Archaeological Dig

February 1999
by Anita Stratos
Middletown, NJ - During the summer of 1998 I was working at an archaeological site in Middletown, New Jersey. This was the site of a 300 year old house, one of the first built by Dutch immigrants in Monmouth County, which emphasizes its historical importance. A developer owned the land and was leasing it to a large corporation, thus the decision was made to move the house to another area of town, removing it from its proper historical context. An archaeologist living in Middletown who also serves as a commissioner on the Landmark Commission requested permission to excavate the site, in the hopes of salvaging any historical remnants as well as any prehistorical Native American artifacts which could possibly be on the property.
House in Middletown
Permission was granted, and work began.

In an attempt to piece together the complete history of the house, former residents were contacted by the archaeologist. His objective was to gain access to any old pictures, paintings, or other artifacts which may have been removed from the house by the former owners. Little did he expect that in addition to contacting former living residents of the house, he would be opening the door to deceased residents as well. The last resident of the house moved out in 1984. In her discussions with the archaeologist, she mentioned seeing a woman's transparent figure floating through certain areas of the house, being aware of a presence when no one else was home, feeling cold breezes where there should be none, and occasionally smelling a burning odor.
House in Middletown
In addition, her young grandchild was extremely frightened in one of the upstairs bedrooms and eventually refused to even enter the room anymore.

The date of the house's relocation began to draw near, and although literally thousands of artifacts had already been discovered on the property, several key areas had yet to be excavated. In order to expedite the dig, the archaeologist requested that a paranormal investigator be brought into the house to possibly derive more information about the location of important artifacts and/or features yet undiscovered. Through the high recommendations of an attorney friend of mine, I called Jane. She was immediately receptive to the idea of helping us out, especially in the interest of preserving history. Much to my surprise and despite my insistences, she absolutely refused to accept monetary compensation for her hours of work on this project.

Jane's arrival
At this point I would like to make it clear that when I contacted Jane about this, I gave her absolutely NO information whatsoever about the house or its history. She was given only directions to a crossroads, and Middletown was quite a distance from her home. She was completely unfamiliar with the area. Upon her arrival, we entered through the rear door of the house into the kitchen, which was a 20th century addition. Jane breathed deeply, and slowly walked into the back living room, which was a 19th century addition. She stopped and we stood still while I watched in amazement as her stomach proceeded to stretch way beyond its normal size - her "thermometer" of a spirit's presence.

"This house is very haunted," was Jane's first statement. Immediately after her statement, a cold breeze blew between us as we stood no more than two feet apart. Being that this was a still, humid day in July with the temperature around 90 degrees, I could not find any earthly way to explain that breeze. I began to take this whole thing much more seriously, and started taking notes every step of the way in a notepad I had brought. Within seconds we began hearing creaking from the floor above us. At first the creaks went in only one direction, and I rationalized them as normal sounds from an old house. However, I had to change my theory when, after a few more seconds, the sound of actual, heavy footsteps began thumping along with the creaking sounds, exactly like the sound of a person walking across the wooden floor above us. As if that weren't enough, a second set of footsteps began coming from a different direction in the same upstairs room.
Middletown Dig - House on stilts for moving
We then moved to the front room of the house, one of the two original rooms constructed circa 1716. In this room Jane began to feel definite energy flows, going toward the hallway and up the stairs, as well as into the other original room across the hall. Closing her eyes, she described the spirit as a woman wearing a long blue dress, not a formal gown, but rather floor-length everyday clothes as would have been worn by women of the 18th and 19th century. She also sensed a little girl clinging to the woman’s skirt, following her everywhere."This woman is one of the spirits that we heard walking around upstairs," she said. "She keeps walking back and forth, bending over as if she's picking things up off the floor. But there's nothing to pick up. Yet she keeps doing it over and over."

The spirit of Yohan
Throughout our tour of the house, Jane kept receiving the same strong impression, and she was very confused as to what the woman was doing. She referred to it several times throughout the hour or more we spent in the house. She also said that the woman was not one of the original residents, but one who lived there later, during the 1800's. The energy remained strong as we walked through the center hall and up the stairs. We entered a bedroom at the top of the stairs, and stopped only about four feet into the room, standing side by side.

Within seconds I felt as if thick air passed through my body, and the hair on my arms stood up as if effected by static electricity.
Out back
At the same moment, Jane stated that she felt something touch her as it brushed past her. "They're definitely here," she said, smiling. Although my knees were now feeling weak, we went into the bedroom across the hall. Jane walked through the room, and finally stopped, looking out of a window. "There's a man walking back and forth, from the house to that area (she pointed out a spot) of the yard. I keep hearing 'yo hand'," she said. "Yo hand, yo-han, yohan."

I then realized that she was picking up the name of the man who built the house in 1716, Johannes Luyster. Again I must emphasize, she could have known NONE of this in advance. The area of the side yard to which she was pointing was partly grassy, partly thick, overgrown shrubbery. I told her we had done some shovel tests in that area and that there was nothing there. "No, you must dig there," she insisted. "He’s going back and forth to that area. There's something there.

You have to dig there." I noted the area in my notepad. We climbed the steep attic steps, and Jane walked around the single room attic for a while. She had the impression of a lot of bottles having been in the room, and also that some sort of rituals involving the burning of incense or other substances had taken place there, which explained the burning odors the last resident had noticed. The final stop within the house was the small, dirt floor basement. Jane had the strong sense that we should dig outside of one of the basement walls, which bordered the area under the modern kitchen. Going back to the first floor, we paused for a moment.
Outside House
Jane stood quietly, then with a smile of satisfaction said, "I know why she's walking back and forth and bending over. She's not picking things up, she's tending to fever victims. People with some kind of fever are up there, and she's taking care of them. In fact, the little girl who is following her around was her daughter, and she died of fever at a very young age."

Evidence of fever
Historical records of Middletown did not mention a fever outbreak. However, our excavations of a trash pit outside of the house revealed evidence of just that - fever in this house. Many medicine bottles were found, along with dozens of dinner plates that had been stacked and placed into the pit, which was common practice when fever was present.
dining room
The next week we began excavating the site Jane had pointed out in the side yard which was the area where she said Johannes Luyster kept walking to, and to our amazement we discovered the fieldstone foundation of the original barn Johannes Luyster had built at the time he built the house.

We began uncovering artifacts by the hundreds -in fact, the archaeologist in charge of the project is fond of saying, "there was a little bit of dirt mixed in with the artifacts".The area contained many important discoveries, answering some questions and presenting new ones along the way. The area outside the basement wall that Jane suggested we investigate revealed the site of the original well, which we had been looking for. More work still needs to be done in this area. When I mentioned to the archaeologist that Jane said there had once been many bottles in the attic, he confirmed it. Unbeknownst to me, a good part of the attic floor was littered with old bottles at one time.

Without leaving the area of the house, Jane had recommended that we dig toward the back of the 5 acre property, because she felt there had been a Native American camp there. Although this work has not yet begun, a local "expert" who cut through the overgrowth and reviewed the back area said it was a perfect spot for a camp, and recommended we excavate it. Finally, I contacted the last resident of the house who claimed to have continually seen a woman’s spirit, and asked her if she noticed the type of clothing the woman was wearing. "She always wore a long blue dress," she said. "In my opinion, Jane's authenticity is undeniable. Jane Doherty is an extremely gifted person. As a writer and journalist, I am skeptical by nature about all claims that have not yet been fully substantiated before my own eyes. I require proof positive. Not many pass the test. As a first-hand witness, I can say without hesitation that she has true psychic ability possessed by very few people in this world. The archaeologist running the Luyster house project also witnessed Jane's abilities on one of her subsequent visits to the house. He is also willing to make a statement on her behalf."

--Anita Stratos, Freelance writer/reporter

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