River Town Paranormal Society has had the honor of being able to investigate the Villa Kathrine three times in 2009. Each and everytime we go we have picked up evp evidence. Our first investigation was on March 13th, 2009. Friday the 13th to be exact. Our seven member group divided into two seperate groups and investigated inside and outside of the building. It was one of those cold, windy early Spring nights and we were still wrapped up in our winter gear to investigate outside. Our meters did not register anything thing above the normal and temps fluctuated the way they would inside of an old building on a cold night. We had a few personal experiences but the over all census was that it was a great place to investigate but there was absolutely nothing paranormal about the place. The building was perfectly quiet. The wind was blowing outside but you really didn't hear it inside. There were no creaks, pops or snaps in the Villa that night which is very unusual for a 100 year old building. Except for the heating system going off and on, it was a very relaxing, enjoyable, non-paranormal anywhere kind of night. Yea, we were wrong.
The first phone call came from one of our members at the time, she found something that we had to hear. We had all listened to our recorders and viewed the videos but nothing came up. This member had used an external mic on her recorder and because of her findings to this day, we all use our external mics. Our first significant evp came from the basement area by the restrooms. In a louder than life voice our investigators who had taken a break picked up a woman yelling at them in German. We became eager listeners after this point. On page two of this investigation you will find several evps picked up that evening. The building may have been quiet but we believe there is one soul in the Villa who wants to be heard. It was as if this spirit was mingling amongst us as we investigated and we didn't even know it. As paranormal investigators we have a professional responsibility to tell you that we can't say we know who this spirit is. There is no scientific evidence to point to that. However, in our hearts as investigators when one group member asked "Mr Metz are you here? Mr Metz are you here?" and the reply was "yes", I guess we would have to agree that we do believe Mr Metz stills roams his beloved Villa.
Our second investigation was a follow up investigation on March 28th, 2009. We did not go in as a group this time but left our equipment overnight in hopes of discovering more evidence. It was raining hard that night and unlike the first night the rain could be heard hitting the glass roof hard. This evidence was very trying for us to listen to. Sometimes when you listen to raindrops hitting glass for 8 hours you ears begin to play tricks on you. Yet we do pick up something. It's hard to hear so we have not included these evps for our readers because it would take a trained ear to hear them, but we pick up "I'll watch the door", "Mary?", "uh huh" and footsteps. It was like someone was living in the Villa and just going about their daily living habits.
At the first board meeting we attended with the Friends of the Castle board we took all of our evp evidence from the first investigation. It was exciting for us and for the board. Our historical research turned up some interesting information and that along with the evp's became a strong argument for possible activity at the Villa. One of our members decided to bring a recorder along to the meeting so we could record how we handled ourselves for future reference. During the reveal of the "Oh sweet dog" evp for the board we tell the that we aren't familiar with this laptop and we can't stop it but this one evp is an important one. At this moment we pick up another evp of a man's voice who says "Yessss". A spirit listening to an recorded evp of his voice from the first investigation? Can this be possible? We have never heard of this happening before. When we returned to the next board meeting a month later we played this new evp for the boards members and we think it brought it home for them. If this was the spirit of Mr George Metz, he had been at one of their board meetings.
Our last investigation was just a short one on June 13th, 2009. We brought a local television station in to video tape us. This night was a quiet one but we still hear an undercurrent of voices below ours. Is this evidence, no, but we want to share how important we believe the Villa Kathrine is for paranormal investigators. Most sites that boast paranormal activity have had a traumatic happening there. This is not the case with the Villa Kathrine. It was one man's dream to build a building unlike no other on the banks of the Mississippi River.
He had a very strong love for this area, his dogs, his family and for his beloved Villa. If this is a active spot as we believe it is, it is because of love, not hate, life not death. We hope to continue working with the Villa Kathrine in any way we can to help preserve the building and the love Mr Metz had for his building. Perhaps that's what Mr Metz wants too. It's not scientific evidence but paranormal evidence that we bring to the table for the Villa Kathrine. To view our evidence just go to page two of the Villa Kathrine. You will hear the same evps that we picked up. For a more detailed account of the investigation you can go our blog page where we have written three pieces about our experiences there. If you have any thoughts or experiences yourself at the Villa please feel free to visit our comments page and put them in. All comments are welcome, we are open to your ideas of our experience at this wonderful site. We don't believe we discovered Mr Metz, we believe he discovered us, so we hope you enjoy his story.
The Villa Kathrine
