Ghost of a chance

For me there are few things better than a good ghost story. I love ‘em, which is one of the reasons I like Halloween and the abundance of television shows with tales of hauntings. I can remember being in the Boy Scouts thirty years ago and hearing tales from a few of my fellow members about their experiences in a nineteenth century house that was being used as a rectory for a church. It was summertime and they were moving some folding tables in the house. Suddenly they all experienced a cold breeze in the room they were working in, despite the windows being open allowing the warm air in.

The next summer our scout troop went hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Near our campsite was the foundation of a cabin that had long since been demolished. We were told that it had been a forest ranger cabin, and that one night while the ranger on duty lay asleep in his bed, someone shot and killed the ranger through the bedroom window. As a result there had been sightings of the dead ranger in the area of the ruins of the cabin. Our first night as we sat around the campfire telling stories, I noticed two blue orbs not too far away in the tree line. We initially thought they were glowworms, but when we shined our flashlights in the direction of the orbs, nothing was there: no orbs, no branches or trees for glowworms to set upon, absolutely nothing. We were all a bit unnerved by this turn of events. Was it the ghost of the ranger? I’ve no idea.

I can’t absolutely confirm it, but it’s been said that the building I work in is haunted. The building I work spent nearly the first sixty years of its existence as a dormitory, and I’ve read a story that a student once hung himself in the building. There are a lot of “urban” legends on campus so I don’t know if that really happened or not. But there have been times where I’ve found things in my office not exactly in the same place where I let them. In particular, there are four world maps in their cardboard tubing behind my office door. Normally they lean against the wall quite securely, but sometimes I arrive in the morning only to find the maps have fallen against the door—and not just against the door but in such a manner that they jam the door handle, making it much harder to get in to my office. And every time they fall over, they jam the handle in the same way. I’m thinking about leaving my camcorder in my office one night and see what it picks up (if anything).

It’s summertime, so times are lean for ghost story programming on television. But programs can be found to satisfy my ghost story habit. The Travel Channel is a virtual repository of shows featuring haunted destinations. The Sci Fi channel features one of my favorite ghost story shows, “Ghost Hunters.” Two guys in New England started up their own paranormal investigative service, working by day for Roto Rooter and by night and weekends as “ghostbusters.” They have a team that works for them, which makes their investigations easier, especially in larger buildings. Using video and audio equipment, as well as the individual teams, they go about their business checking out claims of ghosts and poltergeist activity. Most of the time the show consists of video of the teams wandering about shooting video, with not much to show for it. But from time to time they capture some really interesting video during their investigations. If you like ghost stories, check out the program some time.

A couple of nights ago I watched one of the funnier ghost hunter programs I’ve ever encountered. It was a two hour tour de farce called “Ghost Adventures” on the Sci Fi channel. Whereas the guys on Ghost Hunters use all sorts of electronic equipment during their investigations, the guys in Ghost Adventures had a couple of video cameras and a digital voice recorder at their disposal. The first part of the program found them in Virginia City, Nevada. In an old hotel there they managed to pick up an amazing video of a transparent figure walking through a room.

But during the second part of the program things got a bit silly. During the last hour they were investigating another old hotel. The story goes that a patron got a prostitute pregnant. After she carried the baby full term, the guy handcuffed the girl to a radiator, took the baby and threw it down a mine shaft found in the basement. The girl later died still handcuffed to the radiator. One hundred years later, enter the two guys of this crack investigative ghost hunting team. After wandering around the upper floors and not finding much, they head to the basement where the excitement begins. Almost immediately after they head down the steps they begin to hear various noises. Over the self-important narration provided by the head of this “team,” both of the guys admit to being freaked out by the noises. I guess in an attempt to make whatever, or whoever, was making the noises reveal themselves, the team leader starts making comments like, “You’re not a very nice spirit,” and “We’re not afraid of you!”

What happened next is an excellent example of being careful what you ask for as you just may get it. As they work their way around the basement trying to find where the noises are coming from, they enter the room where allegedly the baby was thrown down the mine shaft. In the glare of their flashlights and camcorder lights, these guys get their wish. Suddenly, a brick is picked up and thrown across the room by an unseen hand. As the team leader screams his first, “Holy shit!!!,” his partner takes off, leaving his friend behind. The video image becomes shaky and fuzzy as the leader runs like hell towards anywhere but there. A few minutes later he finds his friend who ditched him, and starts his camcorder again. As he pans around the section of the basement that they’ve run to, they hear the distinct sound of a woman’s pitiful cry (which is captured on the camcorder’s audio). Nobody else was in the building, as the front doors were padlocked. Again, both of the ghost hunters flee, this time to the first floor where they try to leave the building, only to find the padlock still on the front door. When one of the owners of the building comes the next morning to let the team out, she finds the building empty. Seems the guys went up to the second floor and jumped off a fire escape in order to get away from the building and presumably go find a change of underwear.

Not that I would’ve fared any better had I been in that basement and seen a brick fly across the room. But if you’re going to taunt a spirit, be prepared to face the consequences. Maybe I’ll set up my camcorder in my office and make some taunting comments before I leave for the day. If anything happens, I’ll let you know. And, fortunately, new underwear is fairly cheap.