The Wake

Growing up, I knew one ghost. He was green, chubby and he visited every Saturday morning. He was a friendly ghost and got to hang out with a bunch of guys who made their living searching for other, less friendly ghosts. These guys called themselves Ghost Busters and Slimer was their squishy sidekick.

Though they may be a far cry from the goofy Ghost Busters, the university has their own group dedicated to searching for spiritual beings.

Their name is a little more serious too.

The Paranormal Research Team (PRT) became an official student group back in November, but they have been looking for ghosts for a lot longer than that.

“Our goal is to examine hauntings from an unbiased point of view and methodically investigate unexplained phenomenon,” PRT wrote on the student activities Web site.

The team, consisting of about 10 students, visits local sites and looks for unexplainable phenomena. Girard Goder, the PRT president, defined unexplainable phenomena via e-mail, as “an event that someone with a good understanding of physics, mechanics, and sociology cannot explain.”

Justin Logeais, an officer of PRT described being around a ghost as an abrupt drop in temperature around you. Logeais says he breaks into a cold sweat and feels the “energy moving” around him.

Goder described the feeling similarly. He said it had all the physiological symptoms of fear, but none of the psychological distress.

“It is like a chilly, excited calm,” Goder says.

So far the group has researched many places including cemeteries, parks, and schools. Inspiration to investigate comes from books, magazines and word of mouth.

A lot of time is spent researching places to go and then setting up equipment, Goder says. Not all of this time spent preparing has been in vain. Logeais says he has seen many orbs and silhouettes. He has also recorded a woman’s moan believed to be from another world.

Goder recently started working on a technique called Electrostatic Voice Phenomenon. The technology has been around since 1971, but is gaining popularity. It was recently featured in the movie White Noise and involves hooking up an audio recorder to a microphone. Then someone speaks into the microphone and asks questions they believe ghosts will be able to answer. Once recording is complete the audiotape is played back and amidst the noise Goder and others believe voices of ghosts can be heard.

Goder and Logeais believe that ghosts exist because they have unfinished business on earth. Goder also believes that sometimes ghosts simply don’t know they are dead.

Many of the assignments Goder, Logeais and the rest of the Paranormal Research Team set out on are by request. So if you have a feeling your drafty Dinkytown house is haunted or a relative has some unfinished business to attend to the Paranormal Research Team is at your service – and they don’t even cart around a messy green ghost.

You can contact the Paranormal Research Team at PRT@umn.edu