Investigators offer tours, stories of ghostly pursuits into Boro’s haunted history
Thoughts of otherworldly beings are often ignored until October rolls around. But even after plastic ghosts and ghouls are hidden in storage bins in the attic for the year, the Shadow Chasers continue their hunt for real-life paranormal activity.
The Shadow Chasers of Middle Tennessee focus on both providing proof of hauntings as well as debunking them.
“I’ve always been interested in the paranormal,” said Beth Swain, a member of Shadow Chasers for four years. “After you experience something, you never forget it.”
Swain said the “Holy Grail” for her was when she listened to recordings after an investigation and heard something she missed previously.
She describes two different types of hauntings. The first, called residual, is a repitition of what the ghost did in its life. It replays a particular scene or habit from life. The second, referred to as intellectual, is more active, with the ghost interacting with its environment.
Shadow Chasers of Middle Tennessee is one of the few teams, with about 15 members, in existence that has liability insurance for their investigations, which are done upon request and for free. Five investigations in two weeks shows a pretty active trend, and winter months always mean more calls because there are fewer animals and insects about to blame for unusual sounds or events.
They also have a variety of equipment that is used and maintained. From nightvision cameras and digital thermometers to K-2 meters and EMF detectors, each team member is armed with technology to prove or disprove a purported haunting.
“The EMF detector and K-2 meters measure electromagnetic fields. We always take a base reading before we start to make sure something isn’t interfering. If you have something causing an electromagnetic leak, it can actually cause hallucinations and paranoia. We want to rule that out first,” Swain said.
Cameras, video recorders and night vision are all used to record both control shots and possible evidence of paranormal presences.
The digital thermometers are equipped with lasers to pinpoint the temperature of a given area. This helps determine if a cold spot is caused by an explainable inference, such as a leak or draft, or if it is an unexplained change that could be caused by the tell-tale shadow person.
Swain and a fellow Shadow Chaser Tammy Talbott have many stories of strange happenings.
Talbott said she once witnessed a “residual” haunting of a little girl in a yellow dress and a doctor interacting on the floor of a room in a Nashville church. She later learned the church had once been a sanitarium. The doctor committed suicide, and it was later learned that he had molested the little girls he treated.
Other observations according to Swain and Talbott, include a family in the old health department, which acted as a tuberculosis hospital, and ghosts in period dress going in and out the walls at the SunTrust building.
“If we can document it, we get excited,” Swain said. “We base most of our stuff on scientific findings using our technology. We will investigate before we get personal experiences and accounts from people.”
To raise money for Shadow Chasers’ liability insurance, the team hosts Shadow Walks in October. Group tours wander throughout the Square and surrounding streets to visit about 15 locations that have been investigated by the teams and have evidence of being “haunted.”
Voice recordings have been caught in the Center for the Arts, Social nightclub and the old health department.
Two separate recordings from Social reveal paranormal activity.
“It’s always got something going on,” Swain said.
One recording clearly offers a loud game of billiards being played over the conversation by Shadow Chaser team members while they investigate the basement where there are no pool tables.
A second, more creepy example replayed by a tour guide during a Shadow Walk has the muffled sound of someone dropping something followed by a raspy voice saying, “Get. Out. Now.”
At the Center for the Arts, which was once the public library, children have been heard singing downstairs, where the children’s library was. There are tales of a woman in a white dress and a man named Harvey in the building, as well.
During an investigation at Simply Southern, a new home decor shop on the Square, Talbott had crawled through a small opening in the floor into the basement. When Swain perched over the hole to check on her, a man’s face appeared at a ladder as if he was going to come up the ladder.
“We get excited,” Talbott said. “We usually look at one another and it’s, ‘Holy — , did you see that?!'”
Column: Ghost hunt has reporter jumping at shadows
As a journalist you have an opportunity to do some really interesting and amazing things.
Still, a ghost hunting exhibition? That isn’t one that was on the bucket list, but as a curious soul, acquiescing came quickly.
Randy and Belinda Smotherman, proprietors of Smotherman’s Antiques on the Square, recently agreed to let the Shadow Chasers do an investigation in the company of The Daily News Journal reporter and photographer.
After taking a few moments to greet each other, the tour was under way.
“We’ll see how active it is. Hopefully we’ll get something tonight,” said Beth Swain, one of the Shadow Chasers of Middle Tennessee.
“I’ve charged my recorder and camera,” she said, checking her equipment.
Already, this reporter was feeling anxious and still excited. On the one hand, yes, some activity would be great for a story, but the reality also brought some serious questions to light. Do you believe in ghosts? If not ghosts, what?
As an educated person, knowledge armed me with a plethora of excuses of what could explain the goings-on that the Shadow Chasers experience regularly.
The Smothermans have encountered “hauntings” since acquiring the painting of a little girl, about age 3 or 4. The painting was done post-mortem, as was common during Victorian times. It may be the first and only time the image of the child was captured, as photography was not readily available.
Reports have included someone tugging at the bottom of Belinda’s skirt and of Randy finding a game, which was placed behind glass bottles on a shelf, with the pieces scattered on the game board on the floor. The bottles were not disturbed. The Smothermans have also heard a child’s laughter when no one else is in the store.
The Shadow Chasers have investigated Smotherman’s before, and their accounts include some K-2 meter activity, some of which was in response to direct questioning. This led to the belief that it was Julia who is running free in the store. A black mass was recorded through photography.
Belinda and Randy Smotherman say their good nights, lock the front door, and go through a door at the back of the store. The lights go out and everyone stands still, allowing their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Only the street lamps on the Square provide any glimpse at how to get around the store full of historic pieces and timeless treasures.
Swain and her partner in the investigation, Jacob Skoropat, start setting up the K-2 meters to detect electromagnetic energy.
“The nice thing is when it goes off on command and in response to questions, and then you can build a story,” said Skoropat.
Small Maglite flashlights are set up on furniture, shelving and other level surfaces. Skoropat tests the lights by stomping the ground nearby and pounding the top of the surface. They are definitely off.
Or are they? Almost immediately, the now unattended light glows on.
The immediate reaction is to look around and then take several steps back.
The light fades to black again. A K-2 meter shows a little activity.
Every now and again the flashlight glows from faint to fully lit. The light flickers, and then goes out.
Swain and Skoropat ask a few questions: “Do you like playing with the light?” or “Is that Julia playing with the light? If so, will you do it again for me, please?”
Everyone waits. They are poised, still and tense, for anything to happen. A clock “purrs.”
“I don’t know what else you would call that. It cooed like the sound of a dove,” says Helen Comer, the DNJ photographer who is charged with capturing the mood and any evidence of the evening. “It was like a cuckoo clock, but I don’t see one.”
To my ears, the sound was like someone trying to stop a pendulum or clock cogs, but causing a vibration instead. Too bad no one was close enough to the row of clocks, whose ticking are the only sound in the darkened store.
Despite the fact that there is no air conditioning, no drafts and no air movement seen or felt whatsoever, a single price tag moves back and forth. When Skoropat speaks the name “Julia,” the tag turns, as if a small hand grasping it has turned to respond to being called.
Now things are just getting weird.
Is that chill from fear or from a paranormal being nearby?
The Shadow Chasers, who have been taking control shots with cameras, return to their equipment kits to try another option, including voice recorders and video cameras. Swain finds that her batteries have drained. Skoropat’s electronics have done the same.
Undaunted by the situation, Swain goes for her smartphone, which promptly freezes and locks up.
Skoropat places a touch sensor up near the center of the store.
“It is essentially a touch box,” he said.
One of his own creations, the box has a green “Yes” light and a red “No.” Testing it, Skoropat shows how the lights work independently. The hope is that any apparitions will use the box to communicate.
Not long after he gets it up and running, all of the lights flare up, green and red together.
“I’ve never seen it do that,” Skoropat says as he resets the machine and tests once again.
And yet again, all the lights come on.
Could it be possible that someone was trying to communicate?
After that, things quiet down. The team, Shadow Chasers and DNJ staff find various chairs and wait for the next sign.
Comer is drawn to faint shadows in the corner near the back of the store, but these are hardly noted, as they could be cause by movement from outside cast by street lights or the Smothermans moving in the background.
Still, The DNJ photographer notes the door to the back room is clearly closed, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone outside.
Just as a signal of surrender is about to go up, stacked items in the corner of the store knock together. The bell on the door tinkles, but no one is there to cause it to stir. Skoropat goes to investigate with Comer.
The Smothermans return a short time later to turn on the lights and unlock the door.
“So, did you see anything?”
Recent Comments