The Dandy house also known as the Hinsdale House is nestled in the Enchanted Mountains of Cattaraugus County New York. It's currently owned and being restored by Daniel Klaes. After exiting Interstate 86 you continue on a journey that leads to dirt roads that twist and turn their way up to Hinsdale. The area is reminiscent of my time spent in Tennessee. The green rolling hills go on forever and on a rainy day the clouds spill over the lush green hilltops making for a beautiful scene.
Once you reach the final road that dead ends you'll find yourself in the Dandy House driveway. The house itself is a simple wood frame house built in the mid 1800s probably no larger than 1100 square feet. It's stark white paint jumps out against the gray sky and the new black asphalt driveway. Once my feet hit the ground I looked around and immediately felt like there was something glaring at us from the tree lines. Maybe it was my anxiousness getting the best of me. However, my first thought was how I could feel the energy of the land more so than the house. I had no idea how beautiful the surrounding land would be. Our other car of team members arrived alongside us. We all exited our cars to walk the land and take in the surroundings before heading in.
Author, Paul Kenyon and I had corresponded before our team's visit. He's and old friend of the Dandy family and writer of "You Know They're Here" a book outlining the paranormal occurrences experienced by Paul and the Dandy family in the 1970s. I had read his book and contacted him informing him that our team would be up there to investigate on September first and that he was welcome to stop in. I was ecstatic to find out he would be stopping by. Little did we know what the evening would reveal.
It turns out September first is a special day. I hadn't realized it when booking our visit but we would be arriving on a day that in the past, the Dandy's would host their annual labor day party. Activity always seemed to spike up during these Dandy picnics held on labor day. It also happens to be the unfortunate day that Laura, a Dandy daughter, passed away.
The team all chatted with Paul and his friend Tina in the driveway for a long while. As the sun began to sink we decided to head in. You step onto the enclosed porch and from there you enter into the kitchen. To the immediate right off the kitchen is a small 8x10 bedroom that served as Mike Dandy's bedroom in the 70s, the walls are dark paneling and there's a small window. Back in the kitchen it's a simple room with paneling and old wood floors. The room holds a small glass showcase of souvenirs and books. On the back wall is the back door and an old countertop with a mini fridge and a coffee pot. Before you get to the backdoor on the left there is a steep set of wooden stairs that lead to the master bedroom on the top left, where Phil and Clara Dandy slept. Off the parents room is a small room that might have served as a sitting area in the 1800s. It was known as Mary's bedroom. Across from the master, to the right of the stair well is a tiny 8x6 room known as Laura Dandy's room. Back downstairs, off the kitchen to the left of the staircase is an opening into the family room. This was the room we spent most of the evening in. The walls hosted dark paneling and the room held two newer sofas, an older victorian settee and a couple tables with lamps. There was also a wood rocking chair in the corner. The room was "L" shaped. The area to the right was used as a bedroom for the eldest Dandy daughter Beth, and it was closed off by a curtain during that time. Now, its just an open space where some random items are held. Mike, on the team was setting up our camera system when he felt a touch on his neck that he described as a single finger being swept across the back of his neck.
The rest of us began our investigation by settling into the family room couches and listening to Paul and Tina share their stories about the house. Tina was sitting near a window that had long drapes. I was sitting between her and Paul as he told a story. He was explaining how he once saw the curtains move before. He stood up to show us. A few moments later I saw the curtains move on their own, swaying. After reviewing the video it was really hard to see the movement but it's there. The windows are sealed but the skeptic in me says it could've been the result of Tina sitting close to the window. Either way it sent a chill down my spine.
The next unusual event was when Paul was now sitting in the wooden rocker next to our guest investigator Cheryl. She had her Ovilus on and it kept spitting out similies to the words Paul was saying as he spoke. Personally, I don't put much stake in that particular device but it happened with more than ten words over the course of five minutes. I was intrigued.
We continued to get increasing activity on our K2 meters no matter where we placed them in the room. Green being the least amount of EMF and red being the most. The meters were spiking into the reds with no problem. Team member Carrie had a Rem Pod and it would detect temperature change. Seemingly, whenever the K2 activity would spike it would sound off. It was at this time something shocking occurred. Paul seemed very agitated with the mockery coming through the Ovilus and he decided to get up and was pacing about, asking spirit to show itself. He went up the stairs and we watched as he called out to spirit. Paul is a jovial guy and we were kind of laughing and joking with him about how these spirits didn't like him. No sooner than he reached the top stair he turned around, rushing down he was visibly upset and trembling. His face was ashen. He said it spoke to him up there and that he didn't believe it. He kept repeating how he just couldn't believe it. We gave him water and sat him down and asked him what he heard. He said he heard a gruff male voice say, "Come here". We were downstairs as were our recorders. We certainly didn't hear it with our ears and suspected our recorders didn't capture it either.
We setup our kinect in the upstairs to see if we could connect with whatever disturbed Paul so greatly. Mike picked up 2 figures that we could not debunk. One was hovering in the doorway of Mary's room next to team member Judy. Whenever Paul would even stand up to start toward Judy the figure hovering in the doorway next to her would dissappear. It didn't do this for any team members but Paul.
Paul only stayed for a short while longer after that. We all talked over what happened again and said our farewells. Paul visibly had enough for the evening. As he left he told us that its been many years since he's seen or heard activity at the house like it was tonight. He and Tina left.
At this time we decided to try team member Mike's spirit box. For an hour or more we embarked on a Q&A with a male spirit and a male child who said his name was Roger. The child was able to determine the two colors of a ball on the floor. We felt the male voice was keeping the child spirit close and was evasive to our questioning. Whereas, the child was answering direct questions from team members about age, his name, and saying he wanted to "kick" the ball. We recorded it all and it can be seen on our website and facebook page.
Intermittently dowsing rod sessions were conducted by team members Kelly and Kristie. Both Kelly and Kristie were getting direct responses to yes and no questions as well as getting spirit to spell out parts of a name. Kelly was upstairs and picked up on an indian spirit toward the end of the night. I was downstairs pacing outside in the dark. At the same exact time Kelly was upstairs picking up on the spirit of a Native American. Outside I was experiencing my own paranormal phenomena. Coming from the woods I could hear wood wind instruments being played in the distance. I ran in to grab a team mate to hear but by then it was gone. Five minutes later I learned Kelly was having a very active dowsing rod Q&A with this Native American spirit. Coincidence?
We continued with a kinect session upstairs. This time the camera was pointing toward Laura's room. Upon review it appeared that the kinect figure, to the left of Carrie, was touching her on her head. Carrie would call to tell me two days later that it felt like she was tapped on the head. I explained to her what we captured. She was in awe, as were we.
Img: Carrie being touched on her head
In the following days we reviewed our audio and shockingly, we did pick up the voice that frightened Paul upstairs. It was male with a rough, growling voice saying, "Come Here!" We also picked up another EVP or two as well as all the audio during our Q&A with the male and child spirit. Upon review our photos revealed an image of what appears to be a woman in victorian type clothing sitting in Laura's room. One picture looks like her head is looking forward, the second shot appears that she's looking directly at the camera. We wrapped up our investigation sometime after three in the morning.
Other disturbances during the night that were noted.
During the night our team member Carrie heard her name called in the bathroom and later the basement door (in the bathroom) was found ajar. Another team mate, Kristie, swears she heard and end table creaking near where she slept.
We currently are still reviewing all of our pictures, audio and video for any other evidence. I highly suggest paranormal teams carve out time to visit the Dandy/Hinsdale House. The activity on the land and in the house was impressive. We definitely would love to go back again.
A special thank you to Daniel Klaes for hosting us and Paul Kenyon and friend Tina for sharing your stories. Your time spent with us was priceless.
To book you event at the Hinsdale House go to: The Hinsdale House on Facebook
Visit:
Visit: https://www.facebook.com/thedandyhouse/