— Rick Burres/Tribune-Courier || Jeff Schroader, founder of WKPI, sets up infrared cameras in preparation for a ghost-hunt.

Things that go bump in the nights

By Rick Burres
Tribune-Courier Reporter

BENTON – There may be ghosts in Marshall County.
Jeff Schroader, founder of West Kentucky Paranormal Investigations, is equipped with most of the latest ghost-hunting technology and puts it to use hunting spirits in and around Marshall County.

Shroader founded WKPI about two years ago. He has put together the tools of the trade and responds to calls from concerned citizens who have strange phenomenon occuring on their property.

“I have done, altogether, about 25 residences and commercial properties,” Schroader said.

He is not at liberty to disclose names of clients or the locations he has performed sweeps on. “I protect my clients privacy and I think that is a big part of why they call me,” Schroader said.

He said he realizes most people are skeptics, and so do his clients, who are almost always skeptics themselves, until they have an experience.

“I was the biggest skeptic in the world until I started finding stuff,” Schroader said. “I have recordings of shadows that seem to walk right past me.”

WKPI uses voice recorders, video recorders, spot thermometers, electro-magnetic field detectors and infrared cameras to detect any unusual events when doing a sweep for spirits.

Schroader said ghosts can actually speak and when they do it is not always audible to the human ear. “We make recordings the whole time we are on a hunt,” Schroader said. “We usually hear nothing but when we review the evidence later we have recorded a voice.

The old Benton Hotel, now the Antique Et. Cetera on the square, is rich in history and legend. Schroader has heard stories about a murder that took place near the elevator long ago in the old building. “I haven’t done the research yet, but we thought we would check the place out anyway,” Schroader said. “The library has no micro film from the Tribune going that far back, and it makes it harder to do the research sometimes.”

The old hotel, however, has yielded some results. “From this building I have a recording of a voice that said ‘sit on the floor,’” Schroader said. He believes the response was related to a question asked by an assistant. “My partner asked me where he should sit during a hunt. We didn’t hear anything at the time but when we reviewed the recordings later it was there clear as day, right in the middle of our conversation.”

Schroader approaches each hunt in a serious and scientific manner. He tries to eliminate every possibility before coming to the conclusion that he has encountered a paranormal phenomenon. He said there is usually a perfectly logical explanation for strange happenings.

Sometimes, however, things do go bump in the night.