They aren't "ghostbusters," psychics, or mediums - but the idea of possible paranormal activity is one intrigue several county residents are willing to explore.

While they are novices to the world of paranormal investigations, members of the newly-formed Eastern Oklahoma River Valley Paranormal Society are hoping to chase down the paranormal in the hopes of dispelling or confirming ghostly happenings in the area.

The group already has a Web site up and running and is ready to start investigating claims of paranormal activity in the area for free, while also hearing some chilling ghost stories.

Carry Shamblin, her husband, Shawn, and her cousin, Lyndsay Barrett, all of Sallisaw, make up the bulk of the society's membership. The Shamblins' 9-year-old daughter, Sydney, is also involved but is strictly the "business manager" for the group and won't be involved in any investigations.

The formation of the group has been long-awaited and something the Shamblins said they have talked about for a while. Carry said two weeks ago, they really got into it. The society has been online for the last week.

"It's something we've all been interested in," Barrett said.

But while all three of the members are interested in the possibility of paranormal activity, they aren't staunch believers.

"I'm fairly much a skeptic, but I want to find something," Carry said. "We've all had experiences we can't explain. That's really what piqued our interest with it."

When asked about those experiences, the inquiry prompted Sydney to point to an incident involving checkers moving on their own. Carry explained that the two were playing checkers when one of the checkers moved on its own. They decided to do some investigating and set up a camcorder to try to catch what was happening on tape. After playing about eight games, the Shamblins successfully captured one of the checkers that seemed to move on its own and nearly off the checkerboard. That video is now on the group's Web site, www.eorvps.com, and has prompted the Shamblins to retire the checker game.

"We don't want to encourage the activity," Carry said, laughing.

The start

The group's interest in ghosts began in childhood. Carry said she and Barrett grew up on stories from Carry's grandmother, who was also Barrett's great-grandmother,

"She always told us stories about things she had experienced," Carry said. "We always loved hearing those stories so we always had a natural interest, in that respect."

Carry explained that her grandmother, who was Cherokee, swore she saw people who had passed on and dreamt about them all the time.

Carry said she and her husband have also had things happen to them that they can't explain. On their Web site, the couple tell the story of an old house in which they once resided, in which their car keys would disappear and wind up in strange places. In that same home, they also say they experienced seeing figures walk by doorways and out of rooms when home alone with their daughter, who at the time was a toddler.

Those experiences, compounded with their curiosity, led the couple to investigate paranormal activity themselves. The trio may have gotten the idea from a popular television show on the SciFi Channel called "Ghosthunters," which follows a paranormal society in Rhode Island that investigates paranormal activity across the country.

"We would like to do investigations," Carry said, noting they have yet to do their first investigation. "We would like to go to historical places, places that have been here."

The group said they have heard rumors about various historical places in Sallisaw, and they hope to get permission to go to those places.

"It's totally a hobby," Carry said. "It's one of those things that's, I don't know, it's an itch you have to scratch. It's so interesting to us."

The group has already purchased some equipment to aid in their ghost hunting, including a camcorder, digital voice recorders to try to catch electronic voice phenomenon, or EVPs. EVP is a term that refers to sounds that are captured on electronic devices that some believe to be voices of a paranormal source.

They also have purchased an electromagnetic field detector and a non-contact laser thermometer, which takes the air temperature. Shawn said the theory is that when there is a spirit or an apparition in a room, the temperature gets colder because the spirit is using the energy from the room to manifest themselves.

Where did they find all of this equipment? On the Internet, they said.

Shawn said those interested in the paranormal can go to different Web sites, which sell affordably-priced equipment.

They hope to acquire more equipment in the future, including night vision for their camera and a thermal imaging camera. But the thermal imaging camera is one piece of equipment that is "way down the road" because the cameras they have priced ranged from $8,000 to $18,000.

"We hope to have enough to get our foot in the door, so to speak," Carry said.

Not mediums

While they hope to get proof of paranormal activity, what they most want the public to understand is that they are not "ghostbusters."

"We are not here to exterminate," Carry said. "We're setting no traps. We're here just to see if we can find a piece of evidence that there might be paranormal activity."

Shawn said if they do find something, they also want to be careful and scrutinize it to make sure there's no other reasonable explanation.

"We don't want to go into a place and say 'I feel a presence,'" Barrett said.

"We are not mediums," Carry added. "We are not psychics."

Barrett said they will be skeptical about what they find or see.

The society has an investigation process, which starts with an e-mail request. Carry said after the business or home owner e-mails them, they send them a questionnaire, which will determine whether the group wants to go forward with an investigation. The investigations are free and at no cost to clients.

"We hope no one thinks we are there to speak to spirits," Carry said. "That's what our main fear is."

After the pre-screening, they will set up a face-to-face interview and set up a time to investigate. The group said they would prefer that no minors are present during the investigations.

When asked what the purpose of the group, Carry said they hope to get answers for people who have experienced something.

"I know it sounds very odd," Carry said. "It's different, but it's very interesting and it's something everybody secretly wants to know."

Carry, who has a degree is psychology, said for those who believe they are experiencing paranormal activity it could be their emotions, or sometimes stress can cause people to see things that may not be there.

"So many things can affect the psyche," Carry said.

But the Shamblins and Barrett do hope to see something.

"They say for believers no proof is needed, and for skeptics no proof is sufficient," Carry said.

She added that if they can find an explanation, they are more likely to blame it on that than a paranormal experience.

The Shamblins pointed out that all investigations they conduct will be confidential. They hope to post any evidence they find on their Web site, but only with permission from the client.

But if they don't find any evidence, the ghost stories would be worth it, Shawn said. "Evidence is hard to come by, from watching shows and stuff."

The Shamblins and Barrett are now collecting ghost stories of their own. Those visiting their Web site can anonymously post their own ghost stories, which Carry hopes that sometime in the future could be used for a book.

"It is completely something nobody wants to admit they find that interesting," Carry said. "But I don't know of anybody who doesn't like a good story."

Shawn said most people they have talked to think it is neat.

"People are interested," Carry said. "Why not feed that interest?"

For more information about the group, visit their Web site at www.eorvps.com or e-mail them at dbarrett@eorvps.com or ghs@eorvps.com.

The article above was found on Google and was published originally on Sequoyah County Times