Meet the fearless group investigating paranormal activity in Ithaca

I’m pretty much the last person you would expect to be interested paranormal activity. Then again, it’s much harder to be a skeptic when you’re in complete darkness, stumbling around in some abandoned building with your heart beating in your throat.

As Halloween approached, I decided to find people in Ithaca who investigate paranormal activity to find out why they do it and what it’s like.

If you drive ten miles in almost any direction from Ithaca you start passing by sagging farmhouses and creepy boarded up buildings. This gives local groups, like Proof Positive Paranormal, plenty of chilling locations to investigate. Stephanie, the leader of the team, explained what an investigation is like: “We normally start by unloading all of our equipment…once everything is ready we try to get a feel of what’s going on.”

Paranormal investigators have an array of tools at their disposal. According to Stephanie, a key part of an  investigation is using “different techniques to try and get communication” with spirits or entities. There are specific tools used to capture evidence of the paranormal. Getting communication can yield compelling audio evidence in proving that an area is haunted.

The group has captured audio evidence of communication before. While investigating what Stephanie described as a “run down, abandoned house in the woods,” Stephanie says they used “a piece of equipment called a ghost box, and we got the name Gene come through.”

A ghost box or spirit box is an electronic device that rapidly  scans through a wide range of frequencies. The idea is that spirits can manipulate the static as the device sweeps through these frequencies.

When a word, or even more compelling a phrase comes through the device, interference can be ruled out because the device is sweeping through several frequencies per second.

This means it’s already skipped to the next channel faster than you could utter one syllable. Groups like Proof Positive also use devices that measure physical quantities like electric and magnetic fields with a handheld device called a “Mel Meter”.

Although much of the experience is rooted in emotions like fear and anxiety, paranormal investigators like to utilize scientific equipment to try and quantify abnormalities and physically measure the paranormal. Stephanie says, “I like to think of myself as a skeptical believer. I want to rule out all real, plausible explanations before I call it paranormal.”

Investigations can be frightening, but according to paranormal investigators the worst thing that can happen is having things follow you back home. Stephanie admits “the fear that something could possibly follow a person home after an investigation is always in the back of my mind.” According to Stephanie, the “scariest experience would actually have to be in my own home. I’ve heard someone call out mommy and I felt something touch my back.”

Often people who are interested in the paranormal are also extremely empathic, meaning they are very sensitive to picking up on emotions and feelings. Stephanie believes she is somewhat of an empath and she says she is “trying to learn to develop it so I can use it better on investigations.”

This can be problematic however, as not all spirits are friendly and according to some people being sensitive to emotions can make you vulnerable to malicious entities. She says she’s  “never felt a dark or negative presence yet.”

I’m not advocating for people to wander into old abandoned buildings because it can definitely be dangerous. The wood is exposed to the elements and the buildings are not always structurally sound. That being said, if you’re skeptical then give it a shot.

How long do you think you could last, when the sun goes down and you’re completely blind, fumbling around in a creaky old vacant house?