Hiseerie
The Boyd House
Episode 1 | 25m 40sVideo has Closed Captions
In our first episode of a paranormal investigation, we visited Boyd House in Boyd, Minnesota.
The Boyd House in Boyd, Minnesota, has been a staple in the community for almost 125 years. There is a rich history of paranormal happenings at the property, and we were shocked with how much occurred the night we stayed.
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Hiseerie is a local public television program presented by Pioneer PBS
This program is produced by Pioneer PBS and made possible by viewers like you.
Hiseerie
The Boyd House
Episode 1 | 25m 40sVideo has Closed Captions
The Boyd House in Boyd, Minnesota, has been a staple in the community for almost 125 years. There is a rich history of paranormal happenings at the property, and we were shocked with how much occurred the night we stayed.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- Hello, I'm Mickey.
- I'm Cera.
- And I'm Ryan.
- And this is a sneak peek into our new series, "Hiseerie."
(ominous music) We grew up watching paranormal investigators like Zak Bagans on "Ghost Adventures", Ryan and Shane on "Unsolved" or "Ghost Files", and Sam and Colby on YouTube.
It gave us a curiosity or a need to know what it was really like to understand the world that we can't see.
The semi-casual investigations, people just trying to connect to those who are no longer around, or something we just can't understand yet.
All throughout history different cultures have believed in the paranormal, divine gods, spirits, alien, shaman, witchcraft, and divination, just to name a few.
Supernatural occurrences are reported all around the world and have become ingrained into pop culture.
Since the beginning of humanity people have been questioning the bigger picture of existence.
What is really out there?
Where do we go when we die?
Are there aliens, ghosts, Bigfoot?
- The three of us are from three different departments here at Pioneer PBS in Granite Falls, Minnesota, and share a strong interest in all things paranormal.
- There's such a rich history of the supernatural and paranormal around the state, and we're so lucky that we get to share it with you.
- If you like the sneak peek and wanna see more, you can see the full episodes at Pioneer PBS on youtube.com.
(ominous music) - Tonight, we went to the historic Boyd House in Boyd, Minnesota.
- This was the first investigation we did, and it did not disappoint.
- The house sits on land originally inhabited by the indigenous tribes of the Dakota and Anishinaabe.
- In 1884, the Hastings and Dakota Railroad purchased the land from the US government.
The house was built in 1901 by H.J.
and Pauline Hawkinson, who sold the property to Fred Eckhardt Jr. and Minnie Eckhardt in 1912.
- [Mickey] Fred and Minnie met shortly after she immigrated from the states from Prussia, now Poland, in the 1890s.
- The Eckhardts had 11 children, four of which would die in childhood, two at the Boyd House.
- [Mickey] Fred was a prominent member in the community, working in many public offices and running the general store as well as a farm two miles north of Boyd.
Minnie would die at 77 after suffering a stroke in 1955, and Fred would follow her at 83 in 1958.
They would both die in the Boyd home.
- In 2019, the current owner, Jill Shelley, purchased the home and opened it for private visits.
- Over the years, there have been a fair share of paranormal activity in the house.
People have reported audible voices, the sounds of children playing and laughing, shadows and apparitions, and even moving objects such as doors, dolls, and cards.
- [Mickey] Tools of the trade.
Spirit box.
Scans radio frequencies for spirits to communicate through the white noise and words.
Estes Method.
Uses a spirit box then one investigator wears an eye mask and headphones while the other investigator asks questions to help eliminate bias.
- [Cera] Here's one of our first sessions.
(ominous music) - [Ryan] At the Boyd house, there's a room we dubbed "The Doll Room," and it's said that little kids' spirits will play and talk with you.
- [Mickey] When we first did the session, the end freaked us out so much that we had completely forgotten where the conversation started.
- [Cera] Looking back, it seems like we were talking to a little girl and then we were joined by her mother.
(ominous music) - Oof!
- [Mickey] Maybe a little more clear for Cera.
(whispering) (feet thudding) - [Ryan] Do you hear that?
- [Mickey] Is that you?
Oh.
- [Ryan] Is that- - Other.
- [Mickey] Oh, that's someone else?
Do you know who that is?
- The energy.
- [Mickey] Is that just the house's energy coming up?
- No.
- [Mickey] Okay.
Well, thank you for the clear answers.
(tape whirring) You'll like me.
(whispering) - [Mickey] Who is "me?"
Who are you?
(tape whirring) Seriously, get me out.
- 22.
- [Mickey] I am 22.
- It's on your right.
Other side of you.
- [Mickey] Oh, that's crazy.
I just looked at my left.
- It was the other side of you, and then it's on your right.
- [Ryan] This side's getting cold.
- [Mickey] I just... Oh, (beep)!
- [Ryan] You feeling that?
- [Mickey] Yeah.
- [Ryan] I'm getting the chills right here.
It's not on this side.
- You just- - [Mickey] On my arm.
- [Ryan] It's right here.
- [Mickey] We just what?
Dude, I looked- - [Ryan] Who's here with us?
- I don't speak English.
- [Mickey] I don't know German!
Google Translate!
Google Translate!
- Oh, (beep) no!
- [Mickey] What?
- There was this clear (beep) voice, like a girl voice that said, "Something baby.
Come on, baby."
- [Mickey] Ryan?
- Came in clear as (beep) day.
- [Mickey] When you- - [Ryan] She's looking for her baby?
- Keep going.
- [Mickey] You can go again, Ryan.
- [Ryan] How many of you are in the house?
- [Spirit Box] Right in front of you.
Right in front of you.
- Command you.
(tape whirring) Your help.
- [Mickey] You want our help?
What do you need help with?
- [Ryan] What do you want our help with?
- Their house.
They're good.
- [Mickey] Do you want us to clean up after ourselves?
(Mickey snorts) - A forty.
Online.
- [Mickey] Do you want us to be nice online?
(whispering) - Understandable.
- [Mickey] Yeah.
We just want people to understand.
We'll be very nice.
- To?
- [Mickey] To you.
(laughing) You've been nice to us.
- Then I want a turn.
- [Mickey] What do you want a turn with?
- It's just fine.
No other.
(footsteps thudding) - [Mickey] Did you just touch my hair?
- Smart choice.
- [Mickey] Taking that as a no.
Thank you.
(tape whirring) Do you want us to stop talking to you for right now?
- Talk?
- [Ryan] Do you want us to talk more?
- The community?
- [Spirit Box] Hear me.
Hear me.
- [Mickey] Do you want us to go upstairs?
We can go to the library.
You want to pull her out?
- [Ryan] Who's in the attic?
I keep hearing stuff, but it doesn't sound like she's getting anything right now.
- [Mickey] No, what?
Up there?
- Yeah.
- Why are we still here?
- We have 'em up here?
- [Mickey] Oh, perfect.
Is everyone up there right now?
- Rally.
- [Mickey] Oh, rally.
Are you guys having a party up there?
(ominous music) (ominous music) - [Ryan] When we did the upstairs investigation, we left some equipment in the crawlspace at the end of the hall.
- Earlier in the day, we had done a full walkthrough of the house and we had already been hearing voices and footsteps upstairs.
The first physical thing that happened though was the crawlspace door being pushed open from the inside.
- Open the- - I'm scared.
- [Ryan] Was that someone's phone?
- [Cera] Yeah.
- [Ryan] Okay.
I heard a piano key.
- Oh, that is, yeah.
(Cera laughing) Mute your thing because your phone does sound like- - I just... - Oh my God!
- What?
(laughing) So, it wasn't me.
- What in the... What happened?
- I don't know.
It just says there's - Ryan, open it.
- [Cera] There's stuff moving behind it.
There's like the sound of like a whoosh!
(door creaks) - [Mickey] I can't see.
- Oh, it's just a little playroom.
- Oh, no, no, no, no.
- Shut up.
- [Mickey] No, no, no!
(Cera gasps) - Oh!
- [Cera] Oh, I don't like that!
- [Mickey] This actually moved in there.
I swear to God!
That's why I jumped back!
- This is the attic.
- It sounded like something right against the door went- - [Ryan] They have like the jack in the box.
- [Cera] I don't like that.
(Mickey laughs uncomfortably) Nope!
Oh, no.
People put like REM pods in here and they always go off.
- Yeah, like a camera might have to sit in here or something.
It's the room that you jumped back.
- [Mickey] Oh.
- That you couldn't even open.
(Ryan chuckles) - [Mickey] 'Cause there was a sound inside.
Something was in there.
- Yes.
- [Mickey] It sounded like something, yeah.
The little room that I jumped away from the door.
- [Cera] It was scared of you.
- [Mickey] Well, I think, I guess I had a reason.
Okay.
Ryan has a story to tell us.
- [Cera] Say it.
- [Mickey] Wait, I'm sorry.
- [Cera] Oh.
- Right.
So their experiences are as followed: Being tapped on the head, hair messed with in the Peach Room.
Which I would say this is the Peach Room.
- [Mickey] Yeah, this is the peach room.
(laughing) - Unexplained dizziness, nausea and headaches that seemed to come and go.
One of them was overcome with sadness and started crying in the crawl space by the bathroom.
She said she felt someone was in this room was hurt or abused in there.
- [Cera] The only bathroom is upstairs.
- [Mickey] No, that's the room that I jumped back from.
That crawl space.
- [Cera] Oh, that, right!
- That I had to open.
Yeah.
- The cl- - All right.
Where did I leave off?
They left a little green truck as a gift.
They also heard what sounded like a growl in there.
- [Cera] Oh, I don't like that.
- So the fact that you jumped back makes sense.
(laughing) - [Mickey] Thank you.
I feel so heard.
- Cat balls and EVP recorders were very active in there.
The red ball also moved slightly.
The corner room in the basement felt more uncomfortable during the day than during the night.
- [Mickey] Oh, then I guess we're chill down there.
- Both EVP readers and cat balls, once or twice.
The EVP devices and cat balls were off the charts all day and all night in the Peach Room and parlor.
Cool.
(group laughing) - [Mickey] Sweet.
- Multiple occasions we thought we caught glimpses of shadow figures, mainly from the kitchen area.
I initially planned on sleeping in the Purple Room on... Did that say "purple?"
In the Purple Room.
- [Cera] That might be the bedroom.
- [Mickey] Bedroom.
Yeah.
- Okay.
- [Cera] Well, I don't want to hear that.
(laughing) - Unfortunately, the energy in there is not welcoming, and after asking some questions, I decided against it.
This room drained a camcorder battery that was a 100% within minutes.
- [Cera] We should put our camera to record it while we sleep.
- [Mickey] Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh!
I'm not gonna watch that back.
- Attic area picked up voices and footsteps and the sounds of furniture moving.
EVP devices and cat balls in both boy and girls rooms.
- From the very start, we had terrible vibes coming from the crawl space, and decided that it would be best to just leave a camera in there instead of doing the investigation ourselves.
We left a camera, a cat ball, and a flashlight while we explored the other rooms.
Tools of the trade.
(upbeat music) Cat balls.
React to touch.
- [Cera] How are you feeling?
- [Ryan] Little nervous.
- [Cera] Yeah?
- Okay.
You can turn it...
Okay.
You can open it.
I'm ready.
- (indistinct).
(door creaks) - [Mickey] Ooh, I didn't like that.
- [Cera] It might be because there's a clown on there.
(door creaking) - [Mickey] Hey, guys.
- [Cera] Oh, there's a light if you need one right there.
- [Mickey] That went further than I thought it would be.
- [Mickey] Okay.
(door creaks) (lock rattling) - [Mickey] It's not.
The camera's too short.
- [Unknown Voice] Back up.
(tape whirring) - At least a little bit.
(indistinct) Now, we've been trying to figure out what would cause that other than something moving in front of the camera but have come up with literally nothing.
- The camera has never had a malfunction like that, and we aren't even sure what would make a camera malfunction like that.
It only lasted a single frame with like a hard bent edge, so it's not dust or fuzz in the air.
- After that for a while, there were taps here and there like this.
(insects chirping) (tapping) (tape whirring) (tapping) - Then around 12 minutes into the recording, you can hear us passing through the hall, and Mickey says, "Move that cat ball over there."
Moments later, the ball lights up in the crawlspace.
- Move that cat ball over there.
Move that cat ball over there.
I have not gotten over this.
It's just too perfect.
And to make it even more insane, about six minutes later, you can hear Ryan ask from the other room, "Is anyone in here?"
And once again, the ball just goes off.
- [Ryan] Is there anyone here with us right now?
(indistinct) Is there anyone here with us right now?
(indistinct) - This is just the start.
Go to our YouTube to see more.
(ominous music) (ominous music) - [Ryan] The other spot in the house we had activity was in the basement.
- Now, when we originally went to the basement on our walkthrough, none of us really felt much.
- The only things we did were set up some trigger objects to see if anyone would move them during the night.
- [Cera] Aw.
- I hope it's not the devil.
And we actually had some luck.
- [Mickey] Girl, I'm not moving an inch without everyone.
(laughing) - [Cera] Mickey said this moved.
- Down in the basement, we set up a Zoom recorder on the opposite side of the room from where we did the Estes method.
In the Doll Room and crawlspace, we've already shown some EVPs.
The taps, whispers, and full sentences were all picked up on just the camera's microphone or the Zoom mic.
Tools of the trade.
(upbeat music) EVP.
Electronic voice phenomena.
Sounds of spirits picked up on an electronic audio recorder.
KM Class System.
Class one, direct response.
Class two, general statement.
Class three, sound.
(ominous music) - We'd also like to say that we filmed on two cameras.
One shot the footage you're about to watch while the other was shot on a camcorder.
- This trusty little camcorder just had its SD card completely corrupted.
The camera and SD card worked fine a few days later at the Thayer.
And well, the Estes session kind of gave us the impression that there might be a reason why that specific footage was messed up.
- [Cera] Is there anybody down here with us that wants to speak to us right now?
- [Mickey] There's piano music.
- [Cera] Um.
- [Ryan] I just heard a footstep upstairs.
- [Mickey] Us.
- [Cera] Us?
Does anybody wanna speak to us right now?
(tape whirring) Do you have a name?
- There's like a really- There's a really deep voice that keeps on coming, but I can't hear what it's saying.
- [Cera] Can you try to communicate a little louder to Mickey?
She can hear you.
- Two of us.
- [Cera] There's two of you down here?
- Please watch.
- [Cera] Please watch what?
(tape whirring) - It just like went dead silent.
- [Cera] Do you have a name?
- [Spirit Box] Be scared of me.
Be scared of me.
- Oh my god.
- [Cera] What?
- It just stopped.
Like it just...
I didn't touch it.
It just stopped, and it was like a really deep voice being like, "Be scared of me."
And then I freaked out, and just switched it off.
Dude.
- [Cera] (beep) that, no.
- [Mickey] No!
It was like, it sounded like- - [Cera] I thought I heard a deep voice.
- [Mickey] Yeah, it just stopped - [Ryan] Yeah, I heard it go quiet.
- [Mickey] Yeah, it was silent and then it was just one voice with no static behind it.
And it was just like, "Be scared of me."
And like, like a, "Be scared of me."
I was like, "Oh!
I am!
I am scared of you."
- [Cera] I am.
You did scare us a little, not gonna lie.
(tape whirring) - [Mickey] Yeah, I'm gonna try it again.
- [Cera] You gonna go back in?
- [Mickey] Yeah.
At least for a little bit.
(tape whirring) - [Cera] Are you okay with us being down here?
- [Spirit Box] No way.
- [Mickey] No way.
- [Cera] Oh!
Oh, okay.
Would you like us to leave and end this session with you?
- [Mickey] Forward.
Pull back.
- [Cera] Pull back?
Are you- - [Mickey] Right in front of you.
- [Cera] (beep) no, dude.
Stop.
(tape whirring) I'm sorry.
- Hold out your hand.
- [Cera] No.
(Ryan exhales) Ryan?
- Alright.
I will hold out my hand.
- [Cera] Ryan's gonna hold out his hand.
- [Mickey] Feel me?
Okay, done.
Sorry, it got really loud.
- [Spirit Box] Listen to me.
- [Mickey] Listen to me!
- [Cera] Listen to me?
- [Spirit Box] Listen to me.
- [Mickey] Listen to me!
- [Cera] Listen to me?
(Mickey laughs) - [Mickey] I'm not doing that.
I'm so sorry.
Okay.
- [Cera] Come on.
It's okay.
- [Mickey] What?
- [Cera] Are you going back in?
- [Mickey] I can.
Well, they said, "Listen to me."
I'm like... - [Cera] Do you want to?
- [Mickey] Sure.
They were kind of nice.
- [Cera] That battery's dying.
- [Ryan] I got a cold spot coming over my hand right now.
- [Cera] Yeah?
- [Mickey] Is that you?
- [Cera] Are you touching- - Like a cold breeze.
- [Cera] Are you touching Ryan right now?
- [Mickey] That's me.
- [Cera] What's your name?
- It is just continually getting colder.
- [Mickey] Conversation with... - [Cera] Who are you touching right now?
Do you know?
- [Mickey] Hello, George?
Wait...
I'm.
- [Cera] Are you George?
- That's right.
28.
- [Cera] You're George and you're 28?
- It's so cold around my hand right now.
(laughing) - [Mickey] Wait, wait.
Can you say that again?
- [Cera] Can you repeat that, George?
(Mickey laughs) - [Mickey] Bless you, Ryan.
Sorry, it said it twice.
- [Cera] What?
- [Mickey] It's a party down here.
- [Cera] Oh, it's a party?
- [Mickey] You know.
- You've been saying that all night.
- [Cera] Yeah?
- "It's a party."
- [Mickey] Johnny Appleseed.
- And now it's coming through the spirit box.
- [Cera] Johnny Appleseed.
Yeah, it's a party.
We don't mean any disrespect, but we love talking to you guys.
- That's so weird.
- [Cera] Are you still touching Ryan right now?
- It's going up my arm.
(siren wailing) - [Cera] Oh, I don't like that.
- [Mickey] They're coming.
- It was on my hand.
And now it's on- - Oh, I don't like that.
- It's coming up my arm.
- [Mickey] Wait your turn?
(whistling) (whispering) See us.
(whistling) (whispering) See us.
- [Cera] See us?
I don't really want to see anything.
- [Mickey] Hear me.
- [Cera] Are you still around Ryan?
Is there anything else you wanna share with us?
- During that time, I had a bit of an experience with my arm.
I was the only one willing to reach out.
- Sorry, Ryan!
- Yeah.
(all laughing) Yeah, not gonna lie.
- And as I did, I felt the cold breeze come over my hand and then eventually it wrapped around my arm and slowly went up throughout the night.
It was probably numb for about an hour or two afterwards, and I couldn't lift it above here for a good day.
It hurt that bad when I woke up.
So that was an experience.
(all laughing) - Sorry, Ryan.
- We hope you enjoyed this episode.
And if you wanna support us and our station, you can see more behind the scenes content and full length uncut sessions on our patreon at patreon.com/hiseerie.
(ominous music) (upbeat music)
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Hiseerie is a local public television program presented by Pioneer PBS
This program is produced by Pioneer PBS and made possible by viewers like you.