Paranormal pair investigate perennial mysteries

In 1848, sisters Maggie and Kate Fox of upstate New York convinced their mother and a neighbor that a dead man was communicating with them by rapping on their bedroom wall. The event was just the beginning of their long career (with their oldest sister, Leah, a purported medium) demonstrating to believing audiences their ability to communicate with spirits. The Civil War with its immense casualties drove Americans to seek comfort in speaking again to departed loved ones and by the 1920s, spiritualism was at its height as the mourning once again sought those who perished in the Great War and the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Anthony and Lydia Guzman

The claims of a reality outside normal channels of perception, the “paranormal,” did not go unstudied. In 1881 Edmund Dawson Rogers founded the Society for Psychical research in England and an American version was founded just four years later. Those institutions approached extraordinary experience scientifically, but their work was not publically well-known. In the popular media, though, the celebrity status of someone like Harry Houdini, who actively sought the debunking of mediums, contrasted sharply with the opinion of Sherlock Holmes’ creator Arthur Conan Doyle, that J.B. Rhine, author of an article exposing the renowned Boston medium Mina Crandon, was “an ass.”

A review of television offerings from the last decade shows that America is as fascinated with the paranormal as ever. Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures feature teams of investigators armed with the latest technical gear staking out and documenting so-called unexplained phenomena all across America, from abandoned prisons and hospitals, to private homes and haunted hotels. Another genre features eyewitnesses who, with the aid of actors and re-creations recount their encounters with the unknown.

In the age of the Internet, with its ability to easily share experiences and connect with people of like minds, it is no surprise that one of our oldest fascinations should make up a substantial segment of the online community. Moreover, the skeptic/believer divide generates enough controversy that many decide seek the truth for themselves. Spurred by their TV counterparts, amateur research and investigation groups (ARIGs) have proliferated. Researcher Sharon Hill studied the ARIG phenomenon in 2010 and easily assembled a list of 1600 web addresses.

For some, the pursuit is about the thrill of the hunt and erstwhile fame, but for others there is at stake a true desire to know the source of electronic voice phenomena (EVPs), disembodied voices, unexplained footsteps and other activity accredited to the paranormal. That is where investigators like Newark residents Anthony and Lydia Guzman (an IT tech and HR Analyst, respectively) enter the paranormal picture.

As a child and then a teen, Lydia had unusual experiences in the Lake Tahoe cabin where she  and her parents on vacationed every summer. Heavy footsteps and the sound of dragged furniture were a common occurrence, and even her parents heard the racket, accusing Lydia of making the noises herself. Lydia herself was accused by her parents of making the noise. When she began watching Ghost Hunters in 2005, it had an effect on her husband Anthony. He wanted to know where all the voices were coming from and the lack of answers was frustrating. “Every time these guys were asked where these voices came from, the answer was ‘I don’t know.’ As a computer tech, I have to have answers for everything, and ‘I don’t know’ isn’t an option.”

Anthony and Lydia run the Ghost Explorers website where they receive investigation requests. About half the people are like those on TV, scared and even frantic. “The other half,” says Lydia, “are people calling because they just need a reality check. They aren’t quite sure what they’re experiencing is real.” Because humans are susceptible to misinterpreting the environment and their own senses, “you have to be something of a psychologist,” says Anthony. “A lot of the time it’s about understanding the person.”

Understanding humans has meant that where once Anthony and Lydia would assemble their team for every call, they’ve become more deliberate in their approach to clients. “We can learn a lot from the initial phone interview,” says Lydia. When there is some possibility phenomena have a natural explanation, Anthony has the client keep a journal for a couple of weeks. Often, careful observation reveals the explanation, but if the situation persists, Anthony has details to inform the course of investigation.

Drama is front and center for TV’s paranormal investigators, but the reality is more mundane. “Our investigations are the other end of the earth from what you’re seeing on TV,” says Anthony. The pair doesn’t have the benefit of the obligatory TV montage where all the cameras are suddenly in place. “It takes forever to set up all the equipment,” says Lydia.

One of the most active locations the team has visited is the former headquarters of the Livermore Downtown Association. While Lydia sat in front of a bolted closet door, it suddenly burst open, the very activity that triggered the investigation. On the simultaneous audio from the next room, a clear cackle of a woman could be heard. Questions aimed at the entity suggested strongly that it knew the names of two of the women in the office. “That made them very unhappy,” says Lydia.

Evidence is tricky and isn’t always as obvious as a door flying open by itself; analyzing it requires an open mind, but a thoughtful approach. The Guzmans have high standards, and Anthony chiefly relies on video and digital audio capture. Even though electro-magnetic field (EMF) detectors are popular with most ARIGs, their value in detecting spirits is only a conjecture, and unconvincing evidence doesn’t get a pass. “When in doubt, toss it out,” says Anthony.

Skeptics claim a lack of scientific rigor for ARIG practices, but Anthony responds with his own proposal: “I would like to find a location that has good documented evidence and just do a continuous long term project.” There, hypotheses could be tested under repeatable conditions. Until then, Anthony and Lydia are happy to be a “second set of eyes an ears” for those who need their help.