Paranormal investigators come to town

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Paranormal investigators come to town
June 27, 2009
By Katie Nichols
Selma Times-Journal

Hunters shifted quietly on cold, white tile or slick hardwood floors. Very rarely would anyone speak above a whisper. Their ears and eyes kept alert listening for an unexplained sound.

“Did someone do something unjust to you” one person asked. There was no audible response because the entity being questioned was possibly one of the many ghosts that reside on the third floor of the Vaughan Smitherman Museum.

Friends of the Vaughan Smitherman Museum sponsored the Paranormal Weekend, which was held Friday and Saturday at the museum.

Though there were plenty of seasoned veteran ghost hunters, there were a couple going on their first investigation.

“This is my first time doing anything like this,” said Kathy Boothman said. “I’ve wanted to do it, but for whatever reason I haven’t until now. I’ve seen spirits of loved ones as a child and adult. I wanted to know if it is possible to hone in the gift.”

Boothman lived in Selma for a time in the 1970s when her then husband was stationed at Craig Air Force base. She said she enjoyed coming back to Selma especially to see one particular sight.

“We had a friend who lived in the old slave quarters above a house and we would go up to the widow’s peek there,” she said. “Every time we went up it was just a creepy feeling. My husband and I got to go back there today and it was really neat.”

Southern Paranormal Researchers, Montgomery, and a few other historians and paranormal investigators led the weekend. Cindy Stoudenmire told the history of the museum and Alston Fitts filled everyone in on the interesting history of Selma. Paranormal investigators gave lectures on everything from equipment and research to how paranormal and religion fit together.

Each night concluded with an investigation into an area building – Vaughan Smitherman Museum, The Foundry and Adams Grove Church and cemetery.

Saturday afternoon the group gathered to discuss their findings of the museum.

Shawn Sellers, clairvoyant and founder of Southern Paranormal Researchers, said the museum has a lot of residual energy, which is like an imprint on time.

“I always love coming to the Vaughan Smitherman Museum,” he said. “The history here lends to a lot of residual energy plus there has been a lot of personal experience in the building. This is one of my favorite places to come and I do this with the Southern Paranormal Researchers all over the United States.”

Participants of the weekend agreed that there was something paranormal in the museum. Some smelled smoke or felt a drop in temperature in certain spots in rooms. Southern Paranormal Researchers used a ghost box to try to communicate with anyone on the other side willing to communicate. A ghost box is an instrument that produces random voltage to create raw audio from an AM tuner. It is then amplified and fed into an echo chamber. The machines create audio bits and white noise that ghosts can manipulate into forming.

Through the machine, two stories emerged, but stable communication was not established.

Though the weekend was coming to a close, many hunters looked forward to the next great pursuit, but reflected on the weekend in Selma.

“I love coming to Selma and helping out people or just doing hunts like this weekend’s,” Sellers said. “It has a lot of ghost activity. I look it as a smaller Savannah.”