Al Cobb of Savannah, Georgia, had the best of intentions back in 1998, when he purchased one of his twin sons an antique bed from the late 1800′s as a gift. Jason Cobb, then 14 years old, thought the bed was a great present, just three days later all that would change.
During the third night of sleeping on the antique bed the strange happenings began. Jason was woken by what he would describe as two invisible elbows pressing into his pillow and a cold breath on his neck. Jason’s parents thought their son was simply dreaming and dismissed the incident. Before long however the paranormal activity at the Cobb home could not be denied.
On the fourth day of the new bed being in the house, Jason entered his room and noticed that a picture of his grandfather, which he kept at his bedside, had been laid face down on the table. Jason put the picture back to its original upright position and thought nothing more about it.
The following day Jason would enter his room and once again find his grandfather’s picture had been moved, this time it was much more dramatic and the first strong indications that there was poltergeist activity in the Cobb home.
The picture was now in the middle of Jason’s bed and surrounded by an assortment of items that were previously located at various locations around the room. In a circular shape around the picture were a Conch shell, a dinosaur made from small shells, a plaster cast of a bird and two Bennie Babies. The scared and confused teen immediately reported what he had found to his parents and soon the entire Cobb family was in Jason’s room.
Al Cobb appeared upset at the disruption that the poltergeist activity was causing in his home and declared, “Do we have a Casper,” referring to the cartoon ghost. Al then ask the invisible entity for its name and age, minutes passed and after not receiving an audible response, Al came up with a plan.
He gathered some writing paper, a few crayons, and placed then on the bed. The Cobb’s then left Jason’s room for about 15 minutes and when they returned they had the answers to Al’s questions. Written on the paper left behind was “Danny” and “7″, the Cobb poltergeist now had a name and an age.
In the coming days and weeks Al would continue to communicate with the Danny poltergeist. Information Al gathered indicated that Danny’s mother had died in the bed in 1899, Danny wanted to stay close to the mysterious antique bed. Danny also made it very clear that he would not accept anyone sleeping on his mother’s bed. Although Jason was no longer sleeping on the bed he decided one day to lay down on the bed to see what would happen.
After stretching out on the bed for some time and experiencing nothing, Jason stood up just as a terra-cotta wall hanging flew of the wall, narrowly missing Jason and crashing into a closet door. The Cobb’s would experience a range of typical poltergeist activity such as kitchen drawers opening and closing on their own, furniture being moved and kitchen chairs being flipped over.
It soon became apparent that Danny was not the only spirit in the Cobb house. Jason seemed to have become very receptive to the paranormal activity and claimed that there were several phantom visitors in the home. Among them was a ghost of a man identified as “Uncle Sam” who told Jason his daughter was buried under the Cobb’s house and he was there to claim her.
Jason also identified a spirit of a young girl named “Gracie.” Gracie Watson was a young girl who is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah and immortalized in a statue there.
The Cobb poltergeist case was investigated by parapsychologist Andrew Nichols. Nichols conclusion on the case is interesting but does not seem to provide all the answers to the many questions the case raises.
Nichols found that there was a very strong electro magnetic field in the wall of Jason’s room, the field was caused by the configuration of the electric wiring in the wall. Nichols believed that it was not the antique bed that was responsible for the paranormal activity but rather, the electro magnetic field that opened the psychic abilities in Jason and allowed the paranormal activity to become known.
