By Jeffrey Widmer, Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Shawn Kelly was a youngster when he saw something he had never seen before, but says he has seen a lot of since.
He saw a ghost.
Kelly was about 8 or 9 and was sleeping in his bedroom in Dormont. Something awoke him.
He looked to the foot of his single bed, and there was his recently-deceased grandmother.
"She was just standing there, smiling," Kelly said. "You bet I was scared."
Fast forward more than three decades. Kelly, now 44, is one of the founders of the Pittsburgh Paranormal Society, along with Carnegie native Don Wagner, 41. The two men, along with several others interested in spiritual activities, have been investigating paranormal activities together since they met accidentally in March.
The Pittsburgh Paranormal Society does not charge for its investigations. Its members have gone to houses, cemeteries, old hospitals and other places searching out spirits from beyond.
In the process, the society claims to have taken pictures of what it says are "orbs," or spirits. Also, they have on tape what is called electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) that they say are the voices of the spirits during investigations.
For anyone who might believe the members of the Pittsburgh Paranormal Society are not of this earth themselves, their number one rule is this: no drugs or alcohol allowed whatsoever.
"The reason we do this is to help people understand, to help them believe that there is an afterlife," Kelly said. "I always believed in them. They are here among us. Some are here to do good, some are here to wreak havoc. It all depends what they were in life."
'Ghostbusters'
One words Kelly - and to a certain extent, Wagner - dislike is "ghost." They prefer "spirit."
So, what is a spirit, and why are they here?
"When people die, they have a choice," said Kelly, who once had a near-death experience himself. "They can go to the light, or stay here and be around something they knew. Most of the time they feel like they have something left to do."
Most spirits are here to do good, Wagner said. Others, however, are not.
"Some are here to do bad things. They are raising havoc." Kelly, for instance, said he has been kicked, smacked and pinched by spirits.
The Pittsburgh Paranormal Society include spiritual and scientific members. There is Kelly, who claims he can draw spirits to him; Wagner, who concentrates on recordings of EVPs; and Chris Houk, 21, and Devin Zugates, also of Brookline, who are more interested in the scientific aspect of paranormal activities.
"I'm interested in, if there are ghosts, then why are there ghosts?," Houk asked.
Zugates himself wants what he calls "physical contact."
"The EVPs and the photos are great," he said, "but I want (contact), so it is not in the realm of possibility that it could have been anything else but contact from beyond."
This does not mean the members do not believe in what they do. If anything, it only makes them want to work harder.
"We are working so that we can say, 'Look, they do exist.' We want people to believe."
And the term "ghostbusters?" Don't bring it up.
"Oh, we hate that," Kelly said.
The investigations
Ever since Zugates and Houk met Kelly by accident at the Eat 'n Park on West Liberty Avenue in Dormont this past spring, the Pittsburgh Paranormal Society has conducted about 40 investigations.
These have included the EVPs, which they say are the most successful. On one, recorded at a house in New Kensington, you can clearly hear a voice say, 'Leave this house."
The members have visited and done investigations at numerous cemeteries, including Homewood Cemetery, Snyder Cemetery near Moraine State Park, Dravo Presbyterian Cemetery near White Oak and Restland Cemetery in Monroeville.
It was at the last site that the members took some interesting pictures of what they believe to be spirits from beyond.
At house investigations, Kelly will "draw" the spirits out once the cameras and voice recorders are set up. Some of the houses have turned out to be hoaxes, but the members say it all matters when you go.
Kelly, a meat cutter at Giant Eagle, said he is not in the business of chasing ghosts, but getting to know them.
"For me, I want to blow scientists off the face of the earth and be able to say that they do exist."
Part 2 next week will focus on the house on Lexington Court in Carnegie.
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