Paranormal Investigation - Lock #49
by The Supernatural Research Group

It is well documented that on August 17th 1875, Louisa Bissinger, wife of Capt. Philip Bissinger, took their three children, Mollie, Lillie and Philip, on an outing that day that ended in tragedy at lock #49 along the Union Canal towpath in Berks County Pennsylvania.

The children ages, nine, six and three years, skipped alongside their mother in a gleeful manner collecting stones which they then placed in a basket that was tied around their mothers waist. When the four of them reached Lock #49 along the towpath of the Union Canal at around 5:00 P.M., Louisa Bissinger stopped, grabbed the three children and jumped into the 7 foot deep canal killing herself and the three children. An eye witness was not able to save the children, who were seen bobbing to the top of the water, due to the fact that he could not swim and ran for help.

Since that tragic day there have been numerous reports of small children seen walking the path in period clothing during different times of the day. The accounts of this tragic day were detailed in "Ghost Stories of Berks County" by Charles J. Adams III.

TSRG  set out to capture any evidence that would indicate that Mrs. Bissinger or her three children may still walk the towpath.

As stated earlier, according to documented reports the incident took place on August 17th, 1875 at around 5:00 PM. Although Benjamin Franklin first suggested the idea of daylight savings time in an essay titled "An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light" in 1784, it was only observed by the United States for the first time in 1918. Based on this fact we arrived at lock #49 at approximately 5:30 PM to give us enough time to setup and take some base readings.

We used the following equipment during this brief investigation: Two Digital Voice Recorders, Two Mel Meters (model 8704R) and a 10 Megapixel digital camera. Given the fact that this site is located in a remote area and is exposed to quite a bit of pedestrian traffic along the towpath, we took great care in identifying any audible noises that were heard during the investigation.

Baseline Readings:

EMF canal side (Top of canal on the towpath) - 0.0 mG

EMF Canal basin - 0.0 mG

Temperature (Top of canal on the towpath) - 81.5 Degrees Fahrenheit

Temperature Canal basin - 79.5 Degrees Fahrenheit

Investigation Findings:

While taking a series of photos in the canal basin we captured an unexplained light anomaly:

Click the image to see the unaltered full size image.
Notice the light anomaly in this photo. I could not find a reflective surface that the camera's flash would bounce off of.

Click the image to see the unaltered full size image.
This is the next photo taken, with the camera aimed slightly to the right of the original location.

Click the image to see the unaltered full size image.
Here is a third shot taken in this series. This shot was taken from almost the same spot as the first photo which contained the anomaly. As you can see, there is nothing there that would reflect light.

NOTE: I have intentionally blurred the person in the background since they were not part of the investigation.

This EVP was captured as we started our investigation. It's odd since it does not fit into anything that was being said at the time of the recording.

EVP1
You can hear what sounds like the word "one" being said.

About 20 min. into our investigation Jim recorded a 10.2 mG reading and a three degree temperature drop on the Mel Meter while in the canal basin. This disembodied voice was captured at the same time on the digital voice recorder. This audio file has not been altered in any way.

EVP2
You can hear what sounds like the words "It's on" being whispered.

We caught a few other anomalies during our investigation. But since this was an outside investigation and we are not able to rule out other possible sources for the anomalies I am not going to include them here. As our investigation progressed people started to gather on the towpath above. We were not the only paranormal team at the location, but we were the first to arrive.

Our total investigation lasted about 2-1/2 hours from the time we arrived.

- Lowell / Jim