Who are you gonna call…Ghostbusters!

FORT PIERCE — A team of paranormal investigators dimmed the lights at the Sunrise Theatre on Saturday night to see if any lingering spirits refuse to let the curtain fall on their stay at the 86-year-old downtown institution.

And judging from the team’s five hours of research, there very well could be a specter or two on stage — or sitting in your row — next time you catch a Sunrise show.

“You hear some sounds here that make you go, ‘Hmm,’ ” said John Wilkes, executive director of the theater. “And every theater seems to have a story about ghosts haunting them.”

A door closing by itself, multiple camera batteries dying at the same time, inexplicable shadows, and banging that answered team members’ requests for spirits to make noise were a few of the findings reported by the Florida Ghost Team, indicating they weren’t alone in the theater.

“It was definitely worth it,” said Shaun Jones, the team’s founder and director. “There is definitely some stuff going on there, but nothing’s ever just going to jump out and go, ‘Boo.’ ”

Twelve crew members that have investigated about 20 possible hauntings at Florida historical spots and homes in the past year used the latest in paranormal equipment to prove or disprove creaks, bangs and shadows throughout the theater were otherworldly.

The team set up DVR cameras and monitors in the basement, first, second and third floor of the theater, and used hand-held video and digital cameras. Members were equipped with digital recorders to catch any possible voices or answers to the questions they pose to potential spirits, which the ghost hunting community calls electronic voice phenomenon.

The Ghost Team brought electronic magnetic field detectors, and some high electric and magnetic field readings are thought to indicate a paranormal presence, they said. Likewise, team members brought along thermometers, they said, because big temperature changes and particularly odd cold spots theoretically mean ghosts could be nearby. Once all the wiring and book bag-packing was finished, the Florida Ghost Team turned out the lights — at least the ones that weren’t mandatory emergency lighting — paired off, and started hunting.

While trying to communicate with the theater’s founder and owner Rupert “Pop” Koblegard in his old third floor apartment, several team members reported their camera batteries quickly drained. Koblegard built the Sunrise as a vaudeville house in 1923. And when Jones twice called for a response from any entity in his room, she said she heard a knocking from the hallway each time.

Jones and team member Darlene Digani said they saw and heard an exit door close by itself.

Investigator Brian Standorf said he heard someone’s footsteps twice in the second floor bar area, even though he and his partner were the lone souls up there.

Though ghost hunting entails a lot of sitting around, talking to the air and going over hours and hours of footage, a few investigators said, finding evidence of the unexplainable is the rewarding part.

Florida Ghost Team investigators think they might have some at Sunrise, which closed its doors in 1983, to be reborn as a performing arts venue in 2006.

After the team’s experiences at the theater, the investigators think a second, closer look at what is going bump in the night would be worthwhile.

“There is definitely something going on at the theater that warrants a second investigation, which will be an all night adventure,” Jones said.

via:tcpalm