Cathy Benson | The Botetourt View

Susan Jennings with an EVP sound on her computer screen.

Botetourt County has an active Paranormal Society composed of several family members -- a brother and two sisters, Sean Russell, Jackie Nelson, Susan Jennings and her daughter Heather Murrell.

The headquarters for the BPS is in the basement of Jennings's home in the Troutville area. They grew up in the northern section of the county in Eagle Rock. An open mind is a good thing to carry when traveling in the paranormal realm.

Russell said, "We saw and heard some really crazy things growing up. I once saw the end of the bed jump up and down." Jackie had a trailer before she built her home and they have believed it to be a residence of spirits.

Full society membership is currently closed, but the group occasionally invites guest investigators to participate. Russell said, "We are always interested in hearing from open-minded individuals, skeptics and other paranormal research groups." They invited The Botetourt View along for a Saturday night of investigation.

So far they have investigated the historic home Avenel in Bedford, Fincastle Library, the Kyle House in Fincastle and Oakey's in downtown Roanoke on Campbell Avenue. For some of their investigation results, read their blog .

In a mission statement on their Web site, they stated: "The society was founded on the belief that there are elements in the world around us which have not been identified. Our focus is on investigations of locations with reports of ghosts, hauntings, and cryptozoological creatures. We acknowledge not everything that goes bump in the middle of the night is a ghost -- and intend to explore all options when debunking claims of activity."

Russell says much of the fun comes in the research of the history they perform on the places they visit. "We have learned a lot about the places we have investigated."

Typically the group tries to capture orbs -- circular floating spirits captured on camera and EVPs, electronic voice phenomena, with digital recorders. Besides the recorders, they use digital cameras and a motion camera like are used on animals in the wild. They have a computer armed with recording and vocal software that they load their EVP information from the site visit into the computer to process the sound waves. Some of the sounds included high pitched rapid voices from the basement garage.

A trip to a local historic private residence produced an exciting night, but the technical difficulties associated with the equipment have made it hard to assess exactly what they found in the home. They carefully placed recorders around the home, took digital photos and set-up the motion camera. The home has a slave cabin out back and the crew found it fascinating.

They stayed for three hours investigating the various areas of the 200-year-old home where the owner had heard or seen unusual things. Heather did capture some photos of what she called an orb in the house and in the yard of the house on her digital camera. Already the group is searching for its next investigation site.

For a link to contact the group, visit The Notebook on botetourtview.com.