By Brittany Holian
Round Table reporter
Do you believe in spirits, orbs, or paranormal activity? Members from SIGHT, the Scientific Investigations of Ghosts and Hauntings Team, made many students reconsider that question during their presentation in Jerry Donald’s fourth block Philosophy of Knowledge class.
The SIGHT headquarters is in Hagerstown, MD and the organization has been actively involved in business, private, and museum investigations for four years. This is their third visit to Middletown High School.
The team of four ghost hunters, Angela Souders, Bonnie Morin, Anvannoy and Frank Maietta; shared theories regarding spiritual shapes and permeation, which is when a ghost or spirit passes though a person’s body. They also showed the students how data is collected through infrared settings on a camcorder and electromagnetic field detectors.
“Everything we use has batteries or plugs in; we don’t use Ouija boards,” said Souders.
The students experienced live infrared video streaming and identified how to tell the difference between dust and a spiritual orb.
“We eliminate the normal before we move to the paranormal,” said Morin.
According to SIGHT investigators, dust scatters easily and is translucent on film, whereas a spiritual orb is opaque and has a “pulsing double membrane.”
SIGHT members told intriguing stories of investigations and showed video clips and pictures of spiritual encounters. Toward the end of the presentation, the students were given the opportunity to ask questions.
Although the stories and footage was very believable, a feeling of skepticism hung in the air.
“I expect you to question everything I say or you wouldn’t be a philosophy class,” said Souders.
The questions in most minds revolved around photo shopping and other ways of presenting misleading data with the technological advancements available now.
“You have to have faith in the people who do the work,” said Morin.
Students in Mr. Donald’s class had their own beliefs after the presentation.
“If you think about it, there has to be a realistic explanation to everything, it seems silly to me,” said MHS senior Brendan Chittick.
“I think they were butchering science in a way that’s disgraceful. Using scientific instruments in a non-scientific way is not science,” said MHS senior Chris Resnick.
The SIGHT investigators led a discussion on paranormal activity that sent chills down some spines, and induced eye-rolls for others. Maietta puts it simply,
“Everyone has their own beliefs and views. Just because one person doesn’t believe won’t change us; we’ve had too many experiences not to believe.”
The choice is yours.
