Millbrook Farm Grist Mill



In May of 2010, the Founder of AdventureMyths was reading an article in the Maryland Independent about a historic property with a possible ghost story.  The Millbrook Farm Grist Mill, located in Nanjemoy Maryland, was constructed sometime around the end of the Civil War and used by the local community to grind corn and wheat.  The Grist Mill property was purchased by Al & Joan Silbaugh in the early 1960’s and they moved into the 200 year old farm house on Halloween night.



The Grist Mill was placed on the 2010 endangered property list with the help of Cathy Thompson from the Charles County Planning and Growth Management Office.  Ms. Thompson is the Community Planning Program Manager and was instrumental by nominating the Grist Mill to be placed on the list.



The AdventureMyths team established contact with the Silbaugh family in June of 2010 and set up the initial meeting to discuss what exactly the project would consist of.  The group of Maryland Ghosthunters headed down to Nanjemoy, MD and met with Marilyn Silbaugh, daughter –in-law of Joan Silbaugh and sat down to discuss the project.  The initial filming consisted of the individual interviews with Joan SIlbaugh, Owner of the property and John Grey and John Downs, Board Members of the Southern Maryland Resource Conservation and Development, Inc.   A tour of Mill was given with history and internal knowledge as well as personal accounts of the uses of the Mill.



The AdventureMyths team had to make several visits to the Mill and farm house due to the excessive heat during the summer of 2010.  The investigation took place in November of 2010 and the group of Maryland Ghost Hunters set up their equipment and static cameras attempting to capture  a glimpse of the Civil War solider ghost who frequents the home searching for his bride.  Joan Silbaugh shared that story and others to include a bag of lost gold hidden somewhere in the old home, perhaps even in the walls she said.    The team did not uncover any unexplainable activity during this investigation, but did have a motion sensor light come on unprovoked as well as captured what could be the sound of a footstep from the 2^nd level of the old farmhouse.



The group of Maryland Paranormal Investigators were fortunate enough to have the Maryland Independent cover an article, informing the public about the project and the free documentary screening that occurred on June 5th, 2011 at the Durham Church hall adjacent to the parish.  The screening went very well with up to 80 participants, all who clapped upon the completion of the credits and outtakes.

The DVD will be released late in the month of June 2011 and available on Amazon.com .  The trailer can be viewed on the groups Face Book page or the YouTube channel.   Plans have been made for submission to Maryland Public Television as well as continued local screenings in the Southern Maryland area.   For more information on the Grist Mill project  go to www.preservationmaryland.org.

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Historic Jordan Springs



In October 2010, the AdventureMyths team made the short trip to Winchester, VA to visit Historic Jordan Springs.  Historic Jordan Springs Estate is currently used as a conference center, reception hall and office space for local county offices. This beautiful site dates back to 1549 when the Catawba Indians held ceremonial gatherings in the Sulphur Springs, but after many ownership changes, the first building was built in 1843.  The owner at that time, Branch Jordan, built a hotel known then as the White Sulphur Resort, which included several cottages and a bathhouse.  A few years later, a second hotel was built on the property, running along what is now Jordan Springs Road

During the Civil War, Historic Jordan Springs  was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers for both sides, depending which side was holding Winchester at the time. After the war, the property again became a resort, but eventually ceased functioning in the early 1900’s.  Many years later (and many owners later) the Estate was used for many purposes, including a school, a Monastery and Seminary and a youth addiction treatment center.

The current owners, Greig D. W. Aitken and Tonie M. Wallace Aitken, have owned this beautiful estate since 2001 where it currently hosts office space for county records, as well as a beautiful ballroom suitable for weddings, receptions and conferences.  Historic Jordan Springs will also be the hosting site for “The Gathering” a planned paranormal conference scheduled for February of 2012.

The group of Maryland Paranormal Investigators visit to the estate was certainly an interesting one. AdventureMyths joined forces with Shenandoah Shadows, a local paranormal investigation group, to explore and investigate these beautiful grounds. With all of its history, there would surely be plenty of paranormal activity for the capture! After a long night of investigation, the AdventureMyths team witnessed several interesting events, which were caught on video. The team broadcasted the events live from the grounds of Historic Jordan Springs and the recorded footage from the live event can be viewed on Livestream.   Pay special attention to chapter 9 [12:13] of the live recorded EVP session, during which both AdventureMyths Founder Frank Polievka and owner Tonie Aitken witnessed a glowing white sphere float across the far edge of the room. You can witness their reaction on video and watch as they attempt to debunk what they saw.

The team returned to Historic Jordan Springs on January 15th, 2011 to conduct another investigation, as well as another livestream event.  The event can be viewed at the group’s livestream page. The 30 minute documentary capturing both AdventureMyths investigations and multiply audio evidence pieces from Shenandoah Shadows will be released at The Scarefest event held in Lexington, Kentucky in September of 2011.  The documentary will also be available through the groups Amazon DVD page and at Historic Jordan Springs gift shop. The trailer for the documentary can be viewed here on our YouTube channel.

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Iron Island Museum
Buffalo, NY 5/21/10



On May 21, 2010, the AdventureMyth’s team set off on a journey to the Iron Island Museum in Buffalo, NY, to investigate suspected paranormal activity inside the museum.  Once there, the team setup for interviews with people that have witnessed the activity going on inside of the museum, which would later be used in our film documentary of the investigation.  We were initially told by BPI (Buffalo Paranormal Investigators) that this museum was “The Disneyland of the paranormal!”  The AdventureMyth’s team was somewhat skeptical, as we usually are, but our tour through this beautiful and charming museum has changed our minds! This investigation of Iron Island Museum has yielded some of the best ever EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) captured by the AdventureMyth’s Team to date.

The documentary film of our visit to Iron Island Museum, "Hauntingly Charming Iron Island Museum" is now available at www.amazon.com. Check out the film trailer here  .... See, and hear, for yourself!

If you ever find yourself in Buffalo, NY, be sure to stop by the museum and sign up to take part in a real Paranormal Investigation with Buffalo Paranormal Investigators.  You won’t regret it!

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USS North Carolina
Wilmington, NC 9/4/09



AdventureMyths traveled south to North Carolina to investigate the USS North Carolina after receiving an invitation from Missi Brandewie of Haunted North Carolina. The team was excited to take part in their first joint paranormal investigation on this historic battleship. 10 men died on board the ship during its service.

The members of AdventureMyths were able to explore the entire ship throughout the night and were advised of previous investigation results by Missi, who had been part of seven previous investigations. For the first time in AdventureMyths history, the group captured a "ghost voice" (disembodied voice) on film. As the group was in the Warrant Officer's area, Frank heard a voice whisper the name "Mary" directly behind his right ear.

There was no one behind Frank and no one on the ship that night was named Mary.



The voice is clearly audible on film since Frank was recording at the time and is featured in the AdventureMyths video of the investigation. AdventureMyths is excited to present this spectacular evidence for all to see. AdventureMyths sincerely thanks Missi and Haunted North Carolina for the invitation to join them on the investigation.

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Corbin Cabin
7-12-09
Shenandoah National Park, VA



Corbin Cabin was a unique investigation in that we had to wait over four months to reserve the cabin for a weekend. It’s organized through the Potomac Appalachian Trail club and on a first come first serve basis. The group had to hike a mile and half over a 1000 foot elevation change while carrying all the gear and filming. The Legend is that George Corbin, who built the cabin in the early 1900's, was married to a young woman named Nee Corbin. Nee was giving birth to their child in the cabin and died during labor. George wrapped the baby in blankets and took the baby to town for help, only after he buried his wife less than a few hundred yards from the cabin. Adventuremyths decided that this had all the elements of a true haunting environment and set out to investigate.



While on location, out of the blue, unplanned and spontaneous, Milton "Smokie" Nicholson rode up on a mule with another companion and tied off to the front porch of Corbin Cabin, early Sunday morning.





Smokie told tales of when he was a toddler and lived across the creek back before the Park came in and took everything from him and his family. Smokie said, well they did gives a quarter an acre and assisted folks to new property, but there is no place like the holler...

The team had several unexplainable events occur during the investigation and captured two events on audio and video. Adventuremyths Founder, Frank Polievka has completed the  DVD documentary of the investigation and its now available on Amazon.com with our other DVD documentaries.

DVD is Available on Amazon.com

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Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House
Waldorf, MD 4/24/09



The AdventureMyths team set out to unlock the secrets and legends of the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House.   Dr. Mudd’s house, located in Charles County, MD, is where John Wilkes Booth fled after assassinating  Abraham Lincoln.  Dr. Mudd treated Booth's broken leg and was later arrested for aiding him.  Before conducting their paranormal  investigation of the house, the AdventureMyths team listened to personal accounts of paranormal activity from the volunteer staff and board members.  Our team was able to capture some audio evidence during the investigation which is featured in the DVD documentary "Ghostly Encounters at the Mudd House."   The trailer for the documentary can be viewed here.   "Ghostly Encounters at the Mudd House" is available for purchase on Amazon.

On October 29, 2009 the AdventureMyths team returned to the Mudd House, joined by Holly Morris of Fox Channel 5 Morning News for a series of live broadcasts.  Holly Morris interviewed the AdventureMyths team about conducting investigations, the evidence collected at the Mudd House and the DVD documentary.  The segments with Holly Morris are available to view on the "Media" page of the AdventureMyths website. 

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Sotterley Mansion
4-19-08 / 8-25-08 / 9-5-08
St. Marys County, MD



The entire AdventureMyths team gathered together on April 19th, 2008 to investigate Historic Sotterley mansion located in St. Mary's County MD. The investigation / film shoot started at approx. 3:00 PM at Sotterley where the team interviewed at least six members of the Sotterley staff and one board member. Each interview explained several personal accounts of paranormal activity they experienced while in the house or on the grounds.

The team investigated Sotterley on August 25th and September 5th, 2008 further documenting paranormal activity at the mansion. Carolyn Hoey who spent many days volunteering at Sotterley now works on the staff preserving and fighting to keep Sotterley operational through various charity events and fundraisers.



Carolyn has had extreme encounters with the ghostly occupants of Sotterley Mansion and shared those stories in detail with AdventureMyths.

The team ran the normal investigation with surveillance cameras and EVP sessions and is now working on a documentary for the Sotterley Foundation to use as a tool for fundraisers and preservation of a historical landmark. Look for the trailer to come out on You Tube by middle August of 2008 and the full film will be published and available on-line early in 2009. This year long project was by far the biggest ever taken on by AdventureMyths and the first of its kind in the Metropolitan area.

UPDATE 5-25-2010

The Sotterley DVD was published on-line at Amazon.com and is available for purchase.  Authorization for reproduction and distribution was given to Historic Sotterley, Inc. in August of 2009.  We hope that this documentary brings attention and much needed funding to help maintain a great piece of Maryland History.

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Centralia, PA
12-03-2007



The Team traveled North up Highway 61 towards Centralia, PA early in the month of December, 2006. This would be the last adventure excursion for the year and what a way to finish than to investigate a underground mine fire that's been burning for over 45 years! Early afternoon, Saturday December 1st, 2007 the AdventureMyth team arrived in to set up shop at the closest hotel that was approved by our Logistics member. A short drive through the town of Ashland and we headed North to the ghost town known as Centralia. However this was not a ghost town full of spirits with unfinished business, this was a ghost town because the land beneath your feet lie scorched and barren. What resembled a fresh brush fire turned out to be normal in this town.A town once occupied by over two thousand people back in the early 1960's, now has less than 13 residents that include the Mayor and original Centralia residents.



The breeze carried the stench of sulfur and the ground was cracked and steaming from 98 degrees to hot spots up to 171 degrees. Centralia is surrounded by cemeteries and black painted hills and I now see how a director / producer could be inspired to create such a title as Silent Hill after spending just one day here myself. Several experiments and measurements were taken and will be discussed in the upcoming video on the AdventureMyths Video Page. The remarkable realization that was a sight to see was early Sunday morning on our departure back to Maryland we decided to stop by Centralia and take one last walk up highway 61. You see it snowed late Saturday night and the ground was covered in a blanket of white, well not everywhere, not in Centralia. It was amazing to see the ground so hot in certain locations that not only was there no snow, but it was dry and pumping steam at a steady pace. Not a warning sign in site anywhere! Did I mention that all the signs posted by the government had been removed / stolen?



It appears that over the years the Government posted signs warning the public that entering certain areas could result in injury and or death due to cave-ins and toxic fumes. Have vandals’ taken advantage of this town that seems forgotten by the rest of the world? I invite you to take a look at the documentary put together by AdventureMyths and review the history of this town at the following website http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm

Should you plan a trip to Centralia?

• Take a breathing barrier if you go near the cracks
• Dress warmly in the winter (High Winds on the mountain
• Talk to the locals they are rich in the town’s history
• Stay out of the cemeteries after dark (No Trespassing)
• Stay on the paved roads or hard packed gravel
• Measure the crack as mentioned in the video and let us know!