HAUNTED COURTROOM - Paranormal Investigator Larry Flaxman recen tly explored the 114-year-old Cleveland County Courthouse in an paranormal investigation. He details his findings in the latest episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast. Flaxman said he experienced a first in his 30-plus year career, where a ghost box device recorded distinct footsteps inside the courtroom. Cleveland County Judge Jimmy Cummings and Clerk Brandy Herring participated in the podcast episode, with Herring realizing Flaxman captured many of the things she and other courthouse employees have experienced over the years. CONSTANT ACTIVITY - Paranormal Investigator Larry Flaxman said he experienced constant alerts on a device placed near this safe in the lobby of the Cleveland County Courthouse. According to Flaxman, the device picked up motion, 5.8GHz microwaves and more just outside the Cleveland County Clerk's office. He said would like to return to investigate further with UV cameras.
Free Range Conversations, Episode 55
RISON - Is the Cleveland County Courthouse at Rison haunted? Paranormal investigator Larry Flaxman thinks it is.
Flaxman, who describes himself as a "paranormal theorist" on his website, recently conducted an investigation at the courthouse one Saturday and came away with what he called some of the best evidence he has gathered in his 30 years of looking into the paranormal.
During his career, Flaxman has appeared on several national television and radio shows related to the paranormal, and has also written several books on various topics related to the subject. With a back-ground in physics, Flaxman said he likes to take a scientific approach to his investigations.
He revealed the findings of his courthouse investigation to hosts Britt Talent and Douglas Boultinghouse, and County Judge Jimmy Cummings and County Clerk Brandy Herring during a recording of the Free Range Conversation podcast. The episode is currently available on Apple podcast, Spotify and clevelandcountyherald.com Herring said she reached out to Flaxman after he conducted an investigation at the Pioneer Village that turned up an electronic voice phenomena (EVP) inside the old church building there last year. She said she wanted him to see if the experiences she and others have had at the courthouse are actually real, in particular the sound of footsteps moving across an empty second-floor courtroom.
While the footsteps are the most common experience, Herring said she once heard the door to the basement slam in an otherwise empty courthouse, and two workers in the clerk's office once heard an audible voice say "hey" out of thin air. In addition, both a current and former clerk's office employee have found books stored on top a row of filing cabinets to be out of place after they had been neatly put away in the same location beforehand.
Flaxman had not know about nor revealed the details of his investigation to Herring or Cummings before the podcast. They were learning about it for the first time as the episode was being recorded.
The investigation took place during daylight hours on a Saturday in late July. The courthouse was closed so Flaxman and his cameraman were the only ones there. Flaxman said many of his investigations take place during the daylight hours since the time of day seems to have little bearing on paranormal activity. Herring said some of the activity they have experienced took place during a routine day.
Flaxman's investigation was limited to the second-floor courtroom, and the hallways and basement on the first floor. He said it didn't take long after he setting up his equipment in the courtroom that he recorded what he considers some of his best evidence ever.
"I'm up there asking if there are any of the spirits that would like to speak to me that were present in the courtroom, whether they be previous judges, jurors, you know, any of the previous bystanders, spectators, anybody that's energy was still present," he said.
"The ghost box is at this point talking continuously. There are names coming through. There are words that are coming through." Flaxman said he continued talking to the ghost box.
"All of a sudden there are footsteps that come through the ghost box that are so clear that I stopped because I physically thought that somebody else was in the building." As Flaxman revealed his information about the footsteps, Herring nodded her head that what he described matched what she had heard.
Using a video camera and two other pieces of equipment, Flaxman said he recorded a series of footsteps in the courtroom that lasted about 10 to 15 seconds.
Flaxman said what was really remarkable, is that is the first time that device has ever picked up anything other than voices.
Flaxman said he also picked up some EVPs during his visit with one name, "Amelie," consistently coming up in the investigation across multiple devices.
Throughout the visit, Flaxman said he nor the camera man with him every felt threatened by any of the activity. However, he said he was startled when he felt someone grab him while investigation the basement.
As he made his way to the bottom of the basement stairs and turned to go into one of the storage areas, he said he felt some grab his shoulder. Knowing the proximity of the basement to the jail, Flaxman said he thought it may have been someone who had gotten out and was hiding in the basement. As it turned out, however, no one was there.
He said that was the only experience or evidence he picked up in the basement. Closer to Herring's office in the Courthouse though, Flaxman did find more activity.
"I don't know if there's anything specific to that safe, but that area right in front of the safe is I had set some equipment on the floor, and we actually had quite a bit of activity right there in that specific spot." Using a ball device that detects motion, 5.8GHz microwave, EMF and other sensors.
"It has five different sensory arrays that are built into this ball," he said. "So you set the ball up and you just sort of wait. There's lights and buzzers and things that go off if there's any activity. And there was consistently activity with the ball." Flaxman said he would like to come back and do an more thorough investigation of the area using UV cameras and other equipment to record any activity the device detects.
Cummings, who said he has never had any experiences at the courthouse, said he was open to having Flaxman come back and conduct another investigation. Flaxman said he would love to return when the temperatures were cooler. He said it was a very hot day, and it was difficult to stay in the courtroom for an extended period of time due to the heat.
As the episode came to an end, Talent asked Flaxman if he thought the courthouse was haunted. He said he did.
Boultinghouse discussed with Flaxman the possibility of coming back and doing ghost tours as a fundraiser for local community development projects.
Flaxman said he plans to upload video footage from his investigation at the courthouse to his website LarryFlaxman.com and YouTube channel @LarryFlaxman.