Spooky surveyors tour Hartland 
By Kristofer Karol
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

Holding two rods extended horizontally from his chest, Bryan Larsen
cautiously walked through the Hartland Cemetery Saturday night, hoping
to pick up any motions from a spirit.

The Warren man came to a stop in front of the grave of Mary Larsen,
where a fellow ghost hunter had earlier picked up some electromagnetic
field, or EMF, readings with a digital device.
"Are you with us Mary?" Larsen asked. "Thirty-nine years and seven
months. You think she might have died during childbirth?"

About 20 members from the SouthEast Michigan Ghost Hunters Society
canvassed Hartland Township on Saturday night, looking for any sign of
paranormal activity.
After a lengthy training session on how to use EMF and
temperature-change readers, sound amplifiers, infrared cameras, a Geiger
counter and other equipment, the hunters went to four spooky sites: the
Hartland Music Hall, Florence B. Dearing Museum, Hartland Cemetery and
Cromaine District Library.

Brad Mikulka, director of the 653-member society, said it was the
biggest undertaking of the decade-old group, investigating four sites in
one night.
The group investigated the Howell Opera House in 2004 and has gone to
numerous other locations. Its work will be featured in "A Haunting" on
the Discovery Channel at 9 p.m. Oct. 12.

After visiting the township in July, Mikulka said he felt the presence
of spirits in several areas.
Mikulka said he believes that when people die, their spirits take the
form of a ball of energy. Thus, he said, when the temperature dips for
an extended period of time, the ball of energy is taking warmth from the
air. Storms and a full or new moon can also "charge" the air and make it
easier to spot orbs, he said.

"Your spirit is what makes you," he said. "The spirit still keeps the
personality, so if you were mean when you were alive, you're mean in
death."
Mikulka said he felt bad vibes when wandering through the upper floor of
the museum, saying he was seeing bodies spread out across the ground.
The museum used to serve as a fire hall and town hall.
While Mikulka said he was having luck feeling spirits, others were
having a harder time.
Ortonville's Holly Garverick was surveying the main floor of the
library, but to no avail. Still, she said she's had plenty of
experiences.
"I had always wanted an experience but never had one," she said. "(After
joining) I have experienced a couple of things — physical touching and
voices."

The ghost hunters will present their findings to the public at the
library on Oct. 26. Library officials already have 35 people signed up
and say they will probably have to put a cap at 65.
"We're trying to expand the programs to include a lot of different
interests by doing something that's considered more of a popular
program," said Carol Lynn Taggart, the library's marketing director.

Of course, while some might find ghost hunting interesting, there will
always be skeptics.
Florida's James Randi and his James Randi Educational Foundation have
offered $1 million to anyone who can prove ghosts exist. Randi has had
more than 400 takers in the foundation's 11-year existence, and not one
winner.

"They go out with all sorts of over-sensitive instruments," Randi said.
"They're bound to pick something up. If they pick a voice up on it, they
get all excited.

"It's like looking for leprechauns," he said. "There are people in
Ireland who look for them. They'll point out there were some strange
things going on and they'll come over with fuzzy photographs."
Larsen says he can be skeptical, too, but if he has any doubt on a
finding, he will scrap it. He also puts faith in recording electronic
video phenomenon, which is his strong suit.

"Orbs can really turn out to be a lot of mundane things like dust or
flies," he said. "But when you hear a voice talking to you, to me, it's
some of the best proof."