PRIVATE
RESIDENCE
Charlton, Massachusetts
THE CHARLTON CASE
The family sought help after a young daughter began describing a girl named “Emma” and the claims escalated into frightening and potentially dangerous statements.
THE CASE
The main issues revolved around a 12-year-old daughter. She had been placed with a couple as a foster child at three months old due to abuse and neglect, then formally adopted by a different family around age three. She had developmental disabilities, including a diagnosis of mild intellectual disability, as well as a diagnosed mood disorder.
Approximately two years earlier, she began to speak of a girl named “Emma.” Initially, Emma was thought to be an imaginary friend, albeit not a very nice one. She said Emma called her family and friends “stupid.” Within the weeks before the investigation, the situation escalated and she stated that Emma wanted her to “hurt” and “kill people.”
The daughter had recently been seen in a hospital emergency room following a severe incident at school. She refused to attend a concert she had worked hard for because she said Emma was going to do something bad there. According to the mother, a resident psychologist suggested they examine the paranormal as a possibility. We are fully aware that a psychologist entertaining the paranormal as a possible explanation is highly unusual, and we cannot prove or disprove that the statement was made.
She was sometimes aggressive toward her mother and self-injurious. She had been hospitalized previously and once spent 45 days in a residential treatment facility in an effort to stabilize her behavior. Her mother said she appeared to be getting worse there, so she brought her home sooner than recommended.
The family’s home is a lakefront property. Individual sources had reported, although RISEUP had not confirmed it, that a woman named Emma drowned in the lake in 1940. The daughter described Emma as a little girl with a “bloody face and a missing arm,” while reports indicated that the woman who drowned was 42 years old.
The mother said her two adult sons described the home as always having been “creepy.” She also reported feeling something “hovering” above her at night, and claimed that someone or something let the family’s rabbit out of its basement cage, turned lights on and set off her car alarm.
Nothing related to paranormal activity was experienced or documented during the investigation. The mother was counseled on how to approach the incidents, while matters involving a young person with special needs were left to the appropriate professionals.
This is the entire case file. An example of how we document our private cases.
