MKE Magazine Interview

Serious about the supernatural

Paranormal investigators hunt for places and things that are out of this world

By Joe Ahlers

Posted: Oct. 12, 2006 in MKE Magazine

If there was an award for understatement of the year, it might be what Krista Tarnowski told me the first time we met.

"We're warning you," she said. "We can be an odd bunch. There almost has to be some level of insanity here."

As founder of Milwaukee Area Paranormal Investigations, Tarnowski saw an opportunity in early 2005 to turn a hobby examining the unknown into an organization where those interested in paranormal research could come together.

Aliens, ghosts, spirits - members of the group believe many things are possible. And although they have an acute sense of humor - Tarnowski's cell phone ringtone is the theme to "Ghostbusters" - don't be so quick to crack "crazy" jokes. Members are dead serious about their work.

"It's a hobby you can get hurt with, and no one goes in alone. Ever," said Sunny Reddick, a member who has known Tarnowski for almost two decades. "People need to realize that there is an unexplained and potentially dangerous world out there we don't know much about."

That world is a skeptic's paradise. Among the things Tarnowski and Reddick said they have seen are extraterrestrial life forms that can't be found in any zoology book, legends such as the Beast of Bray Road (a werewolf-like creature) and other occurrences that someone might think came straight from another dimension.

That, in fact, is the basis of the group's charter: An indefinite number of parallel worlds overlap, and for every action one person takes, an infinite number of alternative actions take place in other dimensions. The group members believe many occurrences people associate with "ghosts" are the alternative worlds pushing themselves into ours.

The paranormal investigators focus on two things: recruiting new members and responding to clients who believe strange activity in their home or business could be related to things not of this world. MAPI generally gets requests from three types of people: the senile (needing medical help), the attentiongetters (doing it for publicity) and the people who are seriously scared for their lives.

Although creaking floorboards, drafty windows and electrical currents can explain about 90 percent of the investigations, it's the remaining 10 percent the group thrives on.

"Our job is to find answers where there really aren't any," Reddick said. "A lot of ghost stories aren't ghostly at all. It's just a branch of science that has not been explored."

From that perspective, the things members see and do don't seem so chilling.

But, at the core, everyone's at least a little afraid of the dark, Tarnowski said. And the group's experiences include peel-your-skin-off scary stories you won't find in any horror novel.

"The worst and the best stories are the ones you don't tell anybody," Reddick said. "The best - they are usually so far-fetched that people look at you like a loon if you tell them, like you just hit the crack pipe.

And the worst are so bad, you don't want to talk about them. Even for us, some things can be a little unbelievable."

membership

Think you've got what it takes to become a paranormal investigator? Besides natural flair for the unknown - a talent that is often hereditary, Reddick said - the biggest qualifications are having an open mind, being willing to learn and being able to go into a situation without preconceived assumptions about what you might find.

"You have to accept the fact that anything is possible," said group member Steve Heise.

Don't think you're qualified for membership just because you watch "Ghost Hunters" on the Sci-Fi Channel. The show, Reddick said, "attracts the wrong kind of people" and is highly unbelievable. Investigations actually can take hours and end up with nothing, unlike on TV where equipment - which Tarnowski said is frequently misused - comes up with positive paranormal activity every time.

Members of MAPI are bankers, grocery store clerks, factory workers - nothing out of the ordinary, except that they believe another universe is out there waiting to be explored and that they were born to do the exploring.

"It's a part of my life I keep very quiet," Heise said, "but a part, nonetheless, whether I accept it or not."