Glastonbury - Buckingham Church Cemetery
On rather an impromptu whim, Brandon and I decided to go out and check out a nearby site that was part of our list to investigate. We decided on Buckingham Church cemetery as it is nearby to my house. We had discussed possibly going out and performing an investigation so this time, we did have a camera.
Buckingham Congregational Church is located right off of Hebron Avenue in Glastonbury, but the cemetery is set back from the road by a line of thick trees that makes it seem more isolated than it is. It is a fairly large cemetery for such a small church that only can seat about 50 people at maximum capacity. Roughly the size of one acre, most of the stones and sculptures are close together, which leads to the question of why is there such a big area for such a small church community? Also, the close by neighbors have complained of noises during the nighttime and several times the local police have responded to these noises and witnessed the sounds but have seen nothing to explain it. Some reports of seeing lights have also occurred but not as often. Research shows that during the infamous Hurricane of 1938, the church was almost completely decimated. Also, the soccer fields south of the church have become a popular hangout spot for teens, which might lead to them, walking up the hill to the cemetery for nights of drunken or high vandalism. These two events are the most likely reason for the fairly recently appearing paranormal activity.
After parking down the street and putting fresh batteries in our camera, we entered into the newer section of the cemetery on the side farthest from Hebron Ave. A couple feet in, there was a clear drop in temperature, which made us excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. While I had been warm in my heavy sweatshirt walking down the street, I was now shivering. This change was not imagined, and we both felt the drop at the same time. As we walked along a pathway we periodically stopped to take pictures of interesting stones and scenery, we noticed that many of the stones belonged to people who had lived short lives and obviously died before their natural time.
After about five to ten minutes inside, the camera died completely, even though we had put newly bought and opened batteries in before entering, and it had worked on the walk up and for a little while inside. Obviously, we were aware that a battery dying quickly is a usual sign of paranormal activity or presence nearby. We continued on, and made a mental note to come back soon and take a couple more pictures during the day to capture the layout of the area as we had only photographed graves so far. There were many different types of stones, some large, unusual, or small, a very unusual variety as most cemeteries have many that are similar to each other. Along the newer wall all the way to the right if you are facing the church from the street, there are a couple smaller graves set off by themselves. Curiously we examined them and found no inscriptions or names, just the three initials of names on each. Getting near to these graves gave me a weird vibe that hit me like a wall. It was not a feeling of being watched, instead one of foreboding and eeriness not previously felt anywhere else in this location. After walking away from this area the feeling abated. The rest of the investigation was uneventful except for where I got dive-bombed by a bird or a bat flying out of a tree we happened to be walking under. It sent my heart rate through the roof and Brandon thought it was rather funny.
We exited about a half hour later armed with a couple of pictures on the camera that hopefully will reveal something once new batteries are put in the camera and they are uploaded the a computer. One other fairly interesting event happened when we were driving away from the church after walking back to the car. While the music was playing, there was a three second bout of the interference heard over any radio or computer signal when a cell phone is searching or receiving an incoming signal, most are probably familiar with this sound. But Brandon pointed out one interesting detail: the radio was not on at the time, instead the CD player was in use. It is times like these I wished we would invest in an EVP because I have a strong feeling it was not the normal cell phone interference because it does not naturally happen when the CD player is being used. For such a quick and impromptu trip this was definitely a good experience.
CONCLUSION: 5.5/10
In short, the pictures will depend on the final rating of Buckingham Church cemetery. If anything abnormalities appear, the rating will go up to about a 7. The drop in temperature, the weird feeling when going near the few newer graves that were isolated, the camera batteries dying, and the radio event on the way out all contribute to this rating. Perhaps the new isolated graves have something to do with the newer paranormal activity that has been witnessed by neighbors. All in all, we did not see any lights or noises that have been reported, but we did witness a couple of things from the more subtle side of the paranormal. Again, the pictures will help with this argument once they are uploaded, but I would say that there is at least some moderate activity in this location.
This headstone was strangley separated from the rest. Possible orbs, but most likely it is a reflection of some sort.
The oldest row of headstones.
