Seeking the supernatural

When the ghost of Wes Eaton's grandmother began visiting him, it sparked his interest in supernatural beings.

"People say they see my grandma out of the corner of their eye," said Eaton, junior film major at The University of Memphis. "She died in what's now the playroom of our house."

Eaton said his grandmother's spirit has even moved inanimate objects across the room to communicate with him, he said.

"Stuff will be sitting somewhere, then I'll turn around, and it'll be in a different spot," he said. "I was downstairs one day, and I heard someone whisper, 'Wesley.' I ran out of the house until my mom was home."

Allison Buckley, freshman journalism major, teamed up with boyfriend Eaton more than a year ago to hunt for ghosts, partly for the supernatural thrill and partly to cure boredom, she said.

"We try to figure them out and have conversations with them," she said. "We don't do it because it's fun. We do it because we're interested in it."

Buckley and Eaton capture photos of their paranormal findings, which usually consist of glowing orbs, she said.

"When you see a gigantic orange circle with energy inside it in your picture, it's really cool to look at," she said. "You can tell it's not light because it was taken in the middle of a dark cemetery."

Ghost hunting can be a chilling experience, she said. Sneaking inside Trinity Baptist in Atoka, Tenn. was the creepiest experience Buckley had seeking out the supernatural, she said.

"It's supposed to have this statue of an angel who cries blood," she said. "It was pitch-black dark, and we were surrounded by woods. When we got to the gate, my camera shut off."

Buckley said that when she turned it back on, something clicked it back off.

"When a spirit is trying to make itself known, it takes the energy from the air," she said. "So that's why my camera was shutting off. "

After Eaton and Buckley left the haunted graveyard surrounding the church without seeing the blood-crying statue, her camera functioned normally, she said.

"She chickened out before we even saw anything," Eaton said. "It was scary. There's no parking lot or anything, and you have to drive through a field."

Some students, like Jahn Gude, freshman, were skeptical. Gude said paranoia can play tricks with the mind and cause people to believe they see things that aren't there.

"When the sensory organs lack stimulation, the brain starts creating its own sensation," he said. "I think there's a scientific explanation for everything."

Freshman Elizabeth Fredman said she had a supernatural experience when she was 11 and would never forget the encounter.

"I saw a floating head in my parents' bedroom," she said. "It was the creepiest thing I've ever seen."

After staring at the pasty, glowing head for a few seconds, Fredman said the terror caused her to lose her voice.

"I didn't want to walk past my parents' room for a long time after that," she said. "I ran to my sister to tell her about it."

Fredman's sister, Emily, freshman, said she was initially skeptical when her sister told her about the floating head. But that's before she went into the room and saw the floating head for herself.

"Their room was dark as a dungeon, and it freaked me out," she said.

From then on, the sisters said they would run by the room and avoid going inside.

Buckley said she thought some paranormal encounters happened because spiritual beings were attempting to verbally communicate with people, but the communication is rarely audible unless recorded.

"It's called an electronic voice phenomenon," she said. "It can sound like people talking or someone breathing."

Katherine Anderson, freshman allied science major, said she was terrified of ghosts as a child but doesn't believe they exist now.

"I think the mind can make up anything," she said. "If you're lying in bed in the dark, you might convince yourself that you see something."

If students do encounter paranormal activity, they should learn more about the reason the spirit makes its presence known, Buckley said.

"Ghosts shouldn't be scary to people," she said. "They should be interesting and peaceful."