Our all night investigation at the Fairbanks House...

Five TAPS Home Team members, Myself (Traci Boiselle), Jess Hardman, Demetria Walter, Rob Moccio, and Brian Stephenson spent the night of Saturday, September 28 at this amazing piece of history in Dedham, MA.  The night started with our hosts Lynn Fairbank, Lee Anne White Hodson and Frank Carvino took us on a tour of the home telling us of the history of the Fairbank family and of the homestead.  Thought to have been originally built in 1637, the house has a long history.  Each room is filled with artifacts donated by members of the Fairbank family from around the country and from different time periods.  We all agreed that will so many artifacts that were personal pieces of Fairbank history there could be opportunity for spirit attachment.  Many times spirits will attach themselves to objects of significance to them, and we were hopeful that this would bring out some of the Fairbanks family members from another time.

Once our tour was complete and we knew all the ins and outs of our home for the night, we were left alone with our overnight chaperon Justin Fairbank.  The first step to any investigation is to set up equipment and to decide how we will split up into teams, and lastly who will investigate where.  The Fairbank House, because of its age, required special consideration.  The age of the floor boards and the delicate structure of the house required us to respect weight restrictions on certain floors and limit our numbers to accommodate these requirements.  The other major obstacle was the fact that the only electricity in the house runs the alarm system, and there is only one outlet in the entire house.  This is a circumstance that the Home Team obviously does not encounter in modern homes, so we had to come prepared with extension cords and surge protectors so that we could power IR illuminators and cameras as well as to charge our equipment if need be.  Another strange situation was that EMF (Electromagnetic Frequency Readings) in certain parts of the house were extremely high despite the lack of electricity.   This was later traced back to poles and wiring out on the street in front of the house.

Jess, Justin and I started in the basement while Rob, Brian and Demetria investigated on the top floor of the house.  Throughout the night we moved from site to site, in our groups,  conducting EVP sessions, trying to experience any temperature changes or sense any possible paranormal phenomena.  Since we had all night, it allowed us to take our time and have some fun as well while investigating...getting to know each other and hanging out with other team members.  Since all of us are spread out all over New England and even in upstate New York it was nice to have the opportunity to spend time together just laughing and having a good time.  There is nothing like having a Domino's picnic around a 17th century well to say the least...

We wrapped up the investigation at around three o'clock in the morning and spread out our sleeping bags in the gift shop with cameras rolling to catch a couple of hours of sleep.  We fell asleep wondering what the possible spirits might think of us spending the night in their home where no one had slept in likely 120 years.

Now, a week later the team is in the midst of reviewing audio and video evidence from the evening.  With a longer investigation like this one... comes many hours of careful listening and watching...We are all excited to see what evidence we will catch...