KIM DE LEIJER
It's a Hawke's Bay icon that's rumoured to be haunted and it's got Clinton Lawson and his team excited. The Hawke's Bay Opera House will be under investigation tonight by members of Phoen-X Paranormal Research and Investigation (Phoen-X P R I).
While not ghostbusters, the eight-strong team will
take photos, record footage and get electro magnetic field (EMF) readings, looking for any signs of paranormal activity.
Mr Lawson, founder of Phoen-X P R I, said the team was looking forward to investigating the 94-year-old theatre, rumoured to be haunted by three ghosts.
``I'm quite confident that something will come up,' he said. While he has read a bit about the reported unexplained phenomena, he is not coming to any early conclusions.
``It's best to go in with a completely clear mind. You can't expect the same thing to happen twice,' Mr Lawson said.
The team of ``seasoned investigators' is using a range of audio, visual and magnetic equipment worth more than $4000 to measure activity levels and collect footage for analysing.
``We're giving this one the full job,' he said.
Opera house community events and venue manager Andrea Taaffe, used to consider herself a cynic, but said over the years several inexplicable things had occurred there.
``There's definitely some history there,' she said.
``A place this old with this sort of environment absolutely lends itself to the odd bump in the night.'
Miss Taaffe said the staff were ``curious' to see if the investigation produced any findings.
Earlier this year Mr Lawson lead an investigation into the old Napier prison which produced high EMF readings - an indication of paranormal activity.
Investigators also reported hearing a girl's giggling voice in a corridor.
Mr Lawson said the group were not ``ghostbusters' or ``exorcists'. Instead they tried to disprove people's fears about paranormal activity and only turned to illogical' reasons when there was no logical explanation.
