Gunnison Arts Center Investigation

After hearing all the first-person accounts of paranormal activity at the Gunnison Arts Center (GAC), our on-site investigation did not disappoint.

IR of second-floor hallway, where a previous GAC
director chased a darting shadow figure one night.

(If you missed the report on the staff and volunteer accounts we collected, click here.)

Team Wraiths brought seven investigators to the building and broke into three teams to rotate through reported hotspots on all three levels: the storage basement (affectionately called "the crypt" by GAC staff  -- and not without good reason); the first-floor theater and art gallery; and the second-floor art galleries, staff offices, and dance studio.


We'll focus on hotspots where our separate teams each reported recurring anomalous activity.

The Basement "Crypt"

The Crypt

Everyone wanted to investigate this area, particularly after the recent report of a shadow figure. But Team A (Yvonne and Toni) went down first -- and got results with both K-II light-flicker responses and Mel-meter spikes from zero up to 4.7 mG when requesting communication.

But somebody -- or something -- didn't want them around: Yvonne (our guest team member from sister investigative group Hotchkiss Paranormal) asked if the presence there wanted them to leave and got a solid K-II response in the affirmative, twice!

When Team B (Chris and Doug) settled in with the Crypt inhabitant(s), they noticed the strongest activity centered in the vicinity of a small black table with three tiers of shelving at the bottom of the stairs. Chris obtained repeated results asking unseen presences to flicker specific colored lights at his request. See for yourself:

On-command light flickers using a K-II meter

By the time Team C (Kym, Mark, and Marisa) got to the basement, the party was over and the local inhabitants weren't talking. However, the absence of interactivity at this point served as a good control, suggesting the area wasn't always active -- which would have been suspicious. On the plus side, Team A later collected information that the black table was a donation from a house in town reputed to be haunted! (Wraiths will report on that location as a forthcoming, separate investigation.)

The First Floor

The theater stage on the first floor

But Team C had better luck getting responses on the theater stage and in particular in the public women's restroom on the first floor. Turns out there seems to be a vertical concentration of paranormal activity running through all three floors that includes the restroom -- a possible indication of a spirit portal in the building.

Using an EchoVox spirit box, Team C picked up several intriguing EVP in both first-floor locations, including a request for Mark to "Please stop talking!" Guess they thought it should be their turn.

But the strongest activity occurred in the women's restroom, where the spirit box wouldn't shut up:

Intelligent haunting EVP responses

Both Teams A and B also reported the most active responses on the first floor to experiments in the women's restroom, and both captured additional EVP, EMF spikes, on-command light flickers, and anomalous streaking lights.

The Second Floor

The Rock Room

The two strongest hotspots on the top level of the building centered in the Rock Room (so named because of its preserved, exposed rock-masonry inner walls) and the Dance Studio Foyer.

As reported in our previous article, the second floor of the building originally served as the "European Hotel" -- code for one of the town's early-day brothels. That might explain the EVP response we captured, assuring us that (early day) prostitution in the building only operated as "legal sex."

Equally intriguing were our findings in the Dance Foyer (as well as at certain other locales in the building), where we captured on both camcorder and full-spectrum camera a number of light anomalies that often coincided with our K-II communications:

Light anomalies captured during the investigation

The staff report the distinct feeling they're unwelcome after about 10 p.m., so we determined to spend time on the second floor during that "witching hour." But we never did feel any urging to vacate the building premises. In fact, we felt instead our investigation confirmed there's something going on in the Gunnison Arts Center that wants to be recognized. 

One of our most "haunting" findings was the EVP assertion there are hundreds of spirits in the basement (see the "Intelligent Hauntings EVP" vid clip above), perhaps referring to the possibility of a portal connecting seen and unseen worlds. And perhaps such goings-on reflect a combination of residual and intelligent hauntings that will always make this building an active paranormal site.

 

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We're still having as much fun documenting current and ongoing investigations as we did conducting the investigations for our book, WILD WEST GHOSTS.

There are puzzling experiences and encounters aplenty out there, and you just may want to pick up a copy of that book for either armchair musings or else as a guide for your own expeditions into the fascinating world of the paranormal.

You can buy the book as either an e-read or a trade paperback. Visit our Website for links.

In the meantime, happy hunting!