Posted at: 11/13/2009 6:55 PM
By: David Springer

Walcott Mills: A Ghost Hunt

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- Southern Minnesota is full of ghost stories, and on this Friday the 13th, we'd like to introduce you to another one, the story of Walcott Mills. The town was almost completely destroyed more than 100 years ago, but local ghost hunters say "something" is still there.

On a dark night just a few days before Halloween, we were on the road to Faribault and the site that sits just outside the city once known as Walcott Mills. The Investigative Paranormal Society of Minnesota, or TIPSMN, says it's one of the most active paranormal locations they've ever investigated.

"We've gotten orbs, apparitions and several EVP's" says Nick Larsen.

EVP's are electronic voice phenomenon captured on digital recorders like this one. Ask a question...

"If you're here can you tell us your name?"

And sometimes you get an answer, an answer you can only hear on the recorder.

"This is normally where we get our EVP where it sounds like a very evil person saying get out," says Larsen.

"Also, we've caught black apparitions - actually right where I'm standing" says Larsen.

What makes Walcott Mills so active? No one really knows. We visited the Rice County Historical Society to do a little research. The information we found shows the entire town of Walcott Mills burned to the ground in the late 1800's when the town's flourmill caught fire.

"The fire was in 1895" says Jeff Jarvis.

Jeff Jarvis is a local author who's writing a book called the "Historic Mills of the Cannon & Straight River Valleys". His book includes a section on Walcott Mills which to quote his book, is a "hotbed of paranormal activity."

"I mean we can't actually see spirits or ghosts but there is unexplained phenomenon that's happening. There's energy. Why else would cameras suddenly go dead," says Jarvis.

"There's temperature changes - unexplained temperature changes," says Jarvis.

"I'm getting temperature drops in this room right here," says Larsen.

"So that fire touched every aspect of people's lives and I think that angst that resulted from the tragedy of losing everything - spirits might be just hovering down there" says Jarvis.

As for our investigation - it did turn up several pieces of photographic evidence. Nick Larsen from TIPSMN says there are three photos, which show an energy field trying to form.

"See this red haze right here. It's actually the first time we've ever gotten something like this" says Larsen.

And we captured multiple pictures of what TIPSMN considers to be ghost orbs... tiny circular phenomenon that give off their own light.

"It might be really hard for you to see here but we've got a little green orb sitting right in front of the recorder and where the EMF detector is."

All in all, not the most horrifying of experiences, but one that continues to confirm, at least for TIPSMN, that something still resides at Walcott Mills.

"We definitely say, yeah, it's haunted. We've been out there 7 different times already and each time it never disappoints us," says Larsen.