Intro
Locked away in attics, basements, and dark corners across the world are stories of beings and beasts that hide in the night.
These are those stories.
This is the Sleepless in Suburbia Podcast
I’m Brooke, case manager for our team, and this is the audio recap of Case 112: Whitehurst Winery. We’d never heard of this supposed haunting until a message landed in our inbox.
Anisa Parker, the owner of Whitehurst Winery, sent us the following message on Facebook.
I’m not sure where else to go for help. There is someone or something on the property of my vineyard that wants my daughter. Believe me, I know how that sounds, I’ve been told countless times that I’m losing my mind, and I’m starting to wonder if I am going crazy. Please come investigate.
Most of our investigative and research team members are moms, well all of us except Lark, so we pretty much started packing our bags the second we heard a kid was involved in this case. You want to scratch me, fine. Throw rocks, that’s great too. But the second you start messing with a kid… living or dead… you’ve rubbed me the wrong way.
Property Details
Pru, our resident book nerd – librarian by day, a kick-butt researcher by night – connected with Anisa, getting us the basic lay of the land. All 150 acres of property.
There are 5 main regions of the sprawling 150 acres Whitehurst Manor.
Vineyard: You enter through a stone archway and rod iron fence (You might have seen our picture of this on Instagram or Facebook), From there you’re greeted with row after row of Marquette grapes and chickens. Yah, chickens, I was pretty shocked too, but they’re apparently organic bug repellent.
From there, we move onto…
Briar Memorial Rose Garden: A massive black rod iron fence borders the Briar Garden, at the entrance into the garden is a plaque that reads “For our Rose, may your soul bloom for eternity. Darby Rose Briar 1879”. A cobblestone path twists through every variety and color of rose imaginable.
Honestly – I did not spend a great deal of time in the gardens as bees seemed like huge fans of the blooms and like always I forgot my EpiPen
Next is the….
Pan Amphitheater: The Pan Amphitheater sits on the western edge of the property nestled in an area of woods up a fairly steep slope in the landscape. Almost every element of the Amphitheater is natural from the grass used on tiers, to rock and stone for walkways. It stretches about 50 feet wide and 25 feet back with a stage front and center.
Then there was….
The Carriage House: You’ll find it at the end of a winding path down a hill from the main manor house. Weathered white paint is crisscrossed by brown woodwork x’s. It’s small with 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, and an open concept living room running right into the kitchen. Anisa and her daughter Lilly live here with their bouncy terrier mix Bubbles.
Finally, the largest building on the property…
The Main Building or The Whitehurst Winery: I half expected to have a gargoyle perched upon the gothic beauty’s steepled roof. It’s made of gray stone and lined with ivy. There are four levels: basement, main level, second floor, and attic. Various rooms include the wine tasting area, a parlor for winery guests to sit and drink, ballroom for special events, offices, storage, and the wine cellar. There’s one noticeable decorative flair throughout the manor house, roses. You’ll even find random stained glass around the main house with roses front and center.
And there are enough twinkle lights over various outdoor seating areas to make even the stars jealous.
Team Update
5 of the 6 days after receiving Anisa’s message, I had short, vivid dreams. It was almost a flash of memory like I was trying to see a scene through a slice of swiss cheese. I couldn’t see much of the dream besides fabric, blue fabric, swaying in circles in the wind, or something to the sound of staticy music. That was it, a flash of blue flowing fabric, and then I’d wake up.
Since the property was so big, we took the entire team.
Lo – She’s our no-nonsense skeptic, she ran HQ and made sure there was no funny business going on with the team or the investigation.
Pru paired up with Ford – We knew one of two things would happen here. Pru would reign in Ford’s “anything goes I fear nothing enthusiasm.” Hopefully keeping her from breaking a bone or getting abducted by a ghost or alien or something. OR… Ford would drag Pru down the path towards higher, faster, farther, scarier, “Come on, Pru, it’s just one trip down the creepy alley.” It was a crapshoot.
Claire is our resident chicken little. Her strength is with numbers (freak); in the real world, she’s an accountant. She was a hard no on taking part in anything paranormal. Until she walked out of her bathroom one night a little after the witching hour and watched a three-legged black dog with red eyes run from the kitchen through a wall. After cleansing her house with sage and 50 salt bowls, we talked her into chasing her fears instead of hiding from them.
Claire partnered with Lark for this investigation. Lark’s the youngblood; she’s my 20-year-old niece. She’s more comfortable surrounded by stacks of books, her and Pru are Dewey Decimal soul sisters, but being with Claire would force her out of her comfort zone.
On location, we first dropped Pru and Lark off at the Essex Historical Society office for research, before the rest of us met Anisa at Whitehurst.
Historical Society Research
Here’s a little of Lark and Pru’s research on the history of Whitehurst Manor.
First Land Owners:
The land was purchased by Jacob and Martha Briar in 1874.
Jacob Briar made his fortune in coal mining.
Work on the main house began right away.
The couple moved into the main house and soon welcomed their first child Darby Rose Briar Born – April 1876. Martha loved being a mother and spending countless hours playing with Darby. The pair was inseparable, which is why it came as such a surprise that Darby was alone in the yard one summer day in 1879. Martha had gone inside to help a house made with a task, leaving Darby outside for only moments. Moments were all the time needed; Darby toddled to a well falling into the darkness and drowning.
They were unable to retrieve Darby’s body; the well became her final resting place. It’s believed the remains are still in the sealed-off well today.
Martha believed wholeheartedly that Darby’s death was her fault. When she wasn’t in bed, house staff members would find her wandering the grounds vacant stare on her gaunt face.
A trigger warning here, as we continue talking about Martha’s grief process.
Martha’s cause of death was listed as grief January 1890, just 6 months after the death of her daughter. There were rumors amongst the house staff that Martha was found in the bathtub, her left wrist slit with Jacob’s straight razor. Though officially a statement in the paper said her grief consumed her in her sleep. – She was 27 years old.
Jacob continued living on the property, allowing his brother Andrew to oversee operations of the mine. Jacob began drinking heavily, and few people saw him out in public.
Jacob died from a drunken fall from a horse – in 1908, he was 49 years old.
Then did something dark move onto the grounds?
The manor sat empty until 1915 when it was purchased by Laurell Blake, who was made wealthy when her rich husband Richard Blake died suddenly of a “fragile heart,” leaving his widow everything. There were many whispers around Essex that Laurell had slipped poor Richard a potion killing him.
Many believed that Laurell dabbled heavily in the dark arts. So much so that she built Pan’s Amphitheater to commune with darkness. Rumors spread quickly through the community that Laurell was a high priestess of a satanic cult, who, along with her followers, used the amphitheaters stage to summon demons and, on occasion, the devil himself. When Laurell died in 1939, contractors brought it to maintain the manor property until it sold, claimed the stage was stained rusty red from both human and animal sacrifices.
During the two and a half decades, Laurell lived at Whitehurst 26 girls between the ages of 11-15 went missing in the area never to be seen again. Many believe the girls met their fate on Pan’s stage under harvest moons, and during rituals summoning demons, we dare not name out loud.
Perhaps the most famous or infamous owner was:
Most Famous Owners:
Luca “Lucky” De Cecco – Head of the De Cecco crime family, purchased Whitehurst Manor in 1939 for his daughter Rosa, son Vito, and wife Donatella. This was their safe space removed from the seedy belly of the beast that was Mafia life.
It’s believed that Luca didn’t spend much time in the family compound at Whitehurst. Instead, working the business by splitting his time between Chicago and New York. Having a girlfriend in both cities. It’s believed that his scandalous and not so secret relationship with Ottavia Laborde, adult daughter of fellow boss Carl Laborde, led to tragedy in the fall of 1941
It was a beautifully warm fall day in New England; Rosa De Cecco played in the side yard with her cocker spaniel puppy. From the woods shots rang out one after another, Donatella rushed from the house finding Rosa in a heap on the ground, blood soaking through the girl’s blue dress. 9-year-old Rosa died almost instantly from this unauthorized hit that, as of today, is still unsolved.
It’s rumored that many men were tortured in the main manor house’s cellar for information on who killed and ordered the hit on Rosa. Bodies are supposedly buried under the vines in the vineyard.
The property has a pretty intense history, but things only grew in intensity with our onsite visit.
Here’s our…
Onsite Interview Recap
Anisa met us in front of the Main Manor Building, where we parked by a large stone water fountain of cherubs pouring water from vases.
She began the tour, guiding us along a path towards the woods. A statue of Pan streaked with rich green moss sat just at the mouth of the woods, and we headed towards the Amphitheater. This is where Anisa believes an unseen presence lured her daughter Lilly.
A few months ago, 10-year-old Lilly was playing near the Briar Memorial Rose Garden with Bubbles, the dog not the soapy floating things. Anisa was in the garden handling the upkeep of rose bushes near a stone bench. She was not sure how much time passed before she realized it was quiet. There was no giggling daughter and no yapping dog. Coming out of the garden, she found the lawn empty.
She called Lilly’s name, but there was no answer, the dog and the girl were gone. Jason Markson, the vineyards viticulturist, heard the yelling and came from a small supply shed. From an outdoor seating area sommelier, Avery Carter, and the two guests she was serving came to assist Anisa.
Jason found Bubbles cowering under a row of grapes in the center of the vineyard. Lilly and Bubbles are not allowed to play through the vines, so seeing him, there was a surprise. The dog was so scared that Jason had to carry him back to the Carriage house he explained quote,
“Bubbles is high energy. I doubt I’ve ever seen him stationary, but that day he was frozen, curled up as tightly as he could. I called his name, and he didn’t move, but he watched me. When I picked him up, he was shaking badly like he was cold on that 80-degree day. I took him back to the carriage house, when I shut the door he whined at least until I was far enough away that I couldn’t hear him anymore. I hated leaving him, but we hadn’t found Lilly yet.”
Avery and the two guests made their way through the edge of the woods, calling Lilly’s name. It was along the woodline that one of the guests found a yellow scrunchie with pink stars, Avery recognized it as Lilly’s.
Deeper into the woods walking down the stone path towards the bottom of the amphitheater tiers, Avery heard faint laughter. She described it as the trees laughing because the sound didn’t come from a single direction, but instead coming from all around at the same time.
The group now consisted of Avery, the guests, Jason, and Anisa moving past the stage area of the Amphitheater, down a dirt path leading to a small but fast-moving river. A few feet from a bend in the path that then opened up onto an old bridge to cross the river, Anisa doubled over. It felt like something was stabbing her in the stomach, lifting her shirt. She found three scratches running from near her belly button towards her right side.
Moving slowly, she came to the bridge, and she says she screamed but wasn’t sure if noise actually came out. Walking along the narrow, rickety railing of the 100-year-old bridge was Lilly. Lilly’s arms stretched out to the sides, and every few steps she wobbled before catching her balance.
Avery describes what she saw:
“I honestly couldn’t believe what I saw—Lilly up on that old broken railing and the water rushing below. I knew if she fell, she’d drown before we could pull her from the water. Lilly’s arms were out like this, and her feet took slow steps, her left toe dragging across thin air each time it moved. Before making it to the opposite bank, she turned and made her way back towards us. That’s when I saw her face. It was blank, noting there, no recognition of seeing us. I stepped onto the bridge, and something screamed. It wasn’t an earthly sound; I don’t ever want to hear something like that again.”
Anisa then began pleading with her daughter. Calling her name, begging her to come down. After several minutes Lilly stumbled, looked at her mother, and began falling towards the water. One of the guests, who asked not to be named, grabbed Lilly by the arm, pulling her back over the railing and off the bridge.
After a few minutes wrapped in her mother’s arms Lilly spoke, asking where the little girl in the blue dress went. No one had seen another child on the property, but Lilly insisted that a little girl with brown curls and a blue dress asked her to play hide and seek. She took the girl in the blue dress’s hand, and then the next thing she remembers was being in Anisa’s arms.
Standing on the bank, seeing where this happened gave us all chills.
Haunted Happenings
That was the most dangerous potential paranormal encounter we’d heard about from the staff, but it’s not the only thing.
- Guests have reported stall doors in the bathroom, rattling violently.
- A staff member had his shirt pulled while working in the vineyard.
- A photographer shooting an engagement party captured a picture of a young girl twirling in a dress on the dance floor, there were no children on the guest list, and staff and guests are unsure who the spinning child belongs to.
- On several occasions in the tasting rooms, staff arrive for the day and find glasses stacked on tables around the room. When all glasses had been properly shelved at close the night before.
- People report feeling uneasy walking from the Amphitheater after evening performances.
- People have heard footsteps running up behind them on the ground, in the main building, and near the Amphitheater, but when they turn around, no one is there.
- There have been reports of yellow eyes looking out from the woods.
- Cabinet doors in the kitchen at the Carriage house open on their own.
- Reports of a half-goat half-man shadowy figure standing in the shadows of the tree line
- In the main manor house basement, people have smelled cigarette smoke.
- The office in the manor house was once a bedroom; often, people will walk into the office and encounter an overwhelming smell of rose.
- Several voices have been heard from the basement cellar area; when checked out, the area is empty.
- Cell phones have their batteries drained at Pan Amphitheatre.
Investigation Recap
We set up our equipment on Saturday late afternoon, so we were ready to rock and roll as twilight settled in.
Lo setup video monitors, walkie talkies and setup three research packs in HQ in the carriage house.
Our Research Packs are just backpacks with supplies including:
- K2 EMF Meter
- SB11 Spirit BOx
- Digital Voice Recorder
- Digital Camera
- Full Spectrum Video Camera
- Bandaids – because you wouldn’t believe how many times Ford trips over something and bleeds. Truly she needs a bubble.
- 2 – Flashlights
- Avon skin so soft bug guard – not an ad we just love the stuff because let’s face it, our moms used it on us since birth.
- Walkie Talkie
- LifeGuard Whistle – because some of us have gotten lost, okay, I’ve gotten lost, and my walkie died.
- Protein Bars
Each team gets a pack before heading out to investigate.
This investigation, I roamed solo.
Pru and Ford investigated the Briar Memorial Rose Garden and the Vineyard.
Claire and Lark took on Pan Amphitheater and the main manor house.
The night was clear; the moon added extra light to navigate the property.
Anisa, Lilly, and other grounds and winery employees were off the ground until the following morning. So besides the crickets, owls, and various bugs, we were the only ones on site.
These are our Experiences
- I will start things off with my experiences, or really experience, which I’m still not fully able to comprehend.
- Sometime around midnight, I was on the front lawn, I couldn’t hear the other teams, it was almost eerily quiet. I was using my Digital Voice Recorder asking questions when I heard something run up from behind me. Turning, I expected to see Lark or maybe a coyote, but I saw nothing, but the running sound pounding the ground got closer. Until something slammed into me.
- I know it sounds crazy, one second I was fumbling for a flashlight to see what was coming, the next I was flat on my butt, the wind knocked out of me. I closed my eyes, breathing in deeply, trying to calm down. When I opened my eyes, things looked hazy, like a fog had moved in out of nowhere. I remember thinking great, who doesn’t need a concussion.
- When I stood, I noticed a car on the circular drive that hadn’t been there before my getting closed lined by thin air. Standing, I walked towards the car; it was old like something you’d see on the show Mad Men or something. An old Buick maybe, I don’t know. After a few steps, I felt a chill run up my left side and then pressure on my left hand like someone was holding it.
- I stopped walking frozen in place, digital voice recorder still in my right hand. I asked, “Who are you? Are you okay?”. There was still pressure on my left hand, and my entire body was freezing like I’d walked into a freezer. Looking down towards my left hand, I saw a little girl with curls in her hair wearing a blue dress looking up at me. She was almost slightly see-through, but her eyes locked with mine, and I gasped, taking several steps back.
- Mentally flashing back to the dream of the blue fabric, I’d been dreaming of her. I blinked several times, and the car was gone, and so was the little girl. The air was thick and warm.
- The next day checking my digital recorder audio, I found what I believe is an EVP of the girl responding to my question.
- {Please Listen to Podcast For EVP}
- What did you hear? We heard the name Rose or Rosa and then Sorry.
- I also have bruises on my arms from where I fell.
- A few other times that night, I heard footsteps around me, but I didn’t get them recorded.
- Not sure if I encountered Rosa DeCecco or suffered a mild concussion, but it felt real.
- Lo in the Carriage house
- Twice after closing the door when leaving the bathroom, she returned to find the door open.
- She set up a camera on the door after the second time, but it didn’t happen again.
- Lo believes the older construction of the house may make it, so the door doesn’t latch securely. She’s not confident that anything paranormal occurred during her time in the carriage house.
- Pru and Ford in the Briar Memorial Rose Garden and the Vineyard.
- The vineyard was fairly quiet, and the ladies didn’t spend much time there after getting a stern talking-to from Jason about the fragile state of the vines.
- After about an hour they moved onto the Briar Memorial Rose Garden
- Ford was the first to have an experience, after entering the gates, she was overcome with a strong sense of sadness and felt an ache in her chest like she’d been crying for a long time. When she exited the garden, the feeling stopped, only to return when she entered the garden again.
- Pru conducted an EVP session catching two interesting pieces of evidence.
- Here’s the first one… let’s give it a listen
- {Please Listen to Podcast For EVP}
- Did that sound like someone was crying to you? That’s what I thought, and with Ford’s strong emotional reaction to the location, I confirmed that the sobbing sound captured on that EVP wasn’t Ford.
- Here’s the second EVP:
- {Please Listen to Podcast For EVP}
- What did you hear there? I heard help. Could this be Martha’s spirit asking for help for her daughter, or is it Darby herself asking for help? What do you think?
- In the rose garden, by a stone bench with a statue of an angel, Pru and Ford both walked into a cold spot.
- Lark and Claire in Pan Amphitheater and the main manor house.
- The main manor house did not provide any evidence of activity.
- Claire and Lark then shifted their attention to the Amphitheatre.
- Both acknowledge feeling very anxious, walking towards the Amphitheatre, which was likely caused by walking into the woods at night.
- Walking along the path, Lark snapped a photo that appears to show a similar fog to what I noticed in the yard. The picture also has what looks to have captured an orb.
- Possibly the same orb that both Lark and Claire reported seeing pacing them through the woods at a distance. If you want to see this image, head over to Facebook or Instagram @SLEEPLESSSUBURBIAPOD.
- While sitting on the second tier up in the Amphitheater, their digital recorder captured this. Let’s listen…
- {Please Listen to Podcast For EVP}
- Do you hear the music playing? No other team member remembers hearing any music that night at other locations.
- On the stage where summer concerts are held and possibly the murder of countless victims at the hand of a dark cult, our team captured the following possible EVP:
- {Please Listen to Podcast For EVP}
- We hear mumbles or chanting, what do you hear?
Wrap Up
I can’t stop thinking about the little girl in the blue dress. It’s almost like she’s still with me, because several nights since the investigation, she’s visited me. It sounds impossible, and I know people will call it out as dreaming, but it’s so vivid. Last night I woke up from a dream visit from her, a feeling of pressure on my left hand, which hung off the edge of the bed. I think she was holding my hand.
We’d like to thank Anisa for inviting us to investigate Whitehurst. Overall we believe we’ve captured enough evidence to conclude that there is something paranormal going on at Whitehurst Winery. We’ve recommended Anisa have a medium come in to help the spirits move to the light and cross over.
Closing
If you want to check out some of our pictures from Whitehurst Winery case file, listen to the EVP’s, and stay up to date with everything happening behind the scenes you can stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram we are at @SLEEPLESSSUBURBIAPOD
We will be back next week with another case, until then thanks again for listening to Sleepless in Suburbia. If you enjoy our cases, please make sure to rate and review us on Apple Podcast, and make sure to subscribe, so you get our new case each week.
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