HOUSTON – Paranormal explorers across the Houston area are searching for things that go bump in the night.
Ghost hunters think something lurks inside the historic Horlock House in Navasota. The home was built by the Horlock family in the early 1890s and the family remained in the family for almost 100 years before it was donated to the city of Navasota. The house was once used as city offices and officials said one worker would not return after finding a second floor bathtub running in the empty house.
Those who care for the house said they randomly find lights on without explanation, locked doors and old trunks moved.
Houstonian Gabriel Morales contacted Local 2 after his paranormal group set up cameras in the historic Horlock home. They try and record anything unusual.
"We heard sounds. The piano was playing. We heard footsteps on the staircase. We heard voices, a whistle, that loud bang," said Morales
The Houston salesman said the only thing they could find that possibly made the sound was a small picture that fell off an upstairs wall.
"There is no way that little picture cause that much sound," said Morales.
"It didn't sound like a little picture falling off the wall. It sounded like the whole house shook," said Lola Lopez, another paranormal explorer.
"I would go so far as to say it is one of the most haunted … it has got to be one of the most haunted homes in Texas," said Morales.
If that is one of the most haunted homes, the people at Adcetera said they may work in one of the most haunted buildings in the city of Houston.
"We had a paranormal research team come in and actually do an investigation. One of the ghost hunters said, 'Why don't you call her name?' I said, 'Eva, is that you?' Right then you heard a 'pang' on one of the pipes. I am the biggest skeptic in the world, but that kind of made the hairs on my arm stand up," said Matt Jones, an Adcetera senior copyrighter.
The building on Louisiana Street is believed to be haunted by Eva McIlhenny. Her husband named the two streets surrounding the building Anita and Rosalee after their daughters who died in the 1900 storm in Galveston. Eva died in the storm, too. The story is that the husband never forgave Eva for their daughters' deaths and so she rambles between these two streets where the family home once stood, looking for forgiveness.
"My experiences are movement-type things, but always behind me, which is why this is not fun when I know she is there. You just tense up and wait for it," said Kristi Sexton, Adcetera's founder.
The agency has embraced the idea of the ghost of Eva and even created a floating white image to put on the window around Halloween.
"Look around. It is a bright light fun place to be, but when the lights go down the character of this place just changes entirely," said Jones.