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Staff photo/Courtney Brummer - Paranormal Research and Investigative Society of the Midwest founder and lead investigator David Rodriguez adjusts a camera in the upstairs bedroom inside the Villisca Ax Murder House on Oct. 6. | |
"For the believer, proof is not necessary. For the non-believer, proof is not possible."
It was a dark and stormy night. Dottie and Carl Norgard of Omaha pulled up to the cemetery gates in their car. Flashlights in hand, they packed up the rest of their equipment - cameras and digital audio recorders - and headed in past the old and rusty gates.
This was a typical Saturday night for the couple, both members of the Paranormal Research and Investigative Society of the Midwest. And hanging out in an old cemetery at night is just part of what they, and several other members of the group, do.
"We basically do investigations of homes, businesses, cemeteries or wherever, to try to gather as much evidence as we can to prove that the
paranormal really exist," Carl said.
The group was started roughly four years ago by David Rodriguez, who also served as lead investigator until he moved recently. His interest in the paranormal
was sparked when he was a teenager
"It started when I was 16, and my grandfather died; and I saw him appear to me in my bedroom," he said. "And ever since then, I've always had stuff happen I've seen things move across the room. To me, it's like being a cat person. When you like cats, cats come up to you. I think I'm like a ghost person, ghosts come to me."
At the request of The Daily Nonpareil, members of P.R.I.S.M. conducted field investigations at different sites of alleged paranormal activity throughout southwest Iowa. The sites include the Squirrel Cage Jail, some area cemeteries and the Villisca Villisca Ax Murder House.
Paranormal investigations are often called by many names. The International Society refers to them as "ghost expeditions." Others call it "ghost hunting" or even the more popular Hollywood term "ghost busting."
There's been a new focus on paranormal investigations in the last few years through movies such as "White Noise" and on television with the rising popularity of the Sci-Fi Channel series "Ghost Hunters," a reality show that follows the investigations of T.A.P.S. - The Atlantic Paranormal Society.
P.R.I.S.M. is a privately-funded paranormal research team based in Omaha, with satellite teams in Norfolk, Neb., and St. Louis, Mo. P.R.I.S.M.'s goal is to record and capture as much evidence as possible to help prove the existence of the paranormal.
While Carl and Rodriguez both admit the recent hype may not be a bad thing in that it "gets the word out," they stress that different groups don't always conduct investigations the same way.
"We tell people not to expect the same things they see on TV," Rodriguez said.
The group also comes to the aid of those who need help with a paranormal situation occurring in their home or place of business. The investigations are always conducted free of charge and, upon request, are treated with total confidentiality.
Those investigations that don't require confidentiality are posted on their Web site: www.doyouseedeadpeople.com.
Evidence and information collected during private investigations is not publicly released without the consent of those involved.
Before they conduct most of their investigations, members of P.R.I.S.M. conduct interviews with people who claim to be witnesses to paranormal phenomena.
"When people e-mail us and say, 'We've got ghosts, can you come see our place?' we go to check it out, but we try to make sure we've got multiple sources," Rodriguez said. "If you've got multiple people, especially people who don't live there, who have seen things happen, then you've probably got something going on."
Rodriguez added that the group asks people who ask for their help to keep a diary or log of paranormal events and times. That gives investigators an idea of the best time and environment to conduct their research.
"It's a needle in a haystack trying to get this evidence, especially on video, so you're trying to get the best time to get it down," Rodriguez said. "After they do a diary for a month, seeing the times, seeing the things that go on, we try to catch it."
The group typically collects evidence in the form of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) recordings, digital pictures and video. Occasionally, investigators are eyewitnesses to paranormal phenomena.
Some cases end with results indicating paranormal phenomena is present. Some cases do not.
"Ghost hunting isn't necessarily all glamour," Carl said. "We could spend all night (at a sight) and catch nothing and come back the next night and get all sorts of stuff. We did an investigation last week. I've got 36 hours of video to go over and I don't think there is anything on it."
Defining the paranormal is not as easy as looking it up in the dictionary, Rodriguez said, adding that investigations are always a learning process.
"When I started off, I thought it was people who had passed on," he said. "But when you've done this for about a year, you learn that there are intelligent hauntings and there are hauntings that are ingrained in a place, a memory inside of a place."
The Villisca Ax Murder House could be taken as an example of a place where both types of hauntings are present, Rodriguez said.
"You get stuff that answers you, stuff that happens on command, like when you ask the door to open," he said. "We'll get EVPs of a ghost's voice that when we're talking to it, it responds.
"Then from 2 to 5 a.m., you get the killing over again, and these things don't pay any attention to you. They don't say anything relevant to who you are or what you are doing. In most places, its one or the other, but (in the Villisca Ax Murder House) it's a mix of both."
That bump in the night may not be the result of something paranormal, either. It is for that reason, members of P.R.I.S.M. like to be thorough.
"Sometimes things happen, sometimes they don't. Sometimes people want to see ghosts," Rodriguez said. "One of the questions we ask in preliminary investigation questionnaires is how many times have you seen ghosts in the past? A lot of them will say 'We've seen them since we were kids.' Then it could be something following you, it could be something mental or it could be something going on in the house. If it's something mental, how are we going to catch that stuff on tape? There's nothing we can do for them, even if it is real."
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