Ghost Hunters
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[You can believe or not believe the recorded spikes in energy levels from their electromagnetic meter or the errant light orbs on their video tapes that have no other reason to be there.
But, according to N.I.G.H.T ghost hunting team members Corey Liszewski, Brock Styninger and Cody Gill "when the hair stands up on your arms and the back of your neck and the chill goes through you" the feeling that you are not alone is undendiable.
Two years out of high school, the three Nashville High School graduates formed N.I.G.H.T (Nashville, Illinois Ghost Hunting Team) in 2009 as an extension of their interest in the paranormal.
What makes their love credible is the fact that none of the three cares if you believe them, nor do they try to convince you that there's "something" out there.
This isn't Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis driving around with a ghost painted on the side of a "woody" station wagon and Sigourney Weaver floating in the air (Ghost Busters 1984).
These are three young men (two headed into law enforcement and the third just back frm the army) who chose their paranormal hobby over video games or chess.
Decades ago nurses--long gone or retired-- swear they heard a child's wimper coming from the upstairs nursery in the old, original Marshall Browning Hospital. That building is gone.
Off and on, employees of the Du Quoin State Fair say they could feel the presence of the late W.R. Hayes around them. Depending upon how keen your periferal vision is, some say you could see the eyes on his portrait follow you across the room.
Corey has been to the Original Hot Springs Hotel in Okawville with famed Illinoius ghost hunter Troy Hunter and witnessed first-hand how creepy the place is.
There are repeated sightings of an apparition there known as the Lady in White. This entity is a woman with a willowy form dressed in a turn of the century or early 1900's white dress with a high waist, always wearing a large hat which hid part of her face. Corey has witnessed how frightening that popular haunt can be.
Some of his other experiences: " I saw a shadow overshadow my shadow on a wall and there was no one there. I saw chairs fly across the room," he said. His tone was very sobering as he talked about the experience.
They talk about their first experiences as ghost hunters--a staircase with a knee-high railing leading to attic rooms on the right and on the left at the top of the stairs. "Which one do we pick?"
Without knowing what was behind each door, each had an inclination to pick the door on the right. "We went inside and there was this heavy sense of dread and gloom--and it was cold in there," remembers Brock. Just behind the door on the left it was warmer and more inviting. Why?
The owner of the home was named Jessie who had two daughters. They believe the difference in rooms has something to do with his daughter, Jessie.
"Once you start this, it's hard to stop," says Cody.
"There is a lot of motivation to keep doing this."
The word "ghost" is what Brock calls "a street name" for the paranormal. It's about the energy of things both living and dead. You can understand the energy from the living. "When someone dies, where does the energy go?" asks Corey."The dead latch onto the energy around them. That's what you feel. That's why the hair stands up on your arms."
"No equipment can compare to your sixth sense about this," says Brock. "Our goal is not to turn people into believers," says Cody. Is the paranormal in conflict with religion?
"What we do backs up religion," says Brock.
For more information go to N.I.G.H.T.'s Web site at http://www.nashvilleillinoisghosthuntingteam.com/Home.html.