Ghost hunters converge on Osceola Inn

Mardi Suhs | Cadillac News Timothy Harte of the Mesa Project became interested in paranormal phenomena. Now he would like to become a leading investigator in the field using scientific methods. He sets up sensors to measure the environment.

REED CITY - Ghost hunters welcomed me with open arms Sunday, allowing me to prowl all three floors of the Osceola Inn, which is closed for renovations.

The day looked promising before the doors were even unlocked when Tim Harte of the MESA project, a scientist who measures electromagnetic fields with analog and digital sensors, reported that he saw an apparition in white move through the lobby while he was peeking through the windows.

When general manager Bruce Krouse arrived to let us in, he told a couple of his own stories. He has heard a voice speak over the loudspeaker and has seen doors mysteriously open and close.

The group, comprised of about a dozen amateur paranormal investigators, was ready to be unleashed. They began setting up equipment, including video and digital cameras, digital audio recorders and Harte's MESA machine.

As we toured the second and third floors, members of the group began to comment on the many feelings they were having.

On the second floor Linda Sarna of Ghost Hunters Official Surveillance Team (GRS) doubled over.

"I know somebody is present," she said. "It felt like they were pushing me out."

Next we next moved to room 207 where Michelle Hajdu of Marion previously recorded the "My name is Jason" voice. Feeling no energy there, we proceeded to the third floor. Sherry Morrow of GRS had an apparition when she passed the linen room. She saw a woman in white bending over the shelves.

Morrow, a nuclear medicine technologist, assured me that the group was not hallucinatory and added that she has heard and felt things her entire life. These experiences used to frighten her, but after her mother's death she feels free to explore what was happening to her. She stated that her mother is protecting her from "over there."

I didn't see, feel, hear or sense anything ghostly. I was more interested in nosing around the old hotel, which I found endlessly fascinating. There were three entire floors filled with stuff and clutter. The hot dusty hallways held vintage radios, an old phonograph player and two authentic suits of armor standing guard.

Since the day ended, hours of video and audio recordings are still being examined, but the group unanimously agreed that they day was a success.

"It showed some kind of ghost activity," Sarna reported. "Harte got some magnetic readings and it looked like someone was walking around that room."

The strangest thing for me is that my e-mail communications with Harte are suddenly undeliverable, when last week there was no problem. Maybe someone out there doesn't want me to publish his findings.

"I don't know if I believe in ghosts," Harte explained earlier that day, "but I know that people have strange experiences because I have had them myself. I want to see how the energy interacts with your brain and your mind."

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