©1 May 2025 Levite
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1.
As it turned out, the manager for the State Office the Sheriff had had reports about was his, if I remember the connection correctly, his niece in law.
In any case her report of activity was more along the lines of a traditional mischievous spirit known as a Poltergeist than anything I usually dealt with.
The main reason I haven't had many run ins with anything like that is that they tend to be centered on an individual, and usually a much younger individual, than those that are found in either county facilities or historic properties.
But given the personal connection to my boss, and that fact that it was a state office, I agreed to see if I could figure out what was going on and what, if anything, could be done about it.
Office Manager Carol was very specific about most of the activity, and even had some closed circuit TV footage of some rather odd events, which would have been hard to fake along the lines of a practical joke or prank.
The most compelling was what had happened in one of the interview rooms when nobody was in the building, as verified by the other cameras and the key card system that controlled access to most of the office.
The activity centered on those two rooms, particularly the ones on the interior of the building without a window that looked outside.
Manager Carol showed us damage to a wall, "We had a bulletin board on the wall in here. It fell down, and we put it back up, then it came loose, and fell again."
"It was screwed into the wall?" I said looking at one of the holes.
"Yes, but there's no studs in the wall, it's just the way they built the place."
"I see, what else happens?"
She led us to the next room, "the chairs will end up tipped over, and anything that's on the table will be knocked off." She picked up a calendar that had been pinned to the wall next to the door. "And this too. I thought that maybe it was something like the air conditioner blowing things off, but this room doesn't even have a vent."
"How about the cleaning crew?" The Sheriff asked his niece.
"They only come through on Friday. And this stuff usually happens on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Well, about every other Tuesday or Wednesday."
"Your Poltergeist has a schedule?"
"It seems to."
"OK, that's, different, And it is usually active in these rooms, and on those days."
"It'll sometimes mess with stuff over in the cubicles, and even in the restroom," she gestured around the office.
"You said that it broke three coffee pots in a row," her uncle said.
"Oh, yes, we got one of those coffee pod machines and got rid of the old drip maker, and it pushed it off the counter three times. It broke two of them."
"Everything ends up on the floor?"
"That's what it seems to want to do. I've got the videos on my machine from two weeks ago." She led us over to her desk.
"I can't wait to see them." I said.
She had an hour of video from a camera in the hallway outside the interview rooms, we could see the entire hall all the way down to a bookcase on the far wall.
"Our practice is that when the room is not in use, the door is open," she explained, "watch, I'll play it on fast forward until it gets good."
We watched the minutes on the recording tick by at high speed, then she slowed it down at about the twenty three minute mark.
"OK," she said.
"What was that?" The Sheriff asked as something fluttered out of the second room.
"Some of the pamphlets we have for social services. Just watch."
The door to the first room swung about halfway shut, then we could see something in the second room fall into the door and slide back out of view.
"That was the client chair," the manager niece explained.
"This says it was at seven in the morning?" I pointed to the time stamp in the corner, "On a Wednesday."
"Yes, just before we opened," she let it play some more, then said that she had another one from a couple of weeks ago. "This is the camera over there in the corner." She pointed toward the mounted unit in the far corner facing the entrance.
Once again, it was early in the morning. We watched the waiting area with its few doctor's office style chairs with a table between them covered with out of date magazines and more pamphlets. Then, suddenly, one of the magazines slid off the table onto the floor. In a moment, it was followed by another. Then some other items slid over and onto the chair they were next to before they too ended up on the floor.
We watched it twice, then I went over and looked at the table and the stuff on it. "It shouldn't have done that," I said to the table.
The air conditioning vent was a good distance away, and the front door was reasonably air tight.
"Well?" The Sheriff asked me as I returned to the manager's cube.
"Unless somebody is really good at pulling a hoax, there's no other explanation."
"I checked the other cameras from the time we closed the day before. Nobody was here, and nobody messed with that table before we left. If you want to see them I've got those. Here's the one from about a month ago." She clicked on another video from the hallway, this time, the interview doors took turns slamming. Early on a Tuesday morning.
"I'd like to have a copy of all of them. But I believe you. It seems you have an interesting office here Miss Carol. If he approves, I'll see what I can find out about what's going on."
"Of course you have my approval."
"Then I'd like to see the office schedule. What is scheduled or planned on Tuesday and Wednesday that doesn't happen on the other days of the week? Clients, staff, meetings, whatever." I asked her.
2.
Manager Carol made sure I understood that anything involving clients was not to be disclosed to anybody else in the rest of the world, forever, then she gave me all kinds of information about staff, vendors, social agencies, and clients to take back to my office and sort through.
But all I was interested in was what happened on those two days, every other week or so. And I had the dates on two of the recordings to go on. Two were Tuesday mornings, and the other was a Wednesday two weeks before that.
Which meant that I could skip the Friday cleaning crew, and I didn't have to worry about the state mail courier or the Postal Service that came almost every day. And the Monday Office Supply Vendor was out as well.
I was looking for any commonality on those two days, every other week or so, and on no other business days.
And then I found it.
So I went back out to see Manager Carol.
As they are clients, I am changing their names in my journal. For now, they are Jill and Sue Smith.
They are sisters in their early twenties. Jill is the older by about a year, Sue is several months pregnant, and they have been in trouble since they were in high school. But, they have always managed to avoid prison through various programs for non-violent offenders. And they are currently living in Suffolk County in an apartment on their grandparent's property, which, evidently, the grandparents aren't overly thrilled about.
Now the young women are attending, first one, then the other, appointments with a caseworker in the office, twice a month, with the goal of keeping them out of trouble, and now with the added attraction of various programs for single mothers, and the people that take care of them.
Manager Carol told me a little about the sisters when I asked her if she recognized the names.
"They're nice enough, but they spent years hanging around the wrong crowd just outside of Queens. So they agreed to move out here a few months ago to get away from them, Sue had just found out she was expecting, and Jill wanted to go to CNA training. So we worked with them, and got them what they needed," she said, then she shook her head, "but even here, they've managed to get caught shoplifting and both have gotten several traffic tickets. But we're still trying to work with them, and Jill is still in her classes."
I asked a simple question, "do they want to be in the counseling?"
"No. Especially, Sue."
"The one that's pregnant."
"Yes, she keeps saying she doesn't try to do stuff that gets her arrested, but she just ends up doing it on an impulse."
"How about the other one? Jill?"
"She's always been friendly, but I can tell she doesn't want to come in."
It fit with what I'd seen on the videos of when they came in for their appointments. The pregnant one would sit in the chair closest to the door, and unless she walked down the hall to the restroom, she didn't move. She never looked at the magazines, and if one was on her chair, she'd push it over onto the table. Then she'd sit and scowl until called back to her meeting.
The other one would sit in another chair, and stare at her phone until she was called back.
And when one was in her session, the other one just sat and waited.
What I thought was most interesting was when they were together either before or after the appointments, you could actually see a halo of energy around the two on some of the videos. At first I thought it was just a camera artifact, or perhaps wishful thinking on my part. But as I went through other recordings of their arrival and departure, the aura was there. And not around anybody else that came and went, including the staff and the cleaning crew.
I had gone back two months in the logs and available CCTV videos.
The worst of the poltergeist activity happened the morning before their appointment, although there would sometimes be odd occurrences the evening after it. And nothing had been happening on any other day of the week.
And the sisters had most of their appointments on Tuesday mornings, although they would come in once in awhile on Wednesday.
I made my own appointment with their adviser.
I was told in exactly so many words that she was not their counselor, nor their case worker, and not their probation officer either. She was their 'adviser'.
Ms Cunningham was curious as to why I thought Sue and Jill were the focus of the activity around the office, until I outlined the history of the events and how it corresponded with their appointments, and only with their appointments.
Then she admitted that sometimes when Sue was in the interview room with her, that sometimes she'd feel the room change around her with the young woman's emotions. "Sue is very emotional, but she stops them. And what she says is that she swallows it. And when she does, it changes things. It's like that tingling you feel in the winter when you walk across a carpet, just before you touch the doorknob."
"Do you feel that every time?" I asked her.
"Some more, some less, but yes. Sometimes it'll start when I go out and see them both out front before I bring one of them back."
"Which one do you take first?"
"I leave that up to them. And, I think it's about fifty - fifty."
"Have you ever had any thing happen while they're here?"
"Lately? Yes."
Manager Carol verified that last week when the sisters were there, the fire alarm suddenly went off while Sue was in with Ms Cunningham. She said Sue got upset about something, 'and swallowed it'. A few minutes later, the alarm went off.
The fire department, the alarm company, and the office building's maintenance team couldn't find a reason for the alarm. No pull stations or sensors had been activated, the alarm just went off.
"That, and sometimes, while she's sitting right where you're at, my pen or something will roll off the desk and I'll have trouble finding it. It'd be over in the corner or under the desk or something."
"I'd like to speak to them, if could be arranged. Perhaps we can think of something that isn't threatening and I could just talk to them."
"If they agree to it, I don't see any harm in it."
Manager Carol and Ms Cunningham talked to the sisters, and assured them that my interview was harmless and was for informational purposes only, and would occur at the end of their regular session. The premise was was that Suffolk County was interested in the presentation of County Services to State Clients. Which, County Social Services was, and my interview was based on their questions, but what was more of interest to me was the full spectrum photos that would be taken every few seconds, the digital recorder's trace, and the EMF meter tracking in real time to a computer.
I even had an idea to sweeten the deal. Once in awhile, the Sheriff's Office will give out gift cards to those that need them. We had a couple of them left in our office and I told Manager Carol that if she thought it would help the sisters, to offer them one each at the end of the interview. With that incentive in the mix, they accepted.
3.
The next Tuesday I sat in the second windowless interview room while Ms Cunningham did her usual sessions in the first room.
I had a full spectrum camera in the reception area, and it took a photo of everything in the area ever ten seconds, and fed them to my laptop in real time.
And it there was no mistake. The aura around Sue, and to a lesser extent around Jill when they were close together. And as they sat and waited, the aura around Sue got more intense without getting larger. Then after Ms Cunningham called Jill, the aura around the pregnant sister changed color and took on a red tint while the young woman simply sat and sulked.
While Jill was in with Ms Cunningham I reread the questions I had from social services, and the ones I had added to the list. Because of confidentiality concerns, I couldn't have any monitoring devices in that interview room. However, I could, and did, have ALL of them in my room.
In a few minutes, Ms Cunningham introduced me to Jill, and she went to call Sue back. I explained I was there from Suffolk County and just wanting to know how County Services had been presented to them, and a few other questions and she was free to answer or not answer as she saw fit.
My interview with Jill went well. She said that they'd been offered several different services, and her sister was in the single mother's program.
When I asked her about unusual things that had happened, she didn't seem to want to talk about it, and I said that was all right. Then I asked her if she had visited any of the clothing closets in the area.
I gave Jill her gift card and thanked her for coming in.
I had a few minutes to get ready for the other sister. And then I heard Ms. Cunningham's door open and she led Sue in.
The young woman came in and sat heavily in the client chair and didn't make eye contact with me for some time. However, she did, sort of, answer every question I asked her about County Services, and I got about halfway through the list. Then I asked her my question about unusual activity around her.
"Yes, there's always been a little...." then all of the sudden she looked up at me, "You said your name is Elaine?"
"Yes."
"Are you a Sheriff?"
I saw no reason to lie about it, "Yes, I'm with the Sheriff's Office."
"Are you the Elaine that was on TV about working on the paranormal cases?"
"Yes, that was me."
"Oh, God. You've got to help me."
"I'll do everything I can, sit right there for a second," I went next door and asked Ms. Cunningham to come in and join us, and then, as I thought about it, I called out for Jill to come in as well. They did, and now the small room was quite crowded.
"OK, Sue, you asked for my help, and I'm willing to do whatever I can to help you. Tell me what's going on."
She looked at Jill, "My sister knows about most of it, and because you're here, I guess they've called you as well."
"Yes, the office manager reported some unusual activity."
"I try to not make it happen, but when I get upset... especially now," she put her hands on her pronounced belly, "I can't help it. I hold it down like I always did, and then, you know, things happen. I don't even have to be around for stuff to...." She trailed off and looked like she was ready to cry.
Jill spoke up, "I've told her that she needs to let her emotions out, but she's always been like that, since she was a child, just keeping it in. And she's always had a little of it around her. But now it's worse."
I nodded, "with the extra emotions of carrying a baby, and the added energy as well, it is manifesting with more power." I reached over and took her hand, "And like I said, I'll do everything I can to help you."
She looked over at me, "you believe me that I don't want things to happen."
"Yes. And I also believe you want to either stop it or control it. And we may be able to help you. But you'll have to do it."
Sue sat there and sort of sagged.
Ms Cunningham saved the day, "You've met Ms Carol, the office manager?" Sue nodded, "She used to do a lot of work with clients who were having emotional issues. Would you be willing to talk to her?"
I added something that I thought may help, "Not forever, just until things are under control. And then maybe a followup once in awhile to keep it there."
She looked up at her sister, "I've got to do something."
"And their offer sounds like a good idea," Jill said.
"You can try it, and if it doesn't help, we can do something else," I said, "through doing this I've met some others that might be able to help. But you know her, and you're used to coming here."
She nodded, "I can try it."
4.
I didn't get to go over the sensor readings and photos from the sister's sessions in my interview room until the next day.
While Jill was in room I got some interesting EMF readings, and a couple of good full spectrum photos, and a bit of background noise on the audio. But I can get those by running a test in our breakroom at the Sheriff's Office. And yes, some people do have a pronounced aura that can change hues from time to time.
Then Sue came into my interview room.
And I am glad I had the readings I got from Ms Carol while I was setting up my gear and testing it with her as a control, and then the low level readings from Jill to compare them to.
Sue was a mess. While she was answering the early questions the EMF detector would go up and down, first it would cycle quickly, then it would go back up slowly and sit there for a moment, then ease back down. Then it would sit like it was broken for a moment, then spike again. When she finally accepted the idea that maybe Ms Carol could help, it settled down to what might be a background reading for her, at twice the level her sister showed.
The full spectrum camera had been shooting in video mode the whole time. With Ms Carol, the only detectable aura I could see was a bit of a glint around her neck and the side of her head. Which, all things considered, is normal for a living person. Jill had a bit more of it, like she did in the waiting area. It tended toward yellow and green, when not around her sister that is.
Then when Sue came in things changed dramatically and covered a good bit of the room, and always with red tones to it. When she was just slouched in the chair there would be glimpses of blue, but they would lose out to the red when she spoke. Then finally, when she was thinking about getting help, there were some pinks and even a bit of black now and again. Which, by the research I did into the phenomenon as I was watching the video, would seem to have been a good sign.
As for the audio recording, the background noise from Jill's session was there, in spades. I could hear something that almost sounded like a power hum or ground noise on a sound system when the room was in silence, and it wasn't my stomach letting me know it was close to lunch time. But then, after her comment "You've got to help me" there was almost what sounded like a young dog had gotten its tail caught in the car door. And then, silence except for our conversation.
It was on both recorders. And it was at the precise moment when the EMF had a series of spikes that could pass for an EKG reading, and when her aura in the video changed to more pink than red.
With that information in hand I made an appointment with Manager Carol, and Ms Cunningham, and the Sheriff.
And then I made a little speech. "Just before we start, all of this is right out of the camera or recorder, I've done no editing or enhancement. The raw camera files are still right here on the card if you want to look at them."
"It must be something extraordinary," the Sheriff said, "I've never heard her say that before."
"It is." I said.
"I'm not sure if I want to see it or not," Manager Carol said, "I just talked to Sue this morning."
The two women who worked with the sisters looked at each other, then nodded.
"Go ahead and show us," Manager Carol said.
I began with the full spectrum photos as they came into the reception area and played through everything. Finally pointing out that final sequence when Sue agreed to work on her emotions.
"I spent several hours going through what the colors of the aura mean. And we could get way into it. But what matters is that final, multi-colored sequence. That confirms to me that she doesn't want any of this stuff to happen and is really willing to try to change."
Manager Carol agreed, "she said that this morning, she's been working on not bottling anything up. And while it's made some things rougher, everybody in her family says they'll help her through it."
Ms Cunningham said she could see that change in her already.
Back in our office the Sheriff stood silently and looked at me for a long moment.
Finally, he spoke, "That wasn't a ghost."
"No, sir, the term I used during the meeting was accurate. This was almost a textbook case of a poltergeist. Being generated by somebody's repressed emotions."
"I see." He took a deep breath. "And you solved the case."
"Yes, sir."
"Well done. Thank you."
-end 21-
[NOTE: The above story were written as adventure fiction, and is to be taken as such. While most of the features of Long Island exist, including several offices for State Services, the rest of the setting is fictional.
Thank you, Dr. Leftover, TheMediaDesk.com]
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