14 Paranormal Underground November 2009 November 2009 Paranormal Underground 15

recorded on video items moving on their own. We also have on video a strange occurrence with multiple lights in one location being turned off and on in separate rooms, at separate times from one another.

We have had several investiga-tors witness a shadow person, or persons, around the location, and have heard claims from employees and guests of the museum that have witnessed the same thing.

The Orpheum Theater. We have investigated several times, and we have recorded what could be paranormal activity. But at the same time we have debunked a lot of claims there as well.

The Beaumont Hotel. Over the years, this has been an interesting location to investigate. One of the claims is of a cowboy, named Zeke, who roams the halls of the hotel.

During one of our first investiga-tions there, most of our EVP ques-

one word very loud right after I was touched. She had said, “Peace.”

While investigating the Or-pheum, we always get several un-known EVPs.

The Old Cowtown Museum, on the other hand, we have investigated multiple times throughout the year. Several locations are very active with paranormal activity. The Murdock house is always interesting: seeing shadow people, mists, voices, bangs, and footsteps. These seem to happen inside the house and outside the house.

We have also had footsteps from the Devore Farm, enclosed wind chimes moving five times within a 30-minute period, voices, and camera movement. This is just to mention a couple of hot spots at Cowtown; there are several others.

Shane: The Old Cowtown Mu-seum. We have recorded close to 100 EVPs from that location and

regularly on its own, the sound of footsteps in various locations around the theater, and of apparitions witnessed on the stage and up in the second balcony. We were hoping to either prove or disprove some of these claims.

Sherrie: The theater was in outstand-ing condition, and the employees were great. Derek was able to take some great pictures of the location.

During the investigation, I personally saw two questionable shadows. One was when I was up in the catwalk above the stage and saw a shadow walk into an electrical room and heard questionable female voices from that location.

And once while on the stage, I saw a dark shadow up in the balcony chairs. I thought it was one of us; however, I found out later it was not.

Q: What other locations has WPRS investigated?

Bob: There are so many . . . The best one to me was a house just north of town. I got touched and had a conversation with something via the K-II Meter.

Sherrie: Well there are so many great places — a few I can’t mention due to privacy issues. I’ll just men-tion a couple.

The Orpheum Theater is a great place. We have investigated there several times. During a tour, a guest investigator felt something tug on her pant leg. We dismissed this occurrence thinking it was possibly her pant being caught on a chair while she walked by; however, later in the night we were in the same spot sitting down taking pictures, and I felt a finger run down the back of my left leg, from the knee down to my ankle. I heard nothing.

Later while going over the audio recordings and coming to that spot, there was a female voice that spoke

Investigator Spotlight

Q: Tell us a little about the investi-gation at Brown Grand Theater.

Shane: This was a beautiful location to investigate. With original seating in the balcony boxes and many of the original theatrical posters framed around the theater, you couldn’t help but feel like you were being pulled back into the early 1900s.

Theaters can be very tough to

At a Borders’ book signing last September, I had the pleasure of meeting several

members of the Wichita, Kansas-based Wichita Paranormal Research Society (WPRS). Their passion for the paranormal and the professional-ism in which they talked about their craft were evident.

With new TAPS family member cards fresh from the printers and an assorted display of paranormal-themed WPRS t-shirts, they were about to leave for an investigation at the Brown Grand Theater in Con-cordia, Kansas.

WPRS includes:• Founder Shane Elliot• Case Manager-Public Relations

Manager & Investigator Sherrie Curry• Photographer & Investigator

Derek Pinkston• Investigator/Tech Bob Gilmer• Tech Manager Shaun Reeves• Investigator Ted Thomason• Historian Lori DeWinkler• Software Tech Manager Jer-

emy Webster• Investigator Donna Chaffin• Investigator Charles HardingThree WPRS members took a

moment out of their busy schedules to talk with me about their recent in-vestigation and their group in general. A big thank you to Sherrie Curry, Shane Elliot, and Bob Gilmer.

* * * * *

WPRS Strives to Better Understand the Paranormal

investigate because of the acoustic qualities. So, we started off with just a couple of investigators at a time actually investigating the theater. We had plenty of room to cover with all the seating area on the main floor, the balcony, the stage, the catwalk, and the basement with boiler room.

Some of the claims where of a door that opened and closed

By Michelle M. Pillow

WPRS is 100% non-profit, and their services are free of charge. As paranormal investigators, the group is committed to authenticating evidence and document-

ing the existence of any paranormal activity via audio, video, and other electronic means of equipment.

WPRS members include (from left to right): Donna Chaffin, Lori DeWinkler, Sherrie Curry, Shaun Reeves, Shane Elliot, Bob Gilmer, Jeremy Webster, Derek

Pinkston, and Ted Thomason. (All photos: Copyright 2009, WPRS and Derek Pinkston of ICT Photography.)

16 Paranormal Underground November 2009 November 2009 Paranormal Underground 17

say, “It’s okay.” I immediately felt calm, and my son fell back to sleep.

The next evening my wife was watching an episode of Ghost Hunt-ers. Up until this point I had never watched this program or any of the various paranormal shows for longer than a few minutes. It just wasn’t some-thing that interested me. But due to what had happened the night before I thought I would watch this show.

What impressed me was that the TAPS team didn’t come in and find a bunch of paranormal things going on. Instead, they went into the families’ homes with a list of claims and actually found normal reasons that could cause all the paranormal claims.

I realized I wanted to start researching this myself and began looking online for local teams. At the time there really wasn’t anything here in Wichita. After spending months looking for a team, some of the people I met during my search suggested that I start a team myself. So that’s how the Wichita Paranor-mal Research Society came to be.

way of the paranormal, but in May of 2005 that all changed.

My son was two weeks old and sleeping soundly in his crib. My wife and I were sound asleep in our room when suddenly my son awoke crying. This woke me up, and I laid

there for a minute to see if he would go back to sleep, or if I needed to go check on him. Suddenly, I heard a humming come over the baby monitor, and I immediately thought, “Okay, we are picking up a radio or maybe a commercial truck.”

But then it changed to a woman singing a lullaby. I immediately real-ized my wife was lying next to me and someone must have broken into our house. I went to jump up, and that’s when I felt a hand just below my right knee. It wasn’t holding me down, but just patting my leg as if to

loose screen door, I made my way downstairs to check things out. As the investigator was explaining what was going on, it happened again. This noise was definitely inside and not an outdoor screen door, but obviously something slamming shut.

So we looked around and found a cooler in the back with a sliding door that stored drinks. The door had a spring on it, and if you opened it and let it go, the door would slam shut, sounding very similar to what we had heard. By this time all the investigators where down in the kitchen standing around this cooler, and I was asking something to the effect of, “If you opened this door could you please do it again?”

About that time, we all heard the noise again, and everyone jumped about a foot out of their skin. It was the hotels ice machine behind us dropping ice.

Q: What first interested you in paranormal investigation?

Sherrie: I have had several personal experiences that led me to this field. I wanted some answers. One day a friend brought a recording of a voice from her home to work and told me this fantastic story. This led me to WPRS in the first place.

Bob: The first time I saw Ghost-busters when I was a kid, I said, “This is what I want to do when I grow up.”

Shane: Before 2005 I really had no interest in the paranormal. Nothing had really happened to me, and I had not heard any stories to make me believe much was going on in the

Shane: The Old Cowtown Muse-um. And the most interesting piece of evidence so far would have to be the EVP screaming at two investiga-tors to “Get out! I warn you!” That is still one of the loudest EVPs I’ve ever heard.

Having said that, we have had a lot of personal experiences that if only we had moved the camera a few feet, or even a few inches, we prob-ably would have caught on video. But because we didn’t, they are just personal experiences now.

Q: What criteria do you look for when deciding a location?

Sherrie: Activity, stories, and history. Also, if a place looks interesting, we will approach the owner to see if they have any reported claims.

Shane: If children are involved, there is no question we are going to get in there and try to help the family as quick as possible. Other than that it just depends on the claims and/or the history.

tions were directed toward Zeke. At the end of the night, one of the EVPs we captured said, “What’s Zeke?”

Q: To date, what is the most interesting location your team has investigated?

Sherrie: I’m sure we all have our favorites. I guess mine has to be my first investigation in a local Wichita business. I had more than 50 EVPs during that investigation, saw my first shadow person, heard a voice of a person I couldn’t see, and heard foot-steps. It was crazy all the way around.

The only thing captured to provide as evidence were the EVPs. Several were very clear and very loud. What was interesting was the disembodied voice I heard, along with three other females. The voice was male, and no one caught that on their audio recorder. Bob: It’s got to be Cowtown. We get so much from that place. It’s hard to just pick one out.

Investigator Spotlight

Q: Have you ever been disappoint-ed by a location?

Sherrie: Every location is interest-ing in its own way. We have been disappointed with the lack of activity during investigations many times. Then we go over the evidence and find great things.

We were investigating a school with great history and tons of stories from past students who saw ghost, mists, etc. We investigated and found nothing. Once we went over our recordings, we found a lot of EVPs.

Shane: We have had a few people lie to us just to get us to come out to their home or business. That is always disappointing, but those instances are few and far between.

Q: Any funny/unexpected stories?

Sherrie: Well, with Shaun around you can always expect the unex-pected. He’s the clown of the group, whether he is trying on random hats to make us laugh or just being him-self, he’s always a riot!

I guess if you want to know about funny things during investiga-tions, I have to say if one of us gets startled, Donna grabs all of her equipment and won’t leave my side. She doesn’t run and she doesn’t scream, she just calmly, in a hur-ried fashion, gathers her things and becomes glue. We kind of tease her about it.

Shane: The Beaumont Hotel. The first time we investigated I was on the second floor when an investigator that was watching the monitors called me on the radio saying that the screen door just slammed in the kitchen.

He was new to the team, so I just told him to calm down and listen for anything else unusual. A few minutes passed and he called again, “The door just slammed again!”

Thinking it was the wind or a

“I had More than 50 EVP’s during that investigation. It was crazy

all the way around.”

WPRS does not attempt to ‘prove’ a haunting. The group looks at all aspects of reported activity, client observations, and gathered evidence to come up with the

most reasonable explanations for the paranormal activity.

By using current high-tech equipment, WPRS is able to conduct extensive scien-tific investigations, interpret the evidence collected, and present evidence to the client in the hope of creating a better understanding of the current activity and

possible options to be taken.

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Q: Any dream locations you’d like to investigate?

Sherrie: One would be a castle in Ireland. Locally, the Winfield State Prison.

Bob: The Stanley hotel.

Shane: Anything over the pond in Ireland or Scotland. We are work-ing on doing some of that in the next year or two.

Q: Any new projects in the works?

Shane: We do have a book we are working on. We also are getting ready to film a few local shows. Lo-cal magazines and news broadcasts have been really good to us, and we do those on a regular basis.

Q: Any future plans or projects for the group?

Sherrie: We are always investigat-ing. We are getting ready to head to Branson, Missouri, to investigate the Titanic exhibit and film with a local show, called Heavy Pork, a late Saturday night Fox program.

* * * * *

Thank you Sherrie, Shane, Bob, and the members of WPRS! You can learn more about WPRS by visiting www.wichitaparanormal.com.

Sherrie: The city is quiet at night. If you have lights on, it can cause our EMF detectors to provide false read-ings. When the lights are off, we don’t have to worry as much about that.

Shane: Obviously for television it adds an effect for the viewers. But since most of the claims are at night, I believe that’s why most investiga-tions take place then.

The reason we investigate in the dark is because most of the claims happen when the lights were turned out, people are sleeping, and the loca-tion is at its quietest. However, if I ever get a claim that someone was making pancakes in the morning, and Elvis walks through a wall and through their kitchen, I’ll investigate that place dur-ing the day, and hopefully someone will be making pancakes.

Q: Do you feel there are things presented by evidence that are explainable in other ways?

Sherrie: Ninety-nine percent of orbs are a reflection of a flash from the camera, dust, bugs, humidity, or items in the room.

Shane: Definitely. We don’t con-sider any orbs as possible evidence.

They are just too easy to reproduce; even the slightest bit of dust, mois-ture, or tiniest bug can create them.

Q: What advice do you have for beginners?

Sherrie: Understand there are lots of theories out there and yours may not be the only one. Do not trespass. Don’t investigate outside. There is too much distortion and contamina-

tion from background noise, such as dogs, bugs, traffic, wind, etc.

Shane: Practice safety. Your best tool is your brain. Use common sense; not everything is paranormal. Matter ofa fact, most of it is not.

Q: How do you feel about the paranormal shows currently on TV? Any must-watch?

Sherrie: I only watch Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International. They investigate the same way we do.

Shane: Ghost Hunters is the only one I watch. I’m not saying that because I’m biased and part of the TAPS Family. I’ve tried to watch all of them for a short period of time, but most of them are going for that ‘wow’ factor now and will stoop to any level to get it.

Q: You recently became TAPS Fam-ily members, congrats! What does this mean for your group?

Shane: Thanks! That’s a real honor

for us. I’m sure there were groups before TAPS that took a real skeptical approach to paranormal research, but TAPS is the team that brought it to the mainstream. I’m just honored to represent the TAPS name. And they are keeping us busy with our already-busy case files.

Sherrie: If someone needs help in and around Kansas, they can find us on the TAPS Website.

Investigator Spotlight

Q: Why do you think people are so interested in the paranormal and unexplained?

Sherrie: People are becoming more open to the idea. Also there are more and more TV shows about the paranormal, which brings more attention to the subject.

Shane: Something is going on out there, and it’s just human nature to be curious and want to learn more about it.

Q: Who are your heroes in the field?

Bob: John Zaffis.

Shane: Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson from TAPS.

And someone I have met who has been a true mentor to me over the years is Danny Carthy of Lein-ster Paranormal in Ireland. He has more than 20 years of experience and has always found the time to talk to me via the Internet or phone. He

is a really great guy, and I really ap-preciate all his help and input.

Sherrie: This may say corny, but it has to be the WPRS team. These are people you can count on for anything. You have to trust who you are walking around in the dark and trust they will defend you and help you if some-thing threatens you. They are my best friends, and I love all of them. Each and every one of them is special.

Outside of WPRS I have to say the TAPS Family. It’s great to have backup and have someone to go to with questions and ideas.

Q: What philosophies do you adhere to while investigating? Do you approach the work as a skep-tic or a believer?

Sherrie: Well for me it’s a little of both. I do approach each investiga-tion as a skeptic.

We are not there to prove a haunting. We are there to show

people there are other explanations of why things could be happening. We help them with the explainable, and if we find something we can’t explain, we leave them with the possibility of paranormal activity going on in their home or business.

Bob: Go in with an open mind. I try to debunk everything, and when I can’t come up with an answer, then maybe it’s paranormal.

Shane: I’m more of a skeptic. We never walk into a location assuming it has para-

normal activity. We go over all the claims and try to find normal causes to those claims.

After an investigation, when we have gone over all the video, au-dio, and photographs, if we do find anything we can’t explain we go back and try to recreate it. After that, if we still can’t explain it, then we might consider it as possibly paranormal.

Q: Do you have any unbreakable rules when it comes to investigat-ing?

Sherrie: No drugs or alcohol al-lowed, and respect the deceased.

Shane: Safety comes first. All investigators work in a team of two. The idea is if something paranormal happens to someone there will be another person there to hopefully help document it. But the most important reason is for safety.

Bob: Never do a ‘dude run.’ Heck, I run after the ghosts.

Q: What equipment does your team use? What, in your experi-ences, picks up the best evidence?

Shane: We use infrared (IR) video cameras, full-spectrum video camer-as, hand-held video cameras, digital cameras, digital voice recorders, and various EMF meters. Digital voice recorders probably provide us with most of our evidence . . . EVPs.

Sherrie: My favorite is my digital recorder.

Q: There seems to be a lot of talk lately about why many ghost hunt-ing shows investigate in the dark rather than the day. What is your opinion?

Bob: It’s easier to see the ghosts at night. That sounds strange, but they are darker than the dark, so it’s easier to me to see them.

WPRS utilizes an array of equipment during investiga-tions, including infrared video cameras, full-spectrum video cameras, hand-held video cameras, digital cam-

eras, digital voice recorders, and EMF meters.

WPRS hopes to investigate internationally within the next year.

“It wasn’t holding me down, but just patting my leg as if to say,

‘It’s okay.’”