Ghost Hunters of the South

South Carolina

South Carolina This page intentionally left blank Coastal Spirit Chasers MURRELL’S INLET, SOUTH CAROLINA Jennifer Latka, Founder and Director Jennifer first became interested in the paranormal when she lived in a haunted house in Myrtle Beach: “It was a rental. I moved in when I was twenty-one and moved out when I was twenty-five. A Civil War soldier appeared in my room one night, and he actually took me back to the war, and I got to see everything that was happening, and I saw everything he was feeling . Before he left, he told me his name. The next morning, I got on the Internet and looked up his name, and sure enough, he was in the Civil War. That was confirmation enough.” Jennifer also used to have a tanning bed in her room. While she was tanning late one afternoon, someone whispered “hello” into her ear. “That kind of freaked me out for a minute,” she said. Other strange things happened during Jennifer’s four-year stay at the house: “At first I was scared because a lot of different things were happening. The doors would lock from the inside and things like that, but after a while, I got used to it. I started to read up on ghosts and started chasing them, actually.” Jennifer started her group in 2002 through a Web site called “Meetup.com”: “I registered there, and everybody around the town could get together and talk about it, and I ended up forming 253 my group this way. We don’t have any educational qualifications except that we want them to read.” Each member of Jennifer’s group plays a specific role: “Chris loves to read, so she researches any location we go to. Then we have our technician Chris. He knows everything about equipment. He’s good with analyzing everything. Darrin is another dedicated member. He likes to get involved in anything and everything. Jeremy is a photographer here in town. He is a major asset to our group because of spirit photography.” Aside from leading the group, Jennifer puts her psychic abilities to good use on investigations: “I sense spirits as well as my mom. It was passed down in my family. If I go into a place, I can actually feel—it all depends on the situation. When I have those feelings, I point the other members in that direction. It usually pays off in the form of orbs or high readings or EVP’s.” Unlike most directors, Jennifer can devote all of her time to running the group: “I have no day job. My fiancé works, so this is all I do.” She admires directors like Jason Hawes in the Sci-Fi Channel television show Ghosthunters who enforce discipline on an investigation, but she does not approve of Hawes’s methods: “I think Jason is very professional. He keeps everybody in line. I don’t think [his way] is the way to do it, though.” Most of the Coastal Spirit Seekers’ investigations are conducted outdoors, usually at cemeteries, because of their easy access: “We tend to go to cemeteries in the day because it is easier for everybody to go out there, but night time would be best. The energy is different, and you get better footage at night than you do during the day. Also, there’s a possibility of glare [showing up on pictures].” At one local cemetery, one of Jennifer’s team members picked up two fascinating EVP’s. Not long after the group arrived, he was having trouble finding a switch on his South Carolina 254 tape recorder. In frustration, he said aloud, “How do I fix this?” When the tape was played back, he heard a very clear voice respond, “It’s on the back.” He looked on the back of the tape recorder and, sure enough, found the switch. Later on that evening, the same team member was walking through the cemetery , and he accidentally knocked over a vase. He picked up the vase and continued on his way. On the recording, he heard a voice say, “Thank you very much.” Groups like Jennifer’s who do most of their investigations outdoors do not go out much when the weather is cold and wet. “Now that it is getting warmer, we will probably be...