SubmittedA “full-body apparition” stands near Octagon Hall in Franklin, according to Kayla Yeckering, lead investigator for Paranormal Investigators and Researchers of Kentucky.

A good ghost story is as central to southern Kentucky culture as corn bread and barbecue, but one group of Bowling Green paranormal investigators does more than conjure up tales about the region’s restless spirits: at Paranormal Investigators and Researchers of Kentucky, or PIRK, they claim to call up the real thing.

When it comes to “provoking” ghosts and spirits – there is a big difference – or investigating things that go bump in the night, it’s best to leave it to the pros, according to the father-daughter PIRK team of Jeff and Kayla Yeckering, who formed the group in November to bring together people who have an interest in the paranormal and want to understand more about it.

PIRK investigates places in Kentucky, looking for proof of paranormal activity, and they have found plenty, according to Jeff Yeckering, the team’s electronic voice phenomenon specialist.

PIRK has observed orbs – energy emitted from spirits – in Bowling Green’s original cemetery on State Street and at Green River Union Meeting House Cemetery in Richardsville, said Yeckering, who is also a corrections officer with the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office.

The team’s most exciting paranormal discovery to date is a photograph taken just last week by Kayla Yeckering, lead investigator. The photo shows a “full-body apparition” standing near the house known as Octagon Hall in Franklin, built in 1843 by Andrew Jackson Caldwell and used as a Confederate sanctuary during the Civil War, said Kayla Yeckering.

Looking closely at the photograph, she said, a man in a civil war uniform is clearly visible. “At the time the picture was taken, there was no one outside of the house,” she added.

The PIRK team also claims to have heard laughter and singing inside the house, which has been the subject of earlier paranormal investigations by others. The PIRK team believes the voice belongs to the spirit of Caldwell’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth, who died at about age 7 from burns suffered when her dress caught fire in a kitchen accident.

Caldwell owned some 62 slaves and many were buried on the property near the house. A wounded Confederate soldier, who was being hidden in the attic, is reported to have bled to death and now haunts the house. Team PIRK hopes to find more evidence of paranormal activity when it returns to the house March 26 to conduct an overnight investigation.

“I’ve always had an interest in the paranormal,” said Kayla Yeckering, a freshman at Western Kentucky University interested in nursing and psychology. “I have had many experiences, and I’m always looking for answers.” Her search for answers is shared by fellow investigator and fiance Joey McGee, the group’s equipment specialist.

Ghost lore does play an important role in culture here, according to Dr. Lynwood Montell, WKU professor emeritus of folklore and author of 23 books on Kentucky folklore, including “Ghosts Across Kentucky” and “Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky.”

“While I do not believe in the reality of ghosts, the people who have told me the stories I have recorded do firmly believe them,” Montell said “And one of the reasons those stories are so important is because of the historical details they provide that you can’t find anywhere else – who slept in this bedroom and who did this and that. That’s what makes history so interesting.”

The PIRK team says ghosts or spirits are notorious for not performing on cue. And not all tips lead them to believe there is paranormal activity.

“Sometimes a reported disturbance turns out to be nothing more than the sounds of an old house or the plumbing backing up,” said Jeff Yeckering.

Just to help things along, PIRK brings back-up equipment such as voice recorders, cameras, electro-magnetic field detectors, ambient thermometers and infrared lights. “It’s just common equipment you can get at Walmart,” McGee said.

On a recent trip to an ancestral homeplace near Woodburn, Jeff Yeckering, who also dabbles in genealogy, claims to have recorded the sounds of a woman screaming during childbirth.

While investigating the Green River Union Cemetery, which dates from the early 19th century and is one of 14 Huguenot shrines in the country, the team claims to have collected a wide range of evidence from activity such as abnormally high electro-magnetic field spikes, photos containing anomalies such as orbs, and electronic voice phenomenon. They also claim to have experienced chills in certain areas of the cemetery, which contains more than 1,000 graves, and heard a low growl while no animal was around, said Jeff Yeckering.

Sometimes, the team inadvertently brings the spirits home with them after an investigation, according to Kayla Yeckering.

“There are reasons spirits linger,” she said. “Sometimes they don’t know they are dead, especially when they have died tragically. They are looking for someone to listen to their story.”