Investigating the Phelps Mansion: Does Judge Phelps Still Walk These Halls?
“If Judge Phelps is still here, I want to find real proof — and if there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything being reported, then the people connected to this place deserve to know that too.”
— Jason Hawes
Some locations carry a weight the moment you step through the door — a heaviness in the air that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up before a single piece of equipment is even unpacked. The Phelps Mansion is one of those places. The question we came to answer: is Judge Phelps still here, or is something else entirely responsible for what witnesses have been reporting?
I've been doing this long enough to know that reputation can work against you in this field. When a location comes loaded with history, legend, and decades of eyewitness accounts, it's easy to walk in already convinced. That's exactly the wrong approach. When the team and I arrived at the Phelps Mansion, I made it clear to everyone — we are here to disprove this first. Every claim, every shadow, every cold spot gets a rational explanation before it gets a paranormal one. That's not cynicism. That's respect for the truth.
The mansion itself is genuinely striking. You can feel the history in the architecture — the craftsmanship, the sheer scale of it. Judge Phelps was clearly a man of considerable standing, and this building was built to reflect that. Before we set up a single camera, I wanted to understand the history as deeply as possible. Who was this man? What happened in these rooms? What are the specific claims being made, and by whom? Credible witnesses reporting consistent, repeatable experiences are far more compelling to me than vague feelings of unease. I always say — feelings aren't evidence. Documented, corroborated, reproducible phenomena are evidence.
The reports connected to the Phelps Mansion are the kind that get my attention precisely because they are specific. Witnesses aren't just describing a general sense that something is wrong. They're describing particular areas of the mansion, particular sounds, particular sensations. That specificity matters to me. It gives us something to test. Going into this investigation, I wanted to focus our equipment and our attention on those precise locations rather than casting a wide net and hoping something shows up. Sloppy investigations produce sloppy results. Before we even began the active investigation phase, I walked the property myself — no cameras, no equipment — just getting a feel for the space, identifying structural features, ventilation patterns, reflective surfaces, and anything else that could account for what people have been experiencing here.
What I can tell you heading into this investigation is that the Phelps Mansion is not going to give up its secrets easily. The building itself presents real investigative challenges — the size, the age, the number of rooms, the history layered on top of more history. Old structures like this one breathe differently. They settle. They conduct sound in unexpected ways. Pipes, beams, and plaster all have a voice in a building this old, and part of my job is learning to speak that language before I start attributing anything to Judge Phelps. I owe that to the people who live and work here, and frankly, I owe it to the Judge himself. If he is still here, I want to find real proof. And if he isn't — if there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything being reported — then the people connected to this place deserve to know that too.
The Phelps Mansion is one of the most compelling pre-investigation walk-throughs I've done in recent memory — the history is rich, the claims are specific, and the building itself demands to be taken seriously. Whether Judge Phelps is still roaming these halls or whether there's a more grounded explanation waiting to be uncovered, we're going to find out. Stay tuned — the investigation is just getting started.