Patrick Burns, paranormal investigator, led students to the depths of Crestview in hopes of finding evidence of life beyond the grave. Not knowing what to expect, many students found themselves surprised at what they discovered.
“Everyone loves a good scare,” Channell Barbour, associate director of Campus Life, said, “whether you believe in ghosts or not.”
Barbour said students would be interested in seeing what phenomena, if any, they would find on campus.
“It connects you to the past,” Barbour said. “What happens when we die?”
Burns previously starred on TruTV’s show “Haunting Evidence,” and he frequently visits college campuses to conduct paranormal investigations.
Before the ghost hunt, Burns spoke about many of his investigations at various locations including abandoned houses.
Chelsea Hunt, philosophy freshman, said she did not expect to find any ghosts.
“I just want to see what happens,” Hunt said.
Students were led to the very basement of Crestview, next to the boiler room.
“There’s this preconceived notion that you have to have an old building,” Burns said. “You don’t know what was here before.”
Burns said the ghost hauntings at IU Southeast could be from a previous farm or Native American ground that the school had been built over.
Students sat in a circle in the basement completely silent for one minute and 30 seconds while Burns attempted to communicate with the dead. His goal was to capture Electronic Voice Phenomena using a recorder.
“Is there anyone here with us this evening?” Burns said to a seemingly silent room. “Can you tell us your name? Did you attend this university? Have you been here longer than this university has stood here?”
There were many audible outtakes of breath after Burns told the students he had stopped recording. Students huddled around the recorder as Burns played back the recording to see if they could hear any sign of an EVP.
Most of the play-back revealed nothing but white noise; however, most students reacted with surprise when they heard a distinct noise no one heard during the minute 30 seconds of silence.
“Go,” Burns said excitedly to the students.
In the middle of the second recording session, everyone jumped at the sound of a pencil falling off a desk in the next room.
The room had been empty — or so everyone had thought.
“Can you communicate with us more strongly?” Burns asked the spirit during the second recording.
Afterward, Burns allowed each student to have a turn listening to the response. Burns said he could hear the spirit answer a defiant ‘no’ to his question.
Burns used a piece of equipment that picked up radio signals.
After hearing the device say “Ashley” multiple times, Burns asked if there was someone named Ashley among the students. She was standing next to him.
Burns then proceeded to ask each student her name, following Ashley.
“Who’s next?” Burns asked the students.
At this point, many students had already left Crestview.
The next student’s name was Hope.
Huddling around the radio device, the students reacted when they agreed the name “Hope” had been spoken. Although Burns attempted to hear another student’s name, he said the box continued repeating “Hope, Hope.”
“Seeing is believing,” Hunt said. “I just wanted to see.”
BRITTANY POWELL
Staff
bripowel@ius.edu