The Howe-Waffle House Mysteries: Orange County’s Most Haunted House?

I start this post with an audio clip that demonstrates just how responsive this Orange County haunted house truly is. The three knocks make it clear that this is an intelligent entity or entities.

But first, a little history on the Howe-Waffle house:

“Dr. Willella Howe-Waffle was one of Orange County’s first woman doctors, delivering over 1000 babies during her 38 years of practice. She was known for her kindness and devotion to her patients.

She and her husband, Dr. Alvin Howe came to Orange County in 1878, settling in the Westminster area . She taught at the old Bolsa School in Santa Ana to earn enough to complete her medical education. When she was ready to do so, she took her baby daughter with her to Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago. She graduated in 1886, returned to Santa Ana and began her practice that same year.” (from http://www.santaanahistory.com/articles/willella.html)

Here are, in order, Marsha’s, Erin’s, and Kirsten’s impressions of that night’s investigation:

I had a great time investigating the Waffle House. As soon as I walked inside the front door I was immediately aware of the warm, welcoming energy. The house is beautiful and has been so well preserved over the years; it was a real honor to be able to investigate there.

I would have to say the attic was the most active for me. I can remember feeling as though someone were right there with us wanting to communicate. As a matter of fact, the best EVP clips we recorded were in the attic. It seemed like the activity heightened when we spoke of a little boy. We asked if there were any children present, and we got a tap in response. I almost got the feeling he was playing with us! But I have to ask myself… would God really let a child linger in an empty attic for all eternity? If I’m honest with myself, I don’t think God would allow that. So how or why does this energy remain? Are we beckoning them from the other side when we ask for a spirit to communicate with us? Is it possible the little boy passed away there and that a piece of him will always just BE there?

There are theories that suggest when we pass away we split into two. Our soul goes to heaven and our spirits stay here. I have to say that rings very true to me. I can’t prove that this is what happens, but it makes sense. I’m looking forward to investigating the Waffle House again. I think it’s going to take more than just one session to really figure what is going on there.

Parawife Marsha

The Dr. Howe-Waffle house was a very interesting place to investigate. The
house is fantastically restored. As soon as I walked in, I wanted to live there! I
felt several spirits immediately upon entering. It was like there was a
hustle and bustle in there! Our first stop was the attic. In the attic, I was
very aware of two spirits: A man and a boy. They were associated with each other but not
closely related. I was amazed by the amount of physical I experienced. I
was touched on the feet and ankles, my butt, and I was pushed…not
forcefully, but gently over a longer period of time. I caught several EVP on audio
while up in the attic.

Next, we went to the maids’ room. Although we were only in this room for a
short while, I felt a lot of spiritual energy right at the beginning…then
(of course) it moved out of the room we were in. I heard several things out
in the hall and caught a voice that sounded like it came from the hallway as
well.

We went into the bathroom next, because as we were walking out of the maids’
room, I heard something in the bathroom. We were only in there for a few
moments because again….the energy shifted out of the room. It was like we
were chasing it.

Dr. Waffle’s bedroom and the main hallway was next. We spread out and
set up our equipment. Unfortunately, I caught nothing on audio
even though I was anticipating this area to be very active…and it was for
other people….just not on audio. There were several people that had
personal experiences in this area, but I was not one of them. This was the
least active area for me.

The last area was downstairs in the dining room. This was very active with
audible voices, sounds, thumps, dishes and footsteps. I smelled different
smells and felt moods shift. The man that was in this portion of the house
definitely did not want us there, but we weren’t going to back down. We came
for some answers!

I cannot wait to go back to this wonderful house. It’s very active and I
know that whenever we go back we will catch something else!

Parawife Erin

What I found most interesting about the Howe-Waffle house concerned the shift in mood in the main parlor. I experienced odd noises and impressions in the attic, but nothing I haven’t encountered in other haunted houses. The dining room/parlor was en entirely different reality for me.

We all noticed that the energy in the room was male, and we also felt–about the same time the temperature dropped dramatically–that this male presence was not happy about a loud group of women expressing themselves freely and dressed in a scandalous manner. This was rather amusing, and we were teasing him about it, when suddenly it became serious.

I started to feel very, very sick. I was dizzy, nauseous, faint and having some trouble catching my breath. This occasionally happens on investigations when a spirit is angry or upset, but this was an unusually strong reaction on my part. Right around the time that we were asking Mr. Howe why he left his wife in Santa Ana, in addition to bringing up the sensitive abortion issue, we started noticing dark shadows, cold spots and noises from the parlor and kitchen. On one of our audio clips, you can hear a male voice say a very nasty word in response to our prodding.

There were several EVP clips from that area. We caught a woman’s voice, isolated words, breaths, and one odd sound we can’t identify at all. This was quite an experience for me, since during the time we were recording the EVP, I was physically experiencing the emotions that those voices were conveying to us all. I find it amazing, shocking almost, to what extent all of us were on the same page concerning the spirit activity in the house. To have that activity and those impressions validated on the audio clips proves that what is happening at the Willella Howe-Waffle house is very real, and can be very disturbing.

—-Parawife Kirsten

SAMPLE OF AUDIO CLIPS, PART ONE

Not to overwhelm our readers, but there were quite a few EVP in most areas of the house. I will post them a few at a time in separate posts in the hope that we will hear more feedback that way.

Here is the infamous “dirty word” clip that I mentioned earlier. It’s quite clear, but if you aren’t sure what this angry man is saying, I’m happy to tell you what all of the Para Wives heard!

The “surprise” is clear in this clip:

Here the woman’s voice is clear:

In this clip, we were noticing the odd smell of vomit. During this session, I catch an extremely odd noise. Do any of you know what this could be?

Here is talking all around Erin:

OK, my dear Readers, there will be more audio clips to follow. I hope you have some comments and/or questions for us.

Is the Howe-Waffle house haunted? Hmmmm . . . let me see . . . that would be a definite YES!

–Kirsten A. Thorne, Ph.D./PHW