Alex Shaine: Seated in the passenger seat of a Kia station wagon, waiting for the ghosts of a slain Boy Scout Troop to emerge from the woods, I couldn't help but reflect on how I'd arrived in this position. Ghost-hunting, after all, does not appear in the job description for most entry-level reporters.A couple of weeks earlier I'd received a press release about the Unexplained Conference, a meeting place for those who have an interest in ghosts, UFO sightings and such scheduled for today in Stevens Point. Being curious by nature and pretty darn brave in my opinion, I decided to try my hand in paranormal investigation. One phone call later, I'd set up a tour of Stevens Point's "haunted spots" with Chad Lewis, an Eau-Claire-based paranormal investigator.Chad is not what you'd expect of a paranormal investigator. To begin with, there is nothing spooky about him: The short 20-something is friendly, quick with a joke and slow to cry "Ghost!" In fact, Chad said he's never had a paranormal experience himself. But that doesn't keep him from searching."If these things are not happening, then what is it about human perception that makes us think UFOs exist and that there are ghosts? I'm not sure if these things exist or not. I'm keeping an open mind," he said.When Chad and I set out on Tuesday night, Stevens Point was in the midst of a thunder storm - not the best weather for this first-time paranormal investigator.Our first stop of the evening was a dead-end road in the town of Linwood, appropriately named Boy Scout Lane. One local legend says that a Boy Scout troop was murdered along this road by their bus driver; another claims that the troop perished in a forest fire. Lewis explained that ghosts of the boy scouts are rumored to haunt the road at night carrying lanterns."There have been sightings throughout this whole area," Lewis said, pointing into the darkness on each side of the road. "You could see a bus driving along here or ghosts of the Boy Scouts."
View: Full Article | Source: Stevens Point Journal
