SAINT CLAIR — Ever heard the legend of the Blue Mountain Demon, a Schuylkill County monster with a terrible sweet tooth for children? What about the “death couch,” a regional stone relic supposedly upholstered in innocent blood?
If the answer is no, fear not; a real-life county ghostbusting group is on these and other coal country cases.
The Coal Region Ghost Hunters entertained Saint Clair Area Middle School students Tuesday during an after-school presentation on all local things spooky. The Tamaqua-based paranormal investigators told children they enter houses and historic buildings armed with tools for ferreting out and recording ghost activity.
And sometimes, said Ghost Hunters founder Tim Heckman, they find some weird stuff.
“Ninety-five percent of the time we figure out what’s going on in the house and it’s normal,” Heckman said. “But that other five percent ... well, we just don’t know.”
Heckman and his team take tape recorders, cameras, infrared temperature guns, motion detectors, flashlights and other tools into an investigation in order to search for any sign of the paranormal.
“We’re looking for evidence. When you’re in a place, you leave an environmental imprint — your energy gets stored in the environment,” said Heckman. “We’re looking for that imprint.”
They also do their homework before they go in, Heckman said, studying the history of a building to determine if and why a soul may have stuck behind.
Their next target will be the Yuengling Mansion on Mahantongo Street, Pottsville. Heckman said his team conducted an investigation there several months ago and uncovered, in his words, “this blackish, brownish ball” moving through the carriage house. The Coal Region Ghost Hunters will be there again on Friday, this time with the Halloween spirit and the public (the investigation will be open to all-comers) on their side.
Heckman, a former corrections officer, said he founded the Ghost Hunters because he grew up in a haunted house.
“There were a lot of creepy things going on,” he said of his childhood residence. “I used to write ghost stories and send them to President Reagan.”
Heckman was apparently alone Tuesday in his fear of the death couch, a Weatherly-area sofa-shaped stone said to be cursed.
“I wouldn’t want to sit on the couch, would you?” he asked children.
Almost every hand went up to volunteer.
A Ghost Hunter & He wouldn't wanna sit on the couch ?
What a
I not only wanna Sleep on it overnight,
I wanna Search around it. wish I was closer to Weatherly
http://www.republicanherald.com/art...029.a.pg3.pr29ghostbusters_s1.2047617_loc.txt
If the answer is no, fear not; a real-life county ghostbusting group is on these and other coal country cases.
The Coal Region Ghost Hunters entertained Saint Clair Area Middle School students Tuesday during an after-school presentation on all local things spooky. The Tamaqua-based paranormal investigators told children they enter houses and historic buildings armed with tools for ferreting out and recording ghost activity.
And sometimes, said Ghost Hunters founder Tim Heckman, they find some weird stuff.
“Ninety-five percent of the time we figure out what’s going on in the house and it’s normal,” Heckman said. “But that other five percent ... well, we just don’t know.”
Heckman and his team take tape recorders, cameras, infrared temperature guns, motion detectors, flashlights and other tools into an investigation in order to search for any sign of the paranormal.
“We’re looking for evidence. When you’re in a place, you leave an environmental imprint — your energy gets stored in the environment,” said Heckman. “We’re looking for that imprint.”
They also do their homework before they go in, Heckman said, studying the history of a building to determine if and why a soul may have stuck behind.
Their next target will be the Yuengling Mansion on Mahantongo Street, Pottsville. Heckman said his team conducted an investigation there several months ago and uncovered, in his words, “this blackish, brownish ball” moving through the carriage house. The Coal Region Ghost Hunters will be there again on Friday, this time with the Halloween spirit and the public (the investigation will be open to all-comers) on their side.
Heckman, a former corrections officer, said he founded the Ghost Hunters because he grew up in a haunted house.
“There were a lot of creepy things going on,” he said of his childhood residence. “I used to write ghost stories and send them to President Reagan.”
Heckman was apparently alone Tuesday in his fear of the death couch, a Weatherly-area sofa-shaped stone said to be cursed.
“I wouldn’t want to sit on the couch, would you?” he asked children.
Almost every hand went up to volunteer.
A Ghost Hunter & He wouldn't wanna sit on the couch ?
What a
I not only wanna Sleep on it overnight,I wanna Search around it. wish I was closer to Weatherly
http://www.republicanherald.com/art...029.a.pg3.pr29ghostbusters_s1.2047617_loc.txt
