Strange & Unknown

Seeking Out The Other Side

News - Osawatomie

WRITTEN BY TRAVIS PERRY
WEDNESDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2009 08:00
The floorboards of the old house creaked and groaned as Osawatomie resident Bill Joeckel helped inspect the aging structure. It was a full moon that night, but it was still eerily dark and dim outside of My Granny’s Attic Antiques, Collectibles and Local Art in Lenexa, where other members of his team waited.

Osawatomie parnormal investigator Bill Joeckel talks with Michelle Staley, owner of My Granny’s Attic Antiques and Collectibles in Lenexa, during an investigation conducted by Joeckel and other members of Elite Paranomal of Kansas City. (photo by Travis Perry)

The crew of people diligently moved about the house, setting up cameras, inspecting its structural integrity and taking electrical readings. They moved with a purpose set before them and a goal in their minds. They were investigating, hoping to find an explanation for the occurrences the owner had reported. They didn’t know what it was, but they were determined to find out a cause, whether it was rooted in physical, or supernatural.

Far from eccentric, Joeckel and other members of Elite Paranormal of K.C. use observation, measurements and readings to gauge what some of their clients claim to be supernatural activity. Utilizing a wide range of equipment, including full-spectrum cameras, electromagnetic field detectors, audio recorders and a remote monitoring and recording setup, it’s an operation that these investigators go into head-on.
“I kind of always wondered about it,” said Joeckel, who joined the squad of paranormal investigators five years ago. Joeckel said he and others on the Elite Paranormal team do their best to handle every situation as level-headed as possible. “We go in as neutral. We don’t try to say it’s real or not real.”

From faulty wiring to old pipes, Joeckel said nine times out of 10, a claim someone is making is rooted in a natural and rational cause.

“You’d be surprised how many people have electric boxes that aren’t shielded right,” Joeckel said.

Of these cases, the most extreme involved a woman who claimed to see apparitions of her dead grandmother at night. After further investigation, it was discovered that a faulty pipe had leaked carbon monoxide into the room, causing her to hallucinate.

The hobby of investigating paranormal activity isn’t something Joeckel or any other members of Elite Paranormal go out of their way to broadcast, but they say they haven’t received too many strange looks for the pastime. All done on their own dime, it is a hobby that has taken Joeckel to an array of locations throughout northeastern Kansas. He’s quick to correct when classified as a “ghost hunter,” though. Joeckel considers himself more of a “documenter,” and said he and others he works with try to prove a situation one way or another using facts, not wild speculation.

The average expedition is no light undertaking for these investigators. Usually spanning several days, Elite Paranormal members have been known to rake in six hours of audio, 500 photographs and countless hours of video. Still, it’s work that Joeckel has a drive for, and only sees benefits in the results.

“The closer you get to bringing science and religion together, I think both are going to make each other stronger,” Joeckel said.
Thank You,

Bill Joeckel

Case Manager
ELITE Paranormal of Kansas City
(913) 663-8745
joeckel_bill@yahoo.com