Have you ever stepped into a house and felt the weight of a hundred unseen eyes upon you? Kristina and I did, at the infamous Roff house—home to the Watseka Wonder, where tales of Lurancy Vennum's possession by Mary Roff's spirit have lingered for centuries. Our latest podcast episode takes you through the creaking doors of this Victorian abode, into a night filled with mysterious knocks and shadowy figures. We dredge up the murky history of spiritual possession, confront our own bone-chilling experiences, and grapple with the all-too-real possibility of supernatural forces at work.
Venturing further into the heart of darkness, we recount odd nocturnal disruptions that plagued our investigation. From a snoring pattern that shifted as unpredictably as the shadows, to the peculiar disappearance of a recording—our night at the Roff house was anything but restful. Join us as we dissect these curious happenings, pondering the influence of our heightened senses in this charged environment. As we share these unsettling moments, you'll find yourself questioning the safety of your own cozy bed.
The haunting doesn't end at mere auditory oddities; it follows us through an attic filled with modern mysteries and a guitar that strums a tune of local legend. We navigate this web of the past, entangled with eerie roadside omens and the Bates Motel-esque history of a down-and-out musician. As we peel back the layers of the Roff household's spectral influence, we tease an upcoming release—an audio document of our night's most unsettling occurrences and our search for the elusive Resurrection Mary. Tune in, if you dare, for a journey that will stir curiosity and send shivers down your spine.
Have you ever stepped into a house and felt the weight of a hundred unseen eyes upon you? Kristina and I did, at the infamous Roff house—home to the Watseka Wonder, where tales of Lurancy Vennum's possession by Mary Roff's spirit have lingered for centuries. Our latest podcast episode takes you through the creaking doors of this Victorian abode, into a night filled with mysterious knocks and shadowy figures. We dredge up the murky history of spiritual possession, confront our own bone-chilling experiences, and grapple with the all-too-real possibility of supernatural forces at work.
Venturing further into the heart of darkness, we recount odd nocturnal disruptions that plagued our investigation. From a snoring pattern that shifted as unpredictably as the shadows, to the peculiar disappearance of a recording—our night at the Roff house was anything but restful. Join us as we dissect these curious happenings, pondering the influence of our heightened senses in this charged environment. As we share these unsettling moments, you'll find yourself questioning the safety of your own cozy bed.
The haunting doesn't end at mere auditory oddities; it follows us through an attic filled with modern mysteries and a guitar that strums a tune of local legend. We navigate this web of the past, entangled with eerie roadside omens and the Bates Motel-esque history of a down-and-out musician. As we peel back the layers of the Roff household's spectral influence, we tease an upcoming release—an audio document of our night's most unsettling occurrences and our search for the elusive Resurrection Mary. Tune in, if you dare, for a journey that will stir curiosity and send shivers down your spine.
Hey everyone, it's your host, melissa at Strange, strange Beyond Insane, and it is officially 308 March 18th 2024, so it's witching hour, 308 AM. Okay. So, yeah, I came home from work and the week caught up with me and I fell asleep. My husband and I said we were going to take an hour long nap and we ended up. Well, I think I slept longer than him, so I decided to start this episode now, and what other better time than you know, 3 AM, witching hour?
Speaker 1:Okay, so I know that I did talk about the Mary Roff story on here not too long ago, aka the what Seek a Wonder. So Christina and I did end up going to the Roff house just last week. We stayed two nights and well, before I get into everything that we experienced, I just kind of like want to recap. Okay, so Mary Roff herself is like the key component, right, but really what I want to talk about too is Lorenzi Venom. Okay, so Mary Lorenzi Venom was born 1864 near what Seek a, illinois.
Speaker 1:In the summer of 1877, she suffered a series of epileptic fits Sorry about that, okay so often lapsing into unconsciousness. After awakening, she told her family that she had been to heaven, had seen angels and had visited her younger brother and sister who had died before her. As Venom's fits became more frequent, physicians advised that there was nothing more that they could do and by January 1878, it was decided she should be placed in an insane asylum. A neighbor and a spiritualist, asa B Roff, convinced Venom's parents not to commit her and insisted to call on a physician who was himself a spiritualist, e Winchester Stevens. Okay, so this gets into the investigation. In 1878, physician and spiritualist E Winchester Stevens examined Venom. There was a bit of a tongue twister. Stevens accounts were published in the leading spiritual journal of the time, the religio I'm sorry, the religio philosophical journal, and later an 1887 book entitled the what Seek a Wonder, in which he described Venom as the most remarkable case of spirit return and manifestation ever recorded in history. So this was the first documented possession. Okay, so as we get into the story, you know, if you guys don't remember from the last episode, lorenzi, venom was born over a decade later, after Mary Roff had already passed away, and portrayed herself as Mary Roff and like knew all these things about her after she died and all that. So that's kind of like what we're getting into. Okay, so Venom often spoke in different voices and became several different people, including an old woman named Katrina Hogan and a young man named Willie Canning. Stevens claimed she remembered the names of several people who had died and had possessed her body, and later she chose to be possessed by the soul of Asa Roff's deceased daughter, mary Roff. Physical researcher Richard Hodgeskin I'm sorry of the American Society for Physical Research was also convinced that Venom was possessed by Roff's spirit. And you guys I apologize, you know I'm terrible with pronouncing especially names of people William James briefly mentioned the case in his book the Principles of Psychology in 1890.
Speaker 1:James commented that it perhaps is as extreme as a case of possession of the modern sort as one can find. According to Stevens and Hodgeskin, venom allowed Mary Roff to possess her body for about 15 weeks, during which time she could allegedly recognize all of Roff's friends and relatives. She was familiar with all the objects in the Roff home and could retell incidents and stories from Roff's childhood and her past life. Convinced that Venom was a reincarnation of their daughter, the Roff family allowed the girl to live with them for several weeks. Stevens wrote that when Venom later married, roff's spirit supposedly inhibited Venom, resulting in painless childbirth for her. Okay, so that's the story, okay.
Speaker 1:So when Christina and I went, now, remind you, I went into this blindfolded. That's kind of like my new thing the latest episode that Chris and I did about the ant kid cult. I didn't know anything about that and I absolutely loved not knowing anything. Same thing with this Christina she does a lot of research and she watches like a lot of documentaries and shows and she has a little notebook and she writes down all the places that she's interested in, which is extremely smart, and she even goes links to see how far these places are and how much time we'll need to get there. So she came across the Roff house, was super interested. It was like a calling to her and you guys will later understand that when it comes to this particular location that we went to. So, anyways, she called me up one night and was like hey, I would really like to go to this If you're interested. We kind of have to act on it soon because they are booked up until like July, through August, like all now until then. And I'm like, holy shit, okay, let's go.
Speaker 1:So, by the way, she paid for the for the house and the number came out to be $444. So 444. There was like all these like weird synchronicities. So I was like, all right, well, I have gas, all of our food and everything. And because she was like, instead of giving me back, giving me money and splitting, let's just, you know, do it like that. I said, okay, works for me, so I get the weekend off, she gets the weekend off. So we went Friday. We stayed through Friday night into into Saturday and Saturday night, okay. So the first night I didn't. I think I did open up one. I had a like an apple flavored bear. It was good.
Speaker 1:I was getting creeped out because as soon as we pulled up, it did have like a conjuring house. Feel to me like the. It's not a whole firm, but it definitely has like quite a bit of land to it. And, by the way, no offense, but what? Sika? Illinois is a shit hole. Burned down houses, abandoned houses around there. Every single house has no trespassing, like really weird. It's like abandoned almost. And then you have this beautiful Victorian, you know 18th century home that we stayed in. By the way, the owners, valentino and John, did an amazing job, you know, keeping this house up and preserving it. It's absolutely gorgeous, okay.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, later through the night on Friday I was getting really creeped out because I at one point I heard a cat meowing. Christina kept hearing the cat scratch at the bathroom door, which was like right next to us on the couch. And then I looked over by the bottom of the stairs, like the landing, and I literally seen a black cat and it was like staring at me. And then it was like small, like you know a normal size cat, and all of a sudden it grew into like a shadow figure and got really tall and it just fucking freaked me out right. So I was hitting my pen. I wasn't even using the CBD pen, I was using like the THC pen, like the full THC.
Speaker 1:At this point I was like fuck this, I this is freaking me out and I need to like calm down. So we were doing a spare box session. As we were doing this, there was all sorts of things coming through let me in. And they said maybe the devil. And I said who's the devil? And then the front door that was like literally right across from us started like knocking and like shaking, and every time it knocked it felt like something was just gonna come through those one indoors and remind you these are the original doors to this house. So they're not I would say they're not extremely secure. They're it's definitely not a steel door, they're double panel I mean, I'm sorry, double doors like French doors, and they're wood. At that point I was like, fuck this, I'm going to sleep.
Speaker 1:I ended up falling asleep, I think, at like 1230 at night, and then I don't think she remembers exactly, but I remember waking up at some point and saying is it two or is it 3 am yet? And she goes it's past 3 am. Well, I had my body cam recording. I don't know when I did this, but I remembered. When I woke up I recorded excuse me, recorded myself sleeping again because I thought her and I were in like the same room. But I guess I got really bitchy when she tried to like sit next to me when I was trying to lay down and I said go get another couch, cause I was. That's how I get like when I'm like half of a sleep you cannot talk to me. So she ended up leaving me and she went into the other room. But before she went into the other room I'm sorry she did go into the other room. She was watching her show and then she went upstairs because she was like I'm going to go lay in bed cause there was like three or four bedrooms, right. She got into the first room, right, going up to the stairs to the right, and completely was paralyzed. She said she could not move and, for whatever reason, she had a vision of her own bedroom at her house and she came back downstairs so she stayed in the room behind me. You know, on the main level Now, when I listened to the recording the next day, I couldn't even get through five minutes of it cause I was snoring so loud Like I've never been one to snore like that.
Speaker 1:And so her and I talked about it and she was like I cannot believe how loud you were snoring and she's like. You were like saying all kinds of shit and I said, well, what was I saying? And she's like I couldn't make out what you were saying. And she said every time I came into the room you would stop talking. She's like then, as soon as I would leave the room, you would snore like it wasn't even like a snore, it was almost like a moaning, like like I was in pain or something. And she's like and then you would start talking a lot and I was like, okay, that's fucking weird and you don't know what I was saying. So I passed out. I was like I got kind of stoned to the bone and I relaxed and I just went night night because I was so freaked out and I didn't want to tell her, because I didn't want to freak her out, right, okay, so the next day we got, you know, got it together, got ourselves together and we went. Where did we go? Oh, we went to resurrection cemetery in Justice, illinois, to go find the infamous grave of resurrection Mary.
Speaker 1:But before I start with that, I'm gonna play a recording, cause I kind of like did like little mini interview sessions with Christina, cause you guys know, I record everything, everything we do. Okay, let me just go through my evidence. Okay, here it is Okay, here it is Beautiful. Yeah, it's beautiful. Don't say it to the camera so they know that you're an ally. So we definitely fucking seen a cat last, fucking seen a cat last. We've seen it right at that corner.
Speaker 1:I was a little high, but not super stoned. Then we just fell asleep for your life there. I was like, oh my God, watching my laptop TV on there and I kept hearing stuff like pushing and knocking on the bathroom and I peed and I was like, yeah, I'm not going. Then I heard like a like scratching, like my cat's zoom, yeah, my cat's in the bathroom, actually, I know. And I'm like okay, I kept listening and I just put my phone up against there and recorded which I didn't listen to it yet and then I heard a meow yeah, and that's. I kept.
Speaker 1:I remember waking up and I was like, well, something in the bathroom Like. So I got closer to you because I was like what the fuck? It kept it knocked on the door. Then I heard the scratching and I heard the meow. I'm like okay. And then, after you lay that down again, I heard like a knock or two, once or twice. And then I went up and then, front door, something was trying to get in. So I was out there smoking and I heard a stick that down because there was no handle. So I'm like, let me push on it. So there was nothing to twist to see if that's what it sounds like. And you saw it fit, yeah, but I seen a cat right down at that landing. It fucking tripped me out. I was like, oh my God, there's a cat here.
Speaker 1:I seen quite a few shadows, yeah, and I kept seeing something around this corner and I seen it even when we first had gotten here, shortly after we were standing there. I remember I was like I just seen a shadow. It was like along the floor almost. It was like a tall one, it was a dark one, it was short, I don't remember, it was about halfway. What I seen was like little like down like this oh, that means it was crawling. Yeah, that's like it was obviously super fast. I'm like I just need to shit Stomach's funky too.
Speaker 1:And then I had to delete the recording of us sleeping because I was snoring so loud I know I never snore like that and you were on your stomach. Is that like when Matt used to come home and he's on his back and come over? But you were on your stomach and I'm like well, I'm like I'm going to get a little over my head. Was I talking? You were talking a lot too. Am I asleep? Yeah, I don't know. Wait, because a few times when I was talking to me, I was like OK, you don't know what I was saying.
Speaker 1:No, because I was watching Changless and I kept hearing my laptop sitting there plugged in when I was getting my stuff because I tried to go upstairs. I walked it up to that bedroom with my duffel bag and everything in it and I was like I need to go to bed. And what else did I do? Oh, my laptop. And I walked to what I think is a parent's bedroom and I got just to the door and it was freezing. I couldn't walk in. It's like I literally couldn't walk in.
Speaker 1:So actually, first, when I got upstairs, I stared at the other bedroom and for some reason, I had a flash in my own bedroom at home and I'm like maybe I should go in there and I was like I don't know, I would probably not sleep in the other one. So I was going to bring and I got to the door and stand there like and I just felt really, really, really like how I felt at hidden sale. I got really like so we need to be up there tonight. And that's why I came back down and I tried to wake you up. I was like, well, we should go upstairs. I'm like, even if we just go to bed, like I was going to bring a cell phone and I was like I don't even remember falling asleep, but I do remember asking you, and that's why I came down and it was three in the morning and you said it's past three, that's why I was going to bed there. But I woke you up at one o'clock because my laptop didn't switch.
Speaker 1:I didn't go to bed at 11. No, it was 12. It was right after 12. Because I was recording something and I was like I'll never tell you. It was almost one, because I was looking at my laptop and I was like God, it's what. And I was like oh, no, it's like 12.30. So it was like 12.45. And I was like, hey, my phone was one and you're like whatever.
Speaker 1:You went back to bed and I think it woke you up about almost like 10 to 2. And then I think after that I kind of stopped. That's when I was watching something. I don't know why I was snoring. I never snore like that. Yeah, it got really loud. So when I was watching it I know you sleep with your TV on. So I was like, well, there's an air that's a little bit loud. Oh, yeah, no, that won't wake me up, you know that. So I could actually hear what they were saying.
Speaker 1:And then you talked more, it's like when I got up to go to bed eventually because I was watching Shamos. Obviously it wasn't like thinking about anything. So I'm like I'm going to pee. I'm like I'm not going to seriously pee, so I didn't go pee in there and it's like I can hear. I don't know what you're saying, because I was paying attention. I was paying attention but not paying attention.
Speaker 1:And then when I was grabbing my stuff because I wasn't going to my face mask, oh, I need my earplugs. So I was coming in here and then you were talking about something else and when I finally sat down in there because I don't have my chair, because there's no plug close enough, because that's why I'm charging it you were talking about something. I didn't have my earplugs in and I was like I was so tired and I didn't take my sleep pills. That's what I said. I thought I was talking about it. I was like I don't feel like I'm going to sit in my listen when she's saying that. I was like I'm not going to just raise something. I wonder if I sleepwalked. I don't know. I didn't put this earplug in until this morning when I woke up. I fell asleep because I had this one in.
Speaker 1:Ok, and then did you turn off my body cam? I don't remember. I got the REM pod, that was dead. I got my sleep plug and turned it off. I don't know how to turn it off, so unless I just press the buttons, maybe. All right, we're going to have to check that, because I don't. I just picked up a camera, all right.
Speaker 1:So, speaking of the body cam and my other cam quarter that I bring, I have not had a chance to go through everything yet Because it's only been a week that we've been home. We've both had rough weeks, christina and I, with work and everything else going on. Um, but I do want to talk about something. So, upstairs, you know, remember, this is a beautiful Victorian home. There are a lot of rooms now, oh, I just got a shake. Okay, so the very back room, it's like unfinished, it's almost like just plywood on the walls. Um, has a biggest mirror in it and I, the first time we even went back there, I said something is fucking really off with this room. Okay, it's just off the other two bedrooms and it bothered me as much. And then like the lounging area that they have up there, but that back room, um, christina has been doing a lot of digging on this home and the story, a lot of it. The information is um Very scattered. So she did find out. I'm pretty sure that that was the room that Mary Laranze Venom had stayed in when she was staying with the Robs.
Speaker 1:Okay, then I want to talk about upstairs. Um, when we were doing us well, actually before we decided to do like a lot of sessions in this room we were so just up the stairs on the landing, there is Like a dresser or whatever, in front of this like boarded, like boarded up part, and Christina was like oh, I wonder if, like you know, you're not supposed to go in there. I said I'm guessing it's like the attic. So in the, in the first bedroom that we did um a lot of the recordings in, I was trying to open up the door, which it looked like a closet next to the bed, and it wasn't opening and I'm like I don't know if I should go in here, but I don't see why not if it's a closet. So I finally get it open and the minute I opened it I was just taken back like I felt something. So I walk in, there's no light and I'm like, christina, bring your phone for a flashlight, Get this.
Speaker 1:There's a bunch of random suitcases, like not even old, vintage ones, that they had like decorated in the other room. These were, like you know, like modern suitcases, and I don't know why. It just gave me the fucking creeps, and the first thing I thought of was Are these people that have visited this house and why are their suitcases not with them and where are they? So, anyways, that's that. Um, I do have a lot of pictures of that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we did bring a lot of trigger items with us. One of the trigger items that I decided to bring, um, which I'm surprised I haven't brought this anywhere else. It's never been out of the house since we've brought it in the house. Um, it's an old guitar and I have a little story that that is behind this guitar, so I'm gonna play it for you. Hello, down there story time. All right, christina doesn't know this. I'm gonna have you Do the camera because you're gonna have to show them the guitar. How do I flip it so it's not staring at me? We'll just leave it like it's sad. You look beautiful. No, not me. Then I have time to get my hair did this morning, obviously.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we are on our way to, uh, watsika, illinois, to the Mary Roff house, and, um, I brought some trigger objects. This time, um, I got like, oh shit, there's a fucking car flipped here. You can view it the other way. How many minutes do we have? All right, you guys, this is actually on the road, obviously, um to Watsika, illinois, and at this point we weren't even in Indiana yet and it was raining heavily, um some parts, but there were so many accidents and like so many cars flipped, it was just, it was almost like an omen on the way, like should we be going? Um, but then there's another story after this. Why I think that? Okay, let me, let me finish. I just want I forgot to say that we were on the road when we recorded this. We have, oh yeah, we didn't even done a minute yet. Wow, you guys, lots of accidents already. Yeah, oh yeah, I see, oh my, I can see it up there. Yeah, so we have some children's toys, some trigger objects, alright, so the story time About the guitar I have in the back, which is an original Epiphone. Is it a acoustic? I think? My husband said it's from the 60's or 70's. I think Kind of see it a little bit. So this was about shit five years ago. Okay, I'm gonna do it quick, cause I only got a few minutes.
Speaker 1:A gentleman that lived on the street with his mother. He did have a family. He was very successful at one point in time. He had a lot of dealerships that he owned. So unfortunate events happened through his life his wife cheated, left him whatever, took the kids. So he was a drunk, unfortunately. But he was very nice drunk and he ended up moving down the street from us back in with his mom and, um, I'm sorry you guys, I'm a little distracted. I know I'm staring at that too. It's hard not to Wow. So it just slipped on it. There's no other car. They also just fucking lost control. Wow, is there people still in there? Oh, there's cars up here, but I don't know if they just stopped. Oh, my gosh, there are people in there. I don't hope not. I don't hope not, cause there's no ambulance either. Wow, okay, well, we know that's why we were delayed.
Speaker 1:Alright, so he used to walk barefoot all seasons cause he was drunk and we would take him into the garage. He really took a liking to my husband and I as soon as he found out that Paul played the guitar his whole life and then he had found out through me, obviously that I had gotten a drum set. When I first started playing the drums, um, he wanted to come down and do jam sessions and stuff. Well, we couldn't let him go down to our basement because his feet were always swollen and, um, adema, from the alcoholism swirls to the liver, blah, blah, blah. Okay, well, he always wanted us to come down to his mom's house and his mom the house used to have a bait's motel view, hmm, interesting, and new people moved in, they redid it. It looks really good, but it was surrounded. It was a corner colonial and it was surrounded by pine trees and there was always a rocking chair up in the window. And I always was like Paul, is she alive? The mom Right, or is it like a bait story that she died and he just like, as we're sitting there, yeah, preserved her.
Speaker 1:So we had come back from a Fourth of July party at my dad's house and my brother where they lived Five blocks from us. This was about five, six years ago and I had got my husband stoned because he never smoked weed and we had drank over a half gallon of Jim Beatt. So we were fucked up. Yeah, a little bit. And we get home, sit on the porch smoking and joking again and there's a tree between pretty much off to the left it is my neighbor's tree, but we do share that boulevard. So it's like right in front of our porch on the boulevard and I'm like telling Paul I said, oh my God, there's someone standing behind the tree, there's someone standing, oh my God, oh my God, I'm like fucking freaking out. And he's like, no, we're just stoned and we're drunk. And I'm like, no, there's fucking something there. God damn it Go look. He was scared.
Speaker 1:So finally, when we had sobered up, he went in front of the tree because all you could see was the silhouette and it looked like a body. So he grabs this thing and I'm like, okay, it's not a child, it was that guitar. Oh, I did it real. And I was like who would leave a guitar like that, especially acoustic wood, all that? Because he obviously did the heat and the wetness and all that and the moisture. So we had brought that guitar in and my husband's like well, that's a really good guitar. I wish I played more acoustics. He plays all fucking heavy metal. How many minutes do we have. We're on five minutes and three seconds. Okay, so we have like five minutes left.
Speaker 1:So now, two years later, I'm still like, who's fucking guitar was this? It's just like so eerie, right, yeah, it's kind of strange. Well, we found out he died because I hadn't seen him in a while and I'm like, oh my God, that's his fucking guitar. It's like he left it for us. Wow, randomly, that's so weird. Or was he? Was that his last song that he played, Right? Huh?
Speaker 1:So I've never taken this guitar out of the house and I've thought about like giving it to Cecilia, paul's sister, because she plays acoustic, and we just can't, we can't get rid of it. We just like, I don't know, it's weird, it doesn't want to get rid of it, but we can never remember his fucking name. Huh, and like Paul, I cannot. We can remember his face, his hair, his long hair, interesting Everything is a demon his legs, his o's all crusty all the time. Me making him drink water. Then he'd be like, sweetheart, just give me a beer, okay, I'll get you a beer. He has a drink glass of water too, right, and like we can remember, like we, for the life of us, cannot remember the guy's fucking name. So I do believe it was his guitar, whether he loved it for us, was that? Or he was playing it. That was the last song he played before he died, I don't know. It's like how did it just get there? I don't know where he where he died at. Did he die down at the house, right? Did he collapse in front of our house when we were gone that night? Huh, because you know he was known around the neighborhood. Yeah, um, so, yeah, so that's going to be a trigger object. So I'm really excited.
Speaker 1:So, um, sorry about all the French. We were driving and, you know, having a conversation. We do try to record just randomly, like when we're driving to places. Um and the guitar, oh, I just got another shake. It kept strumming and it would just be like one string at a time and I kept telling Christina I'm like, well, maybe we can debunk this.
Speaker 1:So I she was sitting on the chair in the front room with the guitar behind her, cause I had the guitar set up um in the chair, just propped up. So she sat in the? Um in the front of the chair and I walked over to the left of the room by the other piano and I said maybe it's this pipe, because you know it's it's old house, so you know it's got old creaks and you know weird noises. And I kid you not, it started playing behind her like like ting ting and it was always like a low string and then like a higher string, you know like low and high um sounds. And I looked over at her and she's like it's playing right now and she got creeped out because she was like oh, something's on the chair with me. Um, I didn't mess with the piano quite a bit. There's two pianos there. Um, even though I suck, um, it was fun.
Speaker 1:I just kind of wanted to get the spirits, you know, go in and see if that was any kind of trigger. Okay, so all this stuff happened on the way there. All these accidents flipped over cars. So we get to the house and it's now it's like downpouring and we realize it's like we're in like a shit part of Illinois.
Speaker 1:So she goes to open up the itinerary on her phone and she's like what the hell? I can't, I can't, I can't do this and that, I can't do this and that, and so I'm like okay, you know she was like getting like really frustrated easily. It's not like really like her, and I'm like it's fine, like we'll figure it out. And she's like, no, like I cannot open anything. And I was like what do you mean? And she's like I have like zero, I have no service I can do, I can't do anything on my phone. And she's like I should have sent you all this stuff. I said, okay, don't even worry.
Speaker 1:A few blocks over is like the little town, we'll drive through. So we get, we get out on the street. But you know, in the little town of what, seca, and she still doesn't have any service. And I think I have like one bar. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna pull into those Walgreens. Still she has no service. Now we're like, okay, we need the information to get into the lockbox, to get the key to get into the freaking house. So long story short, I end up just telling her give me that guy's number and we'll just call.
Speaker 1:So this is where it was like oh shit. Like when we get ourselves into it was literally like a classic horror movie. It's pouring rain. We're in this little quiet farmland slash industrial town. There's like nothing. There's like a Casey's Gas station, dollar tree in like a Mexican restaurant and then like another, like little you know town restaurant, a bunch of churches, a church on every single block, and the wind is just like picking up like no other.
Speaker 1:Finally, get through to this guy and he answers he's like hello. I think he said this is Erno. He just said hello and I said hi, is this Valentino? And it was going in and out even in my truck. He was like it's Valentino and John, and I'm like hello. And he's like hello.
Speaker 1:And it just keeps breaking up and I'm like hi, I'm Christina's friend that's staying at the house this weekend and we cannot, she cannot get into her phone, she has no service. And it was quiet. And then all of a sudden and came on this is what it sound like, does she have T-Mobile? Like that. And we're like oh, because, like I said, was going in and out and it's raining wind, all the shit's happening. And she's like yeah, I have T-Mobile. And he she thought he said the T-Mobile tower is down. I thought I heard through the scramble, you know words, we, there's not a T-Mobile tower around. And I'm like okay, well, why is my phone acting up? But like we barely got, like you know full words out of this conversation. That's how scary and you know very old school this town was. I mean. Obviously no Wi-Fi. We finally got the code.
Speaker 1:Now we get back to the house, we drive up, it's even creepier. We cannot find the lock box. It's like hidden. Christina finds it. It's a wraparound porch and I'm like, oh, thank God. As soon as I looked inside this house it just was like, wow, this house is very alive. It looks. It's lit up like the 4th of July, just like statues inside of there, pianos you can see from the windows. Like the shutters were open. Of course, we closed the shutters. When we get into the house, so we get in, I start unloading the truck and just very eerie, like, let's just put it this way, that house is very much alive.
Speaker 1:One of the nights Christina was watching a like live feed, like podcast type deal. Someone was interviewing Valentino and John, the owners, and they actually said that one of the questions that they had asked the house was are you alive? And it replied with yes, very much. So I believe I keep looking behind me in the basement. It's all dark, this house anyway. So this house, after Mary Roff had died when she was 18 and a half, but it reads that she was 19,. But Christina was very stern, that she's 18 and a half. They built the Roff's built this house. I think it was a hotel, I think it was a hotel after the Roff's had moved out or whatever. But they built a house to entertain and to do like sayances and all the spiritualists would like go there and they definitely opened. I mean, it's even been said that they've opened up portals there and I 1000% believe in this.
Speaker 1:There was one point the second night I think it was about 4 am, so close to the time right now, because it's 345 am Christina had gotten hostile about like headphones and like got really pissy, and that's not like her. And then I got hostile back and we were like having like a screaming match because you know we're like sisters for like a good five minutes and then we were both like we heard all these noises. So she went to go out to smoke and I was upstairs. I was like whatever, I'm gonna do this investigation, she's like whatever and it's just not like her. Ooh, I just felt something on the back of my neck to get hostile like that or me that quickly, and it was like we were in this like fucking days right.
Speaker 1:So anyway, she goes outside, I go upstairs and I heard something upstairs so I started like clapping like my feet and it completely 1000% like replicated what I did. And it came from that back room that crude me out and I was like I mean, just dead, stuck in my tracks, like oh God, and she starts yelling for me upstairs and I'm kind of like in shock. And finally she's like Melissa, is that you moving? And I don't know exactly what I responded with, but I was like at first I heard something and then I made noise and then it made noise back. So she came upstairs and we were both like looking at each other and we're like we're fine, like why did we get? It's like we remember getting hostile, but it wasn't like us, it was like felt like something wanted us to be apart.
Speaker 1:And this happened in the Hinsdale house too. Like something happens with me and Christina when we're together, like it or whatever spirit or whatever we're, we'll just say the energy wants to split us up sometimes. And I don't know what would have happened me being upstairs by myself in that back room, because we did do a session in that back room and I, immediately when we were done, I had started to feel really, really, really, really icky, Like I almost feel like I was gonna get sick, but I didn't feel like I was gonna throw up, I just felt like I just I don't know. I was super off and I kept telling Christina I don't feel good, I don't feel good. I said, oh my God, I just don't feel good. And she's like okay, well, let's not go back there right now.
Speaker 1:And as soon as me and her because she even said she started, I think she said she started to get a headache as soon as that back room session and we went to like the other room right in front, I forgot there is like a little room there but it doesn't have doors. I think it's just for, like you know, many people to stay at that house. But anyways, when we were laying on the bed trying to get evidence, I started to feel like really, really tired like my body, and then she kind of started to feel like that and right after that, it's like when we both got hostile, but it didn't it almost felt like a dream and, like I said, I've noticed this at Hinsdale I'd say Hinsdale House and this house live investigations, a lot of the same type of thing like the sleeping, like not remembering certain things, missing timelines for sure. But the difference is, I would say, hinsdale House. It was actually, quote unquote, the spirits there here at this in this home. I don't know what the fuck kind of portals they opened, but they definitely made the house very much alive. I feel like it's more of the house and not just spirits. Is that my cat? I keep feeling something.
Speaker 1:Anyways, moving forward. So we did record ourselves sleeping the last night. Okay, I shouldn't even say night, because I don't think we started to sleep till 6 am. I do have screenshots of the times on the recording when there was a lot of action, so that will be a separate episode. Just for that, I am gonna play a couple of live sessions that we did.
Speaker 1:Okay, give me one moment, I'm gonna go through this. Oh, and I do wanna point out something. You guys so Resurrection Mary in Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, illinois. Okay, I'll tell you the short version really quick. We tried like hell to find her tomb Beautiful cemetery. I will tell you this much right now there is two graves Burgoby that looked like they would be her mom and her dad. The very end of the night we had one more hour there, till 7. It was around 6.
Speaker 1:We pulled up by some cemetery workers and they were really cool gentlemen, and we started talking to them and I was like, look, can you please direct us where Resurrection Mary is? It's like the oldest tall tale haunting there. And they're like, listen, you're not gonna find her. And I'm like, what do you mean? We're not gonna find her. And I'm like, no, we can find her. They're like, no, you're not gonna find her because she is here in the cemetery but she's moved and she's hidden. I don't know if it's an unmarked grave, what, but basically, because her tomb has been defaced so many times and vandalized, they actually had to move her where no one would know where she's at. And, by the way, that is not her mom and dad that she's buried by, that's her aunt and uncle. Why she's not by her parents or other closer family members, I have no idea, but I do wanna pull up.
Speaker 1:Okay, so there are other famous people buried there which I was very surprised to find this out. It should be under screenshots. Okay, that's Mary. Okay, so I know the defos are buried there in Amityville Horror. Okay, here we go. I'm pulling it up now. So Mary, resurrection Mary was killed in a crash on Archer Avenue and she, like I said, she, is one of the most famous stories in Illinois. I'm just trying to find who else is buried there. I know, so like the defos from Amityville Horror are buried there because they were not originally from Maine or Connecticut, wherever that happened at, I forget offhand. I guess they're from Illinois originally. Hmm, I cannot find it. I know I took a screenshot. Obviously some mobsters. Oh, here we go. Okay, so the defo family murder victims died in a 1974 killing whose story inspired the Amityville Horror. Jimmy the Gent Burke, he was a mobster. Walt Brown was buried there, race car driver. Yeah, so that's about resurrection Mary.
Speaker 1:However, I do want to tell you guys some history of what Seca, what I found out, Because I'm like that sounds so native to me. I would have thought that it was like from Native Americans. However, let's see what time are we at. Okay, screenshots. Okay. So the history. So Incorporated in 1865. The name what Seca derives from the Paddle Watami name Wachiki, daughter of the evening star, the wife of early Eastern Illinois settler Gordon. I'm sorry, your uredon, mmm salts, install Hubbard. Sorry about that, I don't think that's how you pronounce it, but anyways, the old Eroquois County courthouse was constructed in 1866, with two additions built in 1881 and 1927. Okay so, that's how that started. Okay, so the what Seca wonder what?
Speaker 1:Seca, illinois, is a small town that lies around 63 miles of north of Champaign with a population around 5000. So it is and it was what. Seca, or Wachiki, 1810 to 1878, was a Paddle Watami Native American woman, and she was born in Illinois and that's who it was named after named for the hero heroine of the Paddlewami legend. Okay so, also, I have a customer that I met a couple months ago.
Speaker 1:He comes in every like three to four weeks. He was from I cannot remember what part of Illinois, but he I was telling him a little bit about the podcast and the trip that we just took and he was like do you realize how fucking haunted Illinois is? He's like it is the weirdest, like weirdest place ever and I'm like really tell me more. But anyways, an elementary. They basically, where he was from, they took a graveyard, like an old graveyard, huge, and they actually put an elementary school over it and I was like that's creepy, right. I'm sorry I heard I got distracted. It's my cat in the back. He's kneeling or me, I'm sorry kneading on something and it freaked me out, but yeah, um, he was like telling me stories about Illinois, like there's so so much there.
Speaker 1:So Christina and I are definitely planning on going back. She doesn't have any vacation time, I don't think until June. I don't know exactly when we're gonna go back, how soon. I know that this story, this whole, the house, the roughs, the Lorenzi, mary, lorenzi, venom, is like super, super compelling to me. I'm definitely want to make like a small docu series out of this, and I do. I actually am gonna put everything on to YouTube because I'm collaborating the you know podcast audio with the video. I do need to buy some extra like memory For my computer, so that's gonna take me a couple weeks because I have so many videos that I have to put on there and I just don't have enough room to put everything on this computer. So that is, that's coming up, but I will have a couple short Episodes out here of our evidence, at least the audio. Well, thanks for tuning in guys. Talk to you soon.