Ghost hunters seek the spirits at Gainesville Library

GAINESVILLE - Another Ghost Hunting 101, and a ghost hunt, is set for the Hall County Library's downtown Gainesville branch two weeks from now.<br /> <br /> Library assistant Gabriele Koecher said the 20-person application list filled up quickly.<br /> <br /> "We do not have any other class that fills up within a two or three day time frame," Koecher said. "They're interested in things they can't explain."<br /> <br /> Saturday, October 4th, beginning at 5:30 p.m. participants will join the Southeastern Institute of Paranormal Research for a two-hour class, then the group will seek the spirits said to haunt the library. Each participant gets a notebook at the beginning of the class and updates on what the investigators find after the Ghost Hunt. <br /> <br /> Paranormal Research founder Denise Roffe explained why the Ghost Hunt participation list filled up well before the September 27th deadline.<br /> <br /> "The interest here is because of the evidence we've had in the past that's come about because of our investigation," Roffe said. "It's a very active location."<br /> <br /> Roffe said during a June ghost hunt there were several supernatural encounters.<br /> <br /> "We have seen shadows and shadow people," Roffe added. "We've also encountered whistling, it sounds like a man whistling, but it can't be attributed to anyone present."<br /> <br /> Roffe has been a paranormal investigator for about 16 years, and she formed her own group six years ago to search for spirits in the Atlanta area. Roffe published her first book on the paranormal two years ago entitled "Ghosts and Legends of Charleston, South Carolina."<br /> <br /> The class covers four different topics, including the equipment she and her team uses, and it's pretty sophisticated. Each member of her nine- member team carries audio and video equipment that ranges from light sensitive cameras to digital recorders to temperature sensors.<br /> <br /> Participants get an education on different kinds of haunting, evidence and spiritual gifts associated with haunting. Roffe said it takes about three weeks to process what they gather with their detection equipment during a one and a half hour investigative session. No one is sure why there is evidence the library is haunted. In the 19th Century, the library site was a home place; in the back a hotel once stood, and across the street there supposedly was a cemetery.<br /> <br /> "We find that historical properties have more activity," Roffe said.<br /> <br /> "Places like hotels, theatres and libraries seem to be more active as well."<br />