Ghost hunt at fire station

12:09pm Tuesday 14th August 2007

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Ghostbusters will be on duty at Swindon Fire Station on Saturday when paranormal investigators go hunting for spooks.

Firefighters have reported ghostly sightings at the station, in Drove Road, and now they will be checked out by Paranormal Site Investigators will spend a night there to check them out.

PSI spoksman Nicky Sewell said: This is a unique opportunity to get to the bottom of this fascinating case. Although the station is relatively modern, there has been talk of ghost activity for many years.

Stories have included seeing figures walking around the second floor corridor, unexplainable sounds including footsteps and crashing from upstairs whilst crews have been in their dormitories and equipment suddenly activating.

We will be using our best team of trained investigators, including researchers, and analysts. The team affects a healthy balance between sceptics and believers, but all are open-minded and work to a strict scientific method.

"We will use a range of specialist equipment underpinned by a scientific methodology to monitor any unusual activity. We will also be utilising a range of cutting-edge experimental techniques to try to find any evidence of hauntings.

Every movement, report and environmental fluctuation will be carefully analysed before the fire service is presented with a 20,000 word report.'' The aim of PSI investigators is to: research the history and accounts of alleged ghost experiences of a particular place, to employ experimental techniques and monitoring equipment to attempt to find natural explanations for ghost experiences, and to conduct longitudinal research for the benefit of the field of research.

Equipment used by PSI includes: negative ion field meters, electromagnetic field meters, anemometers, ultrasonic sound detectors, temperature, humidity and air pressure monitoring units and a range of photographic units.

Experimental techniques employed include: instrumental transcommunication, ganzfeld experiments, electro-voice phenomena experiments using different colours of noise', kinetic experiments and psychological experiments.

Previous locations investigated by PSI include: Avon Fire and Rescue HQ, Bristol, Bodmin Jail, Cornwall, Michelham Priory, East Sussex, Chavenage House, Gloucestershire and the Wyvern Theatre, Swindon.

PSI is currently working in partnership with Swindon Borough Council on the Haunted Swindon Project. Its aim is to record and promote Swindon's haunted heritage. It is first known partnership between paranormal investigators and a local council.

PSI is an educational charity whose remit is to produce rational information for an interested public and to produce studies of a scientific calibre.

It works directly with qualified parapsychologists, academics and other experts around the UK and the world.

PSI membership is open to anyone, through the website; PSI currently has over 900 members. It produces an academic-style journal - the Journal of Investigative Psychical Research.