Late one night a few years ago, Lisa Hockenberry lay on her living room floor watching TV with one of her sons and she wondered why a man was in her kitchen.
It was no man, but a dark silhouette that quickly disappeared, according to Hockenberry, 38, who lives with her two sons in a typical suburban ranch home on Trailer Boulevard on a bluff overlooking Kinloch in Lower Burrell.
But life is anything but normal at the Hockenberry residence, which is rich with reports of dark silhouettes, knocking noises, unexplained security system alarm calls, cold spots and a whispering voice.
"I just ignored it for two years," Hockenberry said of the strange occurrences.
But the Lower Burrell woman grew concerned when she felt the sensation of two hands on her back as she comforted a sick child recently.
"It's another thing when 'it' touches you," said Hockenberry. She promptly sought help.
The home is under investigation by the Greater Pittsburgh Paranormal Society whose members were to visit the house for a second time this past weekend.
"As of now, I'm unsure of what is going on in the home," said Tonya Boff of Green Tree, founder of the not-for-profit paranormal group.
According to Boff, her investigators picked up an "electronic voice phenomenon," or an EVP, uttering the name "Connie" when the group visited the home earlier this year.
The investigators use audio and visual digital recorders and other equipment to document paranormal activity, Boff said.
But Boff's team isn't just looking for other-worldly occurrences, but real-world explanations.
"We're still in the process of ruling anything natural out," Boff said.
The paranormal group checks for electrical problems and structural and equipment malfunctions. Boff's team includes a firefighter who tests for radon and carbon monoxide.
"We actually had two cases that involved light carbon monoxide leakage and when the homeowners got their furnaces fixed, the problem went away," she said.
"In about 90 percent of the cases we find natural activity -- occurrences that can be explained though natural occurrences," Boff said. "When we rule everything out, then if we do catch paranormal activity -- it will be valid."
Although Hockenberry's case is still until investigation, Boff is intrigued by the home's proximity to site of the Kinloch mine disaster in the 1929.
Her researchers report that the Hockenberry residence is close to the firewall where dozens of miners perished.
During the next several weeks, Boff will review research on Hockenberry's home and the results of tests conducted by her team this weekend, a process she describes as "putting together the pieces of a puzzle."
