Travelers: Lotz House Overnight Investigation

Johann Albert Lotz was born in 1820 in Germany where he worked as a master craftsman woodworker. In 1848 Johann moved to the United States, first stopping in New Orleans where he met his wife Margaretha. Shortly after that they moved to Franklin TN and bought a small plat of land from Fountain Branch Carter. There Johann built his showcase home. The house is two stories and features four large columns in the front reflecting the Greek revival style. Inside he built three fireplaces of varying degrees of woodworking to show his skill. He also built a magnificent walnut railing on the staircase with the first post being a piano leg. On the top he carved his name and the year. Everything from the cabinetry and furniture in the home could be used to show potential clients his range of skill.

 Johann and Margaretha had five children of their own Paul, Augustus, Matilda, Julius, and Julian. Also living in the home were Margaretha's two children from a previous marriage, Joseph and Amelia. It's a beautiful home and location sadly the family would not be able to enjoy it properly. Years later on April 12th, 1861 the American Civil War began and the Lotz house would be at the center of one of the bloodiest battles.

Before the battle Julius and Julian passed away from either sickness, drowning, or possibly poison by playing in a creek that had been contaminated. Sources are unsure but I believe they were 3 or 4 years old.

The Union army under the command of Major General John Schofield arrived in Franklin around 4:30am on November 30th. They began setting up their position with their backs to the Harpeth River while repairs were done to the bridges that would allow them to cross and continue north to Nashville. They had been moving all night as they tried to reach Nashville before Confederate General John Bell Hood could cut them off from the 30,000 reinforcements that  Major General George Thomas had waiting in Nashville. Due to over confidence and a failure of command or orders being followed (it is unclear) the Union army was able to pass by Confederate troops at Columbia and Spring Hill. This set up the two sides for a meeting 12 miles further at Franklin.

On the morning of the battle the family woke to discover thousands of Union troops. The river however was impassible at the time because of recent rain fall and they could not cross until repairs were done to bridges. With no choice the soldiers began fortifying their position and preparing for battle with over 20,000 Confederate troops. The Carter family, hurriedly sent a message for the Lotz family to come to their home and shelter in the cellar.

Almost 12 hours after the Union troops had arrived in Franklin Hood and his army also arrived in Franklin. Some say Hood was angry at his commanders and troops for allowing the Union to pass in the night and so ordered his men to battle immediately. Others say it was not anger but determination to prevent the joining of two large union forces from meeting in Nashville. Either way this would start one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War sometimes referred to as the Gettysburg of the West.

At some point the Confederates broke through the Union line and brutal hand to hand combat began around the Lotz and Carter Houses and gardens. The Union troops were able to hold their defenses and by 11pm both sides were exhausted. Hood and his men pulled back to regroup and rest. Schofield and the Union took this chance to continue their march to Nashville. Technically that left Franklin in Confederate control but it was not a victory. The Confederate side had 6,252 casualties with 1,750 killed. Among them were six of Hood's Generals one of which was Patrick Cleburne who was arguably one of the best division commander's on either side and today has a small park just a block from the Lotz House named for him.

This was the most exciting investigation we have had so far. We left knowing we had good communication and probably one of the best S-Box interactions we will ever have. But beyond the evidence we collected one thing that stands out in our mind is how much the staff and especially Thomas Cartwright love and care for the spirits. It was evident in every interaction Thomas had whether it was the others using dowsing rods trying to communicate with Eula Lee Carothers or with Mark using his GeoPort.

While we waited for the whole group to arrive Meg and I split up and began taking photos inside the home. Meg went upstairs and was taking a series of photos in the "red room". In her fourth photo a figure can be seen in the back of the mirror. In the following video I go through the photos and then attach the real time audio recording. 

Later in the night one of the Lotz House employees told us that there are numerous reports of seeing soldiers in that mirror.

After Thomas gave a history and tour of the home we began investigating. I left stationary cameras in the downstairs gift shop, the stairwell, and the upstairs "red room." With those areas covered we went upstairs to the "children's bedroom." There we used our EMF detector to try and communicate with any spirits present.

Every investigation before this we would leave and be like "nothing much happened but we will listen to the recorders and see what we got." Not this one! We had three of the best S-Box interactions we have ever seen! Really I can't see how they can get much better. To explain what we were doing our S-Box or Spirit Box sweeps very quickly through radio stations so that words of sentences heard are across multiple stations. Meg was listening to the S-Box with noise cancelling headphones so that she could not hear my questions. At one point in this first session I thought we were communicating with several Civil War soldiers. I asked what other battles they had been in and after a few moments Meg listed three cities that also had battles. I asked what state they were from and a few moments later she said a state. She couldn't hear me and I was floored by how accurate the responses were. It took every bit of constraint to not stop and tell her how awesome this was going. I uploaded the whole S-Box session on youtube as well as a short version where I took out the long pauses between questions because I realize some people don't have 20+ minutes.

Full version:

Short version:

After investigating in a few other rooms we returned to the bedroom where we had such a great S-Box session and tried again. This also did not disappoint. This session was again quite long so I have condensed it in this video. One of the high points of this one was when I asked the soldier if they were here as a hospital. They responded with the word "ether" and then when I asked about their injury they answered "foot" and "they took it". Meg also had the word "sick." Also she heard the phrase "General Hood Killed us." Now before the battle the Union troops moved through the night past where the Confederate army was and were spotted by scouts. According to some accounts Hood says he gave a command to attack but others said no command was given. As I said above overall the battle was a loss and the army of the TN never fully recovered. We also got responses asking for a priest which may have been from a soldier named Willard Tolliver who the staff has identified even researching to find what unit he may have served in.

S-Box Session 2: 

Speaking of Hood we also heard a response on the GeoPort that a different group had brought that was possibly about General Hood:

We had a third S-Box session but this time it was at the end of the night and most everyone else had stopped investigating so we played the S-Box out loud since it would not interfere with other investigations and we had several other people in the room with us investigating. 

We also made contact with past residents of the house. We were upstairs trying to reach out to Johann Lotz and we received an answer from the Geoport:

And finally in this compilation we possibly made contact with Thomas Carothers.

Since we were making contact with soldiers Meghan decided to read an A.E. Housman poem about soldiers.

Overall this was an amazing experience that has us excited to return. When talking about the paranormal I often say I know I will never have any evidence that will convince a skeptic but this maybe the closest I can possibly come with the photo and S-Box sessions. 

Another reason we love the home though was, again, the staff. Everyone we met not only loved the location but they respect and care so much for the spirits that still reside there. I think that helps foster communication.