Investigating the Haunted Phelps Mansion in Binghamton, NY: What We Found Inside
“Some of what we captured at the Phelps Mansion held up when we tried to debunk it — and in over two decades of doing this, that's not something I say lightly. This building isn't finished telling its story.”
— Jason Hawes
Some buildings hold history the way others hold heat — you feel it the moment you walk through the door. The Phelps Mansion in Binghamton, New York is one of those places. Built in the 1870s for Sherman D. Phelps, this structure has outlasted nearly everything that once surrounded it, and after more than 150 years, the questions lingering inside its walls were worth a full investigation.
Before we ever set up a single piece of equipment, we did what we always do — we walked the property, learned the history, and tried to understand what we were actually dealing with. That part matters more than most people realize. You can't investigate a location responsibly without knowing who lived there, what happened there, and what the current owners or caretakers have actually experienced. The Phelps Mansion gave us plenty to work with on all three fronts. The claims coming out of this building include unexplained sounds, shadow figures, and the sense that certain rooms feel distinctly different from others. My job going in wasn't to validate those claims. It was to test them.
When the building finally got quiet and we started asking questions, we worked systematically through the property. I've said it a hundred times and I'll say it again — the most important tool in any investigator's kit isn't a piece of technology, it's patience. We let the environment settle. We noted which areas of the building had the most structural activity, where drafts moved through, where old wood and plaster created their own sounds as the temperature shifted at night. A lot of what gets reported as paranormal in historic buildings like this one has a straightforward explanation once you slow down and pay attention to the building itself. The Phelps Mansion is well over a century old. It breathes. It moves. That's not evidence of the paranormal — that's physics.
That said, there were moments during this investigation that I couldn't immediately explain away. During our EVP sessions in the upper rooms, we captured audio that warranted a closer look during evidence review. I won't sensationalize what we recorded or tell you what to hear before you listen for yourself — that's not how I operate. We also documented some equipment responses in specific areas of the mansion that were consistent enough to note, though consistency alone doesn't make something paranormal. What I look for is whether an anomaly can be reproduced, whether there's a natural source we can identify, and whether it holds up when we go back and try to debunk it. Some of what we captured at the Phelps Mansion passed that first test. Some didn't survive scrutiny. That's exactly how this process is supposed to work.
The Phelps Mansion earns its reputation as a historically significant location, and I understand why people who spend time there come away feeling like something is present. It has that weight to it — the kind that comes from generations of lives lived inside the same walls. Whether that weight is purely psychological or something more is the question we came here to investigate. After reviewing everything we captured that night, I have a clearer picture — though not necessarily a simple one. I'd encourage you to watch the full investigation, listen with headphones on the EVP segments, and form your own opinion. That's always been the point.
The Phelps Mansion is not a location I'm ready to walk away from with a clean, definitive answer — and in this field, that kind of honesty matters more than a dramatic conclusion. What I can say is that the evidence we documented is worth taking seriously, and this building deserves continued attention. We'll let the footage speak for itself.