The Alexander City Outlook

Everyday ghost hunters

Local paranormal investigators attempt to explain the inexplicable

Jay Johns of Alexander City has been attempting to explain the inexplicable his entire life.

Johns founded the Paranormal Investigation Society of Central Alabama in 2000, and he and his team have attempted to debunk claims of hauntings and other paranormal activity for more than a decade.

PISCA will be heading up several ghost tours across the state of Alabama in the coming weeks.

“We’ll give the history behind (the place) and do a standard investigation where you go in with flashlights and voice recorders,” Johns said. “After the tour is over we’ll give away spots to do an overnight investigation.”

Johns said PISCA seeks a logical explanation for all supposed hauntings, and if an explanation cannot be found the group will help the client until they come up with a solution.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time there’s always an explanation for everything that goes on,” Johns said.  “When you think ‘paranormal,’ all it means is something that’s above the realm of possibility.”

Johns said he first developed an interest in the paranormal as a child.

“My sister had stuff happening to her when I was growing up,” Johns said. “She’d be bawling, but no one believed her. It got to a point where it was so bad that my family had to pick up and move.

“We felt like if she was going through it, there were other people experiencing the same thing and had no one to turn to,” Johns said.

Johns said he and his colleagues – Frank Johns, Scott Johns, Bryant Ladson, Evan Caldwell and Jesse Strickland – now seek out areas that others claim are haunted and try to help people like his sister who may be experiencing the paranormal. All PISCA investigations are free of charge.

Johns said, however, the team tries to approach every investigation scientifically.

“We lean toward the skeptical view of it,” Johns said.

According to the PISCA website (www.piscaonline.com), between four and six investigators will visit a client’s home, gathering evidence for between two and eight hours. The group pledges “not (to) stop helping you until the activity has stopped,” as stated on its website.

Johns said they use various types of equipment to thoroughly search an area or residence for signs of the paranormal, including an infrared camera, K-II meters, voice recorders, a thermal meter, a Hi-8 recorder and even a taser.

“The taser is what we use to put energy into the air,” Johns said. “The whole point is the cold spots you feel are a spirit pulling energy out of the air, so hopefully the taser will help it manifest.”

Johns said they have done several investigations over the years, in the Alexander City and Dadeville areas over the past decade, but most have turned up little to no evidence of the paranormal.

“We did an investigation at StillWaters but didn’t catch anything in there,” Johns said. “We did one in Goodwater a few weekends ago but didn’t get anything there either.”

Johns said some of the best evidence gathered at an investigation came from Harper Hill Church and cemetery in Camp Hill in 2000 – their first investigation as a group.

“We had heard about it being haunted and decided ourselves to investigate it,” Johns said.

Scott Johns said though the group’s investigations are nothing like what is shown in movies like the Paranormal Activity series, that doesn’t mean the team’s work isn’t providing a valuable service.

“Just because you’ve never seen it … doesn’t mean it isn’t there,” Scott Johns said. “If you don’t believe in something, you’re going to have reasons to disprove it. You go from belief to scientific proof. A lot of people want a fact. But if you don’t believe it, you’re never going to witness it.”

Potential clients can contact PISCA at www.piscaonline.com/help or visit the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/piscaonline.