Farrar in Maxwell, Iowa
By: Bela Ruiz
On March 16, 2018 through the 17th, the Paranormal Society went on their first and only paranormal investigation of the year to Farrar, an old schoolhouse, in Maxwell, Iowa.
Farrar closed down as a school in 2004 and is now available for tours and investigations because of it’s hauntings. The society gathered together and headed to Maxwell, a two hour drive from Forest City, Iowa. Rebecca Bartnicki (Becky), Bela Ruiz, Haleigh Biernacki, Nicole Misner (Nikki), Justin Benjegerdes (Benji), members of the society, planned to go this location for several weeks. When the time came, two public members came along for the investigation, Mary Loden and Syreeta Groves, along with Benji’s wife, Brittany.
As the members got a tour of the schoolhouse, a couple who have been apart of Farrar, Will and Jacquelyn Conkel, gave the group a tour and shared their personal stories of experiences they’ve had throughout the building. It was made clear that the spirits in the building are safe and there is nothing there that is necessarily demonic, but just simple ghosts that want to scare people.
Equipment was set, groups formed, and the investigation started. Pieces of equipment were used to capture and record voices that may have been heard when asking spirits/ghosts questions. Cameras were set in different areas of the building to capture any occurances that the team may have missed. An SLS camera was used to capture and ghost figure types that may have been around the team. It is pretty clear, when using the SLS, being able to tell the difference between and actual living human and a spirit. The spirit/ghost figure will appear as a stick figure and human will appear as a human figure.
Many group members had some sort of creepy and unforgettable experiences. As the investigation came to an end, Becky mentioned that ” I was hoping to get a better understanding of the school and why it was haunted. I don’t go into a trip hoping to find amazing evidence because what happens, happens. It’s more on having fun, learning how to use the equipment right, and hopefully getting some feed back from the spirit in the place.”
Benji has been to this schoolhouse multiple times that he now calls it his second home. This year, he adventured on this trip with new group members. Being a member myself, Benji shared what he also hoped for during the night of the investigation, “honestly, all I wanted was for you all to have some sort of experience. I have never been there and not had experiences of some kind so I wanted you all to have your own experiences.” In which almost every group member did have some sort of occurrence happen. It was a long, but a fun and successful night for everyone.