A Sussex County group explores the strange and unknown, By Janet Redyke
Wantage ? Nancy Umstead of Wantage and her group, the Ghost Gathering, consist of 20 members of all ages and varied ?normal occupations? like medical assistant, mail clerk and day care worker to name a few. They?ve been professing their paranormal occupations for roughly six years. Umstead, who has been interested in ghosts and the paranormal since childhood, recently led a discussion at the Munson Homestead in Franklin. Back in its history, the Munson House served as a stop on the Underground Railroad and most recently housed the Common Grounds Cafe until its closure last spring.
?The house is definitely a haunted location,? said Pat Barton, the owner. He, along with his wife, Cindy, other family members and contractors have witnessed many unexplained happenings. He related a story about seeing an old gentleman in a second-floor window after he closed up shop one night. Barton, who thought ghosts were ?BS,? said he got into his car, circled around and came back, only to find the figure still there staring back at him. ?No way was I going back in there.?
Cindy Barton has had objects moved or missing from specific areas. Their black lab refuses to go in the house?s basement. And on the day of the paranormal discussion, Pat Barton unlocked the house to find the TV on yet again. Through various investigations of the house, Nancy Umstead believes the manifested ghost is that of Mr. Munson, who lived in the 1700?s when the house was first erected. When the Common Grounds Cafe was operating, the same old gentleman would greet a regular customer daily. But there wasn?t an old gentleman on their staff.
According to Umstead, ghost detecting has become a very technical business. The group uses electromagnetic field detectors, electronic voice phenomenon recorders, digital and night vision cameras, micro-ocular devices and thermometers. Add to that a few psychic gifted members.
On invitation, novice and experienced ghost hunters were allowed to tour the Munson Homestead. Some rooms appeared colder than others, even though the weather that day was very warm for October. The only frightful experience was opening an upstairs bedroom door and being met with a rubber Halloween butler statue. Very unnerving, but hardly paranormal.
Umstead and her group are based mainly in Sussex County but have traveled to many haunted locations, such as Fort Mifflin on the Delaware River near Philadelphia, Eastern State Penitentiary and Old Carbon County Jail, both in Pennsylvania. A favorite haunt of the group is Gettysburg.
?We?ve caught orbs in the battlefields,? Umstead said, referring to balls of light that appear on photographs, ?and some EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) of gunshots and cannon fire.?
An activity for communicating with spirits the group employs is ?table tipping,? in which entities communicate by moving and rapping on the table. Near the Sachs Bridge in Gettysburg, the group using this technique, helped a 32-year-old Union soldier?s spirit ?go into the light,? she said. They also tried to help six ghostly soldiers near the Devil?s Den area ?go into the light? but they refused, citing that ?they couldn?t leave their post,? Umstead reported.
Umstead laughed. ?When we go to Eastern State or Gettysburg, we tend to attract a lot of attention.? Believers and non-believers alike are mystified and follow the Ghost Gathering around, hoping to hear or catch a glimpse of the unknown.
The Ghost Gathering is open to new members and is especially interested in collecting stories about haunted areas and residences in Sussex County for a future book. Contact them through the ether via the Internet at info@TheGhostGathering.com.
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