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The Maine Campus | The Maine Campus
Tales of Ma Estabrooke wandering the halls of her dormitory, the spooky noises in Colvin Hall and the housemother watching over the Beta House remind the University of Maine community there is a rich history of supposed paranormal activities on campus.
The UMaine Paranormal Investigation Club is ready to confirm or disprove these legends. With a resurgent presence on campus, the group is working on building their base of members to expand their ghost-hunting endeavors.
“We’re still working on trying to get it up,” said Denise Bickford, a second-year English student and president of the group.
The group has been on campus for at least six years, but has declined in membership over the past few years. When Bickford joined in the fall of 2008, she began to pick up the slack of the dissipating group.
The club made strides last semester when it became an official student group, recognized by Student Government.
“That was really exciting,” said Amie Dick, a second-year social work student and vice-president of the club. “We just got back on our feet.”
The numbers are growing, with a solid base of 10 members and five or six more new recruits who grew interested after a presentation from Mike Marino, a member of the Bangor Ghost Hunters.
Marino spoke to the group during their usual meeting time Monday from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Senior Skulls room. He spoke about his experiences in the group, how to investigate and the equipment used in the process.
“It was really informative. … It was interesting to hear from someone on the case,” Bickford said.
With growing interest in the group, the club is escalating their efforts to investigate the paranormal.
“We’re trying to expand to all paranormal stuff,” Bickford said.
This year, they plan to investigate hauntings around campus, take a tour of a cemetery in Lewiston and visit a cryptozoology museum.
According to Bickford, this is a great improvement over last year when the group only went on one investigation in Estabrooke Hall.
The members’ interests lie in all things paranormal, and they takes different steps depending on what they are investigating.
When they investigate supposed hauntings, they bring camcorders and still-frame cameras, hoping to capture ghost sightings.
During the cemetery visit, they will use their own observations and electrical readings that denote the presence of spirits. There has been a lot of reported activity around a mausoleum in the cemetery.
“A lot of people have felt a presence there. … It’s intuitive,” Dick said.
“It depends on what you’re looking for in a haunting,” Bickford said. “It’s not a science; you can’t really prove anything.”
Bickford and Dick note that a real ghost-hunting experience isn’t like those portrayed on popular television shows like “Ghost Hunters” and “Paranormal State.”
“You’re not going to find something most of the time,” Bickford said. “You have to go over what you think is real and what isn’t.”
“I think it’s good to go into an investigation with an open mind,” Dick said.
Both women believe there is paranormal activity alive and well in the world but admit that skeptics are good to have around to balance an investigation.
“I don’t consider myself a skeptic … but there are things that can be written off,” Bickford said.
They explained the importance of critically examining evidence and understanding there won’t be activity every investigation.
An interest in the unknown is what drew Bickford and Dick to the club; they joined through word of mouth. While Dick is still waiting for a paranormal experience, Bickford recently experienced a sighting this summer. The incident confirmed her suspicion there were things we can’t explain in the world.
Bickford’s family lives in an old house in Winterport, and her mother has always heard unidentifiable voices and music. Bickford had never before experienced a haunting but woke up one night this summer to see a figure of a man in her room.
“It’s nothing I should be scared of. … it freaks you out if you don’t know what’s going on, though,” Bickford said.
As for Dick, she is still waiting for an experience to confirm her beliefs.
“I wish,” she said.
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