As a kid, Rob Fennessy was fascinated with cemeteries and old schoolhouses, anywhere that might be haunted.
As an adult, not much has changed.
Now, Fennessy owns Gulf Coast Paranormal, LLC, of Ellenton, a firm that helps its clients determine whether they've got spirits or not.
"If we find evidence of paranormal activity, we have different investigators, with the Christian faith, we can try to get the spirit to move on to where it's supposed to go. We have another investigator that works in native ways - smudging. It tries to get negative energy out of the location."
Fennessy, 34, of Palmetto, splits his time between his business, which opened in January, and his work as a full-time firefighter. The business provides its services free, but does accept donations to cover the cost of its equipment.
About 80 percent of the cases produce logical explanations for strange phenomena, such as doors opening and closing, unexplained noises and shadowy forms, Fennessy said. The other 20 percent he tries to document with high-tech equipment, such as infrared night vision camcorders, film and digital cameras, digital voice recorders and motion detectors.
"We basically want to find proof, if any, on hard copy," he said. "We don't want hearsay."
Usually, when a clients call, they don't know where else to go. They may believe their homes are haunted, or be experiencing eerie feelings, nausea, noises or unexplained breezes.
"We let them know if they're crazy or not," Fennessy said. "We go in and do an investigation. It takes a couple of days to analyze all the evidence, then we go back to them and show the hard proof if we have any. Sometimes, people are not scared, they're just curious."
The company recently evaluated the Powel Crosley Estate, a 1929 Mediterranean mansion overlooking Sarasota Bay. It was built by industrialist and inventor Powel Crosley Jr., but now is owned and operated by Manatee County, which rents it for meetings, conferences and events.
"I have some magnificent evidence, an apparition of a woman in a Victorian dress through a window," said Fennessy. "It's a reflection in the glass; the window is 4 feet away from me."
He doesn't know yet who the apparition might be.
"We're still investigating about who the lady is. All you see is the shadow figure, pretty crisp, just black. You can't see the face clearly, but you can see the top of her head, her arm going down, the lower part of the dress, a long dress from the Victorian era."
Fennessy was not formally hired, but was permitted on the property after employees reported strange events, like unexplained breezes, doors slamming, voices, "vapor" forms and lights on the second floor coming on by themselves, a county official said. Tourism officials at one point also had been considering "ghost tours" at Halloween in the 11,000-square-foot mansion, she said.
Fennessy and the firm's 11 part-time investigators have also been called into residential homes and stores.
"It's something that's been interesting and fascinating," said Fennessy. "I use the word 'passionate' about it. Something's driving me inside to find these answers."
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... n_business
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