June 15, 2005
Search around cemetery turns up nothing
By JENN TODD, Review Staff Writer

ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP - A reported gunshot and female screams sent police
on an open-ended search one person described as supernatural.
St. Clair Township police were dispatched to Clarkson Cemetery on
Sprucevale Road around 3 a.m. Sunday in regards to gunshots and female
screams, according to the police report. When police arrived, they began
to search the area and found no one in the cemetery or the surrounding
campsites.

After they had searched the area, the dispatcher informed police that
the individuals who made the initial call were at a campsite near
Gretchen's Lock, off Sprucevale Road.
Dave Huffman of Kensington was one of the six witnesses involved with
the police call.
Huffman said he was involved because the Unknown Phenomena Investigation
Association (UPIA) Paranormal Society out of Pittsburgh invited him to
go on a campout. The group had visited Bowman's Cemetery in Elkton
earlier in the evening before heading to Clarkson Cemetery.

The six witnesses, according to Huffman, set up camp at the campsite
near Gretchen's Lock, then headed up to Clarkson Cemetery to look for
paranormal activity.
Huffman said the group had been investigating the cemetery for about 20
minutes when they heard a gunshot.
"At first, it didn't really even register to me because it's a natural
part of what I hear every day," said Huffman. "I hear gunshots all the
time."

Apparently the gunshot spooked some of the other ghost hunters because
Huffman said right after they heard the shot, they got in their cars,
ready to drive back to the campsite.
Before the group left, Huffman said they realized one of the members,
Phillip Brocco, had ventured farther off into the cemetery to
investigate. According to police, Brocco had with him an audio recorder
with which Huffman said he was hoping to capture an "electronic voice
phenomenon."

The "phenomenon" Brocco recorded, according to police, was a gunshot,
followed by a woman's voice calling repeatedly for help.
After visiting the Gretchen's Lock campsite, according to the report,
the officers returned with the witnesses to Clarkson Cemetery in an
attempt to narrow their search for the alleged victim. The officers
checked a residence beside the cemetery, investigated the woods and used
their public address system, attempting to find the victim.

According to the report, police then spoke to a resident who said he had
heard nothing.
The Columbiana County Sheriff's Office was also dispatched on the call,
but at the time they were running on another call. St. Clair police
informed the Sheriff's Office of the occurrences.

The Sheriff's Office confirmed Monday that the Sprucevale Road incident
was "unfounded," and police did not find a victim.