Digital audio recorders catch 'ghostly' voices in antebellum Uriah mansion

King Plantation House at Uriah, Alabama.

Three years ago, when producers at the Travel Channel began researching locations to investigate for their hit television show “The Dead Files,” their search took them to the King Plantation House, which is a supposed haunted antebellum mansion at Uriah, about 35 miles southwest of Evergreen.

In 2011, “The Dead Files” sent two investigators, psychic medium Amy Allen and former NYPD homicide detective Steve DiSchivai, to the house, which is located on State Highway 59. In an episode called “A Widow’s Rage,” their shocking findings were broadcast before a national television audience on June 22, 2012.

This past Friday night, as part of their annual Halloween investigation, The Evergreen Courant teamed up with Monroe Journal award-winning reporter and photographer Josh Dewberry, and John and Brandi Higginbotham, members of the Singleton Society of Paranormal Investigators, to conduct an investigation of their own.

Anna Jean Ikner, the daughter of the late Eugene Garrett, a former state legislator who moved the house to Uriah from its original location at Packer’s Bend in 1963, said she’d lived in the house for most of her life and had never experienced anything out of the ordinary, despite what investigators from “The Dead Files” said they found.

Ikner noted that while she didn’t think the house was haunted, she knew that it had seen its fair share of history over the years. Originally built in the 1850s by William “Dock” King, a nephew of U.S. Vice President William Rufus King, the house is said to have the broadest façade of any plantation home in Alabama. She also noted that wood from the old Blacksher-Coley School was used to replace flooring on the second floor of the house, which is now used for special events like weddings and receptions.

During Friday night’s investigation, which bled over into the predawn hours of Saturday morning, the group conducted a series of electronic voice phenomena (EVP) sessions in which they placed a digital audio recorder in the center of several rooms and investigators took turns asking a series of questions. Between each question, investigators paused 10 to 15 seconds and remained silent, listening for responses or any unusual noises. No sounds were heard during the live sessions, but when the recordings were replayed the results were shocking.

In all, the recorder captured at least eight different EVPs, that is, apparent responses that weren’t heard by human ears during the pauses between each question. In the home’s library, one investigator asked, “What year is it?” In response came a female voice that said “Ten.”

Later, in the parlor, an investigator asked “How old are you?” and another female voice, with somewhat of an impatient tone, replied “Ten.”

The parlor seemed to be the most active room in the house. There the recorder captured another small female voice that said “I’m cold,” while later the recorder captured what sounded like whispering followed by what clearly sounded like the words “Is it cheaper?”

In response to the question “Are you a slave?,” the recorder captured the words “Not tomorrow.” Later, when one of the investigators said “Play the piano,” the recorder captured the words “I don’t want to,” which were very faint, but audible.

In the home’s ballroom, investigators were inspecting a small room beneath a staircase when the recorder caught the words “What is it?” followed by “I don’t like it.” Later, while in the same area, the recorder captured the words “Help me.”

Are these recordings proof that the King Plantation House at Uriah is haunted? Do they back up the claims brought forth by investigators for “The Dead Files”? Is there a logical explanation for these unusual recordings other than disembodied voices from beyond the grave?

Maybe only time will tell, but one thing is for certain. I was present while these recordings were made, and I can truthfully testify to the fact that the voices caught on tape during the pauses between questions weren’t audible at the time they were made and weren’t made by any of the investigators present. With that said, it is my belief that the group did capture proof of paranormal activity inside the King Plantation House, which continues to live up to its reputation as one of the spookiest places in Alabama.

(Special thanks to Anna Jean Ikner and the Garrett family for giving us the run of the King Plantation House for the night and to Amy Bradford for helping us seek permission to spent the night in one of the finest old homes in Alabama.)