Valley group probes the paranormal

As the sun sets over a remote cemetery near Superior, a group of East Valley ghost hunters starts its trek around century-old grave markers to “acquaint” the spirits with the visitors’ presence.

Watch an investigation

The group’s members say they take that initial walk out of respect for the dead and to get the lay of the land — they don’t want people tripping over headstones in the dark.

The group gathers its equipment, and offers a quick blessing asking permission of the spirits to record and take pictures at their final resting places. The members then begin their investigation into paranormal activity.

The East Valley Paranormal Society, a Queen Creek-based group of nearly 20 members, spends time in graveyards, homes, businesses and local landmarks, setting out to prove that there’s life beyond death.

“People want proof, and that’s what we’re out there to do,” said Kim Mann, the society’s director and founder, and a stay-at-home mom.

The group doesn’t charge for its investigations. Members do it for the love of learning more about the paranormal, Mann said. The group was formed by believers in paranormal activity, folks who have day jobs in a variety of areas including government, security, technology and truck driving.

“We come to old places, cemeteries, hospitals, even private residences and businesses, and we look for paranormal activity,” Mann said. “We have people call us or e-mail us through our Web site because they want help, they need help because they don’t understand what’s going on in their home.”

Since the group got its start in January 2006, members have conducted more than 75 investigations.

People call with many unexplained things: lights going on and off, doors opening and closing and strange sounds and smells, Mann said.

“It’s just a lot of unexplained things people want to know — why something is or how something is — and we go in and investigate and try to explain it or debunk it,” said Mann, who’s interest in the paranormal was sparked by personal experience as a child. Mann said she heard odd sounds and saw an apparition of an old woman in an abandoned house in her hometown in Michigan.

To conduct an experiment, the group uses a variety of tools that can be purchased at local discount stores or specialty ghost-hunting stores, said Gilbert resident Sara Acevedo, a society member.

A trio of investigators last Thursday night, which included Mann, Acevedo and Chandler resident Adam Kadrmas, went to the Pinal Cemetery equipped with digital cameras, audio recorders, electromagnetic field detectors, infrared thermometers and dowsing rods — brass rods that can freely move and are believed to cross or spin when a spirit is present.

The community-minded group is also participating in a cleanup of the very same cemetery this week, something Mann says is important because the area gets trashed by partying kids.

When the investigation is complete, they say another blessing and take their evidence home to analyze.

“Some nights we get something, and some we come up with nothing,” said Mann, who added that the Pinal Cemetery is her favorite place to do investigations. The burial ground is most notable for being the final resting place of Mattie Earp, second wife of Wyatt Earp of Tombstone fame.

As they move from each burial site, the investigators talk to the spirits and ask questions, sometimes even bringing toys or crucifixes to gravesites.

To skeptics, Mann said, she presents them with whatever evidence they’ve captured and let them make up their own mind. Evidence includes such things as audio recordings that presumably have voices from the dead and photos reportedly showing orbs.

“They’re either going to believe it or they’re not,” she said. “I can’t make them believe.”

But there’s no doubt that members of the group believe.

“All of my co-workers think I’m a freak,” said Acevedo, who by day works at a salon. “Unless you experience it for yourself, you’re not going to know.”

Learn more

For more information about the East Valley Paranormal Society call (480) 459-6009 or visit www.eastvalleyparanormalsociety.com.