Bob and Renee Chamberlain, nationally renowned ghosthunters, drew a standing room-only crowd to the Franklin County Historical Museum as part of their Ghosts of Franklin County lecture and tour. The Chamberlains are founders of Northwest Paranormal Investigations and the couple travels throughout the Northwest giving lectures on ghost hunting and paranormal activity. The Chamberlains have been featured in dozens of TV shows including Top 10 Scariest Places, Paranormal State, My Ghost Stories, and Ghost Adventures and books, including Chuck Palahniuk's book Fugitives and Refugees. They have also appeared on national TV in channels like Fox TV, Travel Channel, History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Sci-Fi Channel, A&E, and the Food Channel with Rachel Ray.

[blockquote quote="“Standing between two trees was a perfect silhouette of a man, and when we pointed the light towards it, he was gone." source="Bob Chamberlain" align="right" max_width="300px"]

Homeowners, businesses, cemeteries, mansions, and historical sites often contact NWPI members to conduct investigations into possible spirit and paranormal activity. They conduct audio and video recording and document findings. Their main goal is to engage in learning and teaching paranormal investigation and ghost hunting in a safe and intelligent manner. Renee Chamberlain became interested in learning more about ghost hunting and paranormal investigation 22 years ago. They’d just built a new house and had been caring for her mother at their new home before she passed. The Chamberlains weren’t much into the paranormal, but Renee Chamberlain sensed that her mother was trying to communicate with her from the afterlife. “I would hear little things, like hearing mom’s cough or banging pots in the kitchen, we would even smell her cigarettes” she said. “We’ve been doing it ever since, but we do it as a hobby, we don’t get paid for it.”

The group also helps maintain, preserve, and protect historic cemeteries. They’ll even patrol cemeteries on Halloween to prevent vandalism, and they offer classes on how to clean and preserve headstones.

When it comes to skeptics, the Chamberlains respect them because once they were skeptics themselves and still are. “We go into everything as skeptics, you have to be to be discerning,” said Renee Chamberlain. On a trip to Wellington, the Chamberlains led a film crew from the Fox Network into a former town that was completely destroyed by a landslide. Spirit orbs were visible to the naked eye and they heard a woman speaking as if she were in a radio show.

“The film crew went in as skeptics but they came out saying ‘Oh, ok we see what you’re saying now’,” Renee Chamberlain said. In the lecture, Bob Chamberlain talks about the couple’s investigations at cemetery in Eltopia. As Bob Chamberlain recounts the story, he becomes visibly flustered and has difficulty finishing the anecdote. He senses something in the room and when he does he easily becomes emotional. “(Bob) has a better feel for spirits and entities, he picks up feelings and sometimes it's overwhelming for him,” said Renee Chamberlain. “We visited (a cemetery) in Pasco to get a feel for spirits that were acting out and as we were coming back to our vehicle, we sensed something, we both turned around at the same time,” said Renee Chamberlain. “Standing between two trees was a perfect silhouette of a man, and when we pointed the light towards it, he was gone. I turned on my recorder and we let it run for a little, I put on my headphones that night and heard a name.

Renee Chamberlain said something spoke the name ‘Betty’ very softly. “It's startling, because you think someone's behind you. That feeling that comes over you — it's when you know they're talking to you,” she said. The couple has also videotaped a stream of flying spirit orbs, which are like flowing balls of light. Some people believe they are visible evidence of spirits. They say each color represents a different spiritual energy.

As for the Ghosts in Franklin County Historical Museum, the couple said there were definitely spirits there.

The couple spent two nights in the museum. “We saw some things upstairs but nothing concrete or substantial, but the moment you came downstairs it was like — boom — you could immediately feel it,” said Renee Chamberlain.

Renee Chamberlain said that whoever used the antique medical equipment came with it. “A couple of girls who were visiting the museum afterwards said they felt the same thing,” she said. “There are like four or five entities that live here.” After the lecture, the Chamberlains opened the room up for questions and people in the audience inquired about their own encounters with the paranormal and hauntings. NWPI meets monthly during the spring, summer and fall. In the meetings they discuss subjects dealing with investigations, equipment, software and more. For more information about Bob and Renee Chamberlain and Northwest Paranormal Investigations visit www.northwestparanormal.com

For more information about Bob and Renee Chamberlain and Northwest Paranormal Investigations visit www.northwestparanormal.com</a>.