A look at the haunting of the Dungeness Schoolhouse
By Red Ball Paranormal Investigations
When: 4 p.m. Saturday, April 25
Where: Dungeness Schoolhouse, 2781 Towne Road
Admission: $5 museum members, $7 non-members
Presentation will include discoveries debunked and unexplained from the Dungeness Schoolhouse and the Museum & Arts collections building. There will plenty of time to ask questions and, hopefully, get some answers.
Believers and skeptics will get an inside look into Sequim’s paranormal world this weekend.
Red Ball Paranormal Investigations of Jefferson County will present its findings from recent investigations into the Dungeness Schoolhouse and the Sequim Museum & Arts Center’s DeWitt Administration Building, at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 25 at the schoolhouse.
Cost is $5 for museum members and $7 for non-members with proceeds benefiting the schoolhouse.
Crickett Webster, chief administrator for the investigation team, said they’ll share still photos, audio recordings and videos from their Feb. 20 investigation of the schoolhouse followed by questions and answers. They’ll immediately follow that up with a similar presentation about the administration building they investigated on March 13.
When asked if Sequim has an active spirit life, Webster said, “I would say so, based on evidence we were able to get.”
Some of their alleged findings at the schoolhouse ranged from seeing glowing orbs to hearing voices to seeing a mysterious dark figure.
The most eerie images come from two photographs in a closet where in one image a piece of A/V equipment sits with a flat surface but in a second image shooting into a mirror and looking into that closet there was a reflection of a round figure that appears to resemble a head.
Webster said at that time she doesn’t have an explanation but some paranormal historians would refer to images like this as shadow men. However, they are typically attributed with evil, which she didn’t sense.
The team also listened to raw recordings for Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP), sounds found on electronic recordings that are interpreted as spirit voices, and believe they heard communications from one or two children, a woman and possibly a man mumbling.
The schoolhouse was the team’s first foray into Sequim after investigating several other locations primarily in Jefferson County and out of state with other groups.
Katherine Vollenweider, former director of the museum, joined the group for both investigations where they spent hours taking photos, recording audio and video while trying to communicate with spirits.
Vollenweider, a biologist, said the investigations felt more like a scientific experience rather than a séance.
Museum volunteer Joy Headley sat in with the team at the administration building and said she never felt scared or that the experience was hokey.
“It was done in a way I feel they were taking it very seriously to see if there is something there,” she said. “It’s not as if they believe there is stuff there but they are trying to see if there is stuff there.”
To separate ghosts from humans in recordings, Headley said if a team member coughed or cleared their throat, they would say who is clearing their throat and the time. They also allegedly saw orbs on a screen so they stirred dust to compare, she said.
Since investigating the two Sequim spots, Webster said her team has spent a lot more time in Sequim.
“We’re really enjoying the town and its history,” she said. “It’s been very exciting. I see Sequim differently. Everyone we’ve come into contact with has been so open and so inviting.”
Red Ball Paranormal recently finished an investigation in Port Townsend and is setting up a few more future investigations, Webster said.
The investigation of the schoolhouse and DeWitt Building were done at no cost to the museum.
For more information about the Museum & Arts Center, visit macsequim.org. For more information on Red Ball Paranormal Investigation, visit facebook.com/redballparanormalinvestigations.
