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Disembodied voices, strange orbs of light, unexplained clouds of mist, and shadows have become part of Matt Charles and Kerri Binetti’s daily life in their Suffolk home.

After months of these strange occurrences happening regularly, Binetti reached out to paranormal investigator Sean Austin. Austin then passed along their stories to producer Billy Lewis, and Lewis said he was intrigued enough to want to make a documentary for his streaming platform, ScareNetwork.tv. 

Lewis, Austin, and their crew filmed at the house for a few days in June, capturing what Lewis called “overwhelming” paranormal evidence. The documentary was released on ScareNetwork on Jan.18. 

Unexplained occurrences

Charles has been living in his home on Pitchkettle Road for about four years, and Binetti moved in almost a year ago. Charles said he would occasionally see light anomalies on his garage infrared camera, but things increased upon Binetti’s arrival.

“I started seeing these big balls of light that would actually trigger the motion on the camera,” Charles said. “It’s the craziest thing. I mean, it’s like a transparent white orb with, like, a cube inside of it. So it was pretty strange.”

Binetti said she was also hearing disembodied voices. She explained one time she was cleaning the kitchen, and she clearly heard what sounded like a female whispering “okay” coming from the living room. 

Charles spoke about another occurrence that spooked him so much he rarely spends any time in the main bedroom by himself and avoids taking showers during the day in the upstairs bathroom. 

He said they both have seen a “full body shadow”  walk through the bathroom into the main bedroom. Binetti added this happens about two to three times a week. 

They also mentioned hearing the hangers in their closet move, as if someone is pushing the clothes around. Charles said he’s been woken up at night by what feels like someone lifting the bed sheets up off of his shins and feeling them “snap” back onto his legs.

They routinely see a cloud of mist and smell cigarette smoke near a chair in the living room, Binetti added, and she felt her hair get gently tugged once in the garage when there was nothing around her that it could have snagged on.

Charles’ seven year old son, Elijah, also experiences things in the house. Charles said his son has nightmares about drowning, sees someone with black eyes in his closet at night, and has an animatronic toy dog that turns on by itself in an empty room.

The history

After having so many unexplained experiences, Charles and Binetti decided to do their own investigation about the history of the land their house is on. 

Working with the Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society, they found that their land used to be part of the Meade family plantation in the late 1700s. They also found written records of the plantation having an unmarked cemetery lined by cedar trees.

Today, there are two lines of cedar trees on the edge of Charles and Binetti’s backyard, leading them to believe there may be undiscovered bodies buried on their land.

“The [Meade family history] book said that, I guess the cemetery was desecrated at one point, that a lot of the trees got cut down,” Charles said. “So, you know, I’m in the belief right now that basically, even if they were cut down, it’s been long enough that those stumps could have easily grown back into full grown trees.”

In addition to the Meade family, there’s also historical evidence of the Nansemond Native Americans and the Civil War’s Siege of Suffolk nearby.

Charles said they were also told there was an accidental drowning in the lake behind their house, and someone died jumping off a bridge on Pitchkettle Road into Lake Meade. 

Binetti and Charles said they think all of this history could explain the experiences they’re having. 

“There’s just so many different things,” Binetti said. “And every time you drive around Suffolk, there’s always a placard about whatever historical thing happened in that area. And so I think the land is just rich with all that, and it’s hard to think that there wouldn’t be anything associated [with it].”

The documentary

Lewis and his crew were filming for about two and a half days, Binetti said. They filmed b-roll of the house, did professional interviews with Binetti, Charles, and Elijah, and used spirit boxes and recorders to collect EVPs — electronic voice phenomena. 

Before filming, Lewis said he was unaware of the amount of history connected to the land. 

“Learning that history kind of gave us a little bit of perspective when we started doing the paranormal investigations,” he said. “And, you know, we were able to kind of correlate some of that and get some responses that kind of backed up the history of the land which is, for me, as a storyteller, it’s really cool.”

At the end of the whole process, Lewis said he was “pleasantly surprised” with what he thinks is evidence. 

One experience that sticks out to him is what they caught on the third floor. The camera captured a shadow moving along the bottom of the wall and an orb of light crossing in front of the camera.

Lewis explained this was memorable for him because they had two other cameras set up at the same time filming the same spot, and the orb of light only showed up on one of them. 

“For me, that’s more validation that that was legitimately something paranormal,” he said. “I don’t think those are dust or bugs. I wouldn’t put them in my documentaries if I thought they were dust or bugs or whatnot.”

In the documentary, lead investigator Sean Austin appears to have recorded EVP sessions with numerous spirits possibly connected to the Meade plantation. He also got the feeling there was a pregnant woman or a child involved who may have been interested in Charles’ son, Elijah.

He also said he communicated with spirits in the garage and backyard through a spirit box. Binetti said they concluded the energy outside, closer to the forest, may be more negative than what they think is occupying the house.

At the end of the investigation, Austin blessed the house. Charles said things did seem to calm down for a few months after that, but they recently ramped up again during a Facebook and YouTube live video they did with Lewis a couple weeks ago.

Charles said right before they started recording, the garage camera was lit up with orbs of light.  

Before making paranormal documentaries, Lewis said he was very skeptical about anything paranormal. He said even now, he tries to keep some of that skepticism to provide a different perspective and remind his crew that not every creak in the floor is a ghost.

However, he said because he has caught so many unexplained instances on camera and has seen things himself, it’s hard not to believe it.

“My philosophy as a filmmaker is, these paranormal docs in particular, I’m not trying to prove to you whether ghosts are real or spirits are real,” Lewis said. “I just want to present the evidence that we gather at whatever location we may be at, and then let the viewer make their own assertions and own judgment.”