Episode 335 - Scotland's Most Haunted House

Summary

Two Girls One Ghost - Episode 335: Scotland's Most Haunted House

Hosts: Corinne Vien & Sabrina Deana-Roga
Date: August 17, 2025

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Overview

In this immersive and heavily researched episode, Corinne and Sabrina delve into the infamous story of Scotland’s most haunted house: Balikin House (also spelled Balkan House/Balakin House), a centuries-old estate renowned for its both tragic and chilling history. The girls explore the legacy of the Stewart family, the eccentricities of Major Robert Stewart, a wave of 19th-century hauntings, and the spectacular, career-destroying controversy that befell Ada Goodrich Freer, the world’s first celebrity ghost hunter. Alongside tales of ancestral pride, cruelty, poltergeists, phantom dogs, and scandalous Victorian investigations, the hosts reflect on questions of skepticism, gender, and the shifting sands of paranormal research.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The History and Setting of Balikin House (03:21 - 08:58)

• Balikin/Balkan House was a grand Georgian estate in Perthshire, Scotland, owned by the Stewart family since before the 15th century, with ties to Scottish royalty ("descendants of one of the kings" [01:49]).
• The estate included extensive grounds, churches, and outbuildings, and for centuries was home to dozens of Stewarts, their grieves, wives, servants, and possibly their ghosts.
• The only surviving remnant of the original house was a carved Stewart family arms from 1579, firmly embedded in the new manor built in 1806.

2. Major Robert Stewart: Reincarnation and Death (10:34 - 14:23)

• Major Robert Stewart, heir after the premature deaths of his brothers, lived a military life in India and returned home convinced of reincarnation, particularly that he would be reborn as a black spaniel.
• He collected 14 black spaniels, making clear to staff his spiritual intentions, threatening:

  “You better take care…for when I am gone, my soul will go into a mole and haunt the garden—and you too.” ([11:25], paraphrased)

• Upon his death (1876), his nephew John Stewart inherited the estate, changed his family name to Stewart, and, deeply disturbed by the reincarnation talk, allegedly ordered ALL of Robert's spaniels—and any dog found on the property—to be killed ([13:47]).
  • Sabrina and Corinne note the irony:

    Corinne: “Apparently it’s not devilish to murder innocent animals though. How ironic.” ([14:18])

3. Early Hauntings and Poltergeist Activity (14:23 - 19:20)

• Hauntings began almost immediately: a pervasive smell of wet dog, unexplained knocks, explosive sounds, fights, cold spots, the feeling of being nudged by unseen animals, voices, and persistent bedclothes pulling ([15:10]-[17:16]).
• John’s family and staff became so frightened they refused to live in the main part of the house; a new wing was built, and even nuns retreated from certain portions of the estate due to disturbances.

4. Documented Supernatural Encounters: Priests and the Phantom Dog (19:38 - 23:46)

• Father Hayden (Jesuit priest, 1892):
  Multiple nights in Balikin induced panic: animalistic shrieks, explosive crashes, and, most disturbingly,

  “a large animal throwing itself violently against the outside of his door.” ([20:59])

• Hayden’s confession that Robert Stewart was likely the cause led to prayers for the restless soul, which temporarily eased the disturbances.

5. The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and Ada Goodrich Freer (31:46 – 38:06)

• As hauntings escalated and tenants abandoned the property, the SPR organized an extraordinary investigation, led by Ada Goodrich Freer (1857-1931), journalist, scientist, and the world’s first “celebrity ghost hunter.”
• Ada’s profile was unique—not only as a woman in a male-dominated field but for her rigorous, scientific approach and penchant for secrecy (writing as “Ms. X”).
• Sabrina notes the injustice that followed:

  “...she and others…did as much as possible to erase her from history. But she also did it herself because of what happened.” ([38:07])

6. The Great Balikin Investigation: Encounters, Apparitions, and Hypotheses (43:11 – 65:31)

• 35 people spent up to four months in Balikin (Feb–May 1897), performing Ouija, crystal gazing, and rigorous daily logs (“hundreds of… [entries],” [45:05]).
• Notable Hauntings:
  • Phantom Dog(s):
    Ghost spaniels (sometimes seen, often only heard), a dog playing with Ada’s own pet—

    “I saw a black dog larger than mine dart across the room…then my real dog, Spooks, ran in from the opposite side…” ([47:48])

    • Grotesque sounds of animal death and ghostly paws pressing on nightstands.
  • The Nun and the Gray Woman ([49:56] – [55:49]):
    • Multiple independent witnesses see a weeping nun spirit (later revealed as possibly Isabel Stewart, Robert’s sister and a real historical nun) comforted by an older “gray woman” (hypothesized as “Margaret” by Ouija).
    • The spirits’ recurring tableau evokes tragedy—possibly the trauma of a woman forced into the nunnery.
    • Notable quote, Sabrina:

      “But are they showing it to people, or are they…existing in another plane and the people just keep seeing it?...Some lapse in time?” ([53:52])

  • The Brown Crucifix (Room 3):
    • Aggressively presented floating cross, seen by several investigators and a priest ([56:04] – [59:16]).
    • Distinctly different “oppressive” feeling from other hauntings; speculation over whether the apparition is warning, blessing, or threatening.
    • Corinne:

      “So it does feel more like someone’s trying to present something that’s holy…like prevent something.” ([59:50])

  • The Limping Man (Room 4):
    • Footsteps and dragging sounds in the former bedroom of Major Robert Stewart.
    • Tests to recreate the noise failed; phenomena was “heavier and echoey” ([62:32]).

7. The Controversial Aftermath: Sexism, Slander, and Professional Ruin (65:31 – 74:12)

• After the scientific, multi-month study, Ada plans to release the findings as serialized articles.
• An anonymous, scathing article in The Times (“On the Trail of Ghosts”) outs the true location and participants of the investigation, calling Ada “unfit” due to her “duties as hostess” ([67:09]).
  • Sabrina:

    “...simply because she is a lady…she is unfit to carry out the actual work of investigating the phenomena…” ([67:09])

• Public opinion, the Stewarts’ desire for privacy, and institutional misogyny converge; Ada is fired from the SPR and forever branded a fraud, despite mounting evidence of the house’s hauntings.
• Testimony from a household worker, Harold Saunders, tries to defend the hauntings:

  “[the knocks]…occurred almost nightly for two months…[and] I felt my sheets being lifted off of me…” ([68:01])

• Ada’s defense and attempts to clear her name in the press go unheeded.
• Corinne’s analogy:

  “It’s like…if she fudged a few things, I don’t blame her…I guess it just depends on what the setting was.” ([74:49])

8. The End of Balikin House (76:07 – end)

• Plagued by notoriety and abandonment, the house eventually fell into ruin and was destroyed by fire in 1963 ([76:07]).
• Only the servant quarters remain; Sabrina mourns its loss:

  “If this was a movie, I would think it was fictional…It has all the elements that you would want in a great movie.” ([76:34])

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Listener Story: The Haunted Scottish Dorm (78:41 – 87:30)

From Bethany:
A short but chilling firsthand account of a high-schooler’s stay at a Scottish university dorm during the Fringe Festival:

• She endures hearing her name called, crying reflected in her mirror, hair magically braided overnight, and three weeks of continuous, inexplicable scratching.
• A vivid dream as someone trapped and clawing at a door brings grim resolution to the haunting.
• Validation from a friend (“I heard you crying last night. Just stop.” [81:33]) and hosts send chills.
• Sabrina muses about the blending of traumatic events and residual energy:

  “What if her crying…bled through time and was residually haunting Bethany? But then the story took turns.” ([85:12])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Justice for Ada:

  Sabrina: "Justice for Ada." ([03:06]) (This refrain punctuates the episode as Ada’s story unfolds.)

• On Ancestral Pride:

  Corinne: “[It’s] kind of creepy…to have a society all about you and your family.” ([04:35])

• On the Spectral Dog:

  Sabrina: “...the sound that alarmed him the most...a large animal throwing itself violently against the outside of his door...” ([20:59])

• On Historical Repetition:

  Corinne: “We will never, ever be done with this podcast.” ([03:01])

• On the Scandal:

  Sabrina: “And honestly just want to say up front, like, justice for Ada.” ([03:06])

• On the Hauntings’ Impact:

  Sabrina: “The hauntings become so prominent that John builds a new wing in 1883, and they no longer live in the old portion of the house...” ([17:40])

• On Paranormal Investigations:

  Sabrina: “There is a full…addendum of all of the hauntings, all of the sounds, what date they were heard, who witnessed it, what the sound sounded like, what room…” ([44:29])

• On the Fleeting Nature of Activity:

  Sabrina “the hardest thing about the paranormal…there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. You could spend a hundred nights...and experience zero hauntings. But the day you leave, all of the hauntings could happen.” ([22:22])

• On Sexism in Science:

  Sabrina: "She is unfit to carry out the actual work of investigating the phenomena in question." ([67:09])

• On the Cruelty of Fate:

  Corinne: “He killed a bunch of dogs. I’m not sure I’m going to–that he can redeem himself in my eyes after that.” ([67:55])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro to Balikin House and Major Robert Stewart: 03:21 – 14:23
• Onset of Poltergeist Activity: 14:23 – 19:20
• Nuns and Early Investigations: 19:38 – 23:46
• SPR and Ada Goodrich Freer: 31:46 – 38:06
• Full-scale Investigation & Apparitions: 43:11 – 65:31
• Backlash & Ada’s Downfall: 65:31 – 74:12
• Demise of the House: 76:07 – end
• Listener Story: Scottish Dorm Haunting: 78:41 – 87:30

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Tone and Style Notes

• The hosts maintain their usual blend of humor, wonder, righteous indignation, and empathy for haunted souls—both living and dead.
• The attitude towards historic injustice (“justice for Ada!” cheers, outrage at misogynist slander), open-minded skepticism, and curiosity weave the chilling and the tragic together.
• The story is told with respect for historical details, nuance on paranormal phenomena, and a clear affection for both the haunted and the haunters.

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Conclusion

Episode 335 delivers a masterclass in gothic storytelling intermixed with contemporary skepticism. The Balikin House stands as a character in itself—a place marked by centuries of trauma, eccentricity, and relentless spectral energy, as well as by the destructive power of prejudice and scandal. Through the fascinating story of Ada Goodrich Freer, the girls make a powerful case for remembering women erased by history, and for the enduring weirdness and mysteries of haunted places. The listener story cements the consensus: Scotland, its castles, and its ghosts remain, in every sense, “very spooky.” ([00:39], [89:55])

Transcript

[Corinne]

Support for this podcast and the following.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Message comes from America's Navy.

[Corinne]

The Navy offers new graduates hands on training and experience in careers like computer science, aviation and medicine, plus education. And sign on bonuses. Parents, help your grads start their career [e-mail].

[Sabrina Jambo]

Very spooky.

[Corinne]

Hi. Hi. This is Two Girls, One Ghost.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Two Girls, One Ghost. And we are your ghostesses. That is Corinne.

[Corinne]

Hello.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I am Sabrina Jambo.

[Corinne]

Hello, Jambo.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And I'm so excited for today's episode.

[Corinne]

Me too. You teased us last two weeks ago.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Two weeks ago. And it's not even like that. Gave zero indication of what this episode is actually about to entail.

[Corinne]

Question. Are you able to go to this house when you go to Scotland this October? No.

[Sabrina Jambo]

No.

[Corinne]

Okay. So we'll just live vicariously through others who've shared their experience online, which you have researched and are about to tell us. Yeah, I'm okay.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I'm just really excited. I also feel like this episode can hardly fit the amount of evidence that there is from this house.

[Corinne]

No way.

[Sabrina Jambo]

This is Scotland's most haunted house. The Balkan house.

[Corinne]

It has just like a medieval name too. Like, I just imagine like the kings and queens, sort of like the whole fighting and bloodbaths and.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Well, there is a Game of Thrones. I mean, there is. I went so deep into this house and like the clan of which the home and the land belong to, and they're descendants of one of the kings. Like, it is. It is very Game of Thrones. But it's also what I teased in episode 333 was the story of a man who very, very deeply and profoundly believed in reincarnation, that he believed he would be reincarnated as a dog. But this quickly goes from what seems like an odd, eccentric man with this belief in reincarnation to one of the most controversial and scandalous paranormal investigations from the 19th century and the most heartbreaking, tragic defamation of a female in the industry of cyclical research.

[Corinne]

Right. This is just like another one of those instances where it's like, how have we not heard of this before?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Right.

[Corinne]

This is more evidence. That evidence will always be coming forward. And even when it happened some hundred, 200 years ago, sometimes it's still new to us. It is. We'll never run out of things to talk about.

[Sabrina Jambo]

We will never, ever be done with this podcast.

[Corinne]

A scandal. I'm so intrigued.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I know. And I honestly just want to say up front, like, justice for Ada.

[Corinne]

Justice for Ada.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Justice for Ada.

[Corinne]

You should have worn your sweatshirt that says ada.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I gotta go. I'll be back in an hour.

[Corinne]

A missed opportunity.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So this is the story of Scotland's most haunted house, the Balakin House. It is located or was located in PR shire Scotland, which I believe is western Scotland. According to the Stuart family clan organization website, which I spent a lot of time on. It is a stunning Georgian estate that had been in the Stuart family since before the 15th century. It belonged to James Stewart of Sticks and Balikin, believed to be an illegitimate son of James ii, who was the king of Scotland. The land was once home to a stunning stone structure that fell into disrepair. And the only thing that remained or remained from that original home was the Stewart family arms. That was dated 1579. And so I did some research to try to find this coat of arms.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And I found that the Stewart family has an organization and an entire website dedicated to their history and lineage. And I was like, okay, are these the correct stewards? Because how many Stuarts are there in Scotland? Which the answer is there are many. A lot. But it is the correct stewards. Because when I went to check, like, the website is called stewartsociety.org and it has.

[Corinne]

It's kind of like creepy in a way to have like a society all about you and your family.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It's very like so much pride in their family line. And I feel like that is common same with Game of Thrones, but like there's just the clans.

[Corinne]

Right.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And Scotland was like very clan based.

[Corinne]

It's just also crazy to think about, like castles and large homes and estates and how many people, like if you were like the cousin, you also had some sort of. Scotland's not very big. How are all of these people and their big ass houses fitting well?

[Sabrina Jambo]

And they had so many. So there's on this website, there is like a whole page, multiple pages about castles and buildings that belong to the Stuart family. And so I found amongst this list, the Balakin house listed. So I was like, oh, it must be the correct Stewarts.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But all of the houses have like the name of the manor, the castle, the building, whatever. And then the location. The Balikin house had. Balikin house, dash Haunted house.

[Corinne]

Don't go there. Nothing else.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Nothing else.

[Corinne]

Just haunted.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Haunted house.

[Corinne]

Wait, that's incredible. I know. I like that they claim it. I'm sure all the other houses have hauntings too, but clearly this one is.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Like, and it's infamous. So this is what I found and what I believe to be the Stuart family arms, which is in the house. So if you're watching YouTube, you can see some Images. And you'll also get to see a lot of photos relative to this story.

[Corinne]

It's really interesting because it does kind of. And this is no insult to this family, but given that it's not like an actual photo of, like, a tapestry or something, it does look like something like if you were in middle school and you were using. What was that, like, paint thing that we used to have on, like, early days computers thing, and you could use, like, dots and paint and make lines.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Didn't they also have, like, certain objects that you could, like, fill in and. Yeah, it was kind of like a coloring book on the computer.

[Corinne]

Yeah, it looks like that. Yeah, it looks like the result of that.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Keep in mind, this dates back to, like, the 1400s. So, like, the access to colors and, like, artwork is very different. And they're putting this, like, on their armor. They're putting this on, like, they're etching it into stone.

[Corinne]

I guess so. But still, it's like you look at.

[Sabrina Jambo]

All the marvelous so hard.

[Corinne]

I'm not judging the crest or the coat of arms or whatever. What's it called?

[Sabrina Jambo]

The arms? Yeah, the family arms.

[Corinne]

I'm not judging that. I'm judging specifically the photo of it that you just showed.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Okay, well, I don't have a photo of the actual stone carving, but this is what we have. Okay. So the only thing that remains from the original building is a stone carving of their arms. And in 1806, the Stewart family that lived on the property decided to build a Georgian style manor on the property. Not exactly in the exact same spot where the previous home was, but they ensured that the only remnant of the previous home, the family arms, was built into the wall of the new home, which I think is a very beautiful homage. So this home is stunning and massive, and there are blueprints in the YouTube video. So we're going to go through the basement first. The basement had kitchens, offices, a pantry, a smoking room, a billiard room, and a lamp room, which. What happened in a lamp room? I don't know. Then it had a ground floor with a great hall, a dining room, a morning room, a drawing room, a butler room, four bedrooms, and a bathroom.

[Corinne]

Wow.

[Sabrina Jambo]

This also kind of plays out like, clue.

[Corinne]

Oh, I like this.

[Sabrina Jambo]

The second floor had eight rooms, many of which will play an important role in this episode because they are numbered. And we'll come back to this specific blueprint because when we talk about the specific hauntings, they're, like, associated with the room numbers. It also had an attic. And then additionally, the property included a Beautiful garden, like a stream, servants quarters, outbuildings, a parish, and a churchyard. I'm not sure 100% of this history of the Stuart family and, like, who was the first one to live here. But there are many notable Stuarts who lived on or were of Balkan. They are descendants of the broader family that at one time held the Scottish throne and then later the British throne. But the important thing to note is that There are over 300 years of stewards, their wives, their families who have lived on this land, who have owned and potentially died in this home and are potentially buried on the property.

[Corinne]

But today, do they have an actual marked family cemetery?

[Sabrina Jambo]

So we'll get to this at the very end. But, like, the property isn't maintained anymore. So I don't really know what it looks like at this point. But I do know when we get to Robert, Major Robert, who's the one we talked about in episode 333, like, his grave was not marked. Like, a lot of people were buried there, but not necessarily marked in the traditional sense that we know.

[Corinne]

I'm curious if everyone was, like, generally buried in the same area or if it was just kind of like, go outside and dig a hole.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I do think they were all in the churchyard.

[Corinne]

Okay. Yeah. I was like, that's a little creepy to just be, like, wandering through the gardens or something. And I, like, is great, great, great Aunt sue here?

[Sabrina Jambo]

I smell great great Aunt Sue. She must be buried beneath my feet. Okay. But today, our story of this haunted house really begins in 1806, the same year that the current property of the home was built. It was January of 1806 when Robert Stewart was born. He was one of nine children, six girls and three boys. And I think he was the youngest boy. So he had two older brothers. And you'll remember Robert from our episode 333, which is two episodes before this. But today, we're going to get to know him and his home so much better. So Robert entered the military in 1825 at service of the East India Company. He spent a lot of his time traveling. And then in 1834, his mother passed away and he inherited the Balkan house because unfortunately, his two other brothers had died unmarried, and his sisters. It's 1834, were not eligible to inherit the home.

[Corinne]

Boom. Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But Robert was still away serving in the military. So apparently he rented out the home until 1850 when he retired as Major Robert Stewart, and he returned to the Baldikin house with some new spiritual beliefs. Again, we briefly discussed this in episode 333. But Major Robert Stewart had become so fascinated by Hinduism while serving in the military. And so when he returned to Balkan House in 1850, he was convinced he would one day return and inhabit the shape of a black spaniel. In order to make that transition easier, he adopted many black spaniels. I think it was 14. And he figured that one of them would be the vessel for his spirit. When he himself passed. He was so adamant in his belief in reincarnation that he made it known to everyone. There's a gardener who was quoted saying that Robert told him, you better take care to keep up the garden properly, for when I am gone, my soul will go into a mole and haunt the garden and you too.

[Corinne]

Is this his way of getting everyone to, like, stay in line with what he wanted, just, like, threatening reincarnation to everybody?

[Sabrina Jambo]

No, he, like, genuinely, like, believed it and he loved this house and he never got married and he never had children. So I think his staff and the people who worked on the property were kind of his only friends or his closest friends.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

In addition to his furry friends. In 1873, a young housekeeper named Sarah, and her last name starts with an N. I couldn't find her full name because in the book most people's names are like, yeah, Sarah died suddenly and I think she was like, either early 30s, late 20s, so she's young. And apparently she died in a mysterious way in the main bedroom, as in, in Robert's bedroom, which is this mysterious.

[Corinne]

Or is this, like, where the scandal comes in?

[Sabrina Jambo]

This actually has nothing to do with the scandal.

[Corinne]

Oh.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And we kind of get no answers, the drama of the scandal, and we don't get any answers here of, like, why it was mysterious or like, what happened to Sarah. But she died in 1873 and I guess it's insinuated that her and Major Stewart had a relationship of some kind in, like, a sexual nature. But, like, again, there's no evidence for sure. Then, three years later, in April of 1876, Major Robert Stewart passed away. He was buried beside Sarah and another one of his servants in the middle of the parish churchyard. No monument marked their final resting places. And like we said in episode 333, upon his death, his nephew, his sister's son, whose name was John Skinner, inherited the home. Upon inheriting the home, he actually changed his last name to Stewart to, like, continue the Stewart of Mullikan family clan. Unfortunately, this nephew John was not too keen on the idea of his uncle returning in any manner, but especially not as a dog, as he had like, so adamantly professed for years. So John ordered the staff to kill all 14 dogs that had belonged to his Uncle Robert and any dog that came onto the property. Evil, which is absolutely.

[Corinne]

So he did. He had to have believed in reincarnation because he was so fearful of his uncle returning as a dog.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It's one of those, like. Yes, but he wouldn't say that.

[Corinne]

You know, any dog who steps on the property, you kill. What about a cat? What about a horse?

[Sabrina Jambo]

But is it like a belief of, like, that's the demon's work, that's devilish or satanic, And I don't want anything to do with that. I think he was very religious. And so there's.

[Corinne]

It's still a belief.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It's a belief.

[Corinne]

Either way he believes.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Either way he believes. And he.

[Corinne]

Apparently it's not devilish to murder innocent animals, though. How ironic. Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But that did not stop Major Robert Stewart from coming back. While he may not have been able to reincarnate as a living dog, he sure as heck came back to haunt the home. And it might not just be as a spectral dog. He might have come back as a spirit in his own form.

[Corinne]

Dang.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So almost immediately after Major Stewart's death and the death of all his dogs, very strange happenings start happening at the home. It began with a smell and small sounds that, like, very easily could have been written off. And keep in mind, John, his wife and I think he had multiple kids are moving into this house for the first time. They're not that familiar with it. Sure, they visited over the years, but they haven't lived here. They haven't gotten accustomed to, like, the house's characteristics and traits and, like, quirks. But the smell was uncanny to that of a dog.

[Corinne]

A wet dog.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Right, A wet dog. And then sounds became more and more aggressive. Knocks that seem to be, like, engaging into ongoing conversations.

[Corinne]

Ooh.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Then sounds of explosions.

[Corinne]

This sounds like poltergeist activity for sure.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Sounds of people fighting. And then when people would go and investigate the sounds, nothing would be found.

[Corinne]

Huh.

[Sabrina Jambo]

My belief is that this home had so much. I mean, there's so much history. There's so many people who have lived on this property, this land, that it almost feels like once Robert passed away because his belief in the paranormal and, like, reincarnation was so strong that he opened the floodgates to activity happening for some reason.

[Corinne]

Reminds me of the Disney movie Encanto, because it's, like, her connection to the house and the whole family's, like, belief in the house, like, Living and being this big part of them. Like, it lets the house come to life. Come to life.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. So one day, John's wife was in the study when that smell of dog became very overpowering. And with it came a little nudge against her leg as if a dog had rubbed up against her.

[Corinne]

Cute.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But it terrified her. She was so scared that she, like, no longer wanted to stay in the house. Of course, she stayed for a little bit, and then staff started becoming terrified of the house as well, because there would be unexplained footsteps accompanied by cold spots. And on many nights, John and his wife would hear the sound of someone, like, pacing and walking around the bed with a limp. And Robert Major. Robert Stewart had a limp.

[Corinne]

Well, there we go. Proof done, solved.

[Sabrina Jambo]

People continue to smell the dogs, to feel like they were being pushed. Cold spots, hearing knocks, voices, rattles. Family members reported being terrorized by poltergeist activity. Bed clothes would be pulled off the beds by unseen hands. There'd be groans, heavy breathing, icy coldness. Seeing people when they were not there.

[Corinne]

Wait, which family was this? This wasn't the.

[Sabrina Jambo]

This is Jon Stewart.

[Corinne]

So this is his nephew that killed. Okay. I wasn't sure if this was, like, families after this.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

So, I mean, he went and killed all of the dogs that were beloved to probably everyone in the home, too. I'm sure the staff and everybody loves those dogs. So, yeah, I understand the house rejecting him and fighting back, but the poor.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Kids, his wife, like, everyone is in the staff are being.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I mean, I don't necessarily think it's, like, terrorized in an evil way, but, like, the hauntings have just all of a sudden, floodgates open. Everything is happening, and it seems like it's nonstop. So the hauntings become so prominent that John builds a new wing in 1883, and they no longer live in the old portion of the house that had been built in 1806.

[Corinne]

This is just like the house of my neighborhood.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Oh, yeah. Yes.

[Corinne]

For anyone who doesn't understand the reference, the house doesn't exist anymore. But the neighborhood that I live in used to just be a big amount of land with one giant mansion on top of the hill. And the mansion has since been torn down. But the family that lived there, supposedly, they lived in one small section of the house because the rest of the house was just run rampant by ghosts. And they were scared.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. And I think also because of John's beliefs and like. Or rather, like, disbelief of the paranormal that he didn't know how to deal with it. He didn't understand that this is perhaps, like, his uncle's spirit wanting redemption or wanting to be acknowledged. Or maybe there's, like, a conversation to be had. Instead he was like, or we have to.

[Corinne]

Or there's some, like, weird little things going on that as a spectral observer, his uncle was like, oh, hell no. Are you gonna do this shady business? Like, we don't know what. What the spirit world was peeping in on as well.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Well, stay tuned.

[Corinne]

Oh, am I right?

[Sabrina Jambo]

No. Well, uncle was looking out, and I'll tell you.

[Corinne]

Okay.

[Sabrina Jambo]

We'll get there.

[Corinne]

Hey. Uncle was a dog lover, so he. Okay.

[Sabrina Jambo]

In our body, we're team Robert.

[Corinne]

Yes.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So, yes. He built a brand New Wing in 1883. His family and all of the staff refused to go in the old portion of the home. They remained staff, too. Yeah, everyone.

[Corinne]

And I'm assuming this is the same staff that worked for.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I'm sure there was some crossover.

[Corinne]

And John probably kept. Yeah. Most of them on.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And then he allowed the cottage that was on the property to be used as a retreat for nuns. Which then leads us to one of the more prominently documented hauntings at the home prior to what becomes even more heavily documented haunting.

[Corinne]

So he brings nuns in, and then it becomes more haunted. What?

[Sabrina Jambo]

So, like, there's the chapel on the property, too, and it's a private chapel. So there's priests that have, like, come and gone and stayed. So there was already that holy aspect to it. So he extended the openness to some nuns. In 1892, a Jesuit priest named Father Hayden spent many nights in the home, and he had to rotate rooms due to hauntings because the first room and the first night, he was awoken by loud noises and shrieks of animalistic nature. The next night, he chose to sleep in another room, but the encounters happened. And that is when he started hearing the explosions, which sounded similar to that of, like, military equipment going off. But the sound that alarmed him the most was what he describes as in. This is very like, to me, what I hypothesize out of this haunting is very, very sad. He describes as a large animal throwing itself violently against the outside of his door, which makes me think. And this is a common haunting. It's a residual haunting of, like, one of the dogs being killed.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

No one else seemed to be hearing the sounds, just Father Hayden. So Father Hayden spoke to the owner, John Stewart, about this, and John confessed that he believed his late uncle was responsible for the hauntings. That perhaps Robert, Major Robert, his uncle, was trying to attract attention because his soul was not at rest. So John is like, oh, we need to help him find peace. So he asks Father Hayden to, like, pray for Robert's soul. Father Hayden had arrived to the house July 14, 1892, and left by Saturday, July 23. He stated that of the nine nights spent there, the only night that was undisturbed was his final night because the.

[Corinne]

House wanted him gone. Wait. Or was the house trying to be like, oh, no, our plaything's about to leave.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Our plaything.

[Corinne]

Let's pretend like we're going to be chill. Maybe he'll stay.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I don't know. I mean, that's the thing with all hauntings. It's like. And every haunted house we've talked about, it's like, why do the hauntings seem to be, like, really intense one time and then go quiet and then come back? Like, what is the pattern and what is the reason?

[Corinne]

Well, it's even the Lizzie Borden house when we went with Ash and Elena. And then as soon as we all decided we were going to leave, the house got super bright. We felt super comfortable. It was like, okay, we're done.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Like, it stopped performing.

[Corinne]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And then so Ada, who will come into the story later, she's a prominent female investigator of the time, she recalled that, like, of many of her studies, she was like, the hardest thing about the paranormal is that there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. And she said it in a more eloquently, like, sophisticated way, but basically, you could spend a hundred nights at a place and experience zero hauntings. But the day you leave, all of the hauntings could happen. And then you could come back 20 days later. And the day before you come, it's extremely active. But the day you come, it's quiet.

[Corinne]

So.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So there's no. That makes sense.

[Corinne]

That happened in my. In my parents house too. Like in my family house growing up. Because I remember there was a period where it was so incredibly active and we were all so curious about it that my mom had emailed the New England whatever, like some New England paranormal investigative group that was like, really big. This was maybe like 15 years ago at this point. And they emailed back like a month later. My mom was like, it's not really active anymore. Like, we're going through a really lull.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Like, it's not the right time.

[Corinne]

Yeah. And now it's not the time. You know, if you wanted to come, you would have probably had to come the next day.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. Father Hayden is departing on Saturday, July 23rd of 1892. On his leave, John Stewart, the owner of the house, begs father Hayden, please not give the house a bad name. Basically being like, please don't go around telling everyone the house is haunted.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So after leaving the home, Father Hayden did share his encounters with very few people. And one evening, I think he was in Scotland or he was somewhere, but he struck up a conversation with a stranger. And he was surprised to find that this woman had been a governess at the Balikin estate for some time. So working there from 1778 to 1880. And she left, unprompted by father Hayden. Father Hayden told nothing. This woman is a complete stranger who coincidentally used to work at the house. Tells father Hayden that she left the home because of the strange sounds that alarmed her. She had never seen anything, but she heard things in certain rooms and told a story of two military officers who had spent one night in the house and fled immediately in the morning.

[Corinne]

This partially reminds me slightly of the bell witch cave, where it's like officials, just people who are supposed to be like, unshakable, unbreakable, and everyone's running screaming from the house.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. It's also just like such a weird time because there is this spiritualist movement that is happening and this, like, rise of people being interested and curious. But then there's also the, like, heavy influence of religion. And it's not too distant from witch trials and, you know, massacres and persecution of religious beliefs. So I feel like there's like a weird dichotomy that's happening here.

[Corinne]

And also, I guess I'm just so confused about that time period too, because it does. To me, it just feels. Seems so. Like there's people who get punished for believing those things, and then there's other people that are so vocal. And it's like, what's the right one?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Like, how, who, who, what, when, why, where?

[Corinne]

How do you stay alive?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. And then you have to, like, worry about, like, dysentery and poor hygiene and other things too. It's like, survival is not for the week. So now It's January of 1985, and Jon Stewart is in the business room preparing to go to London on a business trip. He's on the phone in his business room when all of a sudden, paranormal activity seems to hit an all time high. Like there is such intense knocking that he can no longer hear the person on the other end of the phone.

[Corinne]

Oh, wow.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And instead of taking this as like a sign or a warning of some kind, because it's like, why all of a sudden Is this so persistent? And it is occurring up until the moment he leaves the house.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

He continues to go to London. He should not have ignored whatever this was because this was his last time ever in the home alive.

[Corinne]

What?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Shortly after this encounter, John left for London where he was tragically run over by a cab in the street and died from his injuries. So now recalling this story, a lot of people are theorizing, was this his uncle's spirit or the spirits of the home trying to warn him, preventing him from leaving?

[Corinne]

Like he didn't listen or like a little haunting of Hill House? Like if you don't stay at the house, if you don't get called back, like still bad things will follow you.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Well, thank you for bringing up Haunting of Hill House because if you haven't, which I feel like you haven't watch the original Haunting of Hill House movie.

[Corinne]

No, I've been wanting to read the book.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

So I think I bought the book.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I think the book is probably like the original movie, but it's so different from the TV show we've all watched. Haunting of Hill House, the movie, because I haven't read the book is about a group of people who for some experiment and study, go move into a haunted house and all of the hauntings that ensue. And it reminds me so much of this story because an entire cyclical research team is going to move into this home to document the hauntings and experience an unbelievable amount.

[Corinne]

Dang.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But before we get there, John passes.

[Corinne]

Away, which I have mixed feelings about how I feel about his passing because obviously he left behind a family and children. But he killed a bunch of dogs.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yes.

[Corinne]

I'm not sure I'm gonna that he can redeem himself in my eyes after that.

[Sabrina Jambo]

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[Corinne]

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[Sabrina Jambo]

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[Corinne]

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[Sabrina Jambo]

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[Corinne]

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[Sabrina Jambo]

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[Corinne]

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[Sabrina Jambo]

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[Corinne]

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[Sabrina Jambo]

Delicious.

[Corinne]

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[Sabrina Jambo]

After John's death, the home and the estate continued to be passed down the Stewart family line. But the hauntings had become such a persistent problem that no Stewart really lived in the house. They would rent it out. So they had a proprietary.

[Corinne]

They Airbnb it before Airbnb was a thing. They did the original haunted Airbnb experience. Oh my gosh. Amazing.

[Sabrina Jambo]

They had a Proprietor who basically, like, managed the property and they would rent it out, but they had rented out without telling people of the hauntings. But they quickly found out because they had moved into the house and most of them would move out, like, almost immediately. So many tenants left within weeks of taking residency. There was one family that took residency in August of 1896 and left after seven weeks, forfeiting most of their rent.

[Corinne]

Wow.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So then in 1896, one Colonel Taylor, who was a member of the London Spiritualist alliance and the Society of Cyclical Research, which we'll call SPR for the remainder of this episode.

[Corinne]

Let's save your brain and mouth the trouble.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Took over the lease of the home because by this time, the haunting nature of the house had been heard and shared amongst the cyclical community. So there's someone named Lord Bute who is also a part of this story and, like, comes into for the investigation. But he had befriended Father Hayden, the one who had stayed in 1892, and they had traded stories of this house. So Lord Bute had known of the home. So when Colonel Taylor basically got the opportunity to rent it, he was like, lord Bute, you and this woman, Ada Goodrich Freer, who we'll get to in a second, are going to lead the investigation of this home.

[Corinne]

It's just so crazy now to think that people were like. Cause that timeline is the Edwardian period, moving into the Victorian period and just, like, picturing people in their outfits, but then also just being, like, totally spooked by ghosts and running around these properties, like, trying to do, like, psychic research and stuff. Like, it just seems. It just doesn't match in my brain. Yeah, the outfits don't match, but I.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Kind of love it. Like, I feel like wearing those things I saw on TikTok, people are, like, layering their long skirts.

[Corinne]

Oh.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And I was like, this is very Victorian era. Like, it's very Cinderella Y.

[Corinne]

Wait, I have no idea if this was accurate, but it sure as hell looked very accurate. Someone posted that Hollister was bringing back their, like, 2001 or like 2000. It was like, 20 years ago, like, two decades ago line, and it was exact, like, exactly what we used to wear.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Like, they're. It's back.

[Corinne]

Let me quickly fact check this. I'm not surprised because someone was saying that with the tariffs, they just brought back old inventory to get rid of.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It's literally just been. There's no way that's just been sitting in a warehouse for 20 years.

[Corinne]

Okay. Hollister 2000. It's so accurate. Oh, My gosh. Okay, I'm going to pull up the TikTok, because specifically when you watch the TikTok, you'll be like, oh, shit, this is crazy. We're going to watch a TikTok, everyone. This is from Kate Steinberg.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Oh, my God. That's crazy.

[Corinne]

They didn't use new designers, right? They, like, literally brought back. Exactly. It's not even, like, inspired by. This is what we wore with Ugg boots with your jeans tucked in in case anyone wants to complete their outfit for this fall. The last one that comes up to, like, the tie back shirt. Holy shit.

[Sabrina Jambo]

The short shorts, too. Is we should pull out some old photos of us and just. Ooh.

[Corinne]

I had really dark black eyeliner that I only put on my bottom plate. On the bottom. And it was.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It's so funny how, like, I mean, it's. Every generation goes through this, but, like, we look back and we're like, oh, my God, that style was horrendous. And then it comes back, which is.

[Corinne]

I know. It was better than elementary school. I wore every single day for four years straight. This was like. I was like, elementary school started when I was five and a half or six.

[Sabrina Jambo]

What did you wear?

[Corinne]

I wore one of those really thick headbands and a choker, and I wore that, which is a weird choice for such a young child.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

But I wore a choker and a headband for four years straight. And when my chokers would break off, usually they'd last like a year, year and a half before they break off. I just immediately put a new one onto my, like, three pack.

[Sabrina Jambo]

The black, like, and the red stringy ones.

[Corinne]

The black and then the red and black.

[Sabrina Jambo]

The plastic ones.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

You're like Matilda, but you went a little bit more goth.

[Corinne]

This girl in the green ribbon, make her goth with cargo pants. But then Paul Frank kissing monkeys on my shirt.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I want to see pictures of you. I think that's cute. Kids can wear literally anything and be cute, but, like, middle school, high school, that's when it starts to get like, okay. Colonel Taylor, who's the member of spr, takes over the lease of the home. But when he's taking over the lease, the proprietor is like, okay. He doesn't say that the previous tenants left because it was haunted, but he does say that they made complaints of strange noises. And there was one contingency to this agreement between Colonel. I almost said Colonel Sanders. I love your laugh.

[Corinne]

That was a good one, though. I wish you did. I don't know that I would have even noticed there's so many S's and like stewards. And stewards.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. Anyway, there was one contingency that Colonel Taylor had to agree to, to take over the lease, that he would not complain on the subject like the previous tenants had. So again, still not saying haunted, not saying ghost, but like you're not allowed to complain or break the lease because of strange sounds. Now, like the. The specifics here are a little bit unclear, but because the book that I'm going to mention, which has like all the documentation is written so scientifically that it's kind of hard to focus on every detail.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But there seems that there was an agreement made between the spr, the Society of Cyclical Research, and the Stewart family to investigate the hauntings that are occurring in the house. But in doing so, they had to do it in a respectful manner. And the spr, which was common of the time was. Was not going to, in any documentation or like publications say the name of the house, the real location or any names unless given permission.

[Corinne]

Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. For privacy sake. So you don't have people just showing up and.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Exactly.

[Corinne]

Or whatever. Like your own reputation being.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So the book is like very, very heavily redacted, but because it became such a big thing in controversy, there are some names that are very clear of like, who they are.

[Corinne]

Well. And once the house became exposed as like, this was the house that we're talking about, I'm sure it was a lot easier to place like what time period this happened, who could have lived there.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Exactly.

[Corinne]

It is interesting though, I'm curious what the exact rules were where it was like, you can't complain or break your lease because it's like, okay, well, what if the walls start bleeding? Or what if my animal's thrown out the window?

[Sabrina Jambo]

I think you can just move out. But you sacrifice your money.

[Corinne]

I don't know. I don't know.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I don't think there was as like renter friendly laws in place.

[Corinne]

Right. I guess that's true.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So a paranormal research society moved into the home at the helm of Miss Ada Goodrich Freer. And remember, justice for Ada.

[Corinne]

Justice for Ada.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Ada Goodrich Freer was born May 15, 1857, and she is the first celebrity ghost hunter.

[Corinne]

Oh my God. Yes.

[Sabrina Jambo]

In history.

[Corinne]

Yes.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But she is very like. Have you ever heard her name before?

[Corinne]

No.

[Sabrina Jambo]

You've heard of Harry Price, who was influenced very heavily by Ada Goodrich Freer, but as you'll hear in the rest of the story, unfortunately, she and others, I think did as much as possible to Erase her from history. But she also did it herself because of what happened.

[Corinne]

Oh, interesting. Although. Okay, wait, side question. What do you think's gonna happen to Zach Bagans when he dies? Cause he's made enemies with the spirit world.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I know.

[Corinne]

So you would assume perhaps he'd go on to haunt, but I think he's going to get beat up.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Or will he just, like, join the demonic ranks?

[Corinne]

Oh, God, he's the new boogeyman.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Can you imagine being haunted by Zack.

[Corinne]

Baggins instead of hat man? It's like a man from 2008 with black spiky hair saying, come at me, bro, wielding an axe. But the ax is like hovering above him, like, do it, do it, I dare you.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Oh, my God.

[Corinne]

Fumbled. Holly will never forgive you.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Never. Literally, that, like, blows my mind. Holly is a little. A prize. Okay.

[Corinne]

We would date Holly if she would let us.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Absolutely, absolutely. Together.

[Corinne]

Us together.

[Sabrina Jambo]

A throuple. Okay. So sadly, due to the nature of her life and the scandal surrounding the Balkan house and her involvement, she kind of is a ghost in terms of her history until she's 31 years old. But even then she worked under a pseudonym, Ms. X. Because keep in mind, this is the.

[Corinne]

Ms. X is like also the coolest fucking I know.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But keep in mind, like, she's a woman in the like paranormal realm, which is already like a taboo industry or, you know, society well.

[Corinne]

And she's a woman scary because like 180 years ago, some people were still getting killed for, I know, dabbling with the spirits. Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So the information I was able to find on ADA is thanks to Trevor H. Hall, who wrote a book called the Strange Story of Ada Goodrich Freer and I believe is working with us to like, justice for ADA for much of the so called controversy, which is very controversial in my mind, as in like made up to defame a successful woman in a predominantly male industry in a male dominated world. But anyway, what I could find was that by 8 years old, Ada was an orphan and she was separated from her siblings and like remaining family and basically sent to her aunt's boarding school. And so in place of friends and family, she focused on scholarly activities and she became like, very, very well educated. So that by the time she was 18, she was well versed in writing and in science and math, like everything. And there's. This is hard and it's like, based on my research, people are like, she was a bit scandalous and like, she looked younger than her age and she used that to her advantage and she got involved in like Relationships with men in order to, like, advance herself. But I'm like. Or is she a woman who experienced a lot of trauma and used her.

[Corinne]

Smarts to, like, do what you gotta do to get successful, to survive and get where you need to be? Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

By the time she was in her 30s, she had become acquainted with the spiritual cyclical world and began writing for a journal under a pseudonym, Ms. X. She then met Frederick Myers of the Society of cyclical Research, which she joined in 1888, which is where she was eventually introduced to our haunted house, Balikan House. She approached the paranormal like a scientist with theories and hypotheses, inquiries into all aspects of spiritualism, like crystal gazing, automatic writing, folklore, second sight, etc. And it was Ada, along with multiple other visitors and members of the SPR, who, on February 3rd of 1897, moved into the Balkan house to investigate the subject or subjects of the supposed hauntings at the house. So here we are, February 3, 1897. Ada, along with her good friend and avid investigator, Lord Bute, who was the vice president of SPR, and a few others, moved into the house. The group, along with, I think, over the span of almost 4 months, a total of 35 visitors spent time in the home. And the purpose of this investigation was to document the hauntings and test for potential fraud, hallucination, or environmental cause. So, again, a very scientific approach makes sense. There was one thing that I read where Ada's belief in the paranormal, and I can't remember who she, like, referenced another person in this field who, like, proposed this, that hauntings or paranormal activity were of a hallucinatory nature for two reasons. One, that people of the beloved, like lost loved ones, create it out of, like, grief or, like, their own belief. Or two, that there's, like, something in the liminal space and time that we don't understand, which is, like how we kind of refer to ghosts.

[Corinne]

Yes.

[Sabrina Jambo]

You know, but that, like, that falls within the hallucinatory nature because it's something that we couldn't understand at that time.

[Corinne]

Right. Oh, so it's interesting. So she's not just being like. It's people having mold exposure or just grieving and making stuff up to help themselves grieve. She's like, well, it could be that. Or maybe there's something of this plane, of this earth and the space that we live in that we can't interact with in a way that we understand yet.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Exactly. Because there's even, like, one encounter that I didn't write down from this house where, when they ask a Spirit their age. So basically, they believe they were talking to one spirit who would have been, I think, 53 if he had continued to live. And he gave 53 as the age that he was, meaning that, like, in his reality or whatever the spirit was, like, existing in, he was continuing to age as he would have been if he hadn't died.

[Corinne]

Oh, yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So it's like, we clearly don't understand what. What that alternate reality or, like, slip in time is like.

[Corinne]

Right? And, like, how different haunting because I know. Well, we don't have to get into it.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Imagine, like, I was reading this book, and I'm like, it's trippy because it's one. It's hard to, like, fully comprehend because it's so scientific. Whereas you and I are like, it's a ghost. The end.

[Corinne]

I heard a knock. It's a ghost. I smell something weird. It's a ghost.

[Sabrina Jambo]

The point of this being that it's a very scientific approach. And almost immediately, their group experienced hauntings. So this is where the book that is called the alleged Haunting of Bee House, because, again, everything was kept redacted, really came into play for my research. And you can read the PDF of this book and we'll link it in the show notes if people want to, like, read more. There is a full, like, addendum of all of the hauntings, all of the sounds, what date they were heard, who witnessed it, what the sound sounded like, what room it was in. There's like, hundreds of.

[Corinne]

Wait, that's incredible.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. And it makes me sad because I can't share all of the things. Like, I feel like I'm. I'm sharing the, like, most interesting ones.

[Corinne]

The big, the largest, loudest moments.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Like, it's crazy. Looking at this list. February 4th, there are, like, four things heard. February 5th, there's, like, two housemaids here. Continuous reading. February 6th, February 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th were quiet. But then 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and it, like, keeps going. Like, every day there's something safe to say. Collectively, the group experienced undeniable evidence of the paranormal, in my opinion. Voices, footsteps, loud bangs, knockings, several apparitions, a nun, a man, a dog. So much more. Over the course of four months, the group conducted sessions with Ouija boards, crystal gazing, received automatic writing messages, and more. This was and remains one of the most elaborate investigations of the late 19th century, but also one of the most controversial. Over the course of this four months, the group made a couple theories about the hauntings. The theories out at the end were that there were at least Four apparitions and a phantom dog. They appeared as full bodied apparitions. Cloud like sometimes with shifting colors or sometimes as moving shadows.

[Corinne]

Oh my gosh. Shifting colors. Like a mood ring.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Kind of like auras.

[Corinne]

However they feel. Yeah. Or auras. My mind is in like the 90s and early 2000s.

[Sabrina Jambo]

We should bring back mood rings. These full body apparitions were most often seen in rooms 3 and 8 and then out in the glen which is like the yard and by the stream. The main prominent apparitions were a nun, the gray woman, the shuffling limping man, a religious man with a brown crucifix and the phantom dog which played with Ada's dog which she had brought to the house for the investigation. Then there were very prominent noises, clanging noises like metal struck with wood. Commonly in the mornings between 3 and 6am, mostly in rooms 1, 3 and 8. So already rooms 3 and 8 seemed to be the most haunted. They heard voices, talking, seemingly a man and a woman in an argument. There was often chanting of a voice, maybe like a priest saying what sounded like Bible verses or in prayer heard at all times of the day and night.

[Corinne]

Wow.

[Sabrina Jambo]

They heard footsteps, bangs and thuds. Most which could never be recreated. The sound of what seemed to be a large animal throwing itself against doors, groaning and whispering near doors and wardrobes. And I feel like given the history of the house and where Robert's belief in reincarnation as a dog and episode 333, I decided let's start with the dog hauntings.

[Corinne]

Great.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It was so common. The spectral dog was witnessed by pretty much everyone who spent time in the house. Most people did hear that like really horrific sound of like the dog. Yeah, I hate that. Ada brought her dog with her to Balikin house and she recalled. This is a quote. I saw a black dog larger than mine dart across the room towards my left. Then my real dog, Spooks, I love that his name is Spooks. Ran in from the opposite side and I realized there had been two dogs in the room, but she only had one.

[Corinne]

It reminds me of my mom's haunting. That's the dog. That's the only time she saw the ghost dog in our house that everyone else seemed to see except for my family.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It's wild. Later, two ghostly paws jumped onto her nightstand in the middle of the night. And they were black spaniel paws. So again, probably one of the dogs who had been killed. I do feel like the door and I want, I hope I think this is my wishful thinking. The door sound of like the dog or like an animal hitting the door? I think was residual because it seemed to happen in the same room. I hope the other one seems playful and like it's just like the ghost dog. Okay. Now, one of the most prominent hauntings that occurred over the months was that of the nun. It began with an automatic writing session early on into their stay, where. Where a spirit instructed the group to go down to the glen by the stream. The first visual encounter occurred on the afternoon of February 24, 1987. So this is 20 days after they moved in to the house. Keep in mind this is just specifically about the nun. They started experiencing paranormal activity day one. Okay. So Ada Goodrich Freer was walking alone along the small stream when all of a sudden she spotted a woman standing beneath a tree, still and unmoving. She appeared to be wearing a habit, like she was a nun with black robes and a veil. The woman was faint, like a drift of mist. And as ITA approached her, the woman simply vanished. And what I love about this book is it is mostly documented journals from people who stayed at the house during this investigation. So they're like actual entries from their journals, like, as they are experiencing things.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So it's not, like, recalled later. It's literally like, I had a paranormal experience and I'm writing it down. So it's, like, very fresh. And there is a drawing that Ms. Ada made of what she saw.

[Corinne]

I mean, that is a nun.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It's a nun trying to rationalize it. Ada kept it to herself. She documented it in her personal journal, only not telling anyone else about it. The next morning, February 25, she returns to the same spot and again sees the exact same woman standing there.

[Corinne]

Wait, I wonder, is this the way that they were doing things where, like, they weren't telling each other? They were just, like, individually writing what they experienced in their own journals.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. And then I think they would.

[Corinne]

I love that.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I think they would come together to do, like, communication sessions.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And if, like, something really, like, crazy happened, I think they would tell each other.

[Corinne]

But otherwise it was like, let's just see what everyone else experiences.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

Compare notes.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Because they didn't want to influence. Influence.

[Corinne]

Yeah. Right.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So this time she sees the woman again in the same spot, standing there still. But this time the nun is not alone. She is accompanied by a woman dressed in gray. The woman in gray seemed to be older than the nun. And this time the nun seemed to be weeping, and the woman in gray was, like, comforting her. Again, they disappear. Ada still keeps this information to Herself, so as not to persuade, alter other people's experiences. But in the days, weeks, and months that followed, multiple people witnessed the same figure. On March 3, the group partook in a session with a crystal and a Ouija board in room number three. They asked the spirit that they were talking to for her name, and the board spelled out I, S, H, B, E, L. Ishbel.

[Corinne]

Ishbel.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Or like, Isabel.

[Corinne]

Oh, okay.

[Sabrina Jambo]

When they asked what she wanted, they were given the message. She is afraid. Margaret comforts her. So Ada's clocking like, oh, okay, so.

[Corinne]

Lady in Gray is Margaret. Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And is the nun Ishbel or Isabel?

[Corinne]

Yeah. Who is she afraid of, too?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Or just afraid? Just in general. Like, what is she afraid of? Not who necessarily.

[Corinne]

Oh, I guess you can also. That can be a thing.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So then on March 9, Mr. Q, who's another investigator of the home, was on a walk again, down by the stream when he saw a woman in black kneeling by the stream, head bowed down. She was fully formed. He was so convinced that this was a real woman. So he approached her, but she faded into a mist, and he was like, oh, not a real woman. Okay. Again, no one's sharing these encounters. And then the next day, March 10, Ms. Langton sees the same figure at the edge of the woods, standing beside a tree. When she sees this nun, she is overcome with a profound sense of sadness. It's not long after, I think a couple days later, where Ms. Langdon is laying in bed. It's early morning, so she had just begun to wake up, but she's not fully awake, but not asleep. She's, like, in the liminal space between. The room was quiet, but suddenly she sees a woman in a long black habit standing at the foot of her bed. The nun did not speak. She did not move. She simply just stood there watching.

[Corinne]

Which is creepy, but at least she has the backstory where it's like this nun is afraid of something and it's comforting.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Well, she didn't know the nun. She literally. She doesn't know the nun at all.

[Corinne]

Like, oh, yes, right. Because they don't share.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But this appearance of this woman comes with intense sadness and grief. And then, without warning, another woman appears next to the nun. So now there's two spirits standing at the edge of her bed. But this other woman is older, wrapped in gray, and exudes calmness. And almost, like instantly with the presence of this woman in gray, that sadness fades to, like, a dull, more bearable feeling.

[Corinne]

That's so interesting.

[Sabrina Jambo]

The older women, it's weird that they're.

[Corinne]

Like, displaying that these spirits are, like, displaying this relationship to, like, just keep showing it to people.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But are they showing it to people, or are they, like, existing in another plane and the people just keep seeing it? It's almost like, did this, like, moment happen in real life where the nun was in her room crying, sad for some reason, and the woman in gray comes in to comfort her, and Ms. Langdon, who's just, like, sleeping in bed, is witnessing, like, some lapse in time?

[Corinne]

Yeah. Oh, I don't know.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But. So the two women stood there in silence. I guess the older woman in gray placed a hand on the nun's shoulder, and, like, then they disappear. But again, it's this, like, idea of compassion, of, like, sadness of comfort between these two. So after that encounter, again, I didn't know specifically how she shared it, but everyone starts talking about these experiences with the nun and the woman in gray, and they realize, oh, my gosh, we've all been seeing the same spirits. So then they start to theorize. So Ada has been clocking. Like, maybe Ishbel and Margaret are the names of these two spirits. And they look at the family line. Robert Stewart. Major Robert Stewart had a sister whose name was Isabel, who had gone to be a nun. And there's very little about her and, like, why she went to go be a nun, but, like, a generalization about that time of, like, women who went, like, were sent to nunneries and stuff. Like, some of them were unwed mothers or, like, misbehaved women, and they were, like, forcefully sent to go be nuns. So is there some tragedy in her story? Because she's, like, very sad, and now she's returned back to the house. It's not totally clear who Margaret is. Some people were like, oh, it's that woman Sarah, who worked at the house, who died and is buried next to Major Robert. But she was, like, in her 20s, 30s, so she's young.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So not her. I believe it probably is Isabel.

[Corinne]

I mean, that makes sense right now.

[Sabrina Jambo]

One of the other most common hauntings, and honestly, to me, if I experienced this, it would be terrifying. Hauntings is that of the brown crucifix and room number three. Room number three.

[Corinne]

I would never stay there.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I know room number three at Balkan House had a reputation. Everyone who stayed there reported an uneasy heaviness. The feeling of someone was standing just behind you, watching you, because there was.

[Corinne]

Jeez.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And Ada was the first to see it. On March 4, 1897. She was alone in the room when all of a sudden, she Felt like the energy completely shift. And there was like this, like overbearing heaviness that accompanied the shift. Then, suspended in the air, appeared a dark wooden crucifix, as if invisible hands were holding it, like presenting it to her. It hovered there for several seconds and then faded. But the moment it disappeared, so too did like the oppressive feeling. Two nights later, Mr. Q stayed in the same room, and he had not heard anything about Ada's experience. But the same thing happened. He described it as a simple wooden cross, almost glowing, as if carrying its own light. And again it faded and the tension in the room dissolved. Then Ms. Langdon, on March 8, 1897. So this is like all within like a three day period. She saw not just the crucifix, but a shadowy figure holding it forward, like a silent warning or a blessing. The moment she acknowledged disappeared. Everyone agreed that unlike all of the other hauntings in the house, this had a very different feeling. Like it felt kind of aggressive. And I think Father Hayden, who had stayed at the house back in 1892, he, in one of his journals, like, recalls an experience with a brown crucifix. Like he had been sleeping in the house. He's a priest, so he had brought with him his own crucifix and he had his priest stuff. And he recalls waking up one morning and he's kind of foggy and he sees what is a crucifix suspended in the air. But in his rational brain, he's like, oh, it's just a crucifix on the wall hung at the entrance of the door. And he doesn't like, think too much of it. But then later on, when recalling all the other hauntings he experienced, he was like, that wasn't my crucifix. That was like a wooden brown crucifix. And it was definitely floating in the.

[Corinne]

Middle of the air, which is absolutely terrifying.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

But it does also make me wonder. It's just kind of like I go back and forth because it does feel like there's such oppressive negative energy in this room that it would make sense that this is some sort of poltergeist demonic sort of presence, something evil.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I just realized, and I hadn't put this together. What if it's Jon Stewart?

[Corinne]

Oh.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Who was so anti all of the hauntings, who died despite being warned potentially by the spirits.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Like coming back and trying to still, like to still stop all the hauntings. And he doesn't like these investigators being there.

[Corinne]

Right. Oh, that's interesting. Especially because if it's, if it's held upright because I feel like so often when it's a demonic entity, we hear about them being upside down.

[Sabrina Jambo]

The only thing that that doesn't, unless we're talking like weird time glitches thing. Jon Stewart was alive when Father Hayden had experienced it.

[Corinne]

Oh yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So I don't know.

[Corinne]

It's also weird because it's like just on the property already having that chapel.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Right.

[Corinne]

And religious figures coming and going.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And again, this property has been in the Stuart clan since the 1400s. So like there are so many potential spirits or people that could be responsible for these hauntings.

[Corinne]

Right. And also another thing that makes me wonder or like almost argue against it being something demonic is that the crucifix is being presented like it's being brought into the space. It doesn't already exist there.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Right.

[Corinne]

So it does feel more like someone's trying to present something that's like holy or like, like you were saying, like prevent something.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I'm curious because I'm almost there but like kind of towards the end of the stay of the cyclical society, they do have like a blessing performed. I'm very curious what cross they use.

[Corinne]

Or what crucifix they used.

[Sabrina Jambo]

They don't state but I'm like, again, is it like some. Because it does feel like a, like pushing into the room being like begone or something.

[Corinne]

You say you'll never join the Navy, that living on a submarine would be too hard. You'd never power a whole ship with nuclear energy, never bring a patient back to life or play the national anthem for a sold out crowd. Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Start your your [e-mail] America's Navy Forged by the Sea.

[Sabrina Jambo]

The platinum card's five times membership awards points on flights got us to paradise with special access to unforgettable experiences and late hotel checkouts. Platinum card membership for a trip that's next level. Learn more@american express.com Explore Platinum terms and points cap apply. Okay, so then one spirit that it is very clear who it is is that of the limping man. And again like I shared the story of John and his wife who had.

[Corinne]

Heard the limping steps. Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

February 28, 1897. Ms. Freer Ada was sleeping in room number four, which was the major's former bedroom. And she woke to the unmistakable sound of footsteps. But these footsteps weren't just like normal. She woke up and she heard step scrape, step scrape, like a dragging sound.

[Corinne]

Which even if they were normal, like you know and recognize people have very distinct walks and if you live somewhere with someone, like, you'll know who's coming down the stairs or who's down the stairs.

[Sabrina Jambo]

She's in her bed, and this sound is coming around, like, going from one side of her bed to the other. Like, it is in her room and there is no one.

[Corinne]

Oh, that's creepy. In my mind, I was picturing it, like, right outside of the bedroom, like, down the hallway.

[Sabrina Jambo]

There are a couple instances like that, but this is, like, literally next to her. Next to her. So she. She's like. It sounds like someone walking with a limp. Later, a man, Mr. Mac P. Stayed in the same room, and he, too, heard the slow, uneven gait. But this time, it was outside his door. When he opened his door, it was just an empty hallway. Ms. Langton had her own encounter. It was early morning. She lay awake in her bed when she heard boots approaching. But it was similar.

[Corinne]

Step, drag, step, drag.

[Sabrina Jambo]

They stopped outside her door and just, like, stopped there. And then they turned to walk away. And she was so uneasy about it that she didn't dare open the door. Colonel Taylor even attempted to do a control test. He walked to the corridor with a cane. He even stiffened one of his legs to mimic the sound of, like, a limp and dragging it. But those who, like, stayed inside the room were like, no, what we are hearing is so much heavier and, like, almost reverberating in this, like, echoey way that no matter what Colonel Taylor did, it couldn't be recreated. And they never wandered aimlessly. Like, these footsteps always happened in room four and the hallway right outside of room four.

[Corinne]

Is that where he stayed?

[Sabrina Jambo]

It was his room.

[Corinne]

That was his room, yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

After nearly 62 days of countless, almost daily hauntings, on May 6, 1897, the group held a series of Roman Catholic rites, which is where I'm like, did.

[Corinne]

They use the bride crucifix? Let's see.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. Well, there's no record of it, but I'm. Oh, but I'm curious, because they did a Mass for the dead and a full house blessing. So during the Mass, multiple people saw the ghostly nun and Margaret, the gray woman, standing outside the window, like, seemingly watch. Watching this, like, blessing. Then afterward, the bishop and the priest walked through the entire house, room by room, sprinkling holy water and praying over the spaces that were, like, most afflicted, especially rooms 1, 3, and 8. So again, like, is this. Did they go into room three and, like, one of them is holding out the cross?

[Corinne]

Right.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And the other ones are praying, doing this blessing?

[Corinne]

Yeah. It is weird. Because then it's like, again, with time, it doesn't really matter when that happened. It could, like, that haunting could just be absorbed into the house. And then no matter if someone's experiencing it before that blessing actually happened or after, the house, and however time works, is still presenting that moment.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Okay, and this is a quote. The three clergymen had hardly gone when there was a loud bang upon a small table. Then, after a repeated blessing, the bang occurred, but much more faintly. That quote is the final paranormal encounter ever recorded in the Balkan house. For almost immediately after this blessing that was performed on May 6, 1897, the hauntings just stopped. What? Most of the members moved out of the house, leaving Ada and I think one other member alone in the home for an entire week. And not a single haunting happened in that final week, after so much full.

[Corinne]

Body apparitions, noises, such distinct messages, kind.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Of like what we were saying with the Lizzie Borden house. Ada wrote that, like, it almost felt like as most of the paranormal investigators left, the house just calmed. Like she felt a shift in the energy of the entire house and property.

[Corinne]

Yeah, it was tired. It needed a break.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah, it was trying to really. It really worked up. Yeah. So days after leaving the home, and again, the timeline here is a little bit unclear, but I believe Ada's plan was to, like, slowly publish portions of this investigation in the Times, almost, like, as a series. So it wasn't gonna be like a book, but it was like, every week there'd be a new publication about the hauntings. Days after leaving the home, an article is published in the Times, basically tearing apart the investigation. How I think it's called, like, on the Trail of Ghosts. And I honestly don't want to give it too much time because fuck that. But I'll give you the context. Basically, the findings have hardly been published yet. So this article is published on the trail of ghosts, and it is just destroying ADA and the practices of the SPR Cyclical Research Society.

[Corinne]

And who is this troll?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Well, that's also what's worse. It's written anonymously. The byline wrote was like, correspondent. But it's very clear that it's someone who was involved with the investigation because. And a big part of this was Ada and SPR and Colonel Taylor had agreed that they would not share the name of the house, the name of people involved, anything but this correspondent person names the Balkan house, names the Stewarts, names everyone fully. And who had such like a.

[Corinne]

Do they have any idea? Like, do they have. Was there, like, one person that was.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Like, AA does, because, okay, so they literally, like, the author directly calls out a. Which makes me think it's like a personal vendetta.

[Corinne]

Right. And it does feel.

[Sabrina Jambo]

They wrote this is a quote simply because she is a lady and because she had her duties as hostess to attend to, she is unfit to carry out the actual work of investigating the phenomena in question. And then the author continues to basically say, the methods of the SPR society are extremely repulsive, reliant on gossip as evidence, and degrading beings who are called sensitives and mediums. This is published in the Times, and as the weeks follow, like, more people. And keep in mind, like, if you're the stewards who have lived in the Balkan house for years, who didn't want their name out there, they immediately are like, yeah, this house is not haunted. And they start publishing their own.

[Corinne]

Right? Trying to.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Trying to, like, agree with this article, saying that. That.

[Corinne]

Yeah, they're panicked. They. Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So there's a lot of people trying to cover their own asses. And, like, anyone who had been, like, called out in the first article are now being like, there was no hauntings. I never experienced anything.

[Corinne]

And how's Ada? Like, she can't win here because what's she gonna do? Like, create a slander post or, like, article about the person that wrote this, and then it. Then her credibility goes away. It's just, yeah, there's no way of winning.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And so everyone here is, like, trying to protect themselves and, like, their own reputations. And it is June 21, 1897, that someone who worked in the house wrote into the Times. Like, this is the first response to the first article where someone is like, no, yeah, it was haunted. They wrote, and their name was Harold. Oh, there is a Saunders. Not Sanders, but there's a Saunders. Harold Saunders explained that he had been on assignment only a few days before maids and family members began reporting ghostly noises in the house. He was like, no, this is probably just, like, hot water and pipes banging or like branches hitting the house. So he decides to do his own investigating. And for three weeks, he hears nothing. Until one night he heard a tremendous thumping outside of his door. And he said the same thing happened at Variation almost nightly for two months while I was there. Every time he would hear the thumping, he would then have, like, a chill run through his body, like entering an ice house. And he reported hearing two distinct groans, like someone being stabbed and falling to the floor. Then when he went to bed, he felt his sheets being lifted off of him. This one evening, he tried to light A match. But his hand was held back, like, as if someone was, like, preventing him from doing it. Ooh, yeah. So he's trying to be like, no, like, there are hauntings at this house.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But it was too late. The damage was done. And the society of cyclical research decided to basically put all of the blame on Ada. They fire her. They distance themselves from her. They accuse her of being responsible for all of the fraud that was being accused of the re of the society, stating that they themselves were very ethical and science based. But Ada was not. Ada wrote to the Times expressing her objection to the original correspondent being like, first of all, I can't believe they revealed all of the private information about the, like, house and the people who were involved, because it was supposed to be kept private. So she knows it clearly has to be someone who was involved with the investigation to have all that information. And she asserts that the investigation had been done with the utmost professionalism and that the criticisms leveled against her were both unfounded and sexist. Unfortunately, it was too late. But here's what I think. I think Ada knew who the leak was. She never named them, but she did say in her response to the Times that this correspondent, in quotes, only spent 48 hours in the home. Meaning she knew who it was.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And that this person had only spent a short amount of time there. And, like, if they didn't experience anything, that's their issue.

[Corinne]

Right. And 48 hours in the home kind of sounds like they were excused from the home.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Or they just, like, only came for a short amount of time because they wanted to get involved. And they maybe they did. See, like, there's very different, like, situations that could have happened. But in my mind, I'm like, I think they could have gone to the house and been like, oh, this is like a massive get for Ada. I'm gonna do everything in my power to destroy it, because I want fame. I don't want Ada to have it.

[Corinne]

Right.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And there's a lot of speculation about Ada's life and that she was, like, mixed up in some messy love triangles and affairs. And again, like, her history is a little bit blurry, but there was, I think, some speculation that she was involved with one of the heads of the society of cyclical research and that he had, like, multiple mistresses and, like, women that he was involved with. And it got really messy. And, like, so there could have been.

[Corinne]

Jealousy or someone else coming forward. And also, even if none of that did exist, I imagine, like, depending on when this person came and spent the 48 hours. I imagine it would be really hard or just like weird to come into an investigation in the middle of it where like, you don't understand how things have already been operating and people are communicating after they've already like built this rapport and built the like, systems that they created in communicating what they're experiencing in the house. And maybe to that person it just looks like random slumber party gossip.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Right. Either way, it's heartbreaking because it was too late. Like, Ada's reputation was just like in the dirt. And I think like, looking at the political societal climate, it's the 1890s. ADA is a unmarried single woman.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

In an industry that is male dominated and also questionably, like perceived by the public. I think she was a threat and that someone wanted to ruin her reputation. And then once it was out, everyone was just protecting themselves and she unfortunately became the scapegoat.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

She was excommunicated from the spr. She did, however, publish her findings in the book called the Alleged Haunting of bee House in 1899, which is the book that I use for most of this research. And again, you can read the PDF, it's online for free. It's hard to read because it's very scientific, but when you go to like the journal entries, those are amazing. Like, there's so many journal entries from like various people who have been involved in the investigation. But regardless of its publication, Ada was viewed as a pariah in the cyclical world. And shortly after, Lord Bute, who had supported Ada the most throughout it all, had passed away. So basically anyone who was supporting her in the world in that like world was no longer. She continued to write about the paranormal and maintained a small following, but it was pretty much the end of her career. And shortly thereafter, and this is like, again, supposedly she was in London performing like as a medium or something and she was caught doing fraudulent things.

[Corinne]

Oh.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But again, there's no like, specifics. I don't know either way. She moved to Jerusalem in 1901, got married, moved to New York and truly like disappeared from the world. And it seems like she tried to erase herself and that the cyclical society also tried to erase her from the world.

[Corinne]

Yeah, it's hard because I'm also curious about what the setting was with her faking the mediumship.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Me too.

[Corinne]

Because in my mind, like, let's compare it to like Britney Spears, right? We know Britney Spears is an amazing dancer and an amazing singer. She's a great performer. Just because she has to lip sync sometimes when she has really dance heavy choreography and dancing numbers are on tour.

[Sabrina Jambo]

For how long and how many shows are you performing? Like that doesn't mean that she.

[Corinne]

That the other stuff isn't true about her. It's like a balance for the performance and for just like especially when you've been doxxed by the whole community.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But you need to be successful in order to like continue making money. Yeah. If you fudge a couple things.

[Corinne]

So if she fudged a few things, I don't, I don't blame her. I guess it just depends on what the setting was like if she was invited into someone's private home. It's grieving and she's faking it. Then. Then I'm like, whoa, you know, no.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I think it was like a show. And then.

[Corinne]

Then what do you expect? You went to a show.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I know. And then it makes me sad too, because with this happening, like clear clearly that would just reinforce all of the beliefs about her being a fraud. Prior to this, she died on February 24, 1931 in New York. And while she was not able to rectify her place in the world and in her notoriety in the paranormal world, we are doing it today justice for Ada. And like I said, Harry Price was like very influenced by her and we've heard of him before. So let's all remember Ada Goodrich Freer too. So all of this and we're like, okay, well, is the house haunted? To me, absolutely, yes. And we're like, okay, can we go there? You asked it in the beginning. Can we go? Sadly, no. Because after the spr. Cyclical society left and like this whole ordeal. Plus also the Stewarts knew it was haunted and no one wanted to stay there, which is why they were renting it out in the first place.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

The house fell into disrepair and I think by 1932 it was basically abandoned. And sadly, in 1963, a fire destroyed the home. The only remnants were the servants quarters. And that is the story of the oh so haunted and controversial and scandalous Balikin house.

[Corinne]

Dang. There's a lot involved in that house and it's devastating that it doesn't exist.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I know, but exists in our hearts.

[Corinne]

It does.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Like, I love this house. If this was a movie, I would think it was like a fictional. It's almost like too good to be true.

[Corinne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It has all of the elements that you would want in a great movie. A dead nun, eccentric man with a limp who served in the army and came back as a reincarnation of a dog.

[Corinne]

Right. Phantom Crosses, crucifixes popping up throughout the house.

[Sabrina Jambo]

A scandalous woman involved in a love triangle.

[Corinne]

Yeah. Who then, undeserving of her position that she worked so hard for during that time. Someone else doxing her a mystery.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Exactly.

[Corinne]

How do we buy the rights to this?

[Sabrina Jambo]

I think it's in public domain.

[Corinne]

How much are they? How much do they cost?

[Sabrina Jambo]

I think it's free.

[Corinne]

Well, if two Girls twin ghost ever comes out with a movie, you probably know what it's going to be based on.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It's so funny because I feel like we've covered so many stories and so many different hauntings over the years that naturally, in our creative minds, I think we are going to be influenced by all of you and all of the stories we've shared that they'll bleed into all of our creative endeavors.

[Corinne]

You know what I think about all the time?

[Sabrina Jambo]

What?

[Corinne]

And we only read it, like a month or two ago. But it plays in my head so often, and I feel like this has to be in a movie or in some sort of show. The person who wrote in about their uncle who was, like, traveling through. Was it like Cambodia or something like that? And went to the puppet show.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Oh, my God, yes. Like the weird, creepy back alley puppet show. And then was sent home as the puppet. That's haunted.

[Corinne]

That's haunted. I think about it all the time, like, every other day.

[Sabrina Jambo]

That's so funny because I have not thought about it until.

[Corinne]

Really? Oh, that stuck with me. I was like, that is. That would have been the scene in, like, a horror movie. That state would stay with me.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. If only we had all of the time and space and energy to turn all of your stories into movies.

[Corinne]

One day.

[Sabrina Jambo]

One day.

[Corinne]

All of them.

[Sabrina Jambo]

All of them. A modge punch.

[Corinne]

Or, like, we'll be inspired by all of them.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah, we are already.

[Corinne]

Okay. I picked a story from Scotland, not.

[Sabrina Jambo]

From this house, because unfortunately, we cannot go.

[Corinne]

We cannot go. But this is sent to us by someone who's emailed us before. Our listener, Bethany. And it's titled Me again. But I forgot the scariest one. So follow it up with the scariest story. Okay. Hi. I can't believe I forgot to send this one, but probably best that it's on its own. This is the sad Scotland Ghost in 2012. I was a theater kid in high school and we were invited to perform at the Fringe Festival. Is that where you went?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Wait, I thought that was a unique experience of mine. Actually, No, I knew that, like, multiple schools. Wait, that's so wild.

[Corinne]

What year it was 2012. So we were in college.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Okay. So I went the summer before, because I went to the summer before starting college.

[Corinne]

Oh.

[Sabrina Jambo]

It was like my senior year.

[Corinne]

Oh, going into your senior year?

[Sabrina Jambo]

No, it was my senior year play that was invited. So before. Right before LMU, I went to college.

[Corinne]

So spring 2011 or summer? Summer 20. So you had already graduated?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

Oh, interesting. Okay.

[Sabrina Jambo]

They weren't going to recast me.

[Corinne]

Oh, man. All right, you guys just missed each other. So we can assume summer 2012, theater kid, high school, invited to the Fringe festival in Scotland. Bethany writes. Totally the most haunted place I've ever been. I could share lots of urban legends that the locals told me, but I'll stick to my own personal experiences. We stayed in a university dorm. I couldn't tell you which one, though.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I literally did the same.

[Corinne]

How crazy.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

Also, I remember thinking how cute it was when I first got in. It had a bed, a sink, and a wardrobe in the room itself. And then a small bathroom that was attached. While I was unpacking, I kept hearing my name. But when I looked around to the door, no one was there. So I assumed maybe my friends are just messing with me. So I kept unpacking. I kept ignoring the voices. We all got together again for dinner, and I asked everyone about what I heard, but no one owned up to it. A couple of my friends accused me of making it up to try to scare them and laying the groundwork for a prank that I would say, typical theater kids, right? When we got back to the dorms, it was now curfew and we had to stay in our own individual rooms. As I was getting ready for bed, I heard crying, which I assumed was my friend. So I sat on my bed trying to decide if I should text her and break the rules and check in on her, or maybe if I should give her space, all while awkwardly listening to this sobbing. I looked to my left where the sink and the mirror were, and I saw a person sitting next to me on the bed crying. I jumped up. I looked to my right to where the person was, but I didn't see anyone. So then I looked back into the mirror. The figure was gone from there, too, but I still heard the crying. I was scared, so I put headphones in, and then I tried to go to sleep. So the next day, I asked my friend if they were okay, still not really sure what I'd heard or saw.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And wanting to believe it was their friend. Yeah.

[Corinne]

And she said, yeah, but are you okay?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Are you unwell?

[Corinne]

I heard you crying. Last night. Just stop. The same night that I heard the crying, I woke up to my hair washed and braided. I sleepwalk. So there is a logical explanation. I will say, though I have never before or since slept, walked that well.

[Sabrina Jambo]

To shower and braid your hair and nothing else is wet. So. Meaning that that meant she would, like, sleepwalk, shower, dry herself completely, get redressed, and braid her hair and get back into bed.

[Corinne]

There was no water spilled anywhere. My shampoo and towel were still neatly set next to the sink. My braids were perfect. Normally I knock things over and make an absolute mess. If I do anything while I'm sleeping, I'm. How crazy.

[Sabrina Jambo]

That is so creepy.

[Corinne]

Oh, can you imagine? Just like totally passed out and there's a ghost washing, drying and braiding your hair.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Well, we did read a story where like, these girls were at the sleepover rem and the one like woke up to her hair being braided.

[Corinne]

I forgot about that.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

The second night, I woke up in the middle of the night to hear scratching that sounded like a person dragging their nails down the wood. I've heard mites in the walls, squirrels in the walls, even bats in walls. This was not that. It was a long continuous sound that slowly moved, paused, and then started again. I put my headphones in, but all I could hear was the scratching.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Oh my God.

[Corinne]

I heard it over my music and the whole time I heard it, I was terrified. But then after a few hours, I eventually fell back to sleep.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Oh my God.

[Corinne]

When I woke up, I told everyone, but they insisted I must have just dreamt it. I told them I couldn't have because I went to sleep without headphones. And then I woke up with the headphones on. So clearly I'd woken up and I put my headphones on. They pointed out that maybe I could have slept walk again and that maybe I was just dreaming at all. The next night, I put my headphones in straight away so I could tune out whatever was triggering these bad dreams. I woke up again in the middle of the night to the scratching sound. I lucid dream sometimes. So I decided to do a am I dreaming? Trick. My trick is, if I poke my hand in the dream, my finger usually goes through my palm.

[Sabrina Jambo]

That's crazy.

[Corinne]

This time it did not. I was certain I was awake. I was so scared. I turned on the lights. I sat up in the corner of my bed with my back against the wall and I waited for the curfew to be over. I never fell back asleep. The sound continued for hours.

[Sabrina Jambo]

God, that's terrifying. Oh, that's awful. And you're alone in this dorm, and no one believes you.

[Corinne]

No one believes you. If no one believes you about the scratching noise, no one's ever going to believe you that your hair was washed and braided. Although your friend thinks you're. You're heard the sobbing.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Well, but she thinks that she was sobbing, right? My thing is, like, did the girl who shared the wall not hear it scratching? So the scratching is, like, literally only for.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Ugh.

[Corinne]

Ugh. This continued like this for the whole three weeks that I was there.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Three weeks.

[Corinne]

Except the scratching would sometimes start even before I could fall asleep. I didn't sleep more than a couple to a few hours every night. I would fall asleep constantly during the day. And one night, I snuck over to my friend's room and I slept in her room. No scratching. I slept like a baby, but I got caught, and I didn't want to be sent home. So back to the haunted room. For the last few nights, the very last night, I did not hear anything right away, and I was able to fall asleep. But then I had a dream. And in the dream, I was trapped in a dark place. I just knew in this dream that I was someone else. And there was a man on the other side of the door that I was afraid of. Also, my body hurt really bad, like, I had been beaten. I heard footsteps walk away. I tried to get out while I had the chance. I pushed against it as hard as I could, but the door would not budge. Desperate, I clawed at it so hard, I felt my nails break.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Oh, my God.

[Corinne]

I knew if I stayed in here that I would die. Suddenly, I heard the footsteps return, and I knew that that was it, that I was about to die. And then I woke up. There was no scratching, but the crying was back. It was quiet this time. It didn't scare me, but I was so exhausted that I fell back to sleep. The next morning, I packed up, absolutely stoked to be leaving. But right before I left, I turned back to the room and I said, I'm sorry. See you on the other side. Bethany.

[Sabrina Jambo]

That's so heartbreaking.

[Corinne]

I know.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And I'm also really, like, simultaneously jealous, but also happy that I stayed in that exact same dorm and didn't experience that. Yeah, like, I stayed in a haunted dorm. And I didn't know right at first because it, like, brought back memories. And I remember, like, very specifically, my one friend Julia, who was on the trip with me, was dating my friend Connor, who was also on the trip, and they, like, were fighting And I remember Julia, like, bawling her eyes out and, like, a couple of us, like, sitting in the room with her, like, comforting her. And I was like, what if her crying, like, bled through time and was residually haunting Bethany? But then the story took turns.

[Corinne]

It's so sad, too. And it is clearly the spirit knew that Bethany was leaving to. On the last night, like, give the explanation, give the dream.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Right.

[Corinne]

But it's horrifying. It's so terrifying. It's.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I wish, like, that front, because then maybe, like, they could have had a conversation, maybe. Or you're, like, you're in high school.

[Corinne]

Worse, because she'd be, like, fearful of this person coming to kill her.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I mean, I feel like I hardly know how to approach the paranormal nowadays. Like, I wouldn't. I wouldn't have known what to do if I was 17, 18 years old.

[Corinne]

Like, no, I feel like if I were chaperone. Did you have chaperones, like, from your school? If I were a chaperone. And I saw, like, Bethany could barely keep herself awake and, like, wanted to share a room with her friend.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah, it absolutely.

[Corinne]

Call both parents. Call the friend's parents. Call Bethany's parents. Do we have permission to put these two together? Right? Let her get some rest.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So sad.

[Corinne]

Why do they have to be separate in another country all by themselves?

[Sabrina Jambo]

And also, like, you're sleep deprived now, too, and you have to perform.

[Corinne]

Right.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And on top of that, like, no.

[Corinne]

One believes you had never been a theater kid, this never would have happened to you. We're so glad it did.

[Sabrina Jambo]

We're so glad it did. So that you could email it to us. Yeah. I feel like that's such a common response to so many people who email us, like, the terrifying encounters. It's like, I'm so sorry this happened, but selfishly, I'm also grateful because now we get to hear about it. We get to hear about it.

[Corinne]

Yeah. And that's.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And you get to hear about it.

[Corinne]

And amazing and additional proof of the paranormal.

[Sabrina Jambo]

As if we needed it.

[Corinne]

As if Ada needed it. Poor Ada.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Justice for Ada.

[Corinne]

Justice for Ada.

[Sabrina Jambo]

And the Balkan House is 100% haunted. And I'm sure those ghosts are still haunting that land.

[Corinne]

Oh, interesting. I wonder if, like, kids go at night to go look and they see the nun at the base of the tree.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I feel like Scotland, while it's small, is also, just, like, so sparsely populated like, that this castle exists, like, with nothing else around it.

[Corinne]

I'm gonna do one quick Google search of what? I need a reference. Okay. I just Googled, like, what's the. What's a comparable U.S. state to the size of Scotland? And it said Maine.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Oh.

[Corinne]

Which Maine is pretty big.

[Sabrina Jambo]

But what's the population of Scotland? Because I know Edinburgh probably has the largest population, but, like, what's the country Scotland population?

[Corinne]

It is 5.49 million people.

[Sabrina Jambo]

So it's not big. And how many of those people live in Edinburgh?

[Corinne]

I don't know. But in comparison, In Los Angeles, 3.8 million people live in just LA. Yeah.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Lots of castles out there, lots of ghosts, lots of hauntings. Lots of Stuart clans and Colonel Sanders.

[Corinne]

Of course, Edinburgh has half a million.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Okay, so a tenth of the people live there.

[Corinne]

Yeah, 10% of the people live in Edinburgh.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I love Edinburgh. So excited to go back. Well, anyway, thank you all for listening and joining us. I feel like this was one of those episodes and I love every episode we research, but, like, there are certain ones where I just get, like, carried away in my own excitement.

[Corinne]

Yeah, that really. I can't believe it's for me.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah. Like, I feel like this was more for me than for you. But thank you for being here and I'm glad that you got to participate in my own enjoyment. So. We love you all.

[Corinne]

Yes, we did.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I forgot all the other things. Sorry I confused you.

[Corinne]

Could you see it?

[Sabrina Jambo]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

Well, I mean, could we switch our skip? We could skip it. Do all the things. Do all the things. YouTube, Patreon, tell people. Shout out. To Jamie Ryan, who edits and produces this podcast. Thank you, Jamie.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Love you, Jamie. And we love all of you.

[Corinne]

And we will see you on the other side. Very spooky.

[Sabrina Jambo]

What do you think makes the perfect snack?

[Corinne]

Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Could you be more specific when it's cravenient?

[Corinne]

Okay. Like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter, available right down the street at AM pm. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at a.m. pM.

[Sabrina Jambo]

I'm seeing a pattern here.

[Corinne]

Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.

[Sabrina Jambo]

Crave, which is anything from AM pm.

[Corinne]

What more could you want? Stop by AM pm where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience. AM PM Too much good stuff.