In the heart of Raleigh, there’s a historic home that holds the memories of the city and the spirits of its owners to this very day.

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Welcome to the PEEP Podcast! I’m your host Nicolle Morock, and I’m grateful you’re here! The two big ideas behind the PEEP Podcast are to show that the paranormal is more normal than most people think and to connect the science to the psi, including ESP, hauntings, and psychokinesis! In this episode, I’ll share some of my more memorable experiences from years of investigation at Mordecai Historic Park in Raleigh, North Carolina.

But first, happy New Year! I hope 2026 brings you joy, peace, and love.

In case you missed it and you’re curious, I posted my annual goals in my blog on New Year’s Day, as I do every year. This made me realize that I hadn’t blogged all year. Of course, when you consider this podcast and publishing a book, maybe I did enough writing anyway. You’ll be delighted to know that blogging more was not one of my five goals for 2026.

One goal that you might actually be interested in is “launch a second podcast.” Yes, I’m adding more to my plate, and I’m excited about it. This one will be weekly, bite-sized (5-10 minute) episodes about keeping a positive mindset, even in the face of adversity. It will naturally come from my Christian/energy healer perspective, so if that's not your thing, I won't take it personally. Just know I'm not the overly preachy type (if you haven’t figured that out already) so you still might get something out of listening for five minutes on a Monday to help keep your mindset "right" for the week to come.

Why am I adding more to my plate? Because I got the message clearly early in December that it's time to act on the idea I've had for years. Honestly, the world needs more positive energy now than it has in a while, so I'm adding my little bit of love and light to the mix in a bigger way.

Related but separate – I’m also adding anyone who needs it to my Reiki grid for a week at a time. If you're struggling, stressing, or just in need of a little positive energy, let me know.

What is Reiki? Check out PEEP Podcast Episode 80 or the transcript to learn about it.

What's a Reiki grid? It's a way to send Reiki to you throughout the day. I place the names and intentions of the people who need a healing boost on it and charge it every morning (unless I'm not home) with Reiki. Think of it as an intense prayer that travels with positive, healing energy to you long after I've said it.

What kind of intentions can go on the grid? Your "highest and best outcome" is the most general and a strong show of trust that God knows what you truly need. I have had "world peace" on the grid since I started the practice in early 2022. (In fact, the grid I use is the World Peace Reiki Grid.) You can also specify emotional, mental, or physical healing. Peace in your heart over a loss. Positive energy for an exam or a job interview, etc. If it's BASED IN LOVE, it can go on the grid.

This is the one Reiki service that I don't charge for, so if you're interested in it, let me know by using the contact form on my website. You don’t have to go into detail; just tell me you need Reiki and if you have a specific intention. It’s okay if you don’t have a specific intention; I’ll put you down for the highest and best outcome.

Now back to tonight’s topic: Haunted Mordecai Historic Park. I’m reading Chapter 2 from my book “Please, don’t call me psychic: stories from my paranormal life.” My only nonfiction book that details some of my more memorable experiences as a paranormal investigator with the National Society of Paranormal Investigation and Research (NSPIR). We had the contract with the City of Raleigh to investigate the location from 2008 to 2016. I joined NSPIR in 2009, and Mordecai is one of my favorites. I still wave to the ghosties every time I drive past it.

Chapter 2 - NSPIR Story: Mordecai Historic Park

Geographical location: Raleigh, North Carolina

Location type: City of Raleigh Park and Historic Site

Claims of activity: phantom lights in the windows, a piano that plays when no one is in the room, a photo of Patty seemingly knocked over by an unseen hand when people comment on her looks, a general uneasiness in the Andrew Johnson birthplace, an employee being knocked off a ladder while hanging Christmas decorations (note: this is the only negative personal experience we’ve been told by staffers), an apparition of a lady walking down the staircase in the main house

Lessons learned: Some places never let investigators down because some spirits never give up their hold on their family home.

EVP available online: yes

There is an old plantation house near downtown Raleigh that never lets NSPIR down. We’ve had plenty of personal experiences, numerous EVP recordings, and a video anomaly that we have yet to explain. The Mordecai House and the surrounding buildings at Mordecai Historic Park are without a doubt extremely active.

Mordecai holds a special place in my heart for another reason, too. It was at the annual event called Haunted Mordecai on the Saturday before Halloween in 2009 that I first was introduced to NSPIR and met George. NSPIR had a contract with the City of Raleigh to be the only paranormal investigation group to have exclusive access to the site since 2008. Twice per year, we investigated and then at the Haunted Mordecai Festival, we presented our findings to attendees by doing formal presentations every half-hour in St. Mark’s Chapel, the small church building in the park.

In 2009, I had just moved back to Raleigh after a 2 year stint working as a broadcast meteorologist in Minnesota. I saw in the newspaper that there would be a Halloween festival at Mordecai Historic Park with face-painting, a children’s costume contest, caramel apples, and presentations by some paranormal investigation group called the National Society of Paranormal Investigation and Research. I asked my sister if my nephew would be interested in going, and he was, so she let me have him for the evening. We went, ate caramel apples that were being made in the old Allen Kitchen, watched the smaller kids do crafts and show off their costumes, and then settled into the little chapel for the presentation.

George started the presentation explaining how NSPIR does its best to investigate as scientifically as possible and tries to rule out mundane causes of spooky activity before calling anything anomalous. He gave a history of some of the creepier stories associated with each building on the property, showed some photos, played a few EVP clips, and then showed a video of something passing in front of one of their cameras which had been placed at the foot of the stairs in the main house. You couldn’t tell what or who, but it was obvious that the light had been blocked between the light source and the camera twice in a matter of seconds.

I was fascinated and I wanted to learn more about the group. When George finished and the audience left the chapel, I stayed for a few minutes to introduce myself, ask George how I could join his group and use my scientific background and my sensitive/intuitive nature to help them. The rest is history.

Since then, I have participated in close to a dozen investigations of the property. I could give an accurate count if it weren’t for a burnt hard drive and a blurred set of memories. Time may heal all wounds, but it also does funny things to recollections from years past.

We tried to go every spring and early fall so we would have plenty of time to review data before the festival near Halloween. The time of year does not seem to matter. The place is so active that incidents occur year-round. We have heard about children on school tours witnessing activity, workers hearing the sound of the piano playing after hours, and people claiming to see spirits through the darkened windows at night – among other things.

Seeing lights and faces in the windows at night is probably one of the most popular claims from the people of the residential neighborhood surrounding the park. (Un)fortunately, it is also the easiest to dismiss. The main house has a film over the windows to help keep the interior at a constant temperature, which is necessary for a museum-quality environment. Much of the furnishings, books, paintings, etc., are original to the house, making them quite old and prone to deterioration if exposed to extremes in temperature, humidity, and sunlight. The film on the windows helps with the protection of the artifacts and antiques. It also wreaks havoc on the senses of those passing by who happen to know the ghostly reputation of the property by providing one more reflective layer to the old windows.

Over the years, NSPIR has captured EVP in almost every building on the property. The only three hold-outs so far are the law office, the building that once housed a post-office, and the storage building/barn next to the Allen Kitchen. For a long time, it was thought that there was no activity in St. Mark’s Chapel, but George and I managed to capture an EVP late one night confirming that we were not alone in the building after George asked if we were hearing someone in the balcony.

The Allen Kitchen is one of the more active buildings on the property. There are usually bundles of herbs, spices, or dried plants hanging from the ceiling rafters, and often during investigations one will spin of its own accord. Spinning spices hanging from a ceiling in a structure that is not airtight might not sound impressive, but what is striking is that when we witness the phenomenon, it is just one bundle and the rest surrounding it never move. It‘s also not the same bundle each time, and we have also asked for a specific bundle to move and seemingly in response, that was the one that moved. We have yet to figure out any mundane explanation.

One night while it was happening, we were wandering around the room checking for strong drafts that might account for it. George and another investigator named Penni were with me, and Penni and I were talking about where we were in the room searching for the draft. (We comment on our movements during EVP sessions so that every sound that we make is documented to help with audio review later.) I said that I was going to check around the window near me for a draft, George commented on the window, and then we heard a clear, soft female voice on the digital recorder say something. It was not Penni, and it was not me. The only other person in the building was George. Was a spirit commenting on our thoroughness as we searched for the cause we never found?

Another night when I was in a silly mood, which happens often when we get into the wee hours of the morning and sleepiness starts to set in, my group was asking for a loud knock to show that the quiet taps we were hearing were more than just the wind causing something to hit the outside of the building. I blurted out in an off-key, tired voice “You know ‘knock three times on the ceiling if you want me.’” Listening back to the audio from that night, we captured a loud whisper that sounded a little annoyed with my singing that seemed to reprimand me. Okay. I never claimed to be a good singer.

The Overseer’s House is a small outbuilding on the property that once housed the offices of the manager of the plantation and now holds the offices of the managers of the park. It’s a small, two-roomed structure that is not really a house at all. There are a few steps leading up to the front door and inside one doorway joins the two rooms. It is as simple and small as an office building can be.

On one investigation in 2008 before I joined the group, George was in the building with the park manager getting a little off-topic during an EVP session. The female manager was telling some personal story, and on the recording you can hear her finish with “it was not… not good.” Immediately following was a loud, male whisper that we think said something like “look at the stairs!” The voice is not George’s and nobody else was in the little building. The only stairs there are the steps leading up to the front door. We have no idea what the voice was referencing, but it was a nice catch.

During the investigation mentioned above when Penni and I were teamed with George, we had an interesting experience in the Overseer’s House. I was sitting in the manager’s chair with my back to the outside back corner of the room so that I was facing the front window. Penni was sitting in front of that window facing me, and George was sitting where we could see him through the open door in the other room.

While we were asking our questions and giving any spirit that might be present time to answer, I saw the shadow of a person in a tall hat (picture Abraham Lincoln’s tall hat) move from my left to my right across the window behind Penni. At the same time, Penni said she saw the shadow of a man move in the opposite direction on the wall behind me. I swore it looked like someone had just walked across the porch. So, I went to the door to look out to see if some random neighbor was nosing around the property, which happens pretty regularly. There was not only nobody out there, but there was also no porch! There was just the stoop in front of the doors with a bush beside it under that window. The height of the shadow had me convinced there was a porch even though I knew better. When Penni and I compared notes on what we saw, we realized that it would be impossible for me to see a shadow move in one direction at the same time that she saw the same outline move in the other. That’s not normal!

The house in which President Andrew Johnson was born around 1795 now sits on the property as well. It’s across from St. Mark’s Chapel and has always been reported to have a generally creepy feeling. It’s a two-story building with one room above and one below, and it’s hard to stand in it and imagine that a president was born in such a humble abode.

One rainy night, a group of us were inside on the first floor trying to decide if the noises we were hearing were rain and wind induced or emanating from the floor above us. I had the intense feeling that we were not welcome that night, but it was not so much an angry get-out feeling as it was that of a housekeeper annoyed that we might track in mud on her clean floors. I even apologized if we did track in any mud although we were being as careful as we could not to muck up the buildings despite the weather.

We decided to do a second session upstairs, and all of us went up. We were standing in a circle in the small room listening to the same sounds that were now coming from downstairs when suddenly Derek, the only male of the group jumped about a foot off the floor, landed face-down flat on the floor, and had his eye to the crack between the wooden planks, looking down on the room below. He startled all of us – three women – and when we asked if he was okay, he shushed us! He had seen what he thought was a person moving below, and he wanted a better look. Of course, when he put his eye to the space between the boards, he saw nothing else. I was sure the lady of the house was annoyed with us that night. We were a little annoyed with Derek, too. I think I nicknamed him Squirrel for a while after that somewhat spastic move.

On another investigation, George and I were paired up and alone downstairs in the small house. George was sitting in the chair against the back wall, and I was near the front window across from him. He started looking around him for a bug because he felt like something had touched his head. I asked “Are you playing with George’s hair?” The response we heard later on the digital audio sounded very much like a “no.”

There was another evening when Tomie, Mallory, and I made up a group. Tomie and Mallory were in the first floor room while I was sitting near the top of the stairs so that I could see the second floor room, the stairs, and part of the first floor. A chair, which had a basket weave seat, was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. The three of us all heard what sounded like somebody sit down on that chair. It was a very distinct creak that came from that spot. I suddenly felt like I was blocking the spirit’s chosen path, so I asked “am I in your way?” Immediately, a cold rush of air came up the staircase and passed me. I knew I must have been right. I told Tomie and Mallory what I felt and we hoped for a good EVP from that session, but we heard nothing when we listened to our recorders later.

That same night, however, the three of us caught a pretty amazing EVP in one of the bedrooms in the Mordecai House itself. There is a room upstairs that I call my favorite because it always feels active, even the first time I visited the house as a tourist long before I joined NSPIR. When you reach the top of the stairs and look toward the front of the house, it is the bedroom to the right of the sleeping porch. We were doing one of our last sessions for the night in that room. It was very late or early depending on your perspective, and we were all tired. Tomie and Mallory were lying on the floor and I was sitting on the floor. All three of us were hearing what sounded like soft footfalls out in the hallway. We knew that the sitter for the night was investigating the other buildings with the other team and we were alone in the house.

After several minutes of listening to the sounds in the hallway, Tomie finally said “We hear you outside the door. Please, come in.” Listening back to the recording, there was a long pause and a male voice finally answered. It is clearly a male voice, which is amazing since there were just the three of us – women – in the whole house. The end of it is garbled, but we basically agreed that the beginning of the sentence started with “And so I,” but the next several syllables were inconclusive. When I heard that response while reviewing my audio recording, the hair on my arms stood on end. We actually had a response that confirmed the sounds we heard in the hallway were a spirit. It’s still one of my favorite EVPs of all time!

For the most part, the spirits at Mordecai are harmless, but we did have one surprising event that happened in the house and showed it was possible to annoy them. One night, the sitter allowed George and me to go down into the basement. It was the first time the door had been opened for us, and George was excited to take a look around. He descended the stairs first and I started to follow. I was about half-way down when I got a familiar “you’re not welcome here” sensation, and I paused. I told George what I felt and that I wasn’t comfortable going any farther. I backed up the steps and stood at the top waiting for him to come back up. After a few seconds, I heard an “Ow!” and I called down to ask what happened. George wasn’t where I could see him. He replied that something had just pushed him. Of course, my response was along the lines of an I told you so.

Later that night, we took the rest of the group down there for an EVP session, but the HVAC unit was too loud to hear much else on the audio recordings. It’s possible that the spirit that wanted to be left alone was a member of the family, but it’s also possible that the house has collected additional spirits over the years. Either way, the basement was my least favorite spot on the property.

We’ve had so many other experiences in that house and the rest of the property over the 8 years we held the contract, that I could probably devote several chapters or an entire book to it. We are forever thankful to the city for trusting us with documenting our experiences in the park.

Thank you for listening.

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