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Group explores eerie events
By Griffin Pritchard
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Everyone has stories about things going bump in the night. Every county has a “Crybaby Bridge” or a “haunted house on the hill,” it’s the job of the Southern Paranormal Researchers to investigate those occurrences. Members of the SPR, under the leadership of Shawn Sellers, Jake Bell and Michael Burnett, are no strangers to the city of Wetumpka or to the Elmore County area for that matter.
“There’s always been a story in Shadowlands (book of hauntings) about things being seen at the junior high school here,” said Sellers director of SPR. “There’s always been the story of some of the old teachers seeing a little boy in the hall or someone drowning in the old swimming pool. We were called in to investigate and really couldn’t find enough evidence to say one way or the other. But it is a creepy old school. You stand in the hallways late at night and your mind can play tricks on you.”
During the investigation, however, the group did have one experience that sticks out.
“You talk about residual energy, the basic definition of a ghost,” said Sellers. “You go below the old pool, which is now the gym, and it actually sounded like someone was dribbling a basketball. But when we sent someone up there to check it out there was no one in the room nor was there a basketball.”
SPR, also known as SPIT ” Southern Paranormal Investigative Team ” has investigated hauntings throughout the southeast.
“We’ve been to Buena Vista in Prattville,” said Burnett, the group’s case manager. “We’ve been to the Tallassee Library, Hotel Talisi, Pickens County square, Fort Morgan, Charleston city jail, all throughout New Orleans.”
With Halloween two days away, the group has plans to hold investigations all weekend and is even doing a contest with the Montgomery-based top-40 station Y102 for people to come along on an investigation.
“That Thursday morning we are going to be in Cullman, that night we are at the Montgomery Public Library speaking and at 8 p.m., that night we have our internet radio show,” said Sellers. “Friday we have the Y102 thing ” eight people are going to get to come with us on an investigation ” at Buena Vista and then Saturday night we have a private home investigation after having a Halloween party for a bunch of teenagers. We are going to be on WAKA Friday night as well.”
Bell said of all the speaking engagements his groups do, the best is speaking to teenagers.
“You can just say ‘that’s entertainment and doesn’t really happen like that,” said Bell.
“And they agree.”
With the popularity of television programs based on ghost-hunting sometimes it’s hard to not get caught up in the myth or the legend surrounding a certain area.
“A lot of the myths and legends began from truth,” said Sellers.
“They can send you one way and then your investigation takes you somewhere completely different. “You’ve really got to go in there and research the land and interview the people and get a feel for what they are experiencing.”
Bell, Burnett and Sellers each point to the Pickens County Courthouse as a prime example of being led in another direction.
The legend says that an inmate, “Henry,” was lynched in front of the courthouse.
“Everybody thinks that the guy was taken from upstairs and was lynched,” said Sellers.
“But he was died of gangrene from being shot in the leg. It was somebody else. A lot of times old myths and legends about an area will throw you off.”
According to their Web site ”www.southernparanormalresearchers.org ” “Our team uses a wide variety of investigative methods to help determine what type of paranormal activity, if any, is present and how best to deal with it once it has been identified. We extensively research any location we investigate, perform a thorough investigation and prepare a detailed report outlining our findings. We are experienced in investigating historical sites, hotels, inns, private residences, and even outdoor locations. Our specialty is assisting people who feel they may have a dark or demonic entity in their home/location. We will work with any family or group until they feel comfortable in their location.”
Sellers did, however, point out two myths in the Wetumpka area that he would like his crew to investigate: Bald Knob Hill and another involving a house across in West Wetumpka.
“We did a private home that was interesting in this area,” said Bell, who handles the electronics aspect of the investigation and is the group’s associate director.
“We found out the problems they were having weren’t from a ghost or a presence, but from bad wiring. It turned out to be a fire hazard more than a haunting.”
As a result of the bad wiring, the family had been experiencing ElectroMagnetic Frequency Sickness (EMF Sickness).
“You’ll have hallucinations, dizziness,” said Bell. “They may see black spots in front of their eyes.”
Mindset plays a lot into the “hauntings,” too said Burnett, the group’s case manager.
“We’ve had people get very adamant and become hostile with us about their home having a ghost or being haunted,” said Burnett. “A lot of times, before we do an investigation, like at Buena Vista, I’ll ask the people out there ‘who came here to see a ghost?’”
However, during a radio show in the basement of the Tallassee Library, member of the group had an experience that made them ponder things.
“We were doing our radio show and one of our guys was getting frustrated because he couldn’t get the internet to connect so we could broadcast so he starts out with a few choice words,” said Burnett.
“The box of equiptment at the end of the table levitates turns sideways and then slammed into the wall across that room. So we then spent the next hour or so beating on the table screaming at the box trying to figure out what made it do that.”
However, one of the most tell-tale signs that a ghost is present ” an orb ” is the easiest to disprove.
“Orbs are easy to debunk,” said Bell. “It could be a speck of dust that caught the light, a reflection in a mirror or just a reflection off something someone is wearing.”
