Young ghost hunters get a chance to search for the paranormal
BY JEFF RAYMOND
The Brownsville Herald
Ghosts are an easy sell in Brownsville.
The Brownsville Heritage Complex next month will offer a sort of encore to its Summer History Program for Children: three days of ghost hunting, folklore and historical research.
Children will learn to explore the history of artifacts and families who lived in various historical buildings in Brownsville, a num-ber of which have a reputation for strange happenings.
Although Fort Brown is ground zero for reports of ghost sightings and strange encounters given its 160 years as a military out-post, college and university, the downtown area and other parts of town have reported sightings as well.
Almost anywhere, it seems, an aware person could encounter a spirit.
?What I want to do is teach these kids not to be afraid,? said Victor Perez of the RGV Paranormal Investigators, who is assisting the program.
Upon completion of the program, participants will receive a Brownsville Historical Association Youth Ghost Hunter certificate and be savvy in capturing fleeting frames of floating orbs on their digital cameras.
When Summer History Program participants were getting restless one recent afternoon, a Brownsville Historical Association board member called Perez.
Bringing him in was a wise move.
?They begged for him back,? BHA Executive Director Priscilla Rodriguez said of the children, laughing as she described how one boy offered to pay any price to be allowed to spend one night in the alleged haunted Stillman House.
?In the morning, they?d talk about the history, and in the afternoon, he?d tell stories about things that had happened while his in-vestigators were out.?
One girl took a picture she and others swear shows a girl looking out a Stillman House window. For Rodriguez, proof depends on who?s looking.
?I think that?s the whole point. ... People believe whatever they want to believe,? she said.
Attendees of the June program can?t wait for an encore, and their parents say the supernatural has inspired the young ghost hunters to read and learn about Brownsville?s past.
The heritage complex also is planning an October ghost tour around town, possibly using Brownsville Urban System buses for transportation.
?People will get to hear the history of the site, what happened there, strange occurrences,? Rodriguez said.
She hopes the July program will introduce children to the folkloric and historical underpinnings of ghost sightings and spook sto-ries.
?Everyone down here it seems has seen La Llorona at least once,? she said.
Source: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_com ... 2_0_10_0_C
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