October 31,2005
Downtown McAllen: Oct. 4, 11:30 p.m.

The fluorescent sign outside the Rio Hotel no longer works, but floats above the sidewalk on Chicago Street. A small group has clustered outside the boarded-up hotel door; some speak in low voices while others crack jokes about what might be inside.

"You have to try to get the jitters out," says paranormal investigator George Acosta. "If we don’t unwind, it can come back and bite us. First, you joke a little bit, then you say a prayer, and then you’re ready for action."

Acosta and partners Victor Perez and Mike Pierce, who make up RGV Paranormal Investigators International, are about to lead a ghost hunt into the abandoned hotel. Opened in the 1920s and closed in the ’80s, the hotel played host to drug and gang-related activity, including violent murders. Currently, the building is home to the Halloween haunted house Scream Faktor.

"I’m a little freaked out right now," says Suanne Laughlin, a co-worker of Pierce’s and a first-time ghost hunter. "I don’t know what’s going to happen."

11:50 p.m.
Perez, the trio’s psychic, gathers the group into what vaguely resembles a pre-game huddle to go over the rules.

"I don’t know what you were expecting when you came, but you won’t see Chucky with knives," he says. "If we did see him, believe me, I’d be the first one out of here. Also, when I tell you to take a picture, take a picture. Chances are you’ll get something. Speak in a moderate voice. Don’t whisper because it can contaminate the tapes. We try to keep this as scientific as possible."

Paranormal investigating equipment varies from group to group. Perez uses dowsing rods, two L-shaped brass rods that locate energy and assess how strong it is. Pierce, the self-described "tech guy," also brings digital and cassette recorders, electromagnetic field detectors and digital thermometers, which detect hot and cold spots where a spirit might be present. The recorders catch EVPs, he said, or Electronic Voice Phenomena, in which spirits speak on played-back tapes.

Pierce, who became a ghost hunting and EVP enthusiast a year ago, pulls the equipment from his trunk and looks to Perez.

"You ready, man?" he asks. "Let’s do it."

The nine people congregate again, each person putting a hand on a neighbor’s shoulder. Acosta leads them in prayer, then Pierce and Perez lead them into the dark.

According to Pete Haviland of Lone Star Spirits in Houston, many people have experienced paranormal activity.

"We’ve all had weird stuff happen, and we need an objective point of view sometimes," he said. "These experiences happen to everyday people from all walks of life."

Leslie Nowell, of Dallas-based Texas Paranormal Investigations, said many people try to play off hauntings as paranoia or flukes.

"People are scared of the unknown," she said. "We’ve been told all our lives these things don’t exist. You have to totally shift your belief system to comprehend what’s going on, and people doubt themselves. Besides, who are you going to call?"

Actually, there are plenty of people eager to investigate suspicious activity: a Google search for "paranormal investigators" returns over 300,000 hits. Texas has a fair share of ghost hunters, with organizations in Houston, Dallas, Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley.

Whether ghosts can hurt you is debatable. Nowell said in 12 years she has never met anyone hurt by a ghost, although it may be possible.

"I’ve seen people hurt themselves trying to get away, but I’ve never seen a ghost do any physical harm," she said.

According to Pierce and Perez, ghosts have the potential to do anything, from pinching leg hairs to slapping you on the wrist, an experience Pierce said he had on his first ghost hunt.

"It felt like someone had whipped me," he said. "It turned red, then purple like a bruise. The next morning, it was gone."

In the investigations he has conducted for the International Society for Paranormal Research in California, Larry Montz said he’s experienced almost everything, including a shove down a flight of stairs.

"If an entity can move a chair, then wouldn’t they have the ability to push someone downstairs?" he said. "Sure they would. You’re just dealing with a really pissed off person."

What a ghost is has also been disputed in the paranormal community. Montz said "entities" are people without bodies who have stayed behind for a reason. Michelle DePaul of Mystic Ghosts Paranormal Investigations in Dallas said "ghosts" are leftover energy from a departed soul and appear as "orbs," "mist" or "ectoplasm" in pictures and recordings.

"Energy can never be destroyed," she said. "We are energy. We leave our physical bodies at some point, but our energy survives."

While you can’t destroy it, ways to rid a home or person of a ghost range from prayer to lighting candles to using mediums to guide "crossing over." It’s hard to describe or even demonstrate how these things are done, said Montz, which breeds skepticism.

"Do you go to church and see God?" he said. "Do you see the air you breathe? No, but it’s still there."

Because there is no concrete proof ghosts exists, DePaul said many people remain unconvinced.

"If I feel something, unless you experience it, I can’t make you believe it," she said.

1 a.m.
"I’ve picked up some really bad vibes," Perez tells Pierce as they round a corner. "Get your tape recorders ready."

"Did he just say bad vibes?" Laughlin asked from the back. "Oh, nice."

The group gathers around a bed, part of a scene in the haunted house. Pierce puts a tape recorder on the sagging mattress as the group asks questions out loud.

"What’s your name?"

"How old are you?"

"Are you scared of the dark?"

Silence is the response, but hopefully later, the tapes will have answers, said Pierce.

2:30 a.m.
After nearly three hours, Perez, Pierce and Acosta call it quits. They are the only people left; the six thrill-seekers who began the search left at different intervals, citing degrees of curfew and fatigue. Each time someone left, Acosta prayed with them so ghosts didn’t follow them home.

The verdict for the people who came on the trip was mixed. Laughlin said she wasn’t sure what she believed.

"I just got the chills," she said before her 1 a.m. departure. "I don’t know if it’s because I’m just scared or what."

Roger Benavidez, one of the last to leave, felt differently.

"This isn’t my first time, I’ve gone out with them before," he said. "I’m a believer."

Kate Lohnes covers features and entertainment for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4427.

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