http://www.ktvb.com/news/regional/stories/ktvbn-may1109-ghost_hunter.17107824.html

'Ghost hunter' looks for hot spots in haunted Oregon hotel

By KATHERINE COOK, kgw.com

Madonna Merced wants to make one thing clear:

"I do believe in the other side," said the full time medium and part-time ghost hunter from Tualatin.

"I am a psychic medium who channels, although I like to take a very scientific approach to all of this."

Merced believes ghosts are as real as anything else that exists today.

 

 

As for presumed paranormal activity in Oregon, she'd heard ghosts were in rare form at the Chateau at the Oregon Caves. The rustic, Southern Oregon hotel which, along with its ghostly legends dates back to the 1930's.

"It sounded as though there were several spirits who were available there, our goal was to interact with those spirits," said Merced, referring to her newly formed group, "Believers of Oregon Spirit Society." In April, Merced and about a dozen companions headed south, for a paranormal investigation.

"The first night we were there, we all hovered near the fire place sleeping on the floor and couches together because it had already started," said Merced. "I mean, the (paranormal) experiences were so intense."

Like the experience Merced recalls her group had while investigating chateau's dining room. She said one of the group members claims she felt a ghost push her on the shoulder.

Merced relies on an extensive paranormal arsenal while hunting ghosts.

She uses an electromagnetic field detector she said could indicate "ghost hot spots." Merced also uses a night-vision handy cam to see beyond the darkness. Some video she shot at the hotel reveals moving shadows and floating orb-like figures. Merced believes there are than those figures than meets the eye.

"From my perspective, that is a ghost."

Merced said she also talks to the ghosts, and they talk back. While she can't hear them with her naked ear she said a digital recorder picks up "ghostly gab" known as electronic voice phenomenon. She said it's how the group met the ghost "Jeremy," on the hotel's third floor.

"I asked, 'what's your name,' and, 'we do not mean to harm you,' and then you will hear a very drawn out sound of 'Jeremy,' and then you'll hear laughs and a shrieking sound and then 'she's dead,'" recalled Merced.

Merced knows not everyone believes in the kind of spirits she seeks out, but there's one sprit she hopes everyone shares.

"A spirit of open-mindedness," she said. "We should always question everything, always question what you believe is a reality."

For more information on Merced and her Believers of Oregon Spirit Society, you can visit BooSpiritSociety