Nighttime Roslyn cemetery watch by paranormal group rejected

ROSLYN, Wash. — Nighttime ghost watchers have been declared personae non grata at the historic cemetery in this old mining town on the east slopes of the Cascade Range.

The town council voted 5 to 2 Tuesday to reject a request by Washington State Paranormal Investigations and Research for permission to check for eerie, odd and unexplained phenomena during the wee hours, when the graveyard is closed.

"Let's not be the council that says OK to the ghost hunters," exhorted council member Larry Susich.

"This borders on hysteria," countered council member David Porter, one of the two dissenters. "I apologize to WSPIR. They're not going up there with picks and shovels."

Council members rejected an even stronger request by the cemetery commission to bar members of the Western Washington state group from conducting studies at the cemetery in the daytime and to prohibit information on Roslyn from being listed on the group's Web site, saying such action would be illegal.

Commission chairman Jim Barich told council members the cemetery panel believed watching for paranormal phenomena would be disrespectful to the dead and could result in the dislodging of fragile gravestones.

The group was not without its supporters in City Hall when the idea was raised last month.

"I love it," Mayor Jeri Porter said at the time. "Maybe they'll get up there and talk to my grandparents."

About 5,000 people are believed to be buried at the cemetery, nearly five times the current population of the town, which was a bustling mining community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The research group has visited the town a few times this year. Members who said they found evidence of paranormal activity near a mine shaft and a few electronic voice phenomena at the cemetery posted an audio sample on the Web at www.wspir.com/evps-and-videos.htm.

President Darren Thompson said the group will abide by the daytime restriction but noted that many such organizations have found that paranormal activity increases at night and peaks at about 2 a.m. to 3 a.m..

"We wish we could have gotten to say, 'Come with us and see what we do,"' he said.