The University of Maryland Baltimore County has a big secret.
Many already know that deep in the Albin Kuhn Library there are spooky artifacts. But there’s more than just the haunted mongoose named Gef and the collection of objects supposedly bent by someone’s mind.
The parapsychology collection at the school also holds audio of certain spooky instances like seances from beyond the grave and interviews with people who have experienced supernatural occurrences.
If you haven’t heard of it before, parapsychology is the study of mental phenomena that can’t be explained by science. Think clairvoyance, telepathy and talking with the dead.
UMBC holds some seriously spooky tapes of these occurrences.
One of the most prolific investigators was Hans Holzer, an occultist active in the mid- to late- 20th century who tried to interview and capture paranormal activity.
In 1977, Holzer recorded interviews in the house with Ethel Myers, a spiritual medium who went to the Amityville House with him in New York.
The Amityville case revolves around a house that was the site of six murders in 1974. A handful of horror films have been based off them.
“Somebody strangled someone here. Because my throat seems to be closing up,” Myers tells Holzer.
“Why did they do it?” Holzer, who died in 2009, responded.
“The whole atmosphere is people fighting with each other because they don’t know why. They’re driven to it,” Myers said.
There are less horrifying tapes in the UMBC collection as well, like music from Rosemary Brown who says she channeled long dead composers like Beethoven and Chopin.
Beth Saunders, the curator of the collection, said there’s been some controversy over the collection.
“It has kind of offended some people that a university library would collect material that they see as being full of hoaxes and things that aren't truthful in an era where we're hyper aware of the threats to truth,” Saunders said. “I would actually argue that that's what makes this collection so relevant, is that it is perfect for anthropology, sociology, studying our sort of recent history, interactions between technology and faith.”
That’s especially true with technology.
Saunders says cutting edge technology has always been a source of conflict between believers and skeptics.
For example, Polaroids don’t need darkrooms, so in the mid-20th century it was thought the pictures couldn’t be tampered with, but tricksters still found a way.
“And so it sort of becomes this like feedback loop of, you know, skepticism and belief,” Saunders said.
Saunders added that even today with AI people are using technology as a better way to find truth or pull the wool over people’s eyes.
Of course, sometimes people just wanted to find someone they truly missed.
And one of the most missed icons over the years has been Elvis Presley.
Holzer interviewed Dorothy Sherry in 1978, who claimed she could channel The King.
“He’s standing here. He is here now,” she said in one of the tapes. “He's dressed in black a black cashmere sweater, V neck.”
She goes on to say that Elvis is tired of Graceland being open to the public. So it just goes to show, ghost’s don’t like you in their house either.
