Hope Furnace

General Information

The OES visited the Hope Furnace on April 6, 2002. We had been there previously on March 30 and were able to get some EVP, but no pictures. On April's return trip, we took plenty of photos. Hope Furnace was founded in 1854 by Colonel Putnam and some others. We believe that Hope Furnace may have once been called Big Sand Furnace. The two large rocks that set in front of the furnace were broken in half. If you put them together, it says "BIG SAND FURNACE BUILT BY WH WILSON". It remained in operation until 1875, producing some of the finest iron in the world during it's day. Fueled by coal from Moonville, Hope Furnace made various pieces of weaponry for the Civil War. On it's best day, the furnace could produce up to fifteen tons of cast iron a day, operating 24 hours a day. But when the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War came to an end, so did the Hope Furnace. But one worker has never left his post, hence the legend of Hope Furnace. Since the furnace was run 24 hours, watchmen were employed to oversee the furnace at night to tend the fires. They used lanterns to guide them along their rounds, which sometimes led them to the top of the furnace. One stormy night, a bright bolt of lightening temporarily blinded a watchman as he was doing his rounds. Not being able to see where he was walking, he fell into the furnace, the bubbling ore quickly melting his body away. It is said on stormy nights that a dark figure carrying a lantern can be seen walking around the top of the furnace until lightening strikes close by, at which time the figure will disappear. The night we were there, some strange things came out on the EVP tape. We also got pretty high EMF readings in the area surrounding the furnace. Below are the pictures that we took and unedited clips of the EVP recording.

Location Information: Public Park

Hope Furnace is located in Lake Hope State Park on Route 278 near Zaleski, Vinton County.

Photographs

EVP Recordings

	Whoosh: The sound of a strong wind blows across the mic, but there was no wind the night of the recording.
	I Am Right Here (x2), No!: This faint whisper was picked up while conducting an EMF sweep. Hard to hear.
	Get Out: A voice whispers "Get out" as we were leaving. May also say "I drunk nothing" or "I want nothing."
	Go Down The Steps (x2): While we were going down the steps, we picked up this faint whisper.
	Cold: An OES Member says that he was starting to get cold chills and a ghostly voice whispers "Cold."

Note: Files may take a few moments to load. Carefully listen for anything that sounds out of place, such as whispers, and hard-to-make-out words. You need a Flash Player to listen to our EVP. Get the latest version of Adobe Flash Player here.