Shaka The Route 9 house: the legend of the well and a whole night until dawn
On Route 9, at kilometer 245, in Rocha, Uruguay, there's an abandoned house that many locals know as "the house of the aljibe" (the well) or "the Route 9 house". The legend says nobody has ever lasted a whole night inside. I went twice: the first time with Gerardo Casañol, and the second time alone, to stay until dawn.
Note: the videos are in Spanish. This page is the full story in English.
The legend of the well
It doesn't have a specific name, but it has something that sets it apart from other abandoned houses I've visited: the aljibe, the well next to the house. According to people in the area, years ago a pregnant woman died in that well. Some add that it happened after her husband was unfaithful at their own wedding, which in the old days was held in the area or in the house itself. I have no way to confirm that part: it's what I was told.
Since then many stories are told: screams, voices, lights near the well, and people who say they've seen a woman with a little girl or boy around the house. And the most repeated one: that nobody who tried to sleep there made it through the night.
The first investigation, with Gerardo Casañol
We arrived at almost 8 p.m., in the cold. For an abandoned house, it's fairly intact. The first thing we found wasn't paranormal at all: a beehive, so we had to move carefully and wait for the bees to calm down.
We went through the house with the electromagnetic field meter I built myself (the tutorial is on my channel). In one area the air felt heavy, strange, uncomfortable, and I noted on camera that I thought I heard something next to me.
Then we did a Spirit Box session at the point where the bedrooms and the bathroom meet, asking about the woman and the child and asking them to touch the meter. At one point we heard a noise coming from one of the rooms. Gerardo also hung some pieces of glass with a string and a stone so they would sound if anything moved them.
The return: a whole night, alone
A few months later I went back, alone this time and with a clear goal: stay the whole night and see if the legend was true. I brought an infrared trail camera with a motion sensor, the Spirit Box and a red-light detector.
The house had changed. The glass Gerardo had hung was gone: the string was still there, but someone had taken the stone. I hung glass again and pointed the trail camera at it, in case anything touched it.
And this time, instead of bees, there were other residents: loud noises and hissing in the ceiling. I ruled them out right away as non-paranormal: they were owls living above the ceiling. It always happens in abandoned places, and you have to separate it out before investigating.
"Mom…?" and "Help…?"
In one of the inner rooms I did a Spirit Box session. I had been asking for a knock, for something to move, or for a name. In the frequency sweep two voices were recorded: one that seems to say "¿Mamá…?" ("Mom…?") and, less than a minute later, another that seems to say "¿Ayudar…?" ("Help…?").
In the moment I felt a woman had answered me, and I asked directly: "if there's a woman here, do you need help? If you do, ask me for it." As I always say: a voice on the Spirit Box doesn't prove there's a spirit. These are words that, given the speed of the sweep, shouldn't form; what's paranormal is that they have no identified origin.
I also did a frequency sweep by the well, the place of the legend. Everything there was very quiet.
5 a.m.
At 5 a.m., with the sun coming up, I collected the last camera. I spent the entire night in the Route 9 house. The myth that nobody lasts is disproved, at least in my case.
The comparison between the two visits matters to me too: this time the atmosphere felt much less heavy than with Gerardo. I felt some discomfort, but very slight, without the density of the first time. The glass didn't move and the equipment showed nothing abnormal.
What I take with me
From the Route 9 house I take two voices on the Spirit Box, "Mom…?" and "Help…?", in the same spot, in a house whose legend is precisely about a mother; an atmosphere that was far denser the first time than the second; and a whole night inside that, physically, was calm. I'm not here to prove anything: I show you what happened, and the conclusion is yours.
The videos (in Spanish)
Part 1: the first investigation, with Gerardo · Watch on YouTube
Part 2: the return, a whole night alone · Watch on YouTube
If you go
It's an abandoned house on the side of Route 9, in Rocha. It's in poor condition, there are animals living inside (bees, owls) and the well is an open shaft: if you go, be very careful, go by day, and respect the story people tell about the place.
🔦 Did you see the flashlight on the home page? Two of the hidden recordings are from this night: look for "Mamá…?" and "Ayudar…?".
From the blog (in Spanish)
Articles related to this place.