Edinburgh Manor
Jones County, Iowa
August 12, 2022
Website
Just a few miles northeast of Cedar Rapids, Iowa is Monticello. We stayed in Cedar Rapids the previous day, and headed out in the afternoon. After the Waze app routed us through neighborhoods unnecessarily, we eventually arrived at our destination. We got a really good, long, and informative tour from Shannon and her dog, Willow, that was hanging out. We unpacked in the guest house out back and said howdy to the cows on the other side of the fence. This place is in the middle of nowhere and farm country as far as the eye can see. Head to The Grove Bar & Grill a few miles away on her recommendation to pick up a couple burgers and some tasty sides of fried livers and fried pickles.
We get back and set up camp inside Edinburgh Manor. Initally we did a walkthrough starting on the first floor in the kids room, then we hit the second floor, and went down into the basement area. Just to get good feel for the place and what rooms and locations are where. We did have the voice recorder going while doing the walkthrough. Did that because it was such a large location, we were basically making notes...and if we picked up voices, knocks, or any crazy shit, that's a bonus!
So did we pick anything during the walk? We certainly did. In the kids room we didn't hear them at the time, but on playback there were definitely two knocks. When we got to the far end of the hall, we got another knock followed by a faint two syllables. Also picked up a quick voice over Nikki's shoes scuffling along the floor. When we got to the far back room with the music stand and reports of humming or singing, we picked up a growl. Normally I would write that off as stomach growling, however we are very good at pointing that out when we have audio going. At least one of us would note that, but neither of us did, so not really sure what that noise was. What makes this particularly interesting is when we are in the "Puzzle Room" on the second floor, that is directly above this room and we picked it up in that room as well, but more audible on the audio. Again, we did not hear this at the time. Last part of the walkthrough was making the rounds in the basement, where in the room just past the kitchen we picked up what sounded like a moan.
Before we took off for this year's trip we did watch the episode of Destination Fear where they went to Edinburgh Manor. On the second floor there is a "red room" and a "blue room" at opposite ends of the hallway. That team split up to see if they could experience drastic temperature fluctuations, ie: if the "red room" was warm, at the other end of the hallway in the "blue room" it would be significantly cooler. So we tried that, but did not experience anything. I was in the "red room" and Nikki was in the "blue room". What we did pick up on what came across on audio as maybe stick smacking something, but when I heard it it sounded more like bedsprings popping. She did not hear that. About a minute later, she hears knocking, calls me on the walkie and asks if I'm hearing it which I did not. Few minutes later I hear a fairly loud noise that on audio sounds like a Solo cup hitting the floor, but to my ears sounded like a stick hitting the window.
We take a break and return to the red and blue rooms, this time we are going to try the Estes Method. I'm not a fan of the SB7 because it is annoying as shit and it's radio broadcasts. However, if the person cannot hear what you are saying and they are saying what they hear in the headphones, that has a bit more credibility especially if their response matches up to a question that was just asked. Couple interesting responses using the Estes Method was she mentioned "Chicken" so I ask if that's what they raised here or if that was their food...and a few seconds later, she says, "or pig". Then the "conversation" went into her saying, "We" so I ask how many friends do you have with them and she says, "12". Could be coincidence, but at least questions and answers matched up.
Heading down to the "red room" to finish up with these two rooms. I hear a loud noise in the hallway that was not faint by any means. It was similar to what I heard earlier when it was just me in the room. We did figure out what house settling sounds were and this was not that. Finishing up, I move the recorder over, so you can hear some shuffling noise, and in noise you can hear, "That's me". Now I got be the skeptic here, because the recorder was being moved so there is some noise, maybe I'm just hearing, 'That's me", but it really does sound like another voice.
Finishing up the second floor we hit up the room with a hospital bed in it. While in that room, we heard that smacking on the wall sound again couple times in the distance. Past this room was the room that at one point has about a foot of puzzle pieces in it. No clue why. I guess they really liked jigsaw puzzles. It was in this room that we both heard a bang and concluded it was not property settling. Right off this room was, for lack of better term...the Casket Room. When we first went through with tourguide Shannon, I walked into this room and jumped a bit because there was, what looked like a body in it. I don't know who thought it was a bright idea to bring an actual coffin into this place, haul it up a couple flights of stairs, carry it to a far back room and set it up like a miniature chapel, but yeah, a little odd. Natuarally we asked about if it was...used. Really the only thing we got on voice recorder was what sounded like a, "Hey" followed by a couple quick sounds of someone playing ping pong??
Getting a little late by this point, around 1:00 in the morning, so we head down to the kid's room on the first floor. Spent quite a bit of time in there. We didn't get it on audio, but we had the REM-POD in the middle of the room and it did go off a bit, but you'll just have to take our word. We weren't really doing any investigating, just setting things up and it started going off. So take that at face value. About a half in, we heard a pretty loud bang in the hallway. We head back to the rec room where there's the pool table. Earlier doing out initial walkthrough, I did set up the pool balls to see if anything has moved, but nothing. They were still racked up. While we are noting what were building sounds, I am talking and you can hear a whistle over my talking. Didn't hear at the time, but caught it on audio.
Last room on our first floor investigation was a room where another investigator was being a little intimately in the leg, so I became the bait, and nothing. When we get to this room, Nikki asks if we can hang out and we get a "No" on audio. After that, I go and put the REM-POD in the hallway and I get another "No". Did not hear that in real time, only when playing back the audio.
For the last leg of our night we went into the big spooky basement where allegedly there is something down there that people call The Joker that likes the mess with people. Stuff like this does not scare me. Most likely it's built up hype that keeps a story going. Starting in the kitchen area, we got a little startled by some suddenly loud banging that really caught our attention. Time to go check it out. We tracked it down to the room on the other side of the stairs. Some sort of a mini portable cooler? It was plugged in and being really loud. So....debunked!!! So while we were in the kitchen, I tried to see if I can get a rise by criticizing the cook's meals, complaining about repeated bologna sandwiches, food with too much salt, so I started making requests for grilled cheese and some Chinese food...nothing came through the SB7. I bet there was something that could have been picked up on audio, but the SB7 overpowers everything.
A couple rooms over is a boiler room. Leaving there we hear on audio what seems to be a, "Wahoo", but that really makes no sense why would have picked that up. We get to what appears to be a dining area with a hallway behind us where a piano and what is considered to be an padded room where The Joker is said to hang out. Ok, sure. So no sooner did I put the REM-POD on the seat by the piano, and return to the dining area to start doing our thing, we hear the REM-POD going off. Ok, then. That's our queue to head over to the piano and see if we can get any more activity and maybe pick up some EVP. When we get to the doorway of the room where the piano is, it starts going off continously. We say we're just hanging out and nobody's in trouble and it stops. Coincidence??
The next room over is what they call the padded cell, but there is no padding in there. Maybe at one time, but nothing now. Allegedly this is where The Joker hangs out. I said something about this being Joker's room and there is a moan over me talking. Before we leave the basement, because nothing crazy or scary happened down in the basement with The Joker, maybe he's not trying to scare people at all. Maybe he's just wandering around, affecting the environment in a way people perceive and now The Joker is getting some dastardly reputation, when he's just doing his own thing. At least that's my theory.
Had a good night investigating this place. Nothing too crazy. Lots of bangs. Any voices were picked up on EVP and did not actually hear. And maybe I figured out that The Joker is not malevolent, he's just hanging out and if people's equipment start going off, they get freaked out and because they can't handle it, they lose their bearing and ascribe a negative feeling to it.
Headed back to the guest house for some 11th Anniversary wine and went to bed, aka couch and recliner. Got a couple hours sleep, loaded up the truck, said goodbye to the cows and headed off back to KC.
