Ghosts haunt police stations too

PTI / Sep 7, 2003, 11:37 IST

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NEW YORK: Police is expected to protect citizens but it itself needs protection when confronted by ghosts, for none of their weapon works against them.

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">NEW YORK: Police is expected to protect citizens but it itself needs protection when confronted by ghosts, for none of their weapon works against them. Whether ghosts exist or not is an age-old riddle but what is happening at a police headquarters in a small town of Shelbyville in Kentucky would definitely give ghost enthusiasts something to talk about. 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 is not something happening in a gory movie but in the police station. ABC television news said for some officers 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! And that''s just what the frightened officers did, according to ABC. They called on the Scientific Investigative Ghost Hunting Team, otherwise known as S.I.G.H.T. Steve Conley, who runs the non-profit ghostbusting team, says their goal is actually to try to prove the strange occurrences aren''t caused by paranormal forces. "About 99 per cent of the time we do find natural explanations for exposed activity," Conely said on ABC NEWS'' 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 para-normal 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 added. 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, ABC said. Police moved into the building last spring and they said the strange occurrences began immediately. Some night shift officers reported hearing footsteps and rattling doors with no explanation. 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 officers 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.''" ABC says the police officers haven''t been the only ones to report strange happenings. Wendy Rutledge, a deputy city clerk, said once, while touring the headquarters 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 per cent haunted," he said, adding, "the closest we have come is declaring a few sites probable." </div> </div>

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