It was my third time to visit The Manor, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Our group of five sat quietly in the basement, staring at a K2 meter as it obnoxiously blinked readings of 4 and 5. I was feeling brave…

The base reading for the room was a 1 (green light) on the K2 meter. I tested every corner of the 12′ x 25′ room, finding hot spots on the ceiling and by the furnace in the corner. The rest of the room was a comfortable 61 degrees and though the floor was concrete, it was warm enough to sit on, even in October. I placed the K2 meter on the floor in the middle of the room and grabbed a seat close to the nearest wall.

Other members of our team laid the following items on the floor by the K2; a twist flashlight and an audio recorder. All five of us stood around the collection of ghost hunting equipment and began our session.

“Is there anybody in this room with us?” I spoke. Within a matter of seconds, the K2 meter flickered up to a 3 (orange). “Does anybody have their cell phone on?” I asked. In the past we had found that a text message to or from a cell phone will make the K2 meter spike. Nobody had their cell phone turned on tonight.

“If that’s you making the lights flicker on the K2, can you do it again for us?”

They flickered again…all the way up to 5 (red).

This “conversation” went on for a while and as a group, we decided we were talking to Scott; a former owner of The Manor from the 1980’s. During the session, members of our group had heard footsteps outside the door and witnessed a pair of small, floating objects as they rose up and floated back down toward the K2 meter. (Not traditional “orbs”, but easily ruled out by the possibility.)

The K2 meter was flashing from green to red with rapid succession and I was beginning to wonder if we were talking to anything at all. So I said, “It seems like you’re having a good time making those lights light up. But, I’m wondering if it’s you at all. Can you stop making them flash for a bit, so we know it’s you and not just a malfunction?” I expected them to keep flashing.

The meter dropped to 1 (green) and stopped flashing completely. For a skeptic, this was very frustrating. How was I going to disprove this ghostly conversation if the “ghost” kept doing what we asked him to do? This is where I decided it was time to be brave. I put aside my skepticism and tried something else.

Reaching out my hand, I spoke to our ghostly conversationalist, “Can you give us a sign other than making the lights blink?” I was certain he wouldn’t. “I’m reaching out my hand and I promise I will hold it very still for you. If you can, please go ahead and touch me. I give you my word I won’t budge a muscle.”

About two seconds later, I was surprised. “Well, that was a lot softer than I expected.” Was it a ghost? Here’s what happened…

As I sat there with my hand stretched out, I felt a quick little tap to the side of my face. It was gentle and came without warning. During this moment I, along with another member of our group, noticed a significant cold spot surrounding the area. It was during this “cold spot moment” that the touch to the side of my face occurred. It didn’t happen again all night. I can’t explain it.

When we brought up the lights, I looked around to make certain it hadn’t been a spider or something that I’d felt on the side of my face. For being an old basement, it was very clean and seemingly free of too much “critter activity”. I was left to believe I might have been touched by a ghost.

But how do you know? For a skeptic, like myself, I have seen a very limited number of things that make me stop and say, “Huh. Well, maybe that actually was something.” Given the events that took place during our session in the basement of The Manor, I find myself wanting to experiment more. I wonder if I could get “the touch” to happen again?

For those of you who will be joining GSI for our Halloween Night Investigation, I suggest this; take a seat in the basement and have a conversation with “Scott”. And don’t be afraid to invite him to touch you. If you feel something unusual, even if just for a very brief moment, don’t write it off as nothing. Because based on my experience this past weekend, you might be able to say you’ve been touched by a ghost.

Have a great Halloween investigation, everybody!

-Scott, GSI Investigator