Though Halloween comes but once a year, a curiosity for the supernatural is a quality members of Midwest Paranormal share throughout the year. The group has explored allegedly haunted buildings in Downtown Poplar Bluff and said learning about local history is almost as fun as searching for things that go bump in the night.
Sunday, Midwest Paranormal set up inside the Rodgers Theatre, where they said they've experienced unexplainable activity before. During the impromptu investigation, night-vision cameras, motion-detectors and black and white video screens waited patiently for communication from the other side in the dark, drafty theater.
Jack Altman said paranormal research is an interest he determined he shared with his friends after a tour of a historic structure in Springfield, Mo.
"About a year ago, my wife and I and a few of our friends went on an overnight tour at Pythian Castle," Altman said. "We'd all been interested in paranormal research but it's one of those things you don't really talk about. People consider it to be taboo."
After eventually admitting their curiosity to each other, the friends began exploring paranormal activity in Poplar Bluff under the name Midwest Paranormal. Members said the reason was so people outside of their circle could get involved.
"There are a lot more people interested in this than you'd expect," Altman said, "a lot of people you wouldn't expect."
Altman said reports mostly consist of buildings in the Downtown area, including Hays the Music Store, The Black River Art Gallery, Bronze Owl Brewery, Butler County Courthouse, and the Rodgers Theatre, among others. Last month, Altman and Midwest Paranormal held a tour of Downtown Poplar Bluff.
"We can never guarantee that we'll see any type of haunting, but we try to present the research we've found about each building during the tour," he said. "Anytime we do experience something, we always try to debunk it with logical explanations before assuming otherwise."
Gena Davis does most of the historical research for the group. She said she reads about significant events occurring throughout the years, pulls death certificates and interviews folks about experiences they've had within each building. Davis said she loves history and hopes to engage more people with "the fantastic lives that were lived in our downtown."
"I don't remember Downtown Poplar Bluff as a child, so all of this is really new to me," Davis said. "So to understand how enormous this downtown area was at one time is unbelievable."
Altman said during a visit to the Rodgers over the summer, after three hours of patiently waiting and finding nothing, things turned a bit creepy. Altman said group members captured on video multiple orbs floating across the phone screen and experienced feelings of coldness around them. A member of the group played a piano which seemed to draw a response, Altman explained. He said during later reviews of audio footage, ghostly voices can be heard in the background.
"It's neat to capture something like that because it's not something you ever expect to capture. But at the same time it's kind of exciting," he said.
Davis said the most interesting part of her research has been establishing an understanding of just how busy Downtown Poplar Bluff used to be. She said the mercantile shops weren't merely shops, but elaborate department stores where people made lifetime careers for themselves.
"It's just amazing to me that went on here and that we had a large enough population to sustain that kind of business," she said. "I know it was lumber and the railroad brought people in. It was a result of an economic boom. I'd love to see Downtown bustle like that again... With people moving up and down the sidewalks."
Davis said footsteps on the top and ground floors in the Black River Art Gallery, formerly Anderson Furniture and built in 1928, have been reported by secretaries in the building. She said Hays Music "has so many stories of sounds and movements that I can't count them." The music store served as an impromptu morgue after the 1927 tornado and at one time had a third floor, its architecture mimicking that of the French Quarter in New Orleans.
Davis said an interesting fact she discovered about the Rodgers was prior to its existence, a boarding house sat on the corner of Broadway and Pine. She also noted the theater was built in 1949 with the nuances of a ship, rounded corners, curving walls, and round porthole windows on each door.
The ultimate goal of Midwest Paranormal is to engage the public with learning about local history through interactive activities geared toward developing a curiosity for the paranormal, the people who established Poplar Bluff, and a desire to become involved in the revitalization of historic buildings, Davis said.
Investigation pictures and videos, including a video taken inside the Rodgers Theatre, can be found on the group's Facebook page by searching for Midwest Paranormal.