Editor’s note: Always ready for a good story, intrepid Bryan County News intern Lizzy Donker recently went on a ghost hunt with members of the Paranormal Society of Savannah. She made it back to tell the tale. 

The Paranormal Society of Savannah, also known as PSS, investigates paranormal activity of all kinds: churches, schools, abandoned buildings, you name it.

They have investigated over 50 sites in the area, and I recently had the pleasure of tagging along on one of their investigations myself.

PSS consists of four main members: Patrick Welsh Jr., their founder and lead investigator, Walter Finley, technician and investigator, David Gurule, cameraman and investigator, and Pat Welsh Sr., cameraman and investigator.

These four have their fair share of history in paranormal experience, as they grew up experiencing and being fascinated with paranormal activity together.  While talking with these scaremasters, I got to hear some pretty crazy stories of theirs. One of these stories even had to do with the building I got to investigate with them.

Welsh Jr. said that the place is one of their main buildings and is often used for storage, events, etc. He said they often have volunteers working with them, and one of these particular volunteers was to organize and clean some of the space.

He said earlier that particular week, they were called by someone who was in possession of a dybbuk box, which is a Jewish box that is believed to possess an evil spirit or entity inside, in their house.

The man spoke of strange goings-on in their house, such as his children screaming and having night terrors, so the ghost hunters took the box from the man so they could get it blessed by a Rabbi, which is the only way to calm the spirit.

Of course, the Rabbi was not able to bless the box for a week and the ghost hunters had to keep the box in their building in the meantime. All would be well and good once the Rabbi blessed the box, as long as no one opened it until then.

This is where things went wrong.

The volunteer left in charge of organizing said he opened the box, and when the ghost hunters came back the box was nowhere to be found. The ghost hunters said they have searched for the box for four years since and cleaned out the entire place, but they have yet to find it.

Meanwhile, it remains possessed. While this is probably not the team’s ideal possessed location, it worked out for me as I got to experience some paranormal activity myself there.

Welsh Jr. says that ghost hunting is not like it is on TV, and while crazy and creepy things do happen, most of the time it takes a lot of patience and waiting, and it really depends on if the ghosts are in the mood.

While I didn’t get to personally experience some of the screaming children, lights flickering and door slamming that I was told about, there definitely was some paranormal activity, as we heard something cleaning as we were walking through, and a door close.

I chose to walk around the building by myself at one point to get some pictures, and maybe it was me being paranoid or the goosebumps I felt before going into one room, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it on account of how eerie it felt and had to turn back around. Some of this eerie feeling could have also came from the clown doll the ghost hunters call Henry, who I felt deserved an honorable mention.

The PSS said Henry was brought to them possessed and would cause activity in their building until they bought him a couple of doll girlfriends, which seemed to do the trick. Maybe Henry will be excited to be featured in this article and lay off of the funny business next time. 

Though I can say from personal experience that ghost investigating is certainly thrilling, the society says they do all of what they do to help people.

They do it all for free, and are able to run primarily off of donations they receive. Welsh says that they try their best to help every person and every case they come across, no matter how crazy sounding the scenario, because for a lot of people it helps just to not feel like they are going crazy and have somebody believe them. 

So, the next time you think you are seeing a friendly (or not so friendly) ghost, you know who to contact. And while they might not wear retro jumpsuits and carry around a cool ghost vacuum, these ghost hunters, or investigators, are definitely the ones to call.

If you believe you might have ghosts email the Paranormal Society of Savannah at Psofsav@yahoo.com or call them at 912-429-3059. Or check out their social media presence on Facebook, The Savannah Scaremaster, and Paranormal Society of Savannah, or visit www.savannahscare.com.