Many have fabricated stories about ghosts before, whether surrounded by the warmth of a campfire or blankets at a sleepover. For most, these stories are made up to raise goosebumps and entertain others. But for Bradley Martin, it raises more questions about where humans go after death and if the paranormal can align with other Christian beliefs.

Martin is one of the individuals managing a house known as The Whispers Estate. Located in Mitchel, Indiana, it has become the “Fourth Most Terrifying Place in America”, according to the Travel Channel in 2010. The estate was built in 1894 and later purchased by Dr. John and Jessie Gibbons in 1899, where John ran an in-home medical office. He would perform surgeries on patients in the first floor rooms of the estate. For 26 years John ran this practice, and “it is likely many patients died there during [this time]”, according to WhispersEstate.com. 

To prove this, Martin and his team brought someone with a sonar in to the estate to dig up the backyard; they found “14 layers of bones [underground]”, Martin said.

 It was a common practice in the early 1900’s for amputee’s bones to be buried as a means of disposal. 26 people died in the operating room under John’s care, and at least 4 more died in the house, including Racheal and Elizabeth, John’s adopted children. Jessie, John’s wife, died of double pneumonia just 2 weeks after Racheals death, as well. 

According to the Whispers Estate website, many visitors “hear, and sometimes see, [Racheal] running around the house today”, as well as smelling the baby powder from Elizabeth and Jessie’s “labored breathing” from before her death. With the people who walk into Whispers Estate and all have similar experiences, is it truly humans walking Earth from the dead once more, or does the paranormal deal with more religious ideas instead?

Martin began his exploration into the paranormal “roughly 10 years ago”, when he first discovered strange activity in his own home. “When I got married to my wife, I think she brought something with her,” Martin said. Objects would commonly move around on their own and cabinet doors would open. Martin was “highly skeptical” of the paranormal and his Christianity was a large reason for it. 

“I believed in an afterlife because of Christianity, but I didn’t believe that we could interact with [ghosts],” Martin said. But, after a direct encounter with an alleged spirit, his skepticism transformed into belief. 

Martin manages the estate by changing locks and maintaining general upkeep and visits frequently. 6 weeks ago however, Martin claims to have been touched by a ghost. 

The Whispers Estate has a stairwell that connects to the kitchen that was meant for servants to carry food up to residents of the house. An area in the floor there had been corroded so it was blocked off by a church pew to avoid injury of others. Martin claims he was “sitting on the church pew and [Rich Ballard, the owner of the house as well as Martin’s wife] were trying to get [spirits] to knock on the pew.” That is when Martin “felt a very tiny hand touch the top of [his] head and hold their hand there.” 

“That’s the first time I’d ever been touched [by something unseen], and I felt the fingers,” he said. 

However, in many Christian beliefs, it is said that spirits of the dead do not linger on Earth and they either go to Heaven or Hell after death, with Hebrews 9:27 stating “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” 

So, if souls of humans do not stay on Earth, how can the paranormal be explained? According to Bible Munch, “The Bible makes it abundantly clear that there are spirit beings, both good and evil. But, the Bible negates the idea that the spirits of deceased human beings can remain on earth and “haunt” the living.” 

Many say paranormal investigators actually encounter demons that play on our belief that humans can return from the dead, and they will disguise themselves as dead individuals to beg for help to return from Hell. 

Even with the speculations, Martin does not think Whispers Estate has any negative spirits. Instead they “perceive to be negative” in order to scare visitors to avoid revealing the truths about John’s malpractice with his medical office.

Many aspects of this topic are difficult and controversial to cover, considering most paranormal is based on belief and cannot truly be proven, but the idea of spirits on Earth and Christianity do not exist separately. When asked for the significance of the paranormal, Martin said “it is a means to my Christianity. I grew in my faith, and it has been a lot stronger since this has been happening.” With no direct proof of the existence of demons, angels or even God, Martin believes “[the paranormal] gives plausibility to religion. […] It makes me feel stronger in my faith because […] if evil exists, God has to exist, right?” 

Martin knows the amount of knowledge humans have about the paranormal is miniscule compared to the hefty amount of unknowns. “The more that we [learn about Whispers Estate], the more we realize we don’t know anything,” Martin said. 

As paranormal investigators work to debunk the existence of the paranormal world, one more ghost story is told with listeners surrounded by the warmth of a campfire or blankets at a sleepover.