If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, do you know who to call? If you’re struggling to find someone for those times when something is weird and it doesn’t look good, look no further than the BG Ghost Society.

Since 2010, when the Ghost Society was established, Jenny Edwards, Debbie Scott, Trish Hanner and Kay White have been investigating paranormal activity, specifically ghosts.

Edwards, a Bowling Green native, said she used to work with Hanner, a Scottsville native, which is how they both met. Edwards and Hanner were attending Edwards’ son’s first birthday party when they noticed strange things in some photographs from the party. Scott was also there as she and Hanner are partners and have been for the past 10 years. Their shared interests in investigating these discrepancies in the photos established the base for the group.

Edwards said she had started seeing things when she was younger. She said her mother, sister and aunt are the same way. She considers it a gift to be able to communicate and see the other side, but it comes with its drawbacks.

“Sometimes it’s a nightmare. You know especially when you bring things home with you, but to me it’s part of your life,” she said. 

Scott said she used to see and hear things at her grandfather’s house when she was younger, and her brother was able to as well.

Hanner shared a more recent experience than Scott’s. Between 15 and 20 years ago, when her grandmother died, Hanner saw her grandmother’s spirit.

“She came to me in my house, and from then on it was like, ‘There’s something there, and I have to figure out what it is,’” Hanner said. “It’s not an obsession, I guess, but for me it’s finding the proof. I’m the skeptic, so I have to see it to believe it.”

Edwards said she was told she has the gift of discerning spirits — a gift that aligns with her Christian beliefs. Edwards said Hanner is one of her gateways as sometimes spirits are able to speak through Hanner and show her something she may not normally see. Hanner said Scott served as the calming spirit: a mediator between Hanner and Edwards.

Edwards said the society has conducted 20 to 30 investigations since its founding, but Hanner said the number might be closer to 50 or more. On each of their investigations, they take with them certain equipment to determine if spirits are haunting the location they’re investigating.

On many investigations, this equipment includes a Spirit Box, an Ovilus, motion sensors, an electromagnetic field detector, digital thermometers and digital recorders.

Hanner explained that a Spirit Box uses radio frequencies which spirits can use to communicate with others.

An Ovilus is a device that contains a dictionary spirits can use to to alter surrounding electromagnetic waves and speak an appropriate response into the Ovilus based on questions people ask.

Late Friday night, I accompanied Edwards, Scott and Hanner on an investigation to 808 E. 11th St. in Bowling Green. They had been contacted by one of the residents of the house. Edwards said their client had complained of something watching them and a shadowy figure seen in the house. 

Before beginning the investigation, the three society members asked for accounts of what had happened. William Kolb, Louisville junior, recounted the night he woke up and sensed someone watching him. He said he remembers something in the doorway that then crossed the room and left. 

Edwards noted the house next to the client’s had recently been demolished and speculated that the apparition could have been something from next door looking for a new home. Kolb seemed to agree with the possibility.

“I kind of like to think he’s like a cat just trying to figure things out,” Kolb said. 

The society then began its investigation. Hanner and Scott started with a walkthrough of the house and took each room’s temperature using their digital thermometers. Paranormal investigators often attribute changes in temperature to a possible indication of spirits. The thermometer also jumped in Kolb’s room.

Hanner and Scott began using their EMF detector in Kolb’s room before moving to the hallway that connects his room with the bathroom. The EMF detector had high readings both at the threshold of the door and on the bathroom floor.

Meanwhile, while Hanner and Scott were upstairs investigating, Edwards remained downstairs with Kolb and other residents using the Spirit Box. 

Hanner and Scott eventually traveled outside, not quite satisfied with the high readings they had gotten on the EMF detector from the bathroom floor and doorway. While outside they discovered a power box on the side of the house had wiring that led up underneath the bathroom, providing a plausible explanation to the high readings.

“I knew it had to be something. I knew it had to be something,” Hanner said.

Scott replied upon the investigation’s conclusion that if there was anything haunting the house, it caused no need for concern.

“If there is anything here, I don’t think it’s going to hurt them,” Scott said. “I think it’s watching them, taking care of them.”