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Ghost budgers

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BY CHERYL BENTLEY

THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: October 25, 2008

When she was a child, Christina Goodman's father visited her every evening and sat and talked to her.

Nothing unusual about that? Think again. Goodman's father was dead. As a child, Goodman easily believed in the paranormal because of her father's visits and other experiences. As an adult, she has set out to prove such encounters of the third kind scientifically.

"I believe there's something out there, but I'm not sure," she says.

A sales support representative for Panasonic North American, Goodman is a member of Haunted Hunters Paranormal Scientific Investigators. With 12 active members, the team uses electronics of the 21st century to prove the ancient phenomena of things that go bump in the night.

Members will give a presentation on area investigations of paranormal research at the Tarpon Springs Library on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Haunted Hunters investigates possible hauntings throughout the bay area. Members are aware of the bad press often given to similar groups. They stress they are not nut cases, but merely average people with an interest in the paranormal.

Subjects for investigation arrive in a variety of ways. Some businesses ask to be investigated because they would love to cash in on a resident ghost. Other clients have been troubled by unexplained phenomena and want clarification and support. Investigations are free and confidential unless parties give permission for results to be made public.

Members arrive at night at the site to be investigated with a variety of instruments such as digital voice recorders, digital cameras, camcorders and electronic magnetic field recorders. Phenomena are usually stronger at night, they say.

"We don't use seances or psychics," she said. "If there's any reasonable explanation, we don't consider it as evidence."

Ghostly presences are usually subtle, says Goodman. Setting up equipment and organizing take a couple of hours. "We always want to know who was where at what time so that if we have a voice that can't be identified, we need to determine that voice doesn't belong to someone in the group," Goodman notes.

After the Haunted Hunters have organized themselves, the electronic voice phenomena team asks yes-or-no questions beginning with, "Is there a presence here that would like to make itself known?" They get unidentified noises in about 20 percent of the cases, including groans, footsteps and in the case of the recent investigation of the Belleview Biltmore Resort in Clearwater, an animal growl.

Electromagnetic field levels and temperatures are also important. The team first gets a base reading.

"When entities are trying to communicate, they have to gather energy to do so," Goodman explained. "It can create cold spots or fluctuations in the electromagnetic fields."

They also take pictures in the dark. Orbs of light are often evidence of psychic activity. Sometimes they show up in photographs, although members rarely see them when at the site. "Most of the time, the orb can be explained as dust or a bug," Goodman says.

In recent investigations, the Belleview Biltmore registered an orb, "shadow people," footsteps and electronic voice phenomena. The hotel was built in 1897 by the railroad tycoon Henry Plant. But researchers couldn't find any hard evidence of psychic phenomena at the Don Vicente Hotel in Ybor City.

At 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 29, at the Tarpon Springs Library, 138 E. Lemon St., Tarpon Springs, Haunted Hunters members will share details of previous investigations and demonstrate equipment. To reserve seats, call the library at 727-943-4922.

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