Paranormal business is picking up in the suburbs

Does your house creak at night? Relax. It's just the foundation settling. Are you randomly hit by patches of cold air? Move away from the air-conditioning vent.

But if your toaster flies at you from across the room, you may want to call the ghostbusters, or as they like to be called, paranormal investigators.

While your phone book may not be overflowing with listings, many local ghost hunters say the popularity of their craft has been heightened in recent years by television and the Internet.

Whether it's searching for the cause of dancing lights and shadowy figures at Naperville Cemetery or debunking the myth of decapitated students at Independence Grove Forest Preserve near Libertyville, these apparition agents say they've never been busier than in recent years.

"Everyone has seen the ('Ghostbusters') movies, and that's fun," said Henry Pena, founder of the Chicago Ghost Hunters Society. "But when the show on the Sci-Fi Channel kicked off and showed regular people like you and I hunting real ghosts, the phone started ringing. They want to see what we're all about."

For some ghost hunters, it's the thrill of chasing the unseen. Others just want to communicate with the "other side." Still others are just plain curious.

Ursula Bielski, founder of Chicago Hauntings Tours and paranormal author, said she had a few haunted experiences growing up in Wrigleyville but never thought anything of it.

As a young girl, she also was intrigued by stories from her family members, but it wasn't until studying at what is now Lisle's Benedictine University in the mid-1980s that she found her calling.

Bielski said she was studying the cultural and historical interactions between science and religion when she met a man who introduced her to the study of parapsychology.

"For his studies, he would investigate haunted places with cameras, a compass to record changes in electromagnetic fields, and a tape recorder," Bielski said. "Most people didn't even know it was a legitimate degree at the time, but I was fascinated."

Eventually the young man let her accompany him to an overnight investigation on Easter 1987 at the former Red Lion Pub in Lincoln Park.

"We stayed until about 5 a.m. and experienced nothing unusual except that the plug for the tape recorder kept falling out of the wall. We know most ghosts don't like to be recorded, but we didn't think much of it," she said.

"So just when we're packing up to leave, this tape recorder flew three feet in the air and smashed to pieces in the wall. I was totally hooked after that," she said.

Paranormal investigator Janeen Ramirez discovered the paranormal at a much earlier age. She said her mother "passed the gift down" and she has continued to interact with "the other side." She now runs Nitey-Nite Ghost Tours in the South suburbs and investigates claims of the paranormal across Cook, DuPage and Kane counties with a team of seven other investigators.

"We call ourselves beacons because, like a light, the spirits are attracted to us," she said. "A few of our investigators are sensitive to the paranormal, and one in particular is borderline medium clairvoyant. She quickly picks up on names and images tied into the place we are investigating."

According to the investigators, your basic investigation tools include an electromagnetic field (EMF) reader, a tape or video recorder, a compass, night vision goggles and, most importantly, an open mind.

"It's really a pretty simple toolbox that investigators have," Bielski said. "But because of TV and the movies, people expect you to come into the investigation with special, more scientific equipment."

Everyone that takes Diane Ladley's Ghost Tours of Naperville gets a turn using the EMF meter to see if they experience any cold spots.

"Us ghost hunters know the thrill of the meters going crazy when we find something, so it's important to let our guests try it, too, and see if they get lucky," Ladley said. "We get most activity right in front of Pfeiffer Hall at North Central College when old Charlie Yellow Boots (who legend has it was a custodian who hanged himself) gets active. When he gets going, those meters go crazy for 10 to 20 seconds at a time."

Despite the hands-on approach many of the investigators take when leading their commercial tours, they're still an easy target for skeptics.

"The most typical fare is a woman who is a firm believer who drags along a man who thinks it's the stupidest thing ever," Bielski said.

"But it is what it is, and some of those nonbelievers have left an investigation or tour believing much differently than they did when they got here."

In Naperville, Ladley said she encounters many skeptics, but she's OK with that.

"I have no problem with skeptics because many of my stories are true personal encounters or Naperville's own legends, so I let it be known I'm there for entertainment and education in Naperville history," she said. "Personally, I always try to keep an open mind, but not so open that my brain falls out."

When it comes to actual investigations, however, Ramirez said it's important to have the naysayers involved. She keeps at least two on her investigative team.

"You need to have someone there to challenge you and keep you focused, from getting too caught up in something that may not be there," she said. "But it is cool when they see enough to become believers."

1. Arlington Heights

When driving late on Algonquin Road near Square Barn Road, the ghosts of two children have been reported to run in front of cars. Legend says they are running from two men and a woman that are believed to have killed them years ago.

2. Barrington

White Memorial Cemetery is located just east of Old Barrington Road on Cuba Road. White spirit orbs have been seen hovering near the gates and over the road surface. On a few occasions the orbs seem to follow cars and then suddenly disappear. There also have been reports of people seeing a phantom car driving past the cemetery and disappearing into thin air.

3. Bartlett

Legend says that if you park your car on Munger Road at or near the railroad tracks and put it in neutral, the car will be pushed across the tracks by the ghosts of small children that were killed in an accident on those very tracks. After being pushed across the tracks, finger and hand prints appear.

4. Glen Ellyn

The former site of Maryknoll Seminary College near Route 53 and Roosevelt Road is the subject of several reports of paranormal activities. Legend says a monk who hanged himself in the bell tower frequently haunts the grounds. There is another spirit of a minister that has appeared before congregation members, touched their cheeks and then disappeared.

5. Libertyville

The legend says a school house once stood on River Road near Independence Grove Forest Preserve and a crazed man entered it and killed the children and their teacher. He decapitated some of the children and took their heads to the gate in front of the school and placed them on the sharp points of the iron gate. People who have gone back to the gate have reported hearing the sounds of children crying and seeing the heads on the gate.

6. Lisle

Benedictine University along Maple Avenue is believed to host a large amount of paranormal activity. Several apparitions have been seen all over the campus. There is the ghost of a young boy wearing shorts and a blue shirt that is seen at all times of the year.

7. Lisle

People have reported seeing the spirits of young children in Benedictine University's Jaeger Hall. TVs, radios and lights have been known to turn off and on by themselves, often occurring in the middle of the night.

8. Palatine

Legend says that in the 1970s a girl drowned in the deep end of Fremd High School's swimming pool. The girls locker room door opens and closes by itself. A swimsuit has been seen floating in the pool and when people try to retrieve it the water gets ice cold and the suit disappears.

9. St. Charles

People sitting in Arcada Theatre's balcony have reported hearing disembodied voices and smelling a very strange odor. In several spots in the building people have reported feeling moving cold spots.

10. Wadsworth

The Gold Pyramid House is a 1/100th scale reproduction of the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt. In 1986, large hordes of black birds would attack anyone using the north entrance to the Chariot Room. In ancient Egypt, legends say that black birds protected the north entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamen. There are many believers in the ancient powers of pyramidology that have felt the energy at the north wall.