The West Georgian

Issue date: 4/18/07 Section: News

"I go ghost hunting just for rush of the things you sense in the dark!" says Ryan Hanson, sophomore at UWG. Ryan is one the UWG students who call themselves "Ghost Hunters". Ryan says he got interested in ghost hunting after he and a few friends went to a "haunted" insane asylum, "that just sparked it". Hanson was also the creator of West GA Ghost Hunters, a group on Facebook.com, where he and his friends share their ghost hunting pictures and ideas for the next ghost hunting activity.

The West GA Ghost Hunters say they do it for the adrenaline rush. For them, haunted houses and ghosts are not just for Halloween. They don't dress up in black, or call themselves "gothic". They are regular students who like to visit eerie places. The West GA Ghost hunters travel around Carrollton, and the surrounding areas in the search of paranormal activity.

Unlike the Hollywood Ghostbusters, these students say they don't carry cool weapons nor wear cool outfits. Freya Cole, a senior Mass Communications student, says "we just go in a group with flashlights, but it is still a fun time!" What they do carry it is their cameras in the attempt to capture ghosts in a snap.

After the West GA Ghost Hunters visit cemeteries or asylums, they arrive home and take a closer look at their pictures, looking for phantom shadows or similar apparitions. Heath Yates, a senior Mass Communications student, says "what you may see in those pictures is not always a ghost. It is important to pay respect to the death and never try to make fun or disrespect the ghosts in any way", he added that he once "went ghost hunting with a couple of friends at a cemetery. I told everyone to be respectful and everything. This one friend name Jason did not listen and he danced around the entrance of the cemetery. I told everyone we were leaving and we need to leave now, so everyone loaded up. When I was pulling out something banged against the side of the car where Jason was sitting. I look back and his window was up, so I knew he couldn't have done it. Also, I opened the door to see if I ran over a branch that could have hit my car. There was nothing. I kind of drove a little faster away from the investigation after that little incident."

Yates, shares proudly his passion for the paranormal since he was a young boy. Like Heath, Freya, and Ryan there are many students who now share the same intrigue for spooky places to explore.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools