Episode Recap: I Am Not Guilty

Waldorf, Maryland, Samuel Mudd House

The team opens up a century's old case this week as they investigate the Samuel Mudd House. A quick history lesson: John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865 at the Ford Theater. While fleeing the crime scene he broke his leg and ended up at Dr. Samuel Mudd's house seeking treatment. Booth spent 12 hours recovering there and Mudd was later imprisoned as an accessory to the assassination. Fast forward a couple of centuries and TAPS is on call to investigate the site, because witnesses claim that Dr. Mudd, his family and Booth are all still lurking around the property.

Jason and Grant kick off the investigation in the children's room where the spirit of one of the Mudd kids is allegedly still present. To get to the height level of a child Grant sits on the floor and feels a warm pocket of air. Things get physical when Jason feels as though his hand has been placed in a static charge area and Grant feels as though someone has slapped the back of his hand. Apparently, the Mudd kids aren't ready to make nice.

Meanwhile Dave and Steve investigate the parlor area where the chair has been said to move on its own. They use an EMF detector to gauge the electromagnetic field in the room. The detector continually bounces from a reading of a .1 to a .3 but neither of the hunters has any personal experiences while there. Similarly, Kris and Amy aren't able to get any results while they investigate the attic. Although a witness claims that on one occasion a clothes rack fell on the floor for no reason and started moving once on the floor, Amy and Kris weren't able to verify this claim.

Spectators say they've seen people standing around a fire in the yard and then disappear, so Jason and Grant head there to do a thermal sweep of the grounds. While there, they get a startling surprise when the thermal-imaging camera reveals that someone or something in a cloak passes across their tracks as they're walking.

While conducting their final analysis at Central Command, the team found that their digital recorder picked up a voice that said, "I am not guilty". Is this Samuel Mudd's finale plea from the grave to clear his once sullied name? Could be, could be not. But in either case, TAPS is certain that this site is indeed haunted.

 Charles City, Virginia, Edgewood Plantation

Next up, the team travels to Virginia to survey the family owned Edgewood plantation. Built in 1849, Edgewood was originally part of another plantation called Berkeley. Both sites were home to former United States Presidents Benjamin Harrison and William Henry Harrison. Edgewood was used during the Civil War as a signal post for the Confederate Army to spy on the Union Army. Of the many legends that surround the house, the most infamous is the one told by a couple who once stayed in the cottage and said that they were up for an entire night talking to the spirit of a solider named Aaron Young, III.

Dave and Steve investigate on the 3rd floor bedroom where a "Yanky" used to live was said to have hidden a confederate solider in the hatch area above his door. Presently, people say the hatch opens and closes by itself. They survey the storage area and noticed that the hatch opened and closed whenever the door opened and closed. They deduced that the cause of the hatch opening unexpectedly was mere coincidence because of wind pressure.

Later on, Jason and Grant head to the cottage to find signs of the Civil War solider Aaron Young, III. And although their EVP session wasn't able to produce any results Kris decides to do some further research. She finds that there was in fact an Aaron Young who served in the area and was born in 1832. He enlisted in the army in 1862 and was a part of one of the bloodiest battles in history.

So, while the team doesn't believe that Edgewood is haunted but they all agree that the estate has a rich history, that's definitely worth remembering.