Investigating the paranormal at DePauw

Television shows such as "Ghost Hunters," "Most Haunted" and "Dead Famous Ghostly Encounters" have sparked worldwide curiosity. Now, local students have teamed up in a similar pursuit.Hoosier State Paranormal, a group of young adults from the Greencastle area who investigate paranormal activity, formed its own research team that seeks out the same types of ghostly encounters as the popular television shows.

The group consists of 12 investigators ages 18 to 25, two of whom are DePauw students: seniors Megan Soultz and Matthew Nance. Most of the investigators, including Soultz and Nance, know each other through working as emergency medical technicians or firefighters for Putnam County Operation Life.

Chris Lien, lead investigator for the group, had the idea to form the organization last November after watching TV shows about paranormal testing. His interest was also sparked from an experience while serving as an EMT.

One time, a woman he was taking care of clinically died, but his group was able to revive her. Later, the woman confessed to them that she had seen the entire event transpire from a third-person point of view.

When Lien heard her story, he realized that there was a possibility that paranormal activity exists, and wanted to explore further.

Soultz, who serves as case manager for the group, said she joined the group for similar reasons.

"It's something that people feel strongly about, but there's no explanation for it, and being a science-minded person, that's frustrating for me," Soultz said. "That's why I'm into this, because I want to try and find something. I want to maybe provide some concrete evidence if I can, and I don't know if that's possible."

In addition, Nance said he joined the team because he experienced paranormal activity when he was younger.

"I believe in the possibility of ghosts. Do I know exactly what I saw? No. Do I believe in activity like that? Yes," Nance said.

The group generally focuses on individuals who report paranormal activity in their residences and businesses. The organization tries to answer clients' questions and act as a support group of sorts.

"We try to make them comfortable by disproving things," Soultz said. "But there are some things we run into that you simply can't explain, you don't have an answer for, so really in those cases it's really more of a comfort to the residents that they know someone believes them and they aren't crazy."

However, there are some cases where Hoosier State Paranormal seeks out projects of its own, for instance, investigating reportedly haunted locations at DePauw.

The group investigated East College on Oct. 13. The investigation was not open to the public because the more people there are at a site, the harder it is to pay attention to evidence of paranormal activity.

During the East College investigation, Lien and another investigator were in the basement inspecting a classroom in complete darkness. They beckoned for something to show a sign of its presence. A few seconds passed, and then they heard the sound of an object being dragged across the floor.

Lien and the other investigator were able to recreate the sound by moving a desk across the floor. However, when they studied the film of their video camera, they were unable to see a desk move. Within 15 minutes, they repeated their call and heard the same sound from the other side of the room.

Despite this discovery, however, Lien admitted that the rest of the investigation at East College was uneventful. The group did not catch any electronic voice phenomena (EVPs) or see any ghosts.

"I think it's safe to say that we are unsure if the building is actually haunted because of the lack of evidence," Lien said.

The team decided to investigate East College because of the rumors of ghosts that have been attributed to the building for decades. However, the organization has tried to stay away from other rumored haunted places, such as the Edna Collins Bridge, because there are often many people in the area, making it hard to detect activity.

Members do their work voluntarily and the investigations are free of charge to anyone seeking assistance. Before conducting their investigations, they ask clients what kinds of paranormal activity are they experiencing and which areas of the building seem most active.

"We try to focus the investigation around the substantiated claim that they have," Soultz said.

Prior to investigations, team members inspect the layout of the building to figure out how they should set up their equipment. They also do research beforehand to learn about the history of the building and information about the previous owners, which they obtain from sources like newspaper articles and obituaries.

When conducting on-site investigations, the group uses various kinds of equipment such as infrared cameras, mini DVR recorders with night vision, an electromagnetic field detector, a digital thermometer and several digital voice recorders. These devices mostly collect visual and audio evidence of paranormal activity.

Lien also shared one of the creepiest instances that recently happened in during an Hoosier State Paranormal house investigation. The investigators had split up into three groups: one on the third floor, one in the basement and one outside. Both of the groups inside the house could hear a baby crying, even though it sounded like it was coming from the outside. However, the group outside could hear nothing of the sort.

This is one of the many instances of paranormal activity that the team has not been able to solve.

"If you could prove it, there wouldn't be people out there believing in things such as ghosts and spirits," Lien said.