by Trey Stone
TC News staff
I do not believe in ghosts, per se, that is, the idea of restless spirits of the dead walking among the living. I find that notion to be in the same category of hogwash as Ouija boards, witches and such. But in regard to ghosts, I have heard enough stories related by intelligent, reliable, well-grounded people and have seen enough evidence that defies conventional explanations to make me an open-minded skeptic.
Parapsychological studies have been around awhile, but recently have taken a high tech trend, with some very intriguing results. Parapsychological research could be on the verge of being declared a legitimate science. But it is digging up interesting data, legitimate or not.
That made me think of doing a bit of my own parapsychological investigations. I don’t have access to banks of high tech gear, or loads of funds. But I do have my senses. So for a long time, I thought about doing my own amateur investigations.
Being on the TC reporting staff with Halloween approaching, I had a unique opportunity. So I rounded up a few friends, namely Bethany Fredrickson, (also of the TC news staff), Cody Chapel and Alan Michener, and arranged for a Sunday night vigil at a local house that was rumored to be haunted.
Beth and I arrived first. The night was cool and the house looked its part, strangely forbidding with its darkened windows and shadowed exterior. We went in and proceeded to explore. The house was rather sizable, with two stories, an attic and a basement.
The man who owned it was an antique collector in the process of restoring the house, and a few interesting items were found here and there. There were also a few pitfalls to look out for, such as an open elevator shaft, and a hole of undetermined depth in the basement that was hidden by water. Beth located it the hard way.
After Beth went home and changed clothes, Cody and Alan arrived. So we went back in the house and looked around some more.
Eventually, we sat down and told ghost stories, including the one about the house. The rich woman who built this house in 1929 supposedly wanders her halls looking for gold stashed to her house.
After the ghost stories everyone was good and nervous, so we decided to crash. We picked a room in the north end of the house that had windows on all sides, so it was pretty well lighted. We all attempted to sleep, except for Beth, who hadn’t come prepared to sleep there. She ended up leaving early. The rest of us left about 5 a.m.
The evening was quiet, and for the most part, fairly ordinary, all things considered. But at one point in the evening, we heard a strange bumping in both ends of the house in sequence from front to back. After this, peace returned.
All in all, the evening was inconclusive as far as a haunting was concerned, but another evening or two there might be in order. There are a couple more locations in Texarkana considerably more promising in the paranormal department. If I find any, you will read about it here.