Step by step I walked to the building, gazing at the white wrapping that encased it. “This can’t be real. Ghosts are not real, and this is going to be a waste of my time,” I thought as I walked down the street. “Guess we will see.” 

Across the street two bars raged with the typical Friday crowd; glasses clinked and music pounded the street, yet this building stood silent. Past the first bar, across the street, and into the alley waited four figures: the paranormal investigators we were meeting to conduct an investigation for the Museum of Idaho’s annual Haunted History Tour.

 As we approached we called to the one in a red jacket. “Scott Brian?”  He replied, “That’s me. You guys the reporters?” We nodded and approached the team. After a minute of greetings, we opened the steel door and entered the haunting dark of the Hasbrook Building. 

Dusty. Dark. Cold. These are just a few words to describe the building. The building opened up to a large corridor with a second story balcony overlooking the main floor. As I observed my surroundings, I listened to Scott explain the set up: four cameras sit in the corners of the building and six microphones lay sitting on stacks of lumber or strapped to 2×4’s that held up the structure. Each corner had 1 trait: one had stairs that went up, one had stairs that went down, one had the electrical box and the computers Scott had set up, and the other corner was blocked in by a small gate. The sounds of the bars permeated the otherwise silent night.

We walked to the monitors where I saw a live feed from all four cameras. As I glanced over at the monitors, Scott grabbed a small device. The device had a handle, five lights ranging from green to yellow to red, and a power button. He turned on the device, a K2 meter, and one green light lit up, signifying that the device was on. He waved it in the air, and nothing changed. As he put it to the electrical box, however, the first three lights flared up, luminating the room with green and orange. As he moved the device away, the readings went back to normal. He was showing us how the sensor reacted to electromagnetic currents invisible to the naked eye.

After looking around the room some more, Scott asked the question I had been waiting for. “Do we want to make contact?” Keep in mind I do not believe in ghosts, so I was very skeptical. We looked at each other for a moment, then I replied. “Absolutely. Have you already tried?” Scott then gave us some interesting details. 

He also talked about his previous “session.” In the basement he had stood in the center of the concrete floor and began to interact with the essence, asking basic questions like “Are you here?” and “Do you want to talk to us?” After a minute or so of silence, he began to pick up readings on the meter. As he asked his questions, two or three lights were consistently lighting up on his sensor, and without any other power sources in the basement (the electricity was turned off in the building) he concluded contact had been made. Here’s the catch, however. During the session, Scott asked the essence, “Are we invading your space? Do you want us to leave?” and 5 lights flashed red, so he left immediately, returning upstairs. Yet here we were, walking down the stairs as he told the tale, invading the haunting dark that this essence called home.

We gathered around Scott as he turned on the K-2, and the session began. “Earlier we were talking about you and your past. Would you like to show our guests of your presence?” Nothing. As he repeated the question, I looked around the room with a small handheld flashlight, looking for anything paranormal. 

Two lights lit up. They flickered, then dimmed down to one light. Glancing at each of us, he continued his questioning. “We are not here to harm you. We just want to talk. Is that ok?” Again, two lights flickered, the third lighting only for a moment. Momentarily the room glowed with a green haze. Following the initial response, the second and third lights flickered essentially capturing the emotions of what lies beyond. Eventually the lights dimmed and the single light stayed on. “Earlier we asked you if we were invading your space. We do not want to bother you. Do you want us to leave? If so we will…” Red lights danced across the device. All five lights, green to red and back to green, flickered back and forth. Whatever or whoever it was, it wanted us gone.

Quickly we grabbed our belongings and headed back to the main floor. As we reached the next level, we were greeted with significantly warmer air; the sound of silence was gone. The bars still contaminate the silence of the rickety warehouse, a major issue for Scott and his team, making it essentially impossible to capture any EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon). The time was nearing midnight, yet the lack of silence was interfering with their microphones. 

We went on up to the second story balcony and talked of ghost stories, some “real” and some not. We talked about other locations Scott’s team had researched, such as Pocatello High School and a few older homes. As the clock neared midnight, Scott decided to start looking through the footage and do some of his more “advanced” tests. For this process, however, he requested we leave. We walked down the stairs, got a final glance at the room, and returned to the dimly lit alley to which we came. 

As I walked down the dimly lit street I thought about what I had seen. Yes, the meter went nuts and the signs are there, but my instinct still tells me something else is causing the disturbance. Many would be easy to admit that it was a ghost, but I am still uncertain that this “essence” is real and may rather be a response to some kind of magnetic or electric force that may be hiding within the building. In conclusion, I do not think ghosts are real, but I know what I saw and would die to do some tests alone to make a final decision.