Joshua Vail

Tribune Reporter

Several stories about haunting in the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum have drawn the interest of paranormal investigators. Friday night, members of the community were able to participate in a paranormal investigation at the museum.

Paranormal Research Investigators, a group out of Topeka founded by Nick Spantgos and Danny Howard, has investigated 368 locations throughout the midwest, and investigated the museum earlier this month.

Spantgos said Paranormal Research Investigators has a policy of finding other explanations for strange sounds or sights before deciding that a place could be haunted.

“Anyone can go out and have fun but we take it seriously,” he said.

Spantgos said they have only found what they consider evidence of ghost activity at 57 of the 368 locations investigated.

PRI partners with Paranormal Adventures USA, a business that does ghost tours and investigations for the public in the midwest.

After a preliminary event at the Tioga Hotel, where owner Todd Johnson talked about the Tioga’s own history of hauntings, those who were participating in the investigation went to the museum.

Spantgos showed a film he put together from their previous investigation,

There are four areas in the museum where the most activity has been reported.

• Some have reported apparitions in the main lobby of the building, which the museum shares with the Chanute Public Library.

• The archives room, which is also the office of curator Jacque Borgeson, has had objects moving around and strange noises. The archives room is also currently home to a doll that had been brought back by Martin Johnson, which allegedly caused problems when it was on display at the museum’s old building. The doll was only shown to those who wanted to see it.

• A certain display case has labels go frequently missing, no matter what is placed in the case

Upstairs rooms where the Harvey Girls would sleep when the building was a train station with a Harvey House.

A member of the PRI team was stationed in each of the areas, and the participants were split up into four groups and went through the four stations, spending about an hour and a half in each.

Often, investigators will ask questions, hoping to hear a response or pick one up with a digital audio recorder. Changes in temperature and electromagnetic fields are also considered to be signs of ghost activity by paranormal investigators. Electronic equipment is used often, including motion detectors.

Any sounds made by the investigators themselves are mentioned out loud, so that it is easier to listen for unusual sounds in the recording.

Participants were encouraged to ask their own questions and take initiative on the investigation. Museum volunteers were included in each group, allowing members of the community to learn about the museum’s history as well.