2 Nov 2007
http://savannahnow.com/node/386861
Local police double as ghost hunters
Local
Group of six officers hunt for ghosts in graveyards but want to expand to homes and other buildings .
New hires at The Pirates' House are warned before they take the job that tolerating inexplicable, spooky noises and strange occurrences is a condition of employment.
Stephen Froeming, manager at the East Broad Street restaurant, was briefed like everyone else when he applied for his job.
"There were a lot of managers who quit. Now it's part of the interview process," Froeming said about the supernatural part of the orientation.
The restaurant, with the oldest parts of the building dating back as far as 1735, offers plenty of lore to match the spooky noises that scare away some employees - the same noises that seem to attract customers.
That's why five ghost-hunting, off-duty police officers were itching to spend a night at The Pirates' House in early October.
Savannah Coastal Paranormal Investigation and Research is composed of off-duty cops who use police investigative training and techy gadgetry to identify signs of ghosts and other paranormal occurrences.
Garden City police officers Benji Selph and Tim McMillan work with Damon Aanerud and Blair Jeffcoat from Pooler and Chris LaVoie, a Port Wentworth officer.
Several other officers laugh when the group talks about their after-hours hobby.
"But for every five people who doubt it or think we're crazy, there are five others who are just really fascinated by it," Selph said.
Until a few weeks ago, the group had only camped out in graveyards and a few abandoned houses. Now, they hope businesses and homeowners will invite them indoors for investigations.
"If we can explain something and show someone that nothing is there, that's great," McMillan said. "And other times we can tell people that yes, there is something ... going on."
The group tries to do that by using sensitive digital voice recorders and digital cameras to hunt down paranormal beings.
Sometimes they record slight voices and take pictures of "orbs" that some people believe are evidence of a ghost's presence.
"We don't always know that anything was happening when we were there," Selph said.
Only when the men get home and pore over the hundreds of photos, slowing down to amplify their recorders, do they hear and see things they can't explain.
Occasionally the photos show bright circular shapes. In one instance, the recordings picked up a distinct "Get out" in a whispered voice that they did not hear at the time, the men said.
"If we would have heard that, you better believe we wouldn't have stuck around," Selph said.
But the evidence of ghosts isn't always so discreet. Selph said once, while at a graveyard, they talked into a wind chime, asking questions and getting answers through reactions from the chimes.
The officers borrow their techniques from the popular SciFi channel series, "Ghost Hunter."
They admit there isn't any absolute science to prove that what they detect is truly a ghost. Even among the group, there are some pretty big skeptics.
McMillan said he was drawn to ghost-hunting for the same reasons he was interested in law enforcement.
"I'm a skeptic, and I never just believe something," McMillan said. "I like to find a reason."
Selph said his interest in ghosts started when he was 5 years old. That's when he believes his deceased grandfather appeared to him and warned him not to play too close to a well.
Most of the officers can recite details of a supernatural encounter. Jeffcoat believes he shares his home with a spirit that casts shadows and darts around corners at night.
McMillan, who is a history buff, said he likes to tie inexplicable events to recorded history.
So far, he has not had the chance to do that, but he hopes future overnight investigations, such as the one at The Pirates' House, will afford more opportunities.
The ghost-busters don't charge for their work. They just need willing homeowners to let them in.
"It's all free," McMillan said. "And we get a kick out of it."
That doesn't mean the group guarantees to find a supernatural presence. In fact, they say most of the time, they don't find anything at all.
"About 80 percent of the things that people can see or hear can be explained," McMillan said. "The rest - well, that's what's really interesting."
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