Louis Lee

Eyewitness News Photojournalist

(WRCB) - Whether you believe in ghosts or not, most people will concede there are some things that just can't be explained. Of those people, some are brave enough to seek out paranormal experiences and try to explain them.

"Proof, we're all in this to find proof," said Paul Browning, of the Clarksville Ghost Hunters. "And the difficult thing about that is that in this field, proof is unexplainable."

Browning is the lead investigator and founder of Clarkesville Ghost Hunters. His crew went to South Pittsuburg to try and explain what may be unexplainable. They were assisting the Tennessee Paranormal Investigation Team. They hope to document paranormal activity at an abandoned hospital.

In dark hallways, team members carefully plan and deploy infrared cameras that shoot in total darkness. 

"We're using a lot of electronic devices, you know, to try and capture audio or video either of anomalies or things that could possibly be called paranormal," said Browning. 

"We've got pretty much every inch of this place under camera," added Joe McKeel, of the Tennessee Paranormal Investigations Team.

Setting up for an investigation this large takes hours. There are multiple floors, multiple cameras and lots of rooms to cover, but McKeel tells us the really interesting stuff doesn't happen until the lights go off.

While setting up the recording devices on the third floor, the lights in what used to be a patient's room come on, even after the electrical breakers for the floor have been shut off.

"I have to rule out what's possible," said Browning. "I have to eliminate everything I can think of that would make this something normal or non-paranormal. I'm trying to find my answers by eliminating that."

After set-up, everything goes dark and silent, and the waiting game begins.

"The ghost hunt's the fun part," said McKeel. "The work begins when you go; when you leave, pack up, go home. You take a nap then you pull everything out and you go to work."

McKeel will have more than 100 hours of audio and video from different sources and angles to meticulously screen when he gets home. Judging from past experiences, he may not find much.

"I've got over 1,030-something hours now," said McKeel. "I've got 26 frames that are unexplainable."

26 frames equal less than one second of what could be ghosts, or nothing. So why does McKeel labor so long?

"The 26 frames," answered McKeel.

Since ghost hunting isn't McKeel's full-time job, it may take a few weeks to go through the hundreds of hours of material gathered at this investigation. He told Eyewitness News that there was definite activity that night, and he promises to share the results with us when they're available.