KIM DE LEIJER
"We definitely believe this building to be haunted."
That was the verdict from Clinton Lawson after he led a paranormal investigation at the Hawke's Bay Opera House on Saturday night.
The eight-strong team of Phoen-X Paranormal Research and Investigation (Phoen-X P. R. I) had a range of supernatural experiences
at the opera house, long rumoured to be haunted.
Among those was the loss of 600-700 photos taken during the investigation and stored on Mr Lawson's laptop.
Mr Lawson said the images had been downloaded from team cameras to the laptop in a separate investigation folder.
He had been looking at them earlier in the evening but returned later to find all the photos gone - but no one had touched the laptop.
Other reported occurrences included a team member's watch skipping forward two hours, a shadow seen moving along a wall and seats left down in the theatre when no one was sitting on them.
Mr Lawson said the seats were the counterspring variety so they could not stay down with no one sitting on them.
He also recorded very high electro magnetic field readings, in the booth where the spirit of the "Lady in Red" was rumoured to have been seen.
Several team members also reported smelling a woman's perfume in different parts of the Opera House.
The air freshener and soaps in the toilets were examined but were not the same scent.
"No one in our group was wearing perfume," said Mr Lawson.
"We could actually track [the scent]."
Mr Lawson said he and the rest of the team now had no doubt that there was "something inhabiting this building".
"We don't believe she's malevolent whatsoever ... I think she gets bored," he said.
Opera house community events and venue manager Andrea Taaffe said she was not surprised by what they found.
"I'm just really happy to hear that whatever is having fun is not a particularly evil entity, just a bit cheeky at times," she said.
Mr Lawson said the investigation was "awesome" and the team were planning to go back in June.
"It had more activity than any other investigation we've ever done before ... I can't wait to get back in there."
