Spring Break
SEC spooks URI students with tales of paranormal, ghost hunt
Jeff Sullivan
Issue date: 10/21/08 Section: News
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The URI Student Entertainment Committee hosted Ghost Chasers International representatives Patti Starr and Chip Coffey last night in the Memorial Union Ballroom for a lecture and campus ghost hunt.
The lecture included a slideshow of photographs, videos and audio clips showcasing their evidence of the paranormal.
"I do not have proof that there are ghosts," Starr said. "But I do have evidence, and that evidence for me has convinced me that there are ghosts."
The pair showed their evidence to a crowd of more than 100. In every case shown, the evidence became more and more defined, and sounds of shock and surprise reverberated throughout the crowd as the lecture progressed.
Starr said she has been a ghost-hunting enthusiast for more than 30 years. The International Ghost Hunters Society certified Starr as a professional ghost hunter nine years ago. She said she has been named one of the top 10 ghost hunters for three years in a row.
Coffey, an expert on the TV show "Paranormal State," is a self-proclaimed psychic and psychic medium, and said he can detect paranormal activity.
"Being a psychic is being able to tap into some sort of energy and know things that cannot [be accessed] with your five human senses," Coffey said. "Being a medium means you talk to dead people. How do I do it? I have no idea."
He said he believes everyone has some amount of psychic ability, the only difference being that he has an easier time sensing activity. He said things like thinking of a friend right before they call, or having a dream that comes true are indications of psychic ability.
He said his psychic "hits" come from being an extra sensitive psychic, and added these hits directly correlate with Starr's ghost detecting device, an electromagnetic field sensor, which detects paranormal activity through changes in ambient electromagnetic fields.
