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Searching for
the Unexplainable - 20081102
Society for Paranormal Research
and Investigation aims to find proof of spirits
By Randy Shemanski
It's almost Halloween and that
means plenty of skeletons, axe murderers and mummies at various
"haunted" attractions throughout the 570. It also
leads to talk of "true" hauntings, which usually
brings out a strict distinction among those in the conversation
- the believers and the non-believers.
The idea of ghosts existing was glorified
years ago by the over-the-top, more-than-slightly-ridiculous
mega-hit movie Ghostbusters and more recently by the Sci-Fi
Channel show Ghost Hunters.
But here in the 570, a handful of groups exist
with the goal of proving the paranormal exists. One of the
most active and longest-running groups is the Society for
Paranormal Research and Investigation, better known simply
as SPRI.
It would be easy to term SPRI as a group of
ghost chasers, people who run around investigating paranormal
incidents and documenting them, but SPRI's goal runs much
deeper than that.
"Part of what we do is we go out there
and try to help (people) understand what's going on,"
said Tom Fritz, who along with his wife, Robin Luchko, founded
SPRI. "A lot of times when people understand what's going
on, that makes them a lot more comfortable with it."
Rather than try to determine who or what the
spirit is that's causing the disturbance or phenomenon, SPRI
tries to find a logical explanation for all events the group
investigates. In other words, they do everything they possibly
can to determine that a house or building is not haunted.
"The holy grail would be the full-figured
ghost standing there with a sign that says, 'I'm a ghost,'"
said Daelynn Farrell, a member and public relations director
for SPRI. "That's the holy grail. Movement we try to
explain away as much as we humanly can. With (Fritz's) background
and the backgrounds of the other people (in SPRI), there's
almost always something that we can say, 'Hey, this is what
it could be.'"
Farrell is one of the groups "sensitives,"
which, simply put, means she can communicate with or sense
paranormal spirits. She assists in investigations by entering
the premise with no prior knowledge of any potential paranormal
events, then tells the other investigators what she senses,
which helps them determine where to set up cameras, sound
recorders and other devices used to detect potential activity.
Fritz is jokingly known as the "anti-ghost
magnetic" because he has never experienced what he truly
believes to be a ghost during an investigation. He has, however,
seen things that he hasn't been able to explain, one being
the group's first big investigation, which took place at Andy
Gavin's Pub & Eatery on North Washington Avenue in Scranton.
Gavin's, as many of the pub's regulars know,
is believed to be haunted by a ghost named George. Pots have
moved unexpectedly in the kitchen, bar stools have slid on
the floor for no reason, and on rare occasions, those inside
the bar have felt a presence or even an actual touch from
George.
During SPRI's investigation about three years
ago, a camera was set up in the kitchen. Investigators asked
George to give them a sign and immediately the sprayer hanging
above a big sink began to sway slowly. Video of the sprayer
moving is posted on SPRI's Web site, www.spriparanormal.com.
Coincidence or an actual paranormal occurrence?
Nobody's really sure.
"We went by running faucets and flushing
toilets to see if we could get a pressure change in the plumbing
system that would cause (the sprayer to move)," Fritz
said. "We couldn't get anything that actually changed
that, but since it is a city water system, somebody doing
something could do that. (Andy Gavin's is) across from the
prison. If 25 of the prisoners flushed the toilet at the same
time, that might make that pot washer move."
So no hard proof, but another occurrence that
has added to the legend of George.
There have been other, more significant events
during investigations, but still nothing that can be 100 percent
classified as a ghost. On one investigation in a home, a camera
set up in the basement with no humans around provided footage
of a beam of light that appeared seemingly out of nowhere,
another phenomenon the investigators could not recreate.
"The interesting thing about it is, there
are no windows on that side of the room and there are no openings
in the building behind the camera, there were no investigators
in the basement," Fritz said. "It seems a little
bit like a flashlight, but in a couple of the frames, you
can almost see an end to it and it did not hit the floor and
refract. It almost looks like it has a point on the end of
it. We tried to replicate that with flashlights and we could
not get that to happen. We can't figure out what that light
was.
"That's pretty much as sensational as
it gets."
Fritz said the group hopes to post the video
on its Web site soon.
The group does not do ghost removal, a la
Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters - "We do not use proton
packs," Farrell jokes - and it only investigates in buildings
it's invited into. With investigators from as far away as
Honesdale and Hellertown, the group's reach is far. SPRI usually
conducts about two investigations a month, but during this
time of year, the group appears at numerous Halloween attractions
and other events to help educate the public about the possibility
of paranormal activity.
"It's about educating people, not just
about SPRI, but about the things they may be experiencing
and how they themselves may be able to discount things based
on knowledge, common knowledge," Farrell said.
"Education erases fear," Fritz added.
For more information, including video and
other info on past investigations, and how to become a member
of the Society for Paranormal Research and Investigation,
visit www.spriparanormal.com.
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