Ghost, ghouls and spirits seem to be everywhere this season. This year I got to experience a paranormal investigation that gave me the creeps more than the scariest horror movie I’ve seen.

I pride myself on liking odd things and I am a believer in the supernatural, which is why I jumped on the chance to cover a paranormal investigation last week with the Illinois Metaphysical and Paranormal Society.

Spending a few hours at night in the old Charleston Memorial Hospital was the highlight of my weekend.

When everyone arrived they gave us a tour, pointing out the history of the building and telling us where the common anomalies took place.

Later, we all went through it again with a paranormal consultant who did not know where any of spirits were usually found. Despite no prior knowledge, I watched the consultant point out many of the spots we saw during the first tour.

We were locked inside the dark building with only flashlights to see by. But the only time we really used them was when we were traveling between rooms. Once we started trying to communicate, the flashlights went off, except as a signal for the next question to be asked.

We were split into two groups. There were eight of us in my group and we sat around a conference room table and used a spirit box to communicate with spirits.

The box received video waves that were used by the spirit to communitcate.

While all I heard was a lot of static with snippits of voices, I had goose bumps up and down my whole body from anticipation and the cold temperature of the room. As we sat there we went around in a circle on the cue and asked questions.

Most of the responses I heard were short one-word answers like ‘hi.’

As we were asking questions we recorded the session, and one of the members of the team recorded the room with a camera.

This was drastically different than I thought it was going to be. Based on shows I had seen, I thought the answers would be much clearer.

The next part of our session, we went to another room where we used an ovilus, a device that has a storage of recorded words that allow spirits to communicate with electromagnetic waves they produce. The ovilus remained silent.

I was slightly disappointed when I found out the other group had drastically different results. The other group, without using any of the devices, heard whistles and a voice and their consultant felt touched by nearby spirits.

I believe very deeply that spirits are real, which is why I was sad that nothing happened for our group.

Doing a paranormal investigation is not like it is on TV on shows like “Ghost Hunter” on Syfy and “Ghost Adventures” on the Travel Channel.

My group sat for nearly two hours with no real significant contact, where as in an hour show you see groups having contact left and right. I was not expecting that, but was hoping for more.

This is something that believers and nonbelievers should try. Even if you don’t believe in spirits, it is still cool to have the experience.

I would do it again. Maybe if I do, I’ll have some more experience with the supernatural.

Samantha McDaniel is a junior journalism major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].