10/28/2007
By Kate Stone Lombardi
Published in The New York Times
YOU hear footsteps in the attic every night, but no one else is home. Household items disappear and then reappear in a different room a few days later. The children insist they hear voices coming from the closet. The dog keeps barking at an empty chair.
Who you gonna call?
You might try the Katonah Paranormal Society. They chafe at the term “ghostbusters,” but the two women who run it, Kathy O’Donnell and Karen Darby, will investigate activities believed to be coming “from the other side.” Call them what you will — ghosts, spirits, energy forces — they are very real to Ms. O’Donnell and Ms. Darby, who say they can sometimes see, hear and speak to the dead.
The two women are not what you might imagine. They don’t wear silly helmets or one-piece jumpsuits. In fact, they look a lot like other well-to-do women in this pretty hamlet of Bedford. The two are sisters, and they are both blondes, dressed in brightly colored sweaters and wearing tasteful silver earrings.
They also share an ability to communicate with the other world, they say, and their mission is to help people, both “the ones with bodies,” Ms. O’Donnell said, “and the ones without the bodies,” Ms. Darby finished. The sisters have a tendency to complete each other’s sentences and telephone each other at the exact same moment.
They take their work seriously. When a client calls, the women set up an initial site visit. First, they need to rule out alternate explanations for disturbances that seem paranormal but may be prosaic. A flickering light may signify only faulty wiring. And this time of year, old furnaces are often the real culprit behind random creaking and groaning.
But often, the women say, they can immediately feel hot and cold spots in the house. If they believe they are in the presence of someone who has “passed on,” they will return to do a full investigation, bringing along digital cameras and recorders. They say they have captured images (“Sometimes we’ve had full figures, faces, part of the face or just orbs,” Ms. Darby said), and sometimes they can tape voices of the dead. How is this possible?
“It has to do with vibration,” Ms. O’Donnell said. “They vibrate at a slightly different vibration than us. The digital cameras and recorders are much more sensitive. The L.E.D. light seems to illuminate their energy.”
When clients see physical evidence of a spirit, they are first surprised and then relieved, Ms. Darby said. “It’s nice for the homeowner to find out they’re not nuts,” she added. The women said they couldn’t reveal the names of any clients, citing privacy concerns. (Real estate agents also dislike word getting out about haunted houses.)
Here are some things the paranormals will tell you about spirits: they retain the same personalities they had when they had bodies, appear fully dressed and are eager to communicate. They have free will and usually, if asked nicely, will move on.
“We have a little conversation and say, ‘Look, you can’t keep doing this — you’re scaring the kids.’” Ms. O’Donnell said. “Some are pranksters. Sometimes we have to get tough.”
If they have a really difficult case, Ms. Darby said, they “flood the place with light and prayer, and that’s very effective.” The sisters are both interfaith ministers as well as masters of reiki, the Japanese massage therapy.
Ms. O’Donnell and Ms. Darby say the spirits of those who died traumatically — especially murder victims — sometimes get “stuck,” because of the shock of their demise. Some hang around peacefully for centuries until a homeowner disturbs them with renovations.
The sisters live with their families on horse farms, Ms. O’Donnell in Katonah and Ms. Darby in Fairfield, Conn. They say they have had their gifts since childhood, though they didn’t start working together on investigations (www.Katonah-Paranormal.com) until four years ago. They do not charge for their work, which they consider “a calling.”
Oh, and they don’t need enhanced intuition to know that you’re skeptical.
“Skepticism is fine,” Ms. O’Donnell said. “That’s our chance to educate them. They’re either open to us or not. But cynics — cynics just want to fight. I don’t want to fight.”
Ms. Darby added that they were not out to change anyone’s mind. “We’re just here to offer a service,” she said.