Post by auntym on Jan 20, 2012 23:03:44 GMT -6
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Carnegie library a paranormal playground?
By Jeff Widmer and David Mayernik Jr. , TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Read more: Carnegie library a paranormal playground? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_777217.html#.TxonzfLcMjw.twitter#ixzz1k48onBcD
Spend enough time in Andrew Carnegie Free Library's music hall in Carnegie, and you might see him -- the figure known as "the man in the balcony."
Hundreds of people reportedly have in nearly six decades, and he always is wearing a gray suit and a dark gray or black hat and sitting in the balcony's front row, to the right of the stage.
Once he's spotted, he disappears.
He's a ghost, some say.
"He is here," said Rob James, director of the Stage 62 community theater group, based at the music hall. "Believe me -- he's here."
"Over the years, so many people have seen it, including myself, that yes, he is there," said James, who began working at the hall 17 years ago and says he has seen the man in the balcony more than 10 times.
Diane Klinefelter, executive director of the building who has worked there for more than five years, says she has experienced what she can only say are "strange experiences."
"This is an old building and you hear odd sounds here all the time. Some, you can dismiss; some, you can't. It's that type of building," Klinefelter said.
To try to get a definitive reading on whether the building, which houses the historic Captain Thomas Espy GAR Post 153, has a spirit, its operators invited paranormal investigators in for a look earlier this month.
"As a library, we have an open mind. I believe all libraries do. If there are people who have interests in the paranormal, we want to accommodate that," Klinefelter said.
A half-dozen hobbyists with three groups bearing names such as the Western Pennsylvania Paranormal Hunters and Peace of Mind Paranormal Society mounted cameras inside the library and music hall. They placed some in the hall, since that is considered a "hot spot" for The Man in the Balcony. Other cameras went in the library, basement and boiler room.
Eight other DVR night-vision cameras and 10 voice recorders were set up.
It will take about a month to study all of the data the investigators gathered, before a final decision about whether something, or someone, preternatural inhabits the building.
"My main goal is to find the truth. When I originally started out (investigating), my purpose was to shoot down urban legends," said Don Wagner, 46, of Finleyville, a member of the Peace of Mind Paranormal Society.
"If we get something, we get something. If we don't, we will tell you that, too," said Wagner, a flooring installer.
He said his group has conducted about 200 paranormal probes in three states, and only about 15 of them have revealed what it believes is authentic ghostly activity.
Carnegie library a paranormal playground? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
CONTINUE READING: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_777217.html#.TxonzfLcMjw.twitter#ixzz1k48XxzDh
Carnegie library a paranormal playground?
By Jeff Widmer and David Mayernik Jr. , TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Read more: Carnegie library a paranormal playground? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_777217.html#.TxonzfLcMjw.twitter#ixzz1k48onBcD
Spend enough time in Andrew Carnegie Free Library's music hall in Carnegie, and you might see him -- the figure known as "the man in the balcony."
Hundreds of people reportedly have in nearly six decades, and he always is wearing a gray suit and a dark gray or black hat and sitting in the balcony's front row, to the right of the stage.
Once he's spotted, he disappears.
He's a ghost, some say.
"He is here," said Rob James, director of the Stage 62 community theater group, based at the music hall. "Believe me -- he's here."
"Over the years, so many people have seen it, including myself, that yes, he is there," said James, who began working at the hall 17 years ago and says he has seen the man in the balcony more than 10 times.
Diane Klinefelter, executive director of the building who has worked there for more than five years, says she has experienced what she can only say are "strange experiences."
"This is an old building and you hear odd sounds here all the time. Some, you can dismiss; some, you can't. It's that type of building," Klinefelter said.
To try to get a definitive reading on whether the building, which houses the historic Captain Thomas Espy GAR Post 153, has a spirit, its operators invited paranormal investigators in for a look earlier this month.
"As a library, we have an open mind. I believe all libraries do. If there are people who have interests in the paranormal, we want to accommodate that," Klinefelter said.
A half-dozen hobbyists with three groups bearing names such as the Western Pennsylvania Paranormal Hunters and Peace of Mind Paranormal Society mounted cameras inside the library and music hall. They placed some in the hall, since that is considered a "hot spot" for The Man in the Balcony. Other cameras went in the library, basement and boiler room.
Eight other DVR night-vision cameras and 10 voice recorders were set up.
It will take about a month to study all of the data the investigators gathered, before a final decision about whether something, or someone, preternatural inhabits the building.
"My main goal is to find the truth. When I originally started out (investigating), my purpose was to shoot down urban legends," said Don Wagner, 46, of Finleyville, a member of the Peace of Mind Paranormal Society.
"If we get something, we get something. If we don't, we will tell you that, too," said Wagner, a flooring installer.
He said his group has conducted about 200 paranormal probes in three states, and only about 15 of them have revealed what it believes is authentic ghostly activity.
Carnegie library a paranormal playground? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
CONTINUE READING: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_777217.html#.TxonzfLcMjw.twitter#ixzz1k48XxzDh