By Ed Richter, Staff Writer 1:05 AM Sunday, January 22, 2012

MADISON TWP. — Paranormal activity at the old Poasttown Elementary School has drawn local ghost hunters and the host of a SyFy cable channel documentary.

Crossover Paranormal’s Brian Hensley of Middletown and Nick McWethy of Centerville have led more than 100 groups through the school in the last year alone.

“Everything has been good at Poasttown. There’s no evil things going on here,” Hensley said.

Both men said they have heard children playing in the building and also what sounded like a girl playing on the stairs and giggling.

SyFy host Keith Age, on a recent visit to the school, used a thermal camera and captured an apparition of a teacher, Hensley said. While he did not know who the teacher was, they were able to validate the sound of a call button being pushed.

A clip of that can be found on YouTube.

“We let people go in and encourage them not to run away, but to get them to go forward,” Hensley said.

McWethy said they also try to recreate the sounds that they may hear on a hunt.

Hensley and McWethy’s organization, as well as The Louisville Ghost Hunters Society, will co-present the 2012 Mid Ohio Paranormal Convention April 27-29 at the old Poasttown school.

Age said he doesn’t call these apparitions “ghosts” — he calls them “anomalies.”

“We don’t know what it is,” he said. “But once you have an experience, that’s when you believe there is something else out there.”

Age has been investigating the paranormal for 30 years.

“There’s no right way or wrong way to do it,” he said. “It’s all conjecture, but that’s why we do it and why we’re looking for answers.”

Age said he uses digital recorders, thermal cameras and other experimental equipment. Since 2005, Age has been with the SyFy channel doing one ghost hunting documentary a year.

“I don’t think it will happen in my lifetime that it will be proven the paranormal exists,” Age said. “But maybe I’ll help someone in the future to find the answers.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504 or at Ed.Richter@coxinc.com.