Hazleton Paranormal Society

I believe in God and true love.                                      

I believe "Goodfellas" is one of the greatest movies ever made.      

And, I believe ghosts exist.                                          

Say what you want, but I've got solid proof - through experiences of my    
own and from very reliable sources.                                  

After spending a recent Saturday night with the Hazleton Paranormal  
Society, my faith may have wavered. But I was still scared.  Let me explain.   
       I'm a huge fan of shows like Paranormal State on A&E and Ghost
Hunters
on  the Sci-Fi channel. I'm not sure if I like it because it scares me or
because I believe weird stuff like that actually happens.            

Whatever the reason, when I first began talking with Rich Neely, the  
founder of the Hazleton Paranormal Society, I decided I wanted to go
along on an investigation.                                                  

Neely, who formed the society in October 2006, has been on nearly 10  
investigations. Neely, a team of three other investigators and I recently  
ventured to Selinsgrove to check out a home. Before we left, Neely
briefed us on the reported paranormal activity within the house.              

A man's voice was heard inside the home. A child saw a little girl at
the end of the hallway. Someone was tapping on the window and rocking the
child's play pen back and forth. An apparition was spotted in the hallway.
A woman with a white dress was seen across the street from the house,
and there was a report of a man laughing in the back yard, then running
away.  
                                                  
I was officially freaked out.                                        

"I hope we don't see anything, but I hope we do," I told Neely and    
investigator Steve Seaman. I was nervous, excited and scared, all at
the  same time. If it wasn't possible to feel all those things at once, I
made it happen.                                                            

"Well, we hope we see something," Seaman said. "Sorry!"              

That's their job, I guess. Seeing, and either believing or debunking.
But I'll get to that later.                                              

When we arrived at the house, Neely, Seaman and I took a tour. We were
shown all the "hot spots" where the residents said they had seen or heard  
something. I didn't immediately get the feeling when I walked in - you know,
that
creeped-out-something-isn't-right feeling. But, that could have been  
because I was too busy looking for ghosts already.                    

We checked out the kitchen, hallway, bathroom and bedrooms. Then, we
went outside to take a look around the property. And on to the cellar
where
the family has said lights have turned off and on. Note: Remember this
thing  about the lights. The team began to unload the equipment and
decided where to set up cameras - those high-tech night vision ones - in the
hallway, in the living room and outside.                                                          

Then, it was on to the command center in the basement. Three VCRs were
hooked up to a TV, and then to the three cameras on the property. They
would get video of what an investigator may not have seen, or overlooked   
during the investigation. Neely and Seaman were having some trouble with
one of the VCRs, so while they were tinkering with it, first-time
investigators Jeremy, Dave and I talked. Then it happened.                                
            

The light turned off. And then back on.                              

I looked at Jeremy and Dave. They looked at me. "Did you see that?"
Jeremy asked. "Yes." I answered, and slowly turned around.                  

The three of us stared at the light. There's no way I was going to go
over there to look. So, Dave made his way over. He wiggled the light bulb.
It didn't flash. He wiggled the housing. It didn't flash. He tapped on the    
wooden beam. It didn't flash. Unexplainable. Neely and Seaman didn't see it
happen. But I definitely saw the light flash. And none of us touched it.

When they were finished setting up the equipment, Neely handed out    
night-vision camcorders and voice recorders to each team member.      

"Where do you want to go?" Neely asked. I told him anywhere - as long
as I didn't have to be by myself.                                          

I ended up in the living room with Neely and Dave. Dave had a camera.
Neely had an electromagnetic field detector, EMF, and set the voice  
recorder on a table to pick up electronic voice phenomena, or EVPs.
That's something that can't be heard by the human ear, but can be picked up
on a recording. I sat on the couch clutching my notebook. Then it started.
Neely began asking the "ghost" questions.                                        

"Is anyone here with us tonight?" He asked. "Can you give us a sign to
let us know you're here?"                                                

Oh God, I thought. Here it goes.                                      

Nothing.                                                              

"If someone is here, can you touch one of us?" Neely asked.          

GREAT! I thought. Ask it to touch me! That will make me so much calmer.    
                        
"Except for Sheena, because she'll punch you," he said. Neely must
have read about my self-defense class.                                    

Then, I heard a tap on the window. So did Neely. "Do it louder," he said.  
"We know you can."                                                    

More tapping.                                                        

"You can do better than that," Neely said. "Louder!"                  

Nothing.                                                              

Neely checked out the window. He found that a plastic covering wasn't
attached properly on all sides of the window, so when the wind blew,
it caused the window to make that noise. Debunk No. 1.                  

Neely sat back down and began asking more questions. After asking a  
question, he waited 10 seconds so that the EVP could pick up a response,   
if there is one, Neely said.                                          

Before arriving at the house, Neely did some research to find out who
had lived there. He discovered that a baby had died in the home, and a few
other things.                                                        

"We heard you beat your wife," Neely said. "Is that true?"            

Nothing.                                                              

"You're a coward. Only cowards beat their wives," he said, trying to evoke
a response.                                                          

Fabulous. Make the ghost mad. Great idea. At this point, my palms were
sweaty. My heart was beating fast. And I probably said more Hail Marys
sitting on that couch than I've ever said in my entire life. Then, 9:30 p.m.
was approaching. That's when the family says an apparition makes its way
down the hall.                                          

As the seconds approached the mark, I couldn't bare to look down the  
hallway. I couldn't make myself do it. Then, at the last second, I looked -
9:30 p.m. came and went. No apparition. We retreated to the cellar after
getting no connection with anything  ghostly.                                                         
     

Neely talked with Seaman, who was outside checking out the property
with Jeremy to see what they could find, which was nothing more than a
garbage bag in a nearby field.                                                

We split up into teams again. This time, Neely, Dave and I were stationed  
in the kitchen; Seaman and Jeremy in the living room.                

That's when it happened.                                              

They left me alone in the kitchen!                                    

Neely and Jeremy were in the attic, which Neely said is where he finally   
got that feeling. Seaman was downstairs. Dave was in the living room.             
                
I thought, `This is when it's going to go down - when everyone who
isn't  scared isn't in the room. I'll scream like a girl if I see something,' I   
told myself. More Hail Marys.                                        

But, nothing happened. Thankfully. Neely and Dave returned after
trying to make the ghost mad in the attic, and we all went back downstairs.
The
team investigated until around 3 a.m. But I left a little before then.
Neely  says they'll watch the hours of tapes and listen to the voice
recorders to see if they can pick up anything.                                    

I had fun. I was definitely scared. But, Neely and the guys didn't
make it seem so bad. They kept my mind at ease, and debunked a lot of
things.

Others, couldn't be explained.                                        

Jeremy and Dave asked me if I'd be interested in doing another     
investigation.                                                        

No way, I said immediately. "I don't think I can deal with scaring
myself like that all the time."                                              

And with that said, next time you have an unexplained occurrence, and
you ask "Who am I gonna call?"                                            

The answer isn't Sheena Delazio.                                      

It's the Hazleton Paranormal Society.                                
One doesn't need to see to believe
Written by Sheena Delazio for The Times Leader