the moon was waning crescent with 32% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated, but because the trees were so dense, I don't recall seeing the moon during this phase of the investigation. The temperature had dropped, but I did not (nor did anyone else present) have a thermometer, so I cannot say exactly what the temperature was.We had several digital audio recorders, and attempted contact through EVP. After reviewing the clips, I heard no anomalous sounds, or EVP. I did, however capture this photo which is very baffling to me. One other photo taken by another woman present is similar in appearance to mine and was captured in a different section of the same wooded area. Her photo is below mine. The object in the photo I took may appear to be attached to the tree, but according to a friend who examined the photo very closely, it is indeed (in his opinion) free standing. I have been told that what I captured was a bug, and that very well may be, but if you compare it to the tree limbs, it would have to be huge. I'm no expert so I'll leave it to you to decide. |
| My Photo |
| Devon's Photo |
| Overall, I would have to say, while this was a fun place to hunt, we did not experience anything close to the urban legend's claim. We saw no headless dogs, or any other headless animal for that matter. We saw no green glowing witch warning of impending danger (for which I was thankful) we did not witness any ghost; pirate or otherwise. There was not a glimpse of the phantom ship that alledgedly moors just off the coast. Although, who knows we may have just picked the wrong night to go wandering around in the woods looking for phantoms. |