It’s 3:00 AM at the Evergreen Masonic Lodge in Seaside, Oregon.
A group of us are scattered about the darkened room, slouched in disheveled leather arm chairs. Infrared lights and red laser grids illuminate the aging wooden walls.
A woman sits on a folding chair in the center of the room, blindfolded. She wears large noise-canceling headphones, listening to the static white noise of a spirit box as it rapidly scans across radio frequencies.
“Is there anybody here with us?” someone asks aloud.
Silence.
Welcome to your weekend haunt
with Spook Lit, an audiobook club by dreary dendrophile.
This week, our beloved author Catherine Crowe recounts her own investigation of a haunted house - an experience that turns out to be a bit less eventful than the house’s haunted reputation might suggest. (Don’t worry, there’s still some intriguing activity, and even a smidge of true crime at the end.)
This chapter was my favorite so far, because of how relatable it was.
If you’ve ever watched a paranormal investigation on TV, you might think that ghost hunters enter old buildings and endure one terrifying moment after another until we flee the premises in panic. In reality, it’s a lot of waiting around feeling silly while you talk to empty rooms. What you see in a 30-minute episode is usually edited from hours or even days of footage, consolidating (and often exaggerating) the most dramatic moments for entertainment.
The truth is that most paranormal investigations are long stretches of nothing, punctuated by just a few spikes of activity. And it’s not unusual to have very little to no activity, even in the most notorious of haunts. Ghosts have off days, just like us. Or maybe they just get tired.
When I arrived at the Masonic Lodge, I was greeted with enthusiastic stories of activity beyond my wildest dreams! People getting scratched in the previous session. Distorted photographs. A toy truck that sped across the room, went under a chair, and then sped off in the opposite direction. I knew we were in for an exciting night!
And at first, we were.
Around 1:30 AM, we caught an unintelligible EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) on one of the digital recorders. During a spirit box session, we heard “crawl space” at the same time that a light near the crawl space door turned on by itself. We heard scratching noises on the walls. Door handles turning. Equipment lights were flashing. Flashlights and Rempods were lighting up in sync. It was exhilarating.
Then, about 45 minutes in, the tone shifted. The word “tomorrow” kept repeating on the spirit box, as if the spirits were ready to call it a night… or hinting at something yet to come.
And by 3:00 AM… silence. No voices. No movement. No lights. No sounds. The Lodge was still.
I’ve seen this before. Sometimes activity ramps up in the wee hours. More often, though, it fades—the spirits start strong, then seem to lose energy or interest. Maybe they’ve used up all their strength.
This was the third investigation at the Masonic Lodge that night, and the sixth of the weekend. The ghosts are usually left undisturbed for most of the year, but then over the span of two nights, six different groups came through - one investigation after another. I was there for the very last one.
The spirits had been through a lot by the time we arrived. It’s no wonder they might have been tapped out. I’d been to this location once before and saw a similar pattern - initial bursts of activity followed by stillness, as if the ghosts were pacing themselves or simply running out of steam.
Catherine Crowe puts it perfectly:
“Moreover, I did not expect any result; because, there is very seldom any on these occasions, as ghosts appear we know not why; but certainly not because people wish to see them. They generally come when least expected and least thought of.”
- Catherine Crowe, Ghosts and Family Legends
I just loved reading about this investigation from the 1800s. It had so many parallels to investigations today - pining after a famously haunted location, finally getting permission to explore it, assembling a team, investigating late at night, dodging pranksters, even dealing with the cops. But what I appreciated most was the author’s honesty about what actually happened - or didn’t. No hype, no spectacle. Just a humble account of waiting in the dark, hoping something might answer back.
What’s Lurking on Spook Lit:
dreary dendrophile will be out of office for the next 1–2 weeks due to a career transition. Thank you for your patience during this brief pause in episodes!
After I return, we will be wrapping up the first part of Ghosts and Family Legends, with an appendix of firsthand letters and stories. We will be finishing the first half of our first book - very exciting!
Until then, thank you for listening to Spook Lit. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
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Credits:
*Special thanks to my friends from GhostOria - an amazing two-woman paranormal investigation team from Astoria, Oregon - for hosting the investigation at the Masonic Lodge in Seaside. Definitely check them out on Facebook to see some of their investigations and review the evidence they’ve collected.
Audiobook: Ghosts and Family Legends by Catherine Crowe
Chapter: Round the Fire. Eighth Evening.
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/drearydendrophile
All Spook Lit Audiobooks are public domain.
Hauntingly yours,
dreary dendrophile
