Wednesday, April 16, 2008
By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Members of the Greater Pittsburgh Paranormal Society today showed Homestead police and borough staff video and audio evidence that they say indicates there is some paranormal activity in the building that houses the police station.
Paranormal society founder Tonya Boff, of Green Tree, and four other members of her group played two audio recordings they said were not caused by members of their group during its Feb. 23 investigation. She said it marked the first investigation in about year in which group members felt they had documented evidence of a possible haunting.
The group was called in after a number of police officers and staff complained about strange goings on at the building, a former post office, that sits at Amity and Ninth streets in Homestead.
The first recording appeared to be a scream that was picked up in the basement. The second recording, made in the attic, was of a door slamming, then a voice that appeared to say "hey Sam," and then a louder slamming of a door.
The two video clips the organization played for the Homestead staff included one that showed a video camera cord, which had been taped to the ceiling of the basement, appearing to fly loose and sway back and forth.
"It's not like a simple fall, it's like someone pulled it down," said Shawn MacIntyre, an investigator with the paranormal society.
No one was in the basement at the time, but group members saw it as it occurred because they were in an upstairs area monitoring cameras in the basement.
The second video clip is of a shadow moving from right to left behind a window in an area that had been used to collect traffic ticket fines. The area is near a side entrance to the building, and officers who use that entrance have reported a feeling that they are being watched as they walk by the window, said Homestead Chief Jeffrey DeSimone.
