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By Shelly Tomlinson
Special to The Sun
Monday, May 28, 2007
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Allen Lowe (left), co-founder of Spirit Seekers, and
a second
investigator use an electromagnetic field meter to measure
a spike in electric activity around a photograph of George Matthews, a
teacher at the Powhatan Male and Female Academy in 1872. |
POWHATAN -- The Powhatan Historic State Park's recently
renovated courthouse has been attracting many visitors, but a group of
investigators is wondering if some of those visitors come from the world beyond.
Spirit Seekers, a group co-founded about five years ago by Allen and Angela
Lowe, met at the park Saturday night to carry out their mission to allow
like-minded Arkansans to conduct paranormal investigations.
Allen Lowe, director of the Little-Rock based paranormal research organization,
said he became a believer in spirits about 15 years ago. He said his wife,
Angela, has psychic abilities, and had been trying to convince him that spirits
lived in their house.
One evening, she woke him up and led him to their living room, where he said he
watched a male and female spirit have an argument.
"After that, I realized all the stuff I had seen over the years was not really a
product of an overactive imagination," Lowe said.
The Lowes later formed Spirit Seekers.
"In the beginning, we were calling people -- begging them to let us come and do
investigations," Lowe said. "It was hard to get a gig."
In April 2006, Lowe contacted Powhatan Historic State Park Superintendent
Corinne Fletcher about conducting an investigation.
After Spirit Seekers' first trip to the park, Fletcher said park employees began
sharing stories of their own eerie encounters. Several reported sounds of doors
closing and footsteps on stairs, even when no one else was in the building.
Fletcher decided to invite Spirit Seekers back to investigate the courthouse
again.
"This state park is all about the Victorian time period," Fletcher said. "People
in the period were fascinated with the paranormal. Having Spirit Seekers come
here fit like a hand and glove. It works perfectly with the mission of our
park."
On their first visit to the park, the investigators said they found mostly
psychic evidence.
"I believe the courthouse is haunted, because I believe in the psychics," Lowe
said. "This time, we're hoping to find the scientific evidence to back it up."
Science and Senses
Spirit Seekers uses a 3-point rating system to determine if a
structure is haunted. Fifty percent of the investigation relies on scientific
evidence, such as photographs, digital sound and video recordings,
electromagnetic field meters and temperature measurements. Sensory evidence,
including things the investigators see, feel and hear, make up another quarter.
Extrasensory details are another 25 percent of the equation.
To collect the scientific data, eight volunteers spent Saturday night at
Powhatan Historic State Park. Working in groups of two, they used night-vision
video cameras and digital cameras to take pictures in four of the park's
buildings: the courthouse, the Ficklin-Imboden House, the jail and the Powhatan
Male and Female Academy.
Temperature readings and electromagnetic field meters were used to measure
changes in the atmosphere, which Lowe said could signal the presence of a
spirit. Digital recorders were also used to try to capture noises or voices.
During the next two weeks, team members will review more than 2,000 photographs
and several hours of recordings to see if there is anything worth studying
further, Lowe said. A computer program will be used to filter out background
noise from the recordings and to analyze the videos and photographs for orbs --
which Lowe said are thought to be balls of psychic energy. The computer can help
determine if a photo actually contains an orb, or only a reflection from dust or
pollen.
In addition, investigators will compare their field notes.
"If one person hears a sneeze, we check the records to see if someone in another
group may have sneezed," Lowe said. "We have to eliminate coincidences."
Lowe said scientific evidence weighs the heaviest, and the last investigation
found little scientific evidence to suggest the Powhatan Courthouse is haunted.
But Lowe hopes that will change when he presents a formal report of his findings
to Fletcher in the next two weeks. A copy of the report will also be posted on
the group's Web site,
www.thespiritseekers.org.
Spirit Seekers is a non-profit organization, operating off donations and
fund-raisers.
"Any money we raise goes to buy equipment," Lowe said. "All our investigators
donate their time and talents."
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