Halloween might be past, but things go bump in the night year-round. McGregor is president and co-founder of Virginia Investigation of Paranormal Science, an organization in Danville that investigates local paranormal encounters free of charge.
Why are people so intrigued by paranormal activity?
Mystery of the unknown, I think. People not knowing why they’re here, where they come from or something like that. It’s just mystery of the unknown … and we try to make people understand it as much as possible.
Talk about one of your creepiest cases.
The house belonged to one of our investigators that’s been haunted for years. There was a spirit of a little boy in there and there was also a spirit of an animal. We didn’t catch the spirit of the animal, but we caught a voice. Someone asked, “Are you the one telling the little boy not to talk?” and this really deep, raspy voice answered, “No.” And there were a couple other sounds in that investigation. There was also a sound — it sounded like glass breaking. We had one voice that said “listen” and there was a real loud screech afterwards. … We did not hear [this] with our ears. It was all captured on a digital recorder.
What are some haunted places in Virginia?
Most houses in downtown [Danville] that have been there for 100 years are haunted. The arts museum in Danville is haunted. … Sutherland Mansion, which is actually the fine arts center now, is haunted, and there’s a street down the road from us that [has] a lot of old plantations on it and those are also haunted.
What are some tips to getting rid of paranormal activity?
You can walk around the house, you can burn sage in the house, you can walk around the house burning sage. There are certain chants that you can recite while you’re doing that. You can have the house blessed by a priest. Those are the most popular ways. – Anna Waugh
