Beau Burgess, curator of Fort Douglas Museum, spends many late nights sorting through files alone in his office. The sound of dragging feet and moving objects in the surrounding rooms, however, lead both Burgess and paranormal investigators to believe he has ghostly company.
I first met Burgess in July while waiting in line to see Morrissey. When he told me about his position at the museum, I immediately asked, “Is it really haunted?” He laughed and gave a vague answer, telling me that unexplainable things happen frequently at the museum and that the paranormal may or may not be responsible for the strange occurrences.
I didn’t see Burgess again until last weekend when he sat down across from me on the train. We were both on our way to visit family. After formalities, I asked again, “So what really happens at the museum?” He didn’t answer but instead invited me to participate in a paranormal investigation the next night.
I was nervous. There’s something about interacting with the unknown that loads the adrenaline. Amplifying my anxiety the night of the investigation, the moon hung ominously over Fort Douglas Museum, thinly veiled in a cloudy haze. As I crossed Stillwell Field, my mind bounced back and forth between whether the cold sweat dampening my Freddy Krueger-style sweater was caused by nerves or a premature welcome from the rumored ghostly residents of the museum.
The team gathered in the lobby. I almost felt at ease as everyone talked and laughed, waiting for the hunt to begin. This wasn’t a typical investigation, as it included non-traditional investigators who had purchased tickets beforehand.
The investigators took their spots at the front. The Wasatch Investigative Society for Paranormal Studies, Podgoblin podcasters and Ben Hansen from the TV series “Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files” led the group.
Jimmy Chunga from Podgoblin introduced everyone and then moved immediately to warnings: “In the past, we have encountered things here that are hostile, violent and, some say, demonic. There are at least two dark entities on-base. They may make you experience headaches or nausea. Don’t hesitate to say something. Some people get scared of having spirits follow them home. To avoid that, if you aren’t religious, before you get in your car get religious. Don’t ever tempt dark entities to interfere with you and don’t directly challenge anything. These entities may have never been human, and you don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
Hansen stepped in to lay down some basic rules to avoid contaminating recordings used to find Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) — walk quietly and settle when you stop, don’t whisper, contain your conversations and tag your noises.
Burgess quickly summed up the history of the museum and the rooms we would investigate. The museum is comprised of two buildings — one east, one west. Fort Douglas was established as a Civil War outpost in 1862. The buildings that house the museum were erected in 1875 and have served many practical uses. They have been a post office, a bank, a fire station, a library and barracks. The buildings were also used as a hospital and home for German prisoners of war during WWI.
We would be rotating between five rooms — the library and the naval room in the east building; the upper floor, a room filled with headstones and remains and the poker room in the west building.
We were divided into five groups to avoid overwhelming each space. Each group was given tools to communicate with spirits. My group had a K-II to detect fluctuations in electromagnetic fields (EMF). Another device detecting EMFs, the Ghost Meter EMF Sensor, allowed us to ask spirits yes-or-no questions. The device lights up when it detects an EMF, then the spirit can manipulate it, as we would instruct it, such as blinking once for yes and twice for no. One tool, the Ovilus, gives ghosts the ability to speak one word at a time. We also used voice recorders to collect EVPs and magnetic flashlights for spirits to operate.
The first room my group investigated was the poker room. We placed the magnetic flashlight on a box and left it off. The Ghost Meter EMF Sensor immediately lit up. We asked the ghost introductory questions, such as, “Are you male? Blink once for yes, twice for no.” “Are you a soldier? Blink once for yes, twice for no.” Then we instructed the male soldier to twist the magnetic flashlight to light up the room. It flickered dimly, then illuminated the room. Other spirits spoke with us. One said “Africa” over the Ovilus. The mood in this room was light at the moment, but that wasn’t the case for the entire building.
In the library, we encountered the spirits of children. They made the K-II pulsate and tapped on the glass when we asked them to. The name “Veronica” played over the Ovilus. One spirit said it was her name, another said it was his/her mother. The spirits in the naval room were not as harmonious. In this room, the spirits seemed to be fighting for the communication devices. Some members of the group saw a figure pacing, and another member saw orbs in the corner. The atmosphere in the naval room wasn’t dark, but it wasn’t welcoming.
The upper floor of the east building was filled with rows of wax sculptures of soldiers. We sat on the floor in this room. Everyone seemed to feel heavy with sadness. We communicated with a ghost that claimed to be a German prisoner of war. He said he missed his family and that they were waiting for him.
Hansen joined us as we traveled to the basement and stood between headstones and excavated bones. He taunted the spirits. Hansen told us that earlier in the night, someone encountered the ghost of a prostitute. She became violent and pushed someone. While Hansen was talking, the guy next to me exclaimed, “There’s a face behind you!” He saw an apparition.
Our last rotation was almost over, and I began speaking with a spirit on the Ghost Meter EMF Sensor with another member of my group. It felt very personal. “Are you friendly?” Two blinks. “Do you want us here?” Two blinks. “Do you want us to leave?” One blink. It was time to walk around on our own, so we went to the poker room. The poker room wasn’t as joyful as before. The room filled with darkness. It felt like a heavy mist. “Are you friendly? Do you want us here? Do you want us to leave?” We received the same answers we received in the last room. My body froze as disembodied whispers started coming from the back corner of the room.
“I’m getting out of here,” I croaked as I darted out with the others following behind me.
Upstairs, everyone else was as scared as we were. There were shadows moving behind the wax figures. Someone had asked an entity if they were a male or female and picked up an EVP that said, “It’s a man.” Later, when discussing the event, Chunga said, “I’d be very worried if I were you. This statement means ‘it’ probably never had a body and ‘it’ doesn’t know how to identify itself. ‘It’ is using mockery to try to convince you that ‘it’ is something other than what ‘it’ is.”
We finished the night with a summary of the experiences of all of the groups. Chunga asked everyone to review their recordings and send any EVPs to Podgoblin.
That night, I slept with the lights on. Just a few days later, it feels eerie to look across Stillwell Field at the museum. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, I believe there is something other-worldly residing in the Fort Douglas Museum.
@emilyinorgandy