Busted!

Ghostly noises recorded at Bishop museum

Posted By DENIS LANGLOIS SUN TIMES STAFF

Ghostly yells and eerie grumbling noises were picked up by a team of paranormal investigators as they visited the Owen Sound boyhood home of First World War flying ace Billy Bishop.

The haunting sounds come across relatively clear on a tape recording of the late night investigation at the national historic site, but were not heard by any of the participants.

The sounds -- which include a raspy male voice whispering what sounds like "Paula!" -- have even put skeptical Billy Bishop Home and Museum manager Mary Smith a step closer to believing in the paranormal.

"They may make me into a believer," she said in an interview at the museum. "They've got my curiousity up."

A Barrie-based, non-profit group of paranormal investigators staked out the 3rd Avenue West museum last month to find out if it is haunted. The participants, including a psychic and museum employee, were in the brick house from about 8 p. m. to 2 a. m.

Investigators used a tape recorder, video surveillance and heat sensors to detect spirits or ghosts. Some objects were tagged and monitored to see if they were moved by paranormal forces and the participants watched for shadows or other unusual occurrences.

The only evidence of possible paranormal activity collected by the investigators was three recordings of so-called Electronic Voice Phenomenon. EVP is sections of static noise on a tape recording that paranormal investigators interpret as the voices of spirits or ghosts.

The first instance picked up on the recording is what sounds like a young man yelling "Shot it" or perhaps "Got it" or maybe even "Jordan." It was recorded while the team was setting up in the museum's education room.

During the investigation, the psychic "picked up on" a visiting male spirit at about 11:40 p. m., who she said was looking for someone named Paula. A man's voice is then heard whispering the name.

Smith said museum staff have not discovered a connection between the home and a woman named Paula. But, she said, there are still "10 years of maids we don't know about."

A third piece of EVP -- a voice similar to the man's who whispered Paula -- is hardest to understand. It sounds like "boo-bah-bah."

Smith said the crew recorded each of the participants speaking prior to the investigation and each were ruled out as the voice on the tape.

"It's very difficult to say that it was someone else's voice because the two people in the room don't react to it," she said.

The paranormal investigators approached the museum after hearing ghostly stories about the building -- like reported sightings of a girl dressed in Victorian garb and mysterious footsteps.

The crew is planning to return to the museum at the end of September for a second investigation. Smith said the group is also thinking about coming back for a third investigation at the beginning of December. Fifteen members of the public will be able to pay to participate in the third event, she said.