With the spooky season upon us, students all across campus are eager to get into the spooky spirit. However, what if the “spooky” is real, and inhabiting MCLA right now?
On October 19th, two professional paranormal investigators came to MCLA to explain what they do for a living. Their names were Rich and Peter, and they were based in New York in a company called Agent Paranormal. They started the night off by describing the experiences and thrills they have had throughout their careers in the paranormal world thus far.
To be clear, Peter and Rich of Agent Paranormal are paranormal investigators, not to be confused with ghost hunters. According to Rich, “ghost hunters are thrill seekers that go out looking for these paranormal events, but they don’t do anything about it.”
Paranormal investigators, on the other hand, do something with what they find. “We capture evidence and solve the question of why they are here” Rich said.
If you watch reality tv shows about the paranormal, Haunted Collector for example, you may think that that’s exactly what really happens. Rich explained that this was not the case. Most of the interviews and shots on those shows are staged. This is what’s called “guided reality.”
However, the evidence collected from Agent Paranormal’s team, according to Rich and Pete, has always been real. They showed attendees audio, video, and photo evidence of paranormal activity from the 200 private residential cases they have investigated thus far.
Images were the most prominent. There can be so much to see in an image, however, you may need some special equipment.
One picture was showcased from an ultraviolet camera. This camera picked up ultraviolet light, which is in the light spectrum the human eye cannot see. There were also infrared cameras that picked up infrared light – another part of the light spectrum we cannot see.
Some other images, however, can be seen with a normal camera and normal eyes without special equipment. There was one particular image that stood out: a black shadowy figure. Attendees could very clearly see the black figure in the photo.
Another picture that was taken was on a Revolutionary War battlefield. The picture was of a misty or foggy formation. As students looked carefully, Rich told them to look out for a tricorn hat. Those were the kinds of hats soldiers wore during the Revolutionary War.
Another type of evidence that was showcased to the students was audio evidence. The paranormal investigators use a tool called a spirit box. This tool uses AM and FM waves and cycles between different frequencies until it picks up a signal. Then that signal is played back through audio signs.
One of the cases Agent Paranormal took on was in the Herkimer Historical Society. This place was where Civil War medics performed surgery. In that location, Rich said there were bone saws everywhere, likely used during the Civil War time period. Rich and his team had set up a spirit box in hopes of talking to the spirit, and the result was shocking.
Rich asked the question “Were you a civil war surgeon?” The spirit immediately responded with a “Yes.” This audio was downright chilling when it was played for the students.
The third type of evidence they had gathered was video evidence. This was some of the strongest evidence, as students saw what really happened.
In one case that they took, they were on an old submarine called the USS Sullivans, in Buffalo, NY. The doors in the vessel were extremely heavy and latched shut. The infrared camera caught an anomaly flying past the door and knocking the camera over in the process. “He was like The Flash,” Rich said. The anomaly was clearly humanoid, but it was only able to be seen with an infrared camera.
All of these pieces of evidence made Rich and Peter convincing, but it was at this point that the students were able to perform their own investigations
The Agents Paranormal team brought some equipment with them to see if there was paranormal activity here at MCLA. Rich and Pete brought an electromagnetic field reader (EMF reader), spirit box, and a device that creates a “portal”. This portal would help the spirits traverse between the astral plane and reality to get better signals with the paranormal.
The team also used an app called Necrometer to help communicate with the paranormal. This was what the group primarily used. The participating students investigated three areas around campus. In the first two locations, there was no real activity. That means that there were no spirits, or the spirits did not want to communicate with the group.
The third location, however, was a different story.
The Church Street Center had so much activity that the group spent a couple hours trying to communicate with the spirits. This building used to be a synagogue before it was property of MCLA.
With the help of the Necrometer, the group was able to determine a few things. There were around five to seven spirits in the building. The group was also able to get names for some of these spirits. There was Sara, Tyler, Janet, and George. The spirits also said that the building was condemned. After research, it was confirmed that this building was indeed condemned.
It was said that a spirit sometimes played the piano in this building, so the group tried asking the spirit to play a note. The group got a “Maybe” response from the spirit. Later, they tried again, and the spirit said, “not likely.” It was as if the spirit was messing with the group.
After this last investigation wrapped up, students returned to campus with new scary stories to tell their friends across campus.
Everyone was very satisfied with the results of the investigation, the professionals included. The participants all had a good time, staying well past two hours after the program was supposed to be over and trying to communicate with spirits.
If you want more information about paranormal investigations, you can follow Agent Paranormal on Facebook and Instagram @AgentParanormal.
