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On site with Iredell's own ghost hunters
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Published: October 31, 2009
I'm skeptical. OK, I'm beyond skeptical. But what do I know?
Anyway, I was game, so I went to find out about ghosts for myself.
My quest took to me the northeastern corner of Iredell County. There, in a mostly rural and wooded area is a township — though that might be stretching the meaning of the term — called Eagle Mills.
Drive a mile or two up Eagle Mills Road — which runs north off Memorial Highway — and, if you're paying attention, you'll see a dirt driveway off to the right, and beyond it a variety of plants and other flora, which can be purchased at the nursery there.
But walk a few steps into a thicket of trees that surrounds the nursery and you'll find what area experts argue is the most haunted place in Iredell.
And yes, there are area experts on such matters.
The group is called Paranormal Apparition Phenomenon Seekers, or PAPS.
On a recent night that had just the right amount of dreariness for such an occasion — a brisk fall breeze accentuated by a tortured half-moon partially hidden behind thin, slow-moving clouds and casting an ominous glow — I followed two members of PAPS to this site where they say poltergeists are known to roam.
Mark Dul and April Mayberry are engaged to be married and both occupy positions of leadership in PAPS.
They led me to the unpaved parking lot of the nursery and, while we fiddled with flashlights and more high-tech equipment, Dul explained briefly what lay behind it.
We are met there by several others: some members of PAPS; others, civilian seekers of things otherworldly.
Among the crowd of about a dozen or so is the founder and leader of PAPS, a man named Dale (who asked that his last name not be used in this story).
Dale refers to himself as a docent, a somewhat anachronistic term that typically applies to college instructors or museum guides.
"You should not go ghost-hunting alone," Dale said as part of preparational talk for those less knowledgeable of things that go bump in the night. "And you should never go anywhere without a partner."
Dale fielded some questions about whether whatever they did or did not encounter — indeed, whatever did or did not exist — could pick up on things like skepticism and fear.
He also told the group not to be disappointed if nothing happened.
But then warned that something could.
"And if you feel at any time that you need to get out, don't think you're being a chicken," Dale said, "just get out."
And then it was off to the haunted house, which was actually a medical facility or rehabilitation center beginning in the early 1930s. It was known — at least locally — as the Northeast Iredell Hospital or Trivette Clinic.
Among other things that took place there, it was explained, a man named Dr. Trivette treated alcoholics in part by chaining them to the walls of the basement when their addictions spiked.
The property of the two-story facility can be reached, if one so chooses, via an archway that is all that remains of an extension that was once part of the structure.
Dale showed photos taken by a recent visitor in which the arch was filled with three bright vertical streaks of light.
Dale said that part of PAPS' mission is not just to identify the paranormal, but to debunk those things with more banal origins.
He said he was not able to ascertain a rational source for the light streaks.
"We did everything we could to debunk it," he said. "We looked for spider webs and tree branches and the angle of the sun. And we couldn't do it."
Dale showed other photos taken at the site at different times.
Some were taken with a thermal imaging camera, which depicts items in colors — from dark blue to bright orange or yellow — depending on the heat emanating from the object.
Dale pointed to some human-shaped shadowy figures in these photos whose heat signature was only about 30 degrees and said it was hard to find a logical reason for their existence.
Other photos taken with standard digital cameras show circles of varying sizes.
Dale said these were called "orbs" and said they were like fingerprints for lingering spirits in that no two were exactly alike.
Orbs appeared in a number of photos I took with my point-and-shoot, including a smallish orb that was similar to one seen in several other photos.
Dale said when examined closely that orb was, in fact, identical in all the photos and it belonged to the ghost of a young girl named Majesty.
PAPS members said Majesty had been known to roll a ball. But she was temperamental, they said. and she apparently was in no mood for games during my visit.
A visiting ghost-seeker named Luanne was there during my visit. Dale said Luanne had the makings of what he called a "generator," which he explained means she has a unique quality that makes her attractive to those residing in the netherworld.
Luanne said Majesty was all around her and, oddly, when she said she felt a coldness near her leg, I took a photo, and a small orb showed up on the camera near where Luanne was indicating.
A photo taken by another ghost seeker showed a glow coming from Luanne's knee.
Other spirits identified by PAPS as taking refuge in the old hospital are those of Phillip, Vickie, Karen or Kathy, Helen and Ronald.
The name of the latter ghost, according to Dale and other PAPS members, was picked up on a recording device.
"After you listen to it a few times, you can hear it clearly," Dale said. "He is saying, 'It's Ronald.' "
Upstairs in the old hospital, we all sat still waiting for Ronald to appear. Unidentified noises drifted through the hall — particularly one that sounded like a cross between a cow's moo and the buzz of an old kitchen appliance.
In the basement, cold spots came and went and some people felt like they were touched by something more substantial.
PAPS team member Tammy Goodin said she literally felt like she was pushed from her seat and eventually was disturbed by such a feeling of unwantedness that she acquiesced to the wishes of the spirits and went upstairs.
After four hours in the haunted hospital — which ended just about midnight — I left with my agnosticism on the question of ghosts intact.
But that should not be interpreted as doubt for what Dale, Dul, Mayberry, Goodin and the other PAPS members believe.
So maybe, in a nearly 80-year-old, two-story house, off a little-traveled road in northern Iredell County, there are ghosts who are skeptical about me.
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