Spirits high for Lindsay event

Paranormal group to help with fundraiser

By Barry Porterfield

The search for spirits beyond the grave will soon combine forces with a fundraiser meant to help out some ongoing restoration plans for an old school in the Lindsay area.

Providing some insight into the paranormal will be a group of investigators who look to educate and entertain while raising money next week for the Lindsay Historical Society’s efforts to renovate the Pikes Peak school building.

The target for members of INsight Paranormal Investigations is the Murray-Lindsay Mansion, located south of Lindsay, as they team up with guests on Saturday night, June 21 for a kind of crash course in checking out the unexplained.

The idea of taking a closer paranormal look at the mansion came from a group member who grew up in the nearby Elmore City area.

There were also rumors out there the historic Lindsay mansion was believed to be haunted by ghosts.

That’s the word from Kristen Perkins, co-founder of the Insight investigative group. She has also been featured on Sci-Fi’s Ghost Hunters and various other paranormal media programs.

In fact, Perkins said a member of the Lindsay Historical Society once told the group their daughter had heard ghostly voices in the mansion.

“We had heard these types of rumors and decided to check it out for ourselves,” Perkins said.

“We have investigated the mansion quite a few times. What we found there was impressive. The evidence was unique to us,” she said.

“I can’t really say what it is because it’s part of the benefit.”

The one thing Perkins did reveal was an interesting sound was once picked up in the mansion as the group uses such equipment as digital recorders to collect the sounds of people not there, or as she put it, those believed to be ghosts.

“What’s interesting about the mansion is we recorded one in Spanish,” she said.

With 100 percent of the proceeds collected going directly to the Historical Society, the benefit on June 21 will start out with an explanation of what the paranormal investigative group does.

Then comes a discussion on paranormal theory, demonstrations on equipment used in investigations and even a chance for guests to do a little investigating on their own.

“When people think of ghost hunters they think of Scobby Doo and things like that,” Perkins said.

“We use a scientific based approach. We’re a group that likes to go in with electronics and forensic equipment.”

According to Perkins, the investigative group travels all over the state checking out all kinds of things.

“We investigate just about anything. Normally we’re in residences. People call us and say they’re hearing voices in their house. Most of them, honestly, want to know if they’re crazy,” she said.

Ironically enough about 80 percent of the time the whole thing is coming from what Perkins calls an “environmental cause.”

That means unexplained phenomenon caused by things like the structure itself, such as exposure to electromagnetic fields, carbon monoxide or creaky floor boards.

The group even has a home inspector on the team who looks much closer into these possibilities.

In fact, this was the explanation in five or six instances over the last few months, Perkins said.

In one specific example the group was contacted by a family convinced they had a poltergeist in their home.

A girl claimed to be seeing in her room images of a woman so clearly that the fabric of the spirit’s clothing and her facial expressions were very detailed.

Instruments led the team right to the girl’s alarm clock.

It was that clock, Perkins said, that was giving off high electromagnetic waves causing the girl to hallucinate the spirit.

As for next week’s benefit, more information is available by contacting Perkins at 405-413-8525.