Ambler Campus, Temple University

The closet door in your room just slammed shut unexpectedly, with no windows open, and you are alone. Was it a ghost? A spirit from the other side trying to contact you, haunt you even?

“No,” you think silently, “ghosts don’t exist.”

On October 23, world-renowned ghost hunters, Chip Coffey and Patti Starr, brought their paranormal investigating skills to Temple Ambler.

“There is so much history on campus — the old buildings, the people, the trees — and their vibrations, their residual energy, is still there and it remains strong,” said Coffey, who will be appearing on a new series on A&E called Paranormal State beginning in December. “It’s called the paranormal for a reason — you should expect the unexpected. You need to make a step toward thinking beyond the obvious and scratching beyond the surface.”

Coffey and Starr have been working together on investigations and chases since their partnership began in the early 1990’s. Their experiences include a combination of psychic interpretations by Coffey and scientific interpretations by Starr, who uses technology to gauge when there is a presence.

“[You] don’t have absolute proof, but with that you have lots of evidence, which needs to be taken into account,” explained Starr before the hunt, which attracted more than 40 students and guests.

The ghost hunt — which continued a campus investigation that Coffey and Starr began during their first visit in 2005 and built upon during a second event in 2006 — weaved through the campus, starting in the Administration Building, where a very responsive ghost named George was picked up on Starr’s meters.

George isn’t the only spirit haunting the building — once a dormitory and classroom space dating back to the early 1900s — either. There are at least four others, according to the ghost hunters. One in particular — Ruth — apparently doesn’t like flashlights as she tugged Coffey’s right out of his hand, sending it crashing to the floor.

The hunt then wended its way through the darkness into the Formal Gardens, where an extremely unhappy little girl named Margaret was upset at the lack of upkeep of her fountain. The Gardens, Coffey said, are also home to something else quite otherworldly, which made itself known to a few of the hunters by waving just a few leaves of a particularly large plant when requested to do so.

“It’s difficult to explain. It’s not human,” he said. “I think the best way to describe it is that it is some form of elemental, a nature spirit.”

Throughout the tour, students captured many of these moments on film, successfully snapping orbs of light and paranormal mists in their frames.

“I’m kind of into ghosts and (the paranormal). I’m always watching shows like this on TV,” said Landscape Architecture freshman Tom Falcone. “To actually be a part of it, to experience this stuff firsthand, is amazing!”

While traveling toward the Wetland Garden, the hunters made an unexpected stop at Cottage Hall where Coffey was psychically drawn toward the building.

As he looked into a classroom window, he saw a figure in the darkness. When asked if he saw someone in the room, Coffey replied with a smile, “no one living!”

When the group made their way inside, taking their seats in the classroom that Coffey had been drawn to, Starr proceeded to take readings that revealed some sort of presence. She also began making recordings with a small voice recorder, hoping to capture a clear EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena, or ‘ghost voices’). After a few attempts — one which involved the entire group humming — a faint voice could be heard on replay whispering “Chip.”

“I hate it when they do that,” Coffey said, slightly unsettled.

Enough evidence for you?

Starr, who owns her own Ghost Hunter Shop (www.ghosthunter.com) in Lexington, Kentucky, said she is “always amazed” during their college investigations “at how well the evidence comes through.”

“It’s the youth energy, which is so vibrant. The students want to see something, they want to experience that connection,” she said. “That energy matches the frequency that the spirits need to come through. Each college group has gotten something out of their investigations that they were able to see or experience immediately.”

The chase ended in the West Hall dorms, where Room 113 — a hotspot for activity last year — briefly took center stage again and students heard a few loud crashes and photos taken by students revealed unexplained phenomena — a strange streak of solid white in one and what appeared to be a face stretching itself out of a wall in another. When a closet door slammed shut and a chair apparently moved on its own accord, that gave even the professionals cause to pause.

Room 113, however, was upstaged by serious activity on the second floor that stirred the crowd and the professional ghost hunters.

When the door to Room 216 knocked back, hearts started pounding faster. Unfortunately, the door was locked, though that didn’t prevent whoever…or whatever…was on the other side from shaking things up.

Minute to minute action during the campus exploration made this the hunt of the season. Experiencing it firsthand was surely something to scream about!

Professional Ghost Hunters Chip Coffey and Patti Starr stirred up excitement at Ambler