Ghost stories make the news at KSWT

There's a reason even big and burly men won't walk through the darkened hallways of KSWT-TV alone at night. It turns out there's some interesting characters at the local TV station who aren't exactly on the payroll, partly because they don't work there, but mostly because they're dead.

Employees there have been swapping ghost stories for years. Some believe and others obviously don't. But those who say that the haunted happenings are true aren't just telling tales, they're recalling first-hand encounters with folks whose credits rolled a long time ago.

Just ask James Austin, supervisor of master control.

"It's not uncommon to hear someone walking behind you," says Austin, whose job has him roaming the station at all hours. "There's one ghost, Fred, who people have been talking about for years. People have heard someone pressing on the door code, opening the door, and going doing the hallway with jingling keys - but no one's ever there."

Then there is Austin's friend in the big black cloak and large-brimmed hat. That apparition appeared to Austin one time just inside the station's front door.

"Instead of me screaming like a girl I just decided 'Well, maybe it's time to skedaddle back to the studio!'" he said, laughing. "But I really felt like he was just observing. It was almost solid black and it was dark in there, but I definitely saw it there looking at me."

Austin has even seen other-worldly happenings reflected in the glass of the station's "munchie machine."

"I was there getting chips when I saw in the reflection a shadow walk by the break room door without a body on it," he recalled. "I was

immediately in the hallway and there was no one there."

Austin's seen so much paranormal activity at the station, he's actually worried that some day a mischievous spookster might try pulling a plug or flipping a switch on Austin's precious equipment.

"I've let them know 'Go ahead and haunt your butts off, but don't mess with my equipment!'" he said, smiling. "I don't want them screwing up what's going on the air!"

KSWT's otherworldly popularity has even warranted two investigations by The Yuma Spirit Hunters, this area's professionals in the ghost field. The Spirit Hunters visited in 2002 and just a few days ago - but more about that later.

Gayle Chango, another station employee, confirmed that Austin isn't the only one seeing people and things that shouldn't really be there.

"My previous general manager had seen the ghost several times," Chango said, describing a female specter. "One night he said 'There she is. Can't you see her?' I couldn't, but the doors were opening and shutting and there were only three of us working in the building at the time. It was kind of weird."

Chango's own experiences have been less visual.

"I've just had the hair-raising moments. I have no idea what it is. I just have to attribute it to the quote-unquote ghost," she said, adding that she's not afraid to be in the building after dark. "If there is such a thing as an entity here it's not caused any harm. If anything it's friendly, in my opinion."

Austin and Chango said station employees' awareness of the ghosts is split, typically by the length of time they've worked at KSWT.

"I think most people don't even know about it, just some of us old-timers," Chango said. "Most people don't normally talk about it too much."

Austin said that daytime employees probably don't see or hear much, either.

"It's usually after 3 a.m. when things get freaky anyway," he said.

Austin shared his own take on defining ghosts.

"It's an energy, an imprint that's left over. Emotions do have a tendency to be left behind," he said. "Sometimes spirits are a left over. They're caught in a loop."

Austin speaks with experience because he's seen spirits - and UFOs - all his life.

"I could also take off into a whole other realm of what I've heard called 'shadow people,' possible interdimensional travelers."

But how about hearing from the experts? The Sun arranged for Yuma Spirit Hunters to spend a recent evening poking around KSWT with their funky equipment to see if they could find anything - and they did.

"My wife got a picture of an energy orb," said Don Swain, operations manager for the ghost group. "We also found a high electromagnetic field in the building, but we couldn't pinpoint it to any particular area."

Swain offered a technical reason for those strange electronic readings, but his theory still involves spirits.

"It's natural for TV and radio stations to have such high electromagnetic fields," he said. "We actually believe that ghosts are based on electromagnetic energy, so they would be attracted to this kind of environment."

Austin said he was excited that the investigators found these points of interest. The topic has always sparked his imagination, but he quipped that he plans to keep working at not letting his imagination get the best of him.

"Otherwise you're going to be there at night scaring the tar out of yourself," he said, laughing. "Then you're like when you're a kid and you need a baseball bat, a teddy bear, and a flashlight!"

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HAVING A HAUNTING?

The Yuma Spirit Hunters conduct paranormal investigations of local homes and businesses all the time. In fact, they get booked up fast. To have them come your way for some ghost busting call 342-2955 or send e-mail to Spirithunter10 @aol.com.

Learn about The Yuma Spirit Hunters' other local investigations at www.spirithunter.net

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Darin Fenger can be reached at

dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.