The Advance

Media Credit: Tina Clark

Media Credit: Tina Clark

Around this time of year, things are sure to go 'bump' in the night, and some places are more prone to than others. This year I visited four supposedly 'haunted' places to see just how spooky they really are.

I collect evidence through digital pictures, audio recordings, and by the overall creepy feel/mood of the location. I will then rate each of these places on a scale of 5, five being the scariest, and zero meaning that Barney is scarier than the location.

I began my search on Sept. 30 at a location I had visited before: Stull Cemetery. Last year I had gathered wonderful evidence of a haunting, including two pictures of ghostly images and an audio tape with a piano playing in the background (the church had been torn down years earlier). However, Stull has changed a great deal during the past year. For one, the gate is no longer kept open, but is locked shut with a NO TRESPASSING sign out front. What could I do? How could I get the story at this point? Well (and I highly do not recommend this to anyone) there happened to be a gap in the corner of the fence, enough for anyone to pass through. Hello? That's a gate to me!

It really wasn't as scary this year for the fact that I was more concerned about not getting caught (police vehicles and other cars were constantly passing by!) than worrying about finding evidence of ghosts. Behind the rubble pile that used to be a church, was a fallen tree. Well, that is now a part of someone else's property, and an electric fence now separates it from the rest of the cemetery. Spooky rating: * *

The second place I visited was somewhere very close to both the students and faculty of Kansas Wesleyan: Sam's Chapel. The word is that one of the former college presidents roams the halls and classrooms of Pioneer Hall. If you go onto the stage by yourself (of course it's by yourself) and look into the balcony, you will see someone sitting there, watching you. On more than one occasion the motion lights have turned on in the building with no one inside. I have a night class, and the door has opened and shut on its own before, and once or twice in my English class last year.

I wasn't very scared, but it does get eerily quiet around the chapel and hallways at night. Eva Gadberry joined me on the night of October 11th. I shot many photos of 'orbs' around the chapel, which can be debated as being photographic evidence of spirits and paranormal energy. Eva took many photos as well, and in one shot there is a light passing through. She took two of these, one right after the other, the light is in one, but not the other. Spooky rating: *

The next two places I visited were in the same night: Indian Rock Park and Gypsum Hill Cemetery. Indian Rock park has a pond and it is supposed to be bottomless and once 'swallowed' a crane. A few friends of mine and I went to check out this pond. The one time I felt somewhat afraid was when a walked away from the group to make an audio recording and heard a rustling. My first thought was "Oh great, the last thing I need is to get attacked by a skunk!" I did get a picture with an orb, and another with an orb and an eerie halo, but other than that, not scary. Spooky rating: 0

The last place I investigated was Gypsum Hill Cemetery. I only took two pictures, which didn't really show anything concrete. However, I went with two other girls and we were in the car. I placed my tape recorder down by a grave and we drove off around the cemetery. No one was around, nobody. We went back by and picked it up and drove back to the dorms to listen to it. After we had left for a bit, you can hear a male's voice say, "Christ!" When we heard him speaking, we all screamed! (I'm surprised that we did wake the entire campus actually!) In my haste to turn off the tape player, I accidently hit rewind and record, erasing all but the first word of what was said. (I know, I know, I've already kicked myself for it!)

Therefore, we went back and timed it this time. We went to the exact same place, checked for signs of other people, in case anyone else had been around at the time. We left the tape player and drove off at 1:40 am and went to Green Lantern for some pop and to wait. We went back up to the cemetery and could see the tape recorder several yards before pulling up to it at 2:05. All you can hear on the tape for this period of time is when I set down the recorder and drove off, and right after you can hear my friend run up and get it and getting back into the car and us saying "go, Go, GO!" What happened to those twenty five minutes? There is no way that anyone could have stopped the recording and hit it again as my friend got out of the car! We would have seen them. Spooky rating: * * * *

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