Date: August 2008
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Conditions: Sunny with high temperature of 87°F, relative humidity of about 23%.

Background: Located in Philadelphia, PA, along the Delaware River, Fort Mifflin was originally built in 1772 and is most known for the Battle of Fort Mifflin in November of 1777. The Fort was critical in impeding the northern movement of British soldiers during the Revolutionary War. During the Civil War, Fort Mifflin's primary use was for holding war prisoners in the casemates.

There is a lot of interesting history to Fort Mifflin and we recommend visiting their official web site.

Investigation Notes: We spent time in several locations: The Casemates, the Blacksmith Shop, Officer's Quarters, Torpedo Casemate, and Casemate 11. Most of our time was spent in Casemate 11.

Notes: If you plan to visit during a normal business day, there is a very loud ventilator fan in Casemate 11, which makes EVPs difficult at best. Also, the Fort is located, literally, next to the airport. So every few minutes, a plane coming in for a landing passes overhead. This also makes getting EVPs difficult (and not much of a joy to listen to later).

• Two members of our team were in Casemate 11, with one member sitting in the ventilator shaft (by the "window" at the end) and the other sitting on the steps that go into the first cell at the opposite end of the casemate. The team member in the ventilator shaft observed a shadow cast on the bottom of the window, presumably, by someone passing by the other side of the window (in the second cell of the casemate). Upon looking through the window into the cells, it was determined that the shadow was not made by the other team member, who had not moved from the steps at the other end of the casemate.

Evidence:

None

Summary: We were not able to get any evidence on this day besides one personal experience. Given that we were able to get EVPs at night in June at this location, we are more convinced that night investigations are the way to go. Even so, the Fort itself is very interesting and well worth a visit.