A Picturesque Life

Facebook/Heather Brough

Life couldn’t have looked any more promising for Heather Brough. She had been living with her fiancé Joshua and their one-year-old daughter Lily, with plenty of good things waiting for them on the horizon. They were in love, had a beautiful little girl, and lived in the peaceful, mostly uneventful town of Highland, Michigan.

It’s hard to imagine such a blissful state of living getting disrupted. Unfortunately for this young family, however, not only was their picture-perfect life about to change — it was about to become absolutely riddled with fear and uncertainty. Everything began taking a turn for the worse one morning when Heather noticed scratches on Lily’s tiny little face.

Strange Noises At Night

Facebook/Heather Brough

Looking at scratches on a child’s face is enough to make any mother begin to feel concerned, but Heather soon had a few other things to worry about. In the late hours of the night, she began to hear strange noises around the house.

Whether it was the creaking of a door, or a thumping on the floor, these nightly occurrences increased, and they always creeped her out a tad. However, it wasn’t until she saw Lily’s scratches that she began to wonder if there was a connection between these two things. And to make matters worse, more scratches on Lily’s face kept reappearing — even after they had healed.

An Unfamiliar House

YouTube/WXYZ-TV Detroit

Heather and Joshua hadn’t been living in this home for very long. They had moved in just slightly over a year before, so they were still relatively new to the place. However, since it was actually the guesthouse for a property belonging to Joshua’s mom, they were trusting enough to call this new place their home.

But with Lily’s frequent mysterious scratches, as well as those incessant eerie noises that Heather kept hearing at night, they began to wonder if something was seriously off about the place. Heather became determined to find out how Lily was getting those scratches — and a frightening discovery caught her dead in her tracks.

Suspicion Aroused

Facebook/Heather Brough

Although Heather and Joshua had a strong relationship, she couldn’t help but wonder if he had anything to do with this. Was he the one making all this racket during the night? Was it possible that he could even be responsible for Lily’s never-ending scratches?

She approached Joshua with her suspicions, yet he was adamant that he had nothing to do with it. From her end, Heather knew that she was innocent as well, so then how could it not be Joshua? She didn’t even want to think about the possibility of some unknown entity being inside their home. But she had to know the truth, so she took things a step further.

Getting The Evidence

Reddit/Homekit

Heather decided to purchase an expensive Logitech Circle 2 baby monitor, a device built with impeccable night vision. With that, she hoped she would soon get to the bottom of exactly what was going on in the eerie halls of their guesthouse at night, and no one could argue with her.

She wondered whether it could even be an animal crawling into the house at night. That would explain the noises, and Lily’s scratches as well. But Heather was unsure about that too, seeing as she was always very careful to close their windows and doors every night. So after setting up the baby camera in Lily’s room, Heather was confident she would get her answer.

The Culprit Strikes Again

YouTube/WXYZ-TV Detroit

Lily had scratches again the next morning. This time, Heather was certain that her baby monitor had caught everything on tape, and she was ready to learn the truth. So she started watching the footage — and saw something that made her do a double-take.

In fact, she had to rewind the video endless times to be sure of what she was looking at. There absolutely had been someone in Lily’s room during the night. When she first watched it, she thought it was Joshua, and that she had actually been right all along. But the more she observed, the more she questioned herself. Something really strange was going on.

A Mysterious White Shadow

YouTube/WXYZ-TV Detroit

On the video, Heather watched a luminous figure, shaped like a man, moving through Lily’s bedroom. Even though the camera’s night vision was working quite well, it was still hard to make out who, or what, this person was. For some reason the figure had a transparent-like quality, and seemed to “glide” across the room.

Heather watched as the figure moved past Lily’s crib, and as it did so, Lily’s face turned. Lily had noticed that someone was there in the room with her. Perhaps she had even experienced that feeling multiple times before. That’s when whoever it was looked straight at the camera, and Heather’s heart dropped.

A Trick Of The Light?

YouTube/Daily Mail

Was Heather actually seeing what she thought she was seeing? The flickering figure didn’t seem solid enough to be real, and yet there it was, moving around and looking at the camera. Heather started to wonder whether she was in fact experiencing some form of paranormal activity.

No one ever wants to be “that insane person who thinks they’re seeing ghosts” — but how can a person deny what’s right in front of them, documented on tape? The only way to know for sure that she wasn’t imagining things was to share this footage with Joshua. Would he agree that this could be something beyond the material plane?

Get Out…Now

YouTube/WXYZ-TV Detroit

When Joshua saw the footage from the baby monitor, he was just as spooked as Heather. He later described his shock in an interview with the WXYZ Detroit News: “It was chilling. It was literally a chill down your spine, like that ‘what if’ factor. Is this what I just saw?”

In fact, after watching that footage, Heather and Joshua started wondering if they weren’t welcome in the house. They entertained the idea that a demonic paranormal spirit was actually living in their home, and trying to kick them out. It was a terrifying thought, and they weren’t sure what to do. So they did the only thing that made sense — call the authorities.

Informing The Police

YouTube/WXYZ-TV Detroit

Heather and Joshua called up their local police station, hoping that they’d provide some assistance, far-fetched as it may have seemed. But the police didn’t exactly see it as something that was their problem. Instead, they referred the young couple to a special organization called the Scientific Paranormal Investigations of Michigan.

Unlike the cops, these people had dedicated their entire careers to the study of paranormal activity, and therefore they were more than ready and equipped to explore the situation. They were modern-day ghostbusters, and they had seen all the ghostly tricks in the book. So they ventured on down to the rickety guesthouse — but what they found defied expectations.

A Chilling Start

YouTube/WXYZ-TV Detroit

The investigation was led by Mike Priest, the co-owner of Scientific Paranormal Investigations of Michigan. They set up their advanced gadgets (which consisted of a lot more than just a baby-cam), staked out the house, and got ready to see if there truly was something sinister lurking in the shadows.

What they found was nothing short of mindblowing. After reviewing their various pieces of startling evidence, these experts concluded that in their opinion this seemingly innocent guesthouse could indeed be haunted by demonic spirits. What they heard in that room was not something to take lightly, and it eventually helped blow the entire story up.

A Whisper In The Night

YouTube/WXYZ-TV Detroit

Mike Priest, the leader of the investigation, told WXYZ Detroit News exactly what he and his team had witnessed that unsettling night: “We heard something say, ‘Oh here we go. Oh yeah.’ I heard it as plain as day.” But Priest wasn’t done with his analysis of this strange, logic-defying house.

Priest went on to say that he definitely believes there’s something going on at this house. He also plans on investigating the main house that Joshua’s mother lives in, believing that the spirits could be haunting them both as a package deal. It was then that Heather remembered something else that made everyone even more afraid.

Waking Up Terrified

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When the experts told Heather that a ghost could truly be living in her house, she started recalling unsettling memories from earlier times in the house: “I woke up to get ready for work one morning and it felt like someone was choking me.”

Heather went on to explain that the only reason she’d never told Joshua about it was because she didn’t think he’d believe her. She didn’t want people to think she was crazy, and after all, she thought she had probably just imagined the invisible force that had tried to choke her in her bed. Yet as it turned out, that hadn’t been the only thing she’d kept to herself.

An Angry Voice

Facebook/Heather Brough

Thinking back over the past year in the house, Heather’s memory of being choked by a mysterious force wasn’t the only frightening story she remembered. She also brought up that there were countless times where she’d wake up one morning and hear “an angry male voice”, as if someone “had stubbed their toe” in the other room.

Other people might assume that it was probably her fiancé Joshua roaming around the halls. This theory sounded great, but there was only one problem: in these memories, Heather said that she remembered Joshua laying down next to her. That meant the angry voice couldn’t have been coming from him. Nevertheless, this new information made the experts even more determined to fix this problem.

Ghostbusters At Work

YouTube/WXYZ-TV Detroit

Even though their initial stakeout was a success, Mike Priest and his team made plans to return to Heather and Joshua’s abode for a full-blown ghost hunt. In their line of work, they understand how important it is to cover the story from all angles, and to make sure there’s no trickery behind the scenes.

In fact, their key goal moving forward is to try and replicate the strange sounds they were hearing in that room. If they can, then it’s possible that the sound was man-made. However, there are other reasons to believe that a ghost may be haunting that house. Joshua’s mother, Kris, who’d lived there for 11 years, came forward with some disturbing information to add to this case.

Potential Identity

Reddit/Mildlyinfuriating

Joshua’s mother Kris divulged a story which cast a dark shadow over the case: “I was told when we bought the houses 11 years ago that the lady who owned the property died in the main house.” Kris went on to explain the way in which she’d died. It had been quite horrific.

Kris continued, “She fell down the stairs, broke her hips, and laid there for a very long time before she passed away.” Furthermore, Kris added that the guesthouse had been built for the lady’s brother, who himself had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Could this be the man who was haunting Heather and Joshua’s home? Meanwhile, Joshua’s father, Jim, has a different theory — one that could potentially be far more likely.

The Original Tenant’s Dark Past

YouTube/WXYZ-TV Detroit

Joshua’s father, Jim, is positive that the ghost is actually the original tenant of the guesthouse. This shouldn’t be confused with the schizophrenic brother his wife Kris had recalled. “The gentleman that lived here,” Jim relayed to WXYZ-TV Detroit News, “originally jumped out this window, which is one story down.”

It would sound as if this man had died by suicide — a tragic tale, but certainly a potential lead on who may have been haunting Heather, Joshua, and Lily. When you combine both his and Kris’ stories, it seems there are multiple potential suspects who may be responsible for terrorizing that house. But whoever it is, what could this ghost be even capable of doing?

Breaching The Physical World

Facebook/Heather Brough

More than anything, Heather and Joshua are especially concerned over what their alleged ghost’s actual powers are. “It scares us that it could do something else,” Heather fretted. “This has made us want to leave as soon as possible. At this point it’s becoming physically harmful.”

The obvious indication that this paranormal spirit may have physical abilities came in the form of those scratches on their daughter Lily’s face. True, there are other factors that could’ve led to those scratches — but after seeing the video, and hearing from paranormal experts, they were forced to consider that this ghost was responsible. However, there were some people out there who were far less quick to believe them.

The Skeptics Come Out

Facebook/I Am Kenny Biddle

Although Heather’s video footage had viewers around the world shocked, it also brought out its fair share of skeptics. In fact, many people out there don’t believe that the figure in the video is a ghost at all. Kenny Biddle, who writes for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, shared his suspicions about the video’s validity.

Biddle explained, “There’s something else I noticed right away. The ghost was casting a shadow, two actually. This tells me the figure is a solid, physical object able to reflect light.” He then explained in detail what he believes to be the true reason behind the video’s illusion.

A Debunking Theory

Facebook/I Am Kenny Biddle

Kenny Biddle explained that this “ghost” is probably just the result of Heather or Joshua walking around the house, and the video camera simply malfunctioning in the darkness. He said they probably just “paused the video and walked across the room not realizing they were being recorded.”

Biddle further suggested that Heather and Joshua probably have a “lack of understanding of video cameras”, and therefore concluded that this flickering figure was some creepy spirit from another world. Could Biddle really be on to something here? And if he is actually correct, how does he explain the fervent scratches that kept reappearing on baby Lily’s face?

Common Baby Tendencies

Facebook/Heather Brough

“Aside from the technical issues, it is not uncommon for babies to scratch themselves,” Biddle reasoned. According to him, there’s no reason to ignore the possibility that Lily has simply been scratching herself every night. However, there’s a slight problem with that theory.

Back when Heather had first began to witness Lily’s scratches, she considered that it may have been self-harm, and so she decided to cut Lily’s nails. But the scratches kept coming, and furthermore, the scratch marks didn’t match the size of Lily’s nails. So it’s possible that Biddle’s theory may have had some holes in it. Then, all of a sudden, he discovered something else that had the potential to flip this case upside down.

Suspicious Of The Couple

Facebook/Heather Brough

On social media, investigator Kenny Biddle discovered a GoFundMe account held by Heather and Joshua. They were requesting up to $5,000 to move out of their guesthouse, which they claimed they were too frightened to live in. This struck Biddle as more than a little bit fishy.

As Biddle admitted to the public, “I’m not sure exactly what the motivation behind these claims is, but I do have my suspicions.” Was there something fictitious about Heather and Joshua’s story? Was it all just for the money? Without jumping to any rash conclusions, Biddle opted instead to reach out to Heather directly through Facebook.

An Innocent Inquiry

Facebook/I Am Kenny Biddle

In his Facebook message to Heather, Kenny Biddle explained who he was, and that he had been “investigating paranormal claims for the last 20+ years.” He explained that although her video intrigued him, he was hoping to see a longer clip, one that could perhaps provide more evidence to reinforce her claims.

“I’m not saying this was a hoax, I’m just trying to get as much information as possible,” wrote Biddle to Heather. This was an innocent request; surely she’d be able to provide the footage he was asking for? After all, this clearly wasn’t Kenny Biddle’s first rodeo. He had been dissecting ghost sightings for over two decades, and he wasn’t about to get fooled by another one. How would she react? Would she get defensive, or cooperate with Biddle’s request?

Ghosted

Facebook/Heather Brough

Unfortunately, Kenny Biddle never received a reply from Heather on Facebook. If there was indeed something for her to cover up, it makes sense that she’d avoid prying eyes like Biddle’s. Her not replying wasn’t a good look for her, as far as he was concerned — but there were, of course, other reasons she could’ve ignored Biddle’s message.

It’s possible that Heather was actually honest from the very start, and simply felt overwhelmed by all the attention her story got. The young mother wasn’t required to respond to investigators, and she was well within her rights to keep to herself during that trying time period. But what ended up happening to her and her family?

Keeping Their Eyes Open

Facebook/Josh Higgins

All reports indicate that Heather, Joshua, and Lily are still living in that creepy guesthouse — but they’re still desperately trying to get out. They certainly aren’t able to ignore what they’ve already learned, and can’t pretend like everything’s okay in that house.

Heather earnestly said, “It feels like it’s going after myself too. This has made us want to leave as soon as possible. As soon as possible we’re out of here.” Based on the horrifying experiences they went through, we can’t blame them for wanting to leave quickly. Ghost or not, there is certainly something strange going on in that home!

Sources: YouTube, Obsev, Skeptical Inquirer