The Northern New York Paranormal Research Society

*****UPDATE COMING SOON*****

Nye Manor, Fort Covington, NY

Post-Investigative Report

Client:  Nye Manor

Date:  10/25/08

Referred by: Christopher Nye

History:  The surrounding area was acquired by James and Alex Robertson of Montreal, from a St. Regis Mohawk chief.  They established a grist mill.  The area was soon named “French Mills”.  During the War of 1812, the area was used as a fort for Colonial and British soldiers.

The stone house was built around the 1820’s for Jabez Parkhurst, a major in the Continental Army.  After Mr. Parkhurst’s death on Oct. 31^st, 1865, the property was obtained by Dennis E. Deneen.  In August of 1894, the Farmer’s National Bank of Malone began foreclosure on Dennis Deneen, but it appears it was resolved.  The house was then passed to Edward Dineed.  In 1935, Genevieve (Deneen) Hays, daughter of Dennis Deneen, returns to Fort Covington after her husband, Ralph D. Hays, died in NY City and acquires the property.  Dec 30^th, 1968 Genevieve passes away in the home.  For a time afterward, various owners and renters occupied the property until 1993, when a suspicious fire ripped through the home.  The property was then bought by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe for back taxes.  In 2005, the property is purchased from the Tribe by Christopher Nye, saving it from scheduled demolition.

It has been confirmed that 6 deaths have occurred in the home, while 2 more are believed to have occurred there as well.  The death of Jabez Parkhurst and Genevieve Hays were of natural causes. Jabez’s first wife, Fidelia, committed suicide in the front upstairs bedroom in 1849 after she had, according to a news article from the Malone Paladium, suffered “symptoms of mental derangement.”  3 of the other confirmed deaths were all children of Fidelia, who all died at almost exactly 9 months old.  It is believed that the Parkhurst’s daughter, Caroline hung herself within the house as well.  The date of Caroline’s death was August 25^th, 1857 following the death of her only child, who it is believed also died in the house.

Reported Activity:  Christopher’s first experience happened even before he bought the house.  Touring the house with an uncle in the dark, both of their brand new flashlights went dead at the same time in the Library.  Shortly after the purchase, Christopher was told there was an entrance to the basement, but could not locate it.  After giving up, he left to get a power saw to cut a hole in the floor.  When he returned, he found a hatch open to the basement propped up by a stick.  Christopher was working one night, about midnight, when he heard a female voice say “Hello”.  After hearing the voice, he searched frantically for a source of the voice.  He could not find anyone in proximity to the house, and his wife and daughters were sound asleep in the carriage house.  He stated it sounded like it came through an echo chamber, but from approx. 4” behind his head.  Shannon has stated that she has felt deeply saddened and grief stricken when in the house, even if she was in a great mood when entering.  Both have mentioned hearing doors close and footsteps within in the house when all alone.  Neighbors and other passers by have claimed to see lights on upstairs prior to the Nye’s moving in, when the house was boarded up and had no electricity.

Investigation:

Members Present: 

Merrill M., Dave Z., Randy S., Brian Le., Todd J., Leonard N.

Others Present:  Christopher and Shannon Nye, and their two daughters.

Equipment Used:

Video: CCTV DVR with 4 IR capable cameras, 2 Sony HandyCam Hi8 camcorders, others                                                                                              Photo: Multiple Digital Cameras, two 35 MM camera
Audio: 4 Digital Voice Recorders (2 Olympus, 1 RCA, 1 Sanye)
EMF: 1 Extech EMF Detector, 1 generic CellSensor, 1 Magnetic Shield Corp ef-401
Temp.: 2 Raytek Mini-temp Non-contact IR Surface Thermometers, 1 Fluke Non-contact IR Therm., 1 Temp/Humidity Data Logger, 1 Ambient Temp. Thermometer

Other:  Laptop Computer, notebooks and pens, 2-way radios

Time Started:

8:00 PM: Initial Walkthrough
9:00 PM: Equipment Setup (Base EMF, Surface Temps., Ambient Temps. taken at this time as well)
9:15 PM: Split into teams to initiate investigation
1:00 PM: Equipment pack up begun
1:30 PM: On-site investigation completed

Personal Experiences:

While setting up, Dave was almost hit with a sheetrock sanding pole.  He was walking up the stairs and the pole appeared to fall from the above landing.  Christopher states that he knows for sure that the pole was not near the stairwell, and was placed in the back corner.  Throughout the night, members heard bangs, shuffling, and breathing in areas where there appeared to be no natural cause.  Around 1:00 AM, while attempting to record an EVP in the attic, Nick, Dave and Todd all heard what sounded like the front door closing, a female in a conversation and footsteps.  This occurred while the rest of the investigators and family members were in the un-attached garage located approx. 30 yards from the house.  Nick heard the female voice ask, “Why are you in the attic?”  Towards the end of the night, Randy and Brian say they walked through a “cold spot”, but noted there was no ambient temperature change.  Shortly after, they had a piece of sheetrock “thrown” in their direction.  They asked, “If an entity threw that, could you do it again?”  Immediately, another piece of sheetrock fell to the floor.  This second piece however, seemed to come down with less force.

***After leaving, Christopher states that Shannon was going up the front stairs when she was almost hit by the same sanding pole that almost hit Dave earlier.  Christopher states that he made sure to place the pole back in the corner, away from the stairs prior to it almost hitting Shannon.***

Debunked:

Christopher stated that when he bought the house, there was a large amount of garbage and graffiti in the house.  This means that, despite the appearance of it being closed, some people had been inside.  We believe that the lights seen in the upstairs rooms prior to The Nye’s occupancy, were due to kids, vagrants, etc. being in the house without permission using either a flashlight, lighter or candle.  Investigators attempted to recreate the falling sheetrock pieces.  They found that while jumping in that room, sheetrock would fall.  It is quite possible that walking in that room could have caused the sheetrock to fall, at least the second time.  The investigators felt that the first piece seemed to have come down with much more force than the ones that fell when trying to recreate the experience.  All other reported activity is thus far unexplained.  

Data Collected:

Although not all data has been fully reviewed, we have found 4 anomalous sounds on the audio from the attic recording.  One of these sounds like a woman’s voice asking, “Why are you in the attic?”  One sounds like a mumbling male saying “Came the other way.”  The others sound like a door closing and footsteps.  We attempted to re-create the sanding pole falling, and were unable to.  The Data logger showed slight temperature changes in the bathroom prior to, and after we attempted to recreate the experience Christopher had in that room with the female voice saying, “Hello”

Initial Conclusion:  At this time we have sufficient data to tentatively conclude that this home is haunted.  Further investigation is needed to collect more data, and attempt to find explanations for our currently unexplained personal experiences.