East Tennessean

Issue date: 10/29/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Travis Brown/East Tennessean East Tennessean photographer Travis Brown depicts himself in a ghostly light inside Gilbreath Hall, which is considered by some to be one of the most haunted buildings on campus.

Have you ever heard strange noises in the dark or felt a chilling presence in Lucille Clement dorm?
That may be because it is the most haunted building on ETSU's campus, according to Robert Rushing, the president of the newly established ghost walking club at ETSU.
Rushing has been hunting ghosts with the group for a few years now. Ghost Walkers became officially recognized as a university organization two weeks ago. There are 13 members who travel to haunted sites around the area in search of ghosts.
"We search for tangible evidence to help the science evolve," said Rushing.
Rushing, along with two other members in the club, are metaphysical practitioners. They go to sites and search with equipment such as digital audio recorders and night shot cameras to detect evidence of the paranormal. One way of detecting entities or ghosts is to look and feel for "cold spots."
"Entities absorb energy from gases to manifest, making the air cold," Rushing said.
The club searches for signs of the paranormal all around the area, but some don't have to look too far. Hailey Wix and Bethany Eldrige are roommates in Lucille Clement. They claim to have a ghost haunting their room.
"I have a magnifying mirror in the room that the ghost turns off and on, once when I had it unplugged it was rapping on the mirror," Wix said. "After I plugged it back up, the rapping stopped."
The haunting goes farther than flashing lights.
"I had a plate of lasagna on my bed ready to be eaten, and nothing was touching it and the plate just flipped upside down and hit the floor," Eldrige said.
Rumors similar to these have circulated for years. Now, thanks to the Ghost Walkers, these rumors can be documented and tested for authenticity.
The club recently went on an introductory investigation to the Sensabau Tunnel in Bristol, Tenn.
"We took the new members to wet their appetite," Rushing said. "You could feel a magnetic pull in the tunnel, as if the ghost did not want us there. We also heard whimpering and laughing that was all recorded on our audio recorder."

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