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Ghost Hunters Descend on Twin Cities: Group Uses Recorder to Hunt for Ghost at Oly Club, Comes Up Empty-Handed at Pioneer Cemetery
Aug 01, 2009 (The Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
It's a short, almost inaudible whisper on an otherwise clear audio recording.
But Northwest Paranormal Investigation Agency owner Bert Coates of King County originally said it was proof of ghosts at the Olympic Club and Theatre in Centralia.
The audio was recorded in the wee hours of the morning during an investigation into paranormal activity in Lewis County on NWPIA's second trip to the Twin Cities in July.
"I'm sure that it's a ghost," Coates said. "We run through everything we possibly can to make sure it isn't something else. We're coming up with it being a ghost. I don't know what else it could be."
As it turned out, a follow-up revealed the raspy voice to be that of one of the members of the team. NWPIA has since confirmed no presence of ghosts or spirits (other than the drinkable kind) at the Olympic Club, nor at the Pioneer Greenwood Cemetery, where they met earlier the same night.
Coates, 42, said he is aware that some people, maybe most, will be skeptical of any finding. A skeptic will always be a skeptic no matter what, he says. Part of being a ghost hunter is to be a skeptic as well, he said.
The audio recording was thought to be an example of Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP), the leading tool for the more than 70 active and inactive paranormal research teams in Washington. The belief, as Coates explains it, is that the sounds occur at a frequency higher or lower than human ears can recognize. It could be that ghosts are able to communicate more easily with sensitive machines than they are with the human auditory system, according to Coates.
It's just one of the tools the NWPIA used during its visit to Lewis County, which included a four-hour investigation at the Pioneer Greenwood Cemetery just off Market Street in Chehalis.
Bert Coates, his wife and co-founder Jayme Coates, historian and case manager Vaughn Hubbard, and "investigator in training" Jenny Frank comprised the team, which spread out over the cemetery with tools that included motion detectors, infrared lights, recorders, video cameras and a electromagnetic field detector.
Two cameras fed video footage directly into the epicenter of the team's research, a 1978 Chevy van that has been converted into operation central. With wood tile floors, power supply, a computer and thousands of dollars worth of equipment, the van acts as headquarters during investigations.
The four ghost hunters returned to the van intermittently, but were more often walking through the grave yard in almost complete darkness.
Local attorney and radio talk show host John Panesko invited the investigators to his property following reports of their earlier visits to the Lewis County Historical Museum and The Aerie Ballroom in Chehalis. He chose not to brief the ghost hunters on any of the paranormal activity he has witnessed or heard, hoping instead that NWPIA would come to its own conclusions, he said.
The cemetery includes burials spanning from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, and has about 150 headstones, according to research provided by Panesko. A search through documents revealed there are at least 350 unmarked graves on the site, he said.
But despite that apparent paranormal backdrop, NWPIA came up empty handed at the cemetery. Bert Coates said it's part of the reality of hunting ghosts, which never show themselves when expected.
That didn't stop them from talking to the ghosts during the investigation as if they were right in front of them.
"If there is anyone else here that wants to say something, please do," said Frank, sitting next to one of the headstones with a digital recorder. "If so, you can tell me your name."
Only silence followed. Frank, an employee at Safeco Insurance, said she got involved with NWPIA after hearing about it from a friend at work. Like other members, she was inspired by a bevy of popular paranormal shows now airing across the cable television spectrum.
"I rule out all logical possibilities first," she said. "Others jump to the conclusion pretty quickly."
Each member of the NWPIA present over the weekend said they approach their hobby with a great deal of skepticism. The joy is in the hunt, though, they say. The belief that ghosts and/or spirits exist in this world drives them.
It drove the Coates to spend upward of $4,000 on equipment, and they expect to spend more. Up until recently, both worked for a construction equipment provider in King County.
Ghost hunting provides a weekend getaway, they say. There is no charge to those who invite the group, and no charge for the investigation and research that follows.
Bert Coates said he created the group in 2004 after becoming a fan of various paranormal research television shows. Ghost hunting was ultimately the result of fear, though, he said.
"I've always had a fear of death," he said. "I decided that I would find it before it found me."
Eric Schwartz: (360) 807-8245
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