There are ghosts in southeastern Colorado and La Junta ghost hunters know how to look for them.
After checking out haunted places in Otero County, Arkansas Valley Ghost Hunters said Friday a haunted apartment house in Las Animas is next on their “to do” list.
Organizers of the group also told diners at the Eagles Aerie Home Friday night that they seem to be working their way east.
Indeed, they may now have some work to do in Lamar. A woman in the audience got their rapt attention when she described the haunted home she and her sisters grew up in.
The woman said when she now enters the vacant home she needs a lighted white candle and holy water to keep whatever is there at bay.
Her vivid first-hand description was one of the highlights of the evening, which featured the ghost hunters giving an over view of their investigations at several haunted sites in the Lower Arkansas Valley.
Group founder Scott Eckhart of La Junta said he started out as a “ghost buster” but now limits his work to ghost hunting and scientifically documenting what his researchers find.
During the power point presentation, Eckhart reviewed some experiences from the past year.
Locations are studied with electromagnetic meters, temperature gauges, video recorders and cameras, said Zach Isaacs, case manager for Arkansas Valley Ghost Hunters.
Isaacs said digital recorders often pick up voices not heard by the human ear. He said fluctuations in the magnetic field indicate a presence of something.
Temperatures are monitored because it is theorized that a ghost will draw heat from bodies or objects to try and create a physical form. When they do, they create a corresponding cold spot.
Manifestations of a ghostly presence are varied. They can include:
— Strange odors, odd noises, footsteps, banging or rapping, the sound of something being dropped. The noises can be subtle or loud.
— Door, cabinets or drawers inexplicably open or closed.
Lights, a TV or radio turning off or on by themselves.(Reportedly, the La Junta Tribune-Democrat is experiencing a radio that turns on during the night.
A woman in La Junta reports when her family is watching television the channel will suddenly change to a cartoon.
_ — Unexplained shadows is another phenomenon, although the ghost hunters learned that passing car lights were the cause of strange shadows at a theater in Rocky Ford.
— Strange behavior by animals, which seem to have a keen sense of the unknown. Cats have been observed watching something cross the room, but there is nothing visible. Dogs will bark from no reason.
— Psychokinetic phenomena. Seeing a drawer open by itself, or feeling weight on a bed and seeing the impression it makes.
— The feeling of being touched by something.
Poltergeist phenomena is the rarest and includes being shoved or scratched by something unkn own, or books flying around a room.
— Apparitions are the most rare occurrence, and can include a human shape or a forming mist.
Eckhart said people are easily fooled by some of these strange events. A house generates noise when it settles. A new refrigerator had an ice maker that caused the pipes in the Eckhart home to make strange sounds when the ice maker turned on.
A faulty hinge can cause a door to open.
While some strange happenings can be real, often they are just a person’s imagination playing a trick on him or her.
To sort the real from the unreal, the group is using equipment to try to disprove what is going on.
Eckhart noted that the legend of werewolves is now believed to be inspired by rabies.
The presentation documented the ghost hunter’s investigations at such locales as Uptown Music and Video, the Rocky Ford Grand Theater, the Picketwire Theater and the Fox Theater.
At Uptown Music and Video employees have observed several apparitions that have their own identities. One is the preacher, who seems to want people out of the store. Another is the cleaning lady who is seen walking through the area. Another is Richard Buck, the deceased son of a building owner.
Eckhart said traumatic events can trigger a haunting.
At the old bank and Masonic temple in Ordway, a banker shot and killed a patron who was trying to withdraw money during the Great Depression. That seems to have left a presence in the building.
Eckhart said he first became interested in ghosts at the age of 16 when he was working at a La Junta bank. After observing what he described as ministers dumping items in a bin, he determined the discarded objects were old Christmas cards. He then suddenly saw a woman dressed similar to women early in the last century, with her red hair up in a bun.
When the woman suddenly disappeared, he ran upstairs screaming. For several weeks the incident rattled him, especially when people said the woman he described had been a resident of La Junta.
Eckhart said she was probably attached to the Christmas cards and was unhappy they had been thrown away.
Eckhart finally addressed his fears and decided instead to confront them head on and study ghosts.
A few years ago when he formally organized his quest, he was interested in ghost busting, similar to the movie Ghost Busters. But he has since become a ghost hunter who is primarily interested in scientifically recording and proving their existence.
Jim Justice of La Junta said he joined the group two years ago because he had been doing his own investigations for some time.
“”You can literally talk to a ghost and tell it to move on. And they will say ‘Duh, I know.”
‘Personally, I think this is a matter of choice, whether they stay or go,” Justice said.
He added that the group is summoned to some sites that are not really haunted. In the past year he estimates about a dozen seem to be real.
Eckhart said the group has done some research at the Prowers House at Boggsville south of Las Animas. They have picked up female voices, and a voice with a southern accent.
“There is a lot of stuff going on at Boggsville,” Eckhart said.
The La Junta Post Office and Thymes Square are other locales that have gotten their attention.
If someone genuinely thinks they have a ghost and want proof, he or she can contact Isaacs at 719 – 980 – 1753.
Eckhart said Jennifer Justice will do research on a house first before the investigators go to the scene. The property owner will have to be prepared to vacate the building for some time, into the early morning hours while the investigation goes on.
Bill Wooten of the Lamar Eagles thanked the group for sharing their knowledge and he said he would like to see them come back in a year with a report on their work in the coming months.
