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Robert Hunnicutt looks for answers to
questions that some people are afraid - or too embarrassed - to
ask.
Hunnicutt is a ghost hunter.
Six years ago he formed the Georgia
Ghost Society, a non-profit organization that uses a combination of
historical research, an array of equipment, hours of interviews and
dedicated teamwork to determine if and perhaps why a location is
haunted.
Based in Macon, Hunnicutt and his
team of volunteers do not charge fro their work nor are they
sponsored. They all have other jobs - Hunnicutt works for a "large
telecommunications company" - yet this is as much more than just a
hobby. He owns all the equipment the team uses and he is quick to
point out, none of it is even remotely like what is portrayed in
many Hollywood movies. "We don't have a beam that shoots out of a
big silver machine that traps spirits and puts them in a box," he
laughs.
'Now, I know you think I'm crazy
but...'
A job starts with an interview with
the family or person who has been experiencing strange,
unexplainable phenomenon. "People wait a long time, sometimes too
long, to call on us because of the stigma associated with thinking
that your house is haunted," Hunnicutt said. "Almost always the
first thing that they say is 'Now, I know you are going to thing
that I am crazy but...They aren't crazy but unexplained happenings
in their home can so disrupt a person or family that they think they
are going crazy."
Another of Hunnicutt's biggest
obstacles is the perception people have of what he does. "People
think ghost hunters are teenagers hanging out in graveyards," he
said. "What we do could not be further from that."
Hunnicutt's team discusses the
situations, does some additional research based on information given
by the property owner and sets up a visit to the location. Then the
high tech equipment comes out. Cameras, video and audio equipment,
thermometers (yes, he says, there is a temperature drop in an area
that a ghost occupies), negative ion detectors and other equipment
for the on-site research. The equipment helps to first determine if
the phenomenon occurring are natural - a door that opens and closes
because of a drop or increase in humidity or temperature or creaks
and cracks that occur because of a naturally settling older house.
And the answer may not be answered on the first visit. "Sometimes
we have to come back two or three times," he said. "Ghosts won't be
seen if they don't want someone to see or experience them."
Invisible
Playmate
Hunnicutt gets calls
from a mix of individuals, families and business owners but says a
lot of hauntings are often associated with older homes and
properties - particularly those with a past. He recalls a case in
South Carolina where parents often noticed their toddler child
sitting on the edge of her bed carrying on a conversation with
someone - but no one was there. It was thought to be the spirit of
an elderly man who had died in the house. The parents were afraid
that the child, who room was on the second floor, would follow the
entity, which children often see as playmates, off the balcony or
climb out a window and fall. Hunnicutt says children and pets -
particular dogs and cats - are very perceptive to ghosts. He's
often asked about dogs that seem to be watching something or will,
for no reason, appear to follow something into another room or down
a hallway. "And the invisible friends that children often have may
not always be so invisible to them," Hunnicutt notes.
Some Playful,
Some Hateful
There are benevolent
ghosts, those that just hang around in a playful manner and there
are the not-so-friendly or malevolent spirits that can wreak havoc
on a location and the person or persons living or working there. If
a haunting turns out to be unwelcome and disruptive Hunnicutt
directs the family or individual to its own church leader or to an
Anglican priest associates with the Georgia Ghost Society. He and
his team do not take an active part in ridding the location of the
spirit or haunting.
There Are Many
Skeptics
Hunnicutt's first
encounter with a haunting occurred when he was living in Tucson and
a member of a local theater group. "There was some talk of ghosts
being in the theater," he said. "But I never experienced anything
until one night when I went to the wardrobe department and a woman
was there sewing. I didn't pay any attention to her, put my costume
up and when I turned around, she was gone." Hunnicutt learned later
that the woman had worked there for many years and had died some
time ago. "I started doing research but had a lot of questions that
books didn't answer," he said.
He's still looking to
answers and is keenly aware there are many skeptics who think his
work is a bunch of hooey. "I learned a long time ago that people
would believe what they want to believe and there was little I could
do to change that. It's not my job or place to convince these
people," he said. "But when you visit a family that is too afraid
to sleep in their own bedrooms and huddle up together every night
because of what is going on in their house, you begin to see that
there are things out there that can't always be explained." And
does he ever get just plain scared? "Absolutely," he says quickly.
"I've been in places that made my hair feel like it was standing on
end. If you do this kind of thing and don't get scared from time to
time, you don't know what you're dealing with. Few people can stand
in a completely dark room alone, feel something bump into you or
brush against you - and not get scared."
Coming across
a ghost in person is the quickest way to form an opinion on the
matter. So though Macon may never embrace its chilling apparitions,
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