Madison Researchers in the Paranormal is currently sifting through evidence gathered at on old tavern looking for ghosts.
The group's founder, Wayne Hackler says the tavern owner reports some strange happenings, like the vodka bottle that flew 3-feet on its own. Or the cabinet doors that mysteriously open and close and the people who say they've been physically touched when no one is there. There have also been strange noises.
Hackler says in the 15 years he's been a spirit investigator he's confirmed 40 or 50 hauntings out of maybe four thousand cases. He thinks of it as a fledgling science and has heard from all the skeptics. But he says, they all said the same thing about Louis Pasteur until it was proved microbes caused illness.
Hackler and his colleagues gather evidence including stories, temperature fluctuations, strange objects in photos and sounds. Investigators will even try talking to a spirit with a tape recorder. Asking a question and waiting several seconds for an answer. One they usually don't hear until they play it back. Sometimes there's nothing but other times there are intelligible answers or noise.
Hackler says he goes into an investigation trying to disprove the existence of ghosts but keeps an open mind just in case.