GILBERT, AZ -- From the road, the
Gilbert Historical Museum looks peaceful, quiet and calm.
But inside, there's a much darker secret.
"This place has paranormal activity," said Andy Rice, a paranormal investigator.
Throughout the museum's halls, visitors and workers have heard strange footsteps, felt someone watching them, and even heard voices.
"It's sounded like little girls playing," Rice said.
Rice works with West Coast Ghost and Paranormal. After hearing the stories, his team came to the museum, located at Gilbert and Elliot roads, to investigate last month.
"We've actually found some possibilities (of ghosts) here," he said.
The voices and noises have been heard all around the museum.
But they are focused in a basement library, where the crew will be again at midnight on Halloween to find out for sure if this museum is haunted.
"Last time, we felt what we call the cobweb effect," Rice said. "It's like a ball of energy or static electricity."
Rice says almost 90 percent of claims they investigate turn out to be nothing.
But this museum had plenty to bring them back.
Rice's team took raw video and audio during its Sept. 5 investigation in the basement, where decades ago, it was once an old school's gymnasium and music room.
During the six-hour session, they captured what they call several humming noises and shot video of a flashlight flickering for several minutes.
They claim the flashlight had full batteries.
"It was something unusual, for sure," Rice said.
Armed with gadgets, specialized sound filters and infrared light, the team is ready to go at it again.
And this time, they'll have even more cameras and microphones, waiting in the dark, dead of night.
And they hope to find true evidence that the museum is indeed haunted on the scariest night of the year.
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On Halloween, the Gilbert Historical Museum and West Coast Ghost and Paranormal will host a "Ghost Hunt." It's open to the public and starts at 5 p.m. and ends at midnight.
For more information contact the museum or
West Coast Ghost and Paranormal.
