On May 12, Paul, Lesley, and Christine tagged along with our friends from Midwest Ghost Society (MGS) to investigate the Tinker Swiss Museum in Rockford. We want to thank MGS for being so nice to let us accompany them. Our two clubs share basic ghost hunting philosophy so we always enjoy being together. The Tinker Swiss Cottage is a historic house museum and park in Rockford, Illinois, United States. It was built as a personal residence by Robert Hall Tinker between 1865-1870. It is now a popular destination for school groups, general tours, and for rentals. Most striking is the interior for its dimensions including the high ceilings, angled roof, and unique designs in many of the first floor rooms. Many elements of the house were created or inspired by the ideas of Tinker, including the walnut spiral staircase made by Robert out of a single piece of wood and the rooms with rounded corners. The museum contains all the original objects from the family from furniture, and artwork, to clothing and diaries. Tinker Swiss Cottage was featured on season 8, episode 20 of Ghost Hunters, All of us agreed that Tinker is perhaps the most beautiful place we've investigated. The woodwork and artwork are astounding. We obtained a few interesting evps which will be posted in evidence. Also, as a reminder to really debunk things. One "evp" was a whistling of the "shave and a haircut" ditty. We had done the knocking version but not whistled. While doing a ghost hunting presentation at a local library I played the evp. Two people who were at Tinker with MGS were at the presentation and told me that whistling shave and a haircut was the husband's trademark. I was disappointed but still satisfied we had debunked it.
