Ghostbusters Probe Alleged Haunted Station

S H E L B Y V I L L E, Ky., Sept. 5, 2003 -- Footsteps on the stairs in the dead of night, doorknobs turning with no one on the other side and strange hot zones in an air-conditioned room are hardly the stuff of the latest gory horror movie.

But for some officers in tiny Shelbyville, Ky., these little mysteries add up to a very troubling question: Are ghosts on the loose in their station house?

At first, officers didn't know who to call when they encountered a possible force of evil they were altogether unfamiliar with.

But after months of witnessing mysterious sights and sounds in their own headquarters, they remembered the advice of Ray Parker Jr., in his 1984 hit song, which was inspired by the movie Ghostbusters.

If there's something weird and it don't look good. Who you gonna call?Ghostbusters!

Calling for Backup

That's just what the frightened officers did. They called on the Scientific Investigative Ghost Hunting Team, otherwise known as S.I.G.H.T., in Louisville, Ky.

Steve Conley, who runs the nonprofit ghostbusting team, says their goal is actually to try to prove the strange occurrences aren't caused by paranormal forces.

"About 99 percent of the time we do find natural explanations for exposed activity," Conely said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "Here in this building it's under renovation and there are some loose windows and some new doors installed that may be attributing to the activity occurring," he said.

Conley says his paranormal investigators have set up cameras and tape recorders as well as infrared thermometers to capture any temperature variations in the headquarters.

"We have meters that measure electromagnetic fields and radio waves," Conley said. "Ghosts have been associated with changes in the electric field for many, many years. If these go off, we have possible ghost activity," he said.

Historic Building

The Shelbyville police headquarters is based in a new addition to a building erected 183 years ago. Over the years it's been used as a warehouse, a private residence — but it's also been abandoned for years at a time.

Police moved into the building, which is located about 20 miles east of Louisville, last spring and they said the strange occurences began immediately.

Some night shift officers reported hearing footsteps and rattling doors with no explaination. During the day, there were reports that a secretary's desk drawer opened on its own.

Shelbyville Police Chief Stewart Shirley says he witnessed the desk drawer opening on its own and he doesn't doubt any of his officers' reports.

"Some of the officer[s] were hearing things at night … and I thought it was best to say yes when they came to me and asked if they could check into it," Shirley said. "I said 'yeah, go ahead if it makes you happy and you feel safer coming into the building.'"

The police officers haven't been the only ones to report strange happenings. Wendy Rutledge, a deputy city clerk, said once, while touring theheadquarters at night, she felt something grab her right leg.

"It was warm at first and then after that it tingled," she said. "It was a strange sensation," she said.

Conley, meanwhile, said he thinks his group will be able to dispel the belief that the station is haunted.

"We have never actually declared any site 100 percent haunted," Conley said. "The closest we have come is declaring a few sites probable. We're skeptic ourselves, and we try to explain every possible, natural cause before we think about the paranormal," he said.