Answering The Call
Ron Haskett never set out to make a documentary.
He also never expected a visit to the Malvern Manor in 2018 to be a life-changing experience.
Haskett, 36, went from skeptic to believer to documentary filmmaker after visiting the former hotel and group home in Malvern that has become a hot bed for paranormal activity, not to mention a popular tourist attraction from supernatural doubters to hardened ghosthunters.
“Answering the Call” is Haskett’s film chronicling his two-year paranormal investigation at the Malvern Manor. He first visited the purportedly haunted location largely on a lark in 2018. He had never heard of the former hotel built in the 1870s until it was featured on “Paranormal Lockdown,” a ghost hunting show that airs on TLC. Haskett was immediately drawn to the story of Inez Gibson, one of the spirits that is said to inhabit the Manor. Gibson, who was 12, was found hanging from a jump rope in her closet in 1901. According to Haskett, accounts of her death differ on both where the girl’s body was found and if her manner of death was suicide or murder.
At the request of his then girlfriend, Haskett, an admitted skeptic at the time, toured the manor.
The rest, they say, is history.
From the moment Haskett set foot in the Manor, he was struck by a feeling he has trouble describing. It was a presence he couldn’t shake but grew to realize it was Inez Gibson, reaching out to him.
At the end of that initial tour he sat on the floor in one of the bedrooms and called out to the spirit of Gibson. “I don’t know if you’re here but if you are, I want to let you know I’m sorry you died so young, I’m sorry that you had to experience such a painful life,” he recalled saying. “If there’s anything I can ever do to help you, please let me know one way or another.”
Haskett was hooked from there. His first visit was in February 2018. He guesses he’s returned over 200 times since. He even serves as part-time guide at the Manor now. He never once felt like it was a haunted, scary place.
“I felt drawn to it,” he said. “Not just because of the paranormal. I generally love what the Manor represents. It represents history, in the 1800s when it was a hotel and then in the 50s when they took care of the elderly there. The building itself is amazing to me and the history it holds within the walls.”
His investigation took a decidedly holistic approach – he wasn’t there to expose, he was there help. In particular, help Inez Gibson.
“I don’t bark orders at the spirits, ‘Turn this light on to show me you’re here!’” Haskett said. “I tell them I’m here and I hope they’re having a great day. In the case of Inez I say, ‘Sweetheart, you passed about over 100 years ago and you’re still loved and cared about. People come from all over the world to talk to you.’ I literally just talk to them from my life experiences. Pain recognizes pain.
“I knew there was more to this than just going to a haunted house.”
Haskett, who isn’t a medium and doesn’t claim to be, only once before had that tingly feeling he had in the Manor. Two decades earlier, following his mother’s passing, Haskett said he was in the kitchen reminiscing about her when the coffee maker turned on by itself. His mother had bought the coffee maker shortly before her death.
“I immediately unplugged it and carried it over to the neighbor’s house and said, ‘Christmas came early, happy holidays,’ and I left it,” he said. “I did not want that coffee maker in my house. I really was a skeptic until I set foot inside the manor.”
Now, he absolutely feels like Gibson reached out to him – just like his mother did years ago – on that visit and embraced him.
“I watched this episode on Paranormal Lockdown and knew all this activity has supposedly happened there so one of two things were going to happen: I just blew money on a tour or I’m going to get my butt handed to me. When I walked through that door the first time, it felt like a huge hug. I immediately felt connected to the place.”
The 75-minute film was shot over a year. Haskett is the front-facing narrator and creative force behind the project. Josh Heard, co-owner of the manor, shot the footage and Seth Alne, an award-winning filmmaker, edited the footage. The story follows Haskett as he attempts to communicate with Gibson while getting at their supernatural connection as well as the history of the Manor’s paranormal activity.
The film offers some chills and frightening moments but eschews the jump scares for a more human story.
“It’s about a bond between an everyday guy and a special location and a very special little girl,” Haskett said.
The film premiered on internet streamer Vidi Space on Halloween night. On Nov. 6, Haskett hosted a showing of the film at the manor. The response was incredible, he said.
“People genuinely loved it,” Haskett said. “It’s different than other things people have seen about the manor.”
More than $500 was raised at the screening to help a family impacted by COVID-19. Haskett hasn’t ruled out another documentary but he will pursue more paranormal investigations, as long as he feels a connection to the location.
“I don’t want to waste my time or their time,” he said. “I want to make sure there’s something beneficial. I’m not in this to be scared, I’m in this to help what may be on the other side.