Ghost-tracking becomes part of Ivy Tech curriculum

Posted: Thursday, October 15, 2009 1:00 am | Updated: 4:41 pm, Wed Oct 14, 2009.

By Peter Adelsen staff writer padelsen@kokomoperspective.com | 0 comments

Most people at one time or another have thought about ghosts. It is natural to think about the "what if," and with movie hits such as "Ghostbusters" people wonder. For 30 people, they are taking it a step further by enrolling in a paranormal investigation class that began Thursday.

Ivy Tech Community College began the class last year after Al Taylor, the public relations director of the Kokomo Chapter of Indiana Ghost Trackers, came to the college with the idea. Admittedly, he said, the idea came from his wife.

"We are always looking for ways to raise money for our club and since we are a non-profit, we don't have any money, we are usually broke all the time," Taylor said. "I approached Ivy Tech to see if I could have a class here. It seems like a winner. For the first class, we had over 50 people. We filled two classrooms for the very first time."

With television shows like "Ghost Hunters" on SyFy Channel, the idea of the paranormal has become more popular. More people are interested in the idea of ghosts than possibly ever before without being ashamed of it.

"In my opinion, I think a lot of people have always been interested in this and they didn't want to think that they were going crazy," he said.

Now each time the Indiana Ghost Trackers work on an investigation, the odds are that nothing paranormal is actually happening, but a few times there poses a question on what is really happening.

"Eight out of ten times, people just want to make sure that they are not going crazy," said Jerry Smith, investigation coordinator. "We basically try to debunk. All of us in our group are usually more skeptics than anything. We go in to try to disprove. We probably debunk 90 to 95 percent of everything we find. But there are those few percent of times where you can't sway what it was."

The investigations the club does and the one the class will do are very similar to what shows like "Ghost Hunters" does. The equipment that is seen on TV is the same equipment that the club uses. But, there are some differences.

"The TV has it so glamorized," Smith said. "When we do an investigation, it is one of the most boring things as far as to watch a hallway for seven hours and hope a door opens."

Taylor agreed with Smith saying a one-hour show that did six to eight hours of investigation doesn't really do it justice.

During the four-week class, the attendees will learn about the equipment, the protocol and how to conduct themselves when investigating.

The class learns about what they could encounter, such as interactive spirits, residual hauntings, earth elementals, poltergeists and demons. Also, they learn about documenting the conditions of the site, such as weather and its history. And, as time goes on, they will learn about actually performing an investigation, including setting up the equipment, a preliminary walk through of the location, working in the dark, working with the equipment and then sitting and listening for something to show up.

For their final class on Oct. 29, the group will be investigating The Warehouse on south Union Street, the four-story building has been known to have paranormal activity, they said.

One thing Indiana Ghost Trackers does is to always ask for permission when going to a site. They call the caretaker of the property and the Sheriff's department to make sure the proper authorities know of the investigation, Smith said.

As far as how this chapter compares to other chapters in Indiana, Taylor says the local chapter is blowing away other chapters when it comes to investigations.

"It's not that there is more activity here," he said. "We are just more active in the area."

Taylor said they may offer an advanced paranormal investigation class in the spring at Ivy Tech.

For the weekends of Oct. 17 and 18, and Oct. 23 and 24, the Kokomo chapter will be having its third annual overnight at The Warehouse. It is open to the public and it costs $25 to pre-register at kokomoghosts.org. The event runs from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and food and drinks will be served all night.

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