Ron Streiff, left, Scott Dwyer and Dewayne Kunkel of the Space Coast Paranormal Research Association monitor video for signs of the paranormal at a house in northwest Melbourne. (Craig Bailey, FLORIDA TODAY)

FloridaToday.com has an article about a group of ‘ghost hunters’ that are primarily made up of members from the local police dept. With over 40 years of combined experienced, they bring a more detailed investigative approach to their investigations.

Night came quickly, swallowing the last of the light surrounding this brick house in northwest Melbourne.
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Like a quick-moving convoy of special operations commandos, vehicles descended on the home. Not wasting a moment, occupants unloaded infrared cameras, motion detectors, digital recorders, computers and monitors all for one purpose: finding a ghost.

Homeowner Nancy Hoff had called in the free services of the Space Coast Paranormal Research Association, or SCPRA, desperate for some peace.

“I have a friend who died a few years ago,” said Hoff, who did not wish to be photographed for this story and was reluctant to reveal personal information. “She comes to my bedroom door and speaks to me.”

The association, founded in 2007, is like a hobby on steroids for the two crime-scene technicians who work for a Brevard County police agency. With seven volunteers from various walks of life, including an engineer at the Kennedy Space Center and an apartment complex manager, they have investigated dozens of houses, businesses and cemeteries looking for answers to the unknown.

In 2009, coincidentally the 25th anniversary of the comedic movie “Ghostbusters,” the group is busier than ever. This year, they’ve completed five investigations with mixed outcomes.

“We’re not thrill-seekers. We’re not gallivanting around,” co-founder Ron Streiff said. “We’re trying to find answers, and we’re debunkers by trade.”

It’s that law enforcement experience — more than 40 years between Streiff and co-founder Scott Dwyer — that they said separates them from the “typical” ghost hunter.

Dwyer, Streiff and their crew set out in each case to prove other explanations for phenomena.

“Crime-scene work runs hand in hand with a paranormal investigation,” Dwyer said. “You go there, you listen to the claims of activity at the place, and then we do our investigation.

“And once we’re done, we review our documented evidence or data, and then we take it to the client and say, ‘This is what we have.’ ”

On a recent night in northwest Melbourne, they came away with recordings of voices they claim to be spirits.

Last month, the group investigated a vacant apartment above a Melbourne business after employees said they heard footsteps from the empty — and locked — residence where a violent death once occurred.

Very little happened during the investigation. The team recorded a slight temperature change, and something caused a spike in the electromagnetic reader. But the following day, they claimed to have found a multitude of EVPs, or evidence of “electronic voice phenomena.” These are sounds discovered on the recorder that resemble voices.

In this case, the team claims that the EVPs were direct responses to questions that investigators were asking. Despite the findings, the team is reluctant to say the apartment is haunted without further evidence.

Streiff said it’s important to keep personal feelings out of it.

“We’re not so quick to jump out there and let our feelings get involved,” he said. “We try to debunk everything and try to prove that there is a logical explanation for everything and everything we see or hear.”

For example, there was the woman who kept hearing unexplained noises at 2 a.m. every day. It turned out to be her icemaker.

For another client with a similar complaint, the answer was not found in the supernatural but with a neighbor who worked late hours.
‘Not comfortable’

Though terrified of the unknown, Hoff — the owner of the northwest Melbourne house — was determined to draw her friend’s ghost back to let her know everything was OK.

With only a few small candles lit, Hoff put on an Enya CD and opened a bottle of her friend’s favorite wine, white shiraz.

The team placed infrared video cameras in four rooms, and Dwyer watched them on a computer monitor in the screened-in pool area.

Digital voice recorders also were set out, along with a homemade trigger device impervious to the wind. Once in a while, a swirling or darting light flashed past one of the cameras, but Dwyer quickly said it was a bug or a floating piece of dust.

Night came quickly, swallowing the last of the light surrounding this brick house in northwest Melbourne.
Advertisement

Like a quick-moving convoy of special operations commandos, vehicles descended on the home. Not wasting a moment, occupants unloaded infrared cameras, motion detectors, digital recorders, computers and monitors all for one purpose: finding a ghost.

Homeowner Nancy Hoff had called in the free services of the Space Coast Paranormal Research Association, or SCPRA, desperate for some peace.

“I have a friend who died a few years ago,” said Hoff, who did not wish to be photographed for this story and was reluctant to reveal personal information. “She comes to my bedroom door and speaks to me.”

The association, founded in 2007, is like a hobby on steroids for the two crime-scene technicians who work for a Brevard County police agency. With seven volunteers from various walks of life, including an engineer at the Kennedy Space Center and an apartment complex manager, they have investigated dozens of houses, businesses and cemeteries looking for answers to the unknown.

In 2009, coincidentally the 25th anniversary of the comedic movie “Ghostbusters,” the group is busier than ever. This year, they’ve completed five investigations with mixed outcomes.

“We’re not thrill-seekers. We’re not gallivanting around,” co-founder Ron Streiff said. “We’re trying to find answers, and we’re debunkers by trade….

Full source: FloridaToday.com