New and experienced paranormal investigators gathered Saturday evening at Ashmore Estates for a long night of learning about and seeking out paranormal experiences.  

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Despite the rain and humidity, around 30 people attended the event, hosted by the Paranormal Task Force, where they could borrow equipment and get expert advice for identifying the paranormal.  

Gregory Myers, president of Paranormal Task Force, said that all the group’s previous events at Ashmore Estates were very successful.  

“It’s always an awesome, phenomenal time, because like anything paranormal you don’t know what’s going to happen or when, but usually every time something does happen,” Myers said.  

One of PTF’s main missions is to educate people at different experience levels on how to detect the paranormal or confirm whether events have other explainable causes.  

Before the investigation really began, all the event attendees gathered for a presentation on the history of Ashmore Estates; the location was previously used for a poor farm and later a hospital. 

Teri Mosby, who runs After Dark Paranormal and is one of the caregivers of the estates, gave the presentation based on research done about the estate’s history. In an interview, she also discussed some of the residents who are believed to be haunting the building, like a young girl named Elva. 

“(Elva) was getting dressed and ready to come down for breakfast and her dress caught on fire and she died of her injuries- of the burns. We think she’s in the building because we’ve heard a little girl’s voice and someone calling her name,” Mosby said.  

After the historical presentation, Myers explained some of the equipment that investigators use to sense paranormal activity, whether they record audio, detect electromagnetic frequencies or use radio broadcasts to try to communicate with paranormal beings.  

Myers also reminded the audience not to forget their most valuable tools- their own five senses. He described personal experiences seeing, hearing and feeling unexplainable things. 

“Sometimes it’ll be olfactory as well. You’ll be somewhere and smell an old cigar smell or it’ll be in the middle of winter, and you’ll get something fragrant like lilac that’ll be unexplainable,” Myers said. 

PTF does private investigations as well as public events, including an investigation for a homeowner in Charleston that same night.  

The process for these private investigations begins before the task force members even see a location, just so they can eliminate any explainable causes for peoples’ experiences.  

“We have to assign a case manager to go through a questionnaire with the potential client and then we do an interview with them and other witness interviews with people who witnessed the activity,” Myers said. “If they’re experiencing more audio type disturbances, we try to align them with a team who is good with that, or visual with cameras. After we’re done reviewing everything, we do a case disclosure to them and tell them what we think. Most of the cases don’t lead to investigation.” 

Myers said that electrical problems cause a lot of false paranormal experiences as they can alter lighting or electromagnetic fields too near to peoples’ beds can cause impaired thinking.  

Ashmore Estates hosts events like these as well as private experiences throughout the year.