Haunting questions raised at Decatur’s Old Courthouse
By Terrance Kelly
Something may be amidst in Decatur’s Old Courthouse building, now the home of DeKalb History Center.
Workers in the building have reported hearing voices, footsteps, and strange noises, mostly from one of the landmark ’s original staircases behind the guard’s desk.
Located in the Decatur Square, site of the “Battle of Decatur” during the Civil War, the Old Courthouse building has stood at its present location since 1898, but was damaged by fire in 1918.
Although the building was restored in the 1990s, one stairway and the granite walls outside were left intact. Fifty-nine steps lead up the three-story building into an attic space. Rooms along the stairway were once chambers behind the courtroom.
In a 1995 article “The Ghost & Mr. Kitchens,” published in the DeKalb History Center Newsletter, The Times of DeKalb, Vivian Price noted the stairway was the only one used to move prisoners to and from the courtroom.
“Members of the cleaning crew and others who have occasion to be in the building late at night have long said they hear footsteps or get a strong feeling they are not alone,” she reported.
The observations have captured the attention of employees currently working in the building.
“We’ve heard of things happening and people hearing different sounds or voices,” said Leslie Borger, Heritage Education and Rental coordinator, DeKalb History Center. “The five ladies who work in the downstairs offices don’t like being alone down there in the evenings or early mornings.”
The reports have been so convincing and unnerving, the DeKalb History Center participated in a paranormal investigation, by the Georgia Research of Apparitions, Sightings and the Paranormal (G.R.A.S.P.). “Our goal is to find logical explanations for illogical occurrences,” said the founder of G.R.A.S.P. Benjamin Carroll.
G.R.A.S.P. technicians on the evening of Nov. 15 set up audio recorders, an Electromagnetic Frequency Detector and a laser thermometer. Eight digital cameras were set throughout the building, ready to photograph any apparition, said Carroll, who described the other equipment used by his paranormal investigators.
He explained that infrared cameras photograph without light. The EFD determines “if there is an electrical problem or if a ghost is pulling energy out of the air,” Carroll explained. The laser thermometer will determine any sudden temperature shifts.
As the team of paranormal investigators divided into four groups of three members, they were cautioned to identify any sounds they may make on the evidence recordings by their own feet, such as accidentally bumping into doors or walls. Only the light of battery-operated flashlights illuminated the nighttime investigation.
They were also cautioned by Carroll not to become frightened if they encounter apparitions or feel sick, and most importantly, they were told to keep walkie-talkie radio communications to a minimum and to be respectful of the space they were entering.
No one present knew for sure what to expect.
“We go to find evidence to disprove or to debunk what’s suspected,” said Christian Tate, deputy director, G.R.A.S.P.
“We gather all of our evidence, and then we review it and try to debunk it, taking into consideration the building’s age and the current weather conditions. Most things are going to be debunked, but what’s not explainable is paranormal.”
“We want to try to get answers for people who experience things,” Tate continued. “High EMF can cause you to see things, make you paranoid, have hallucinations and even rashes. High EMF can also be spirits. We don’t go in looking for anything. We do our investigations afterwards.”
A preliminary walk through the targeted areas started on the first level of the “haunted” stairway, then up to the second floor into the Grand Courtroom and kitchen. The tour came to a halt on the third floor stairway landing.
“These are locations of the claims where there have been paranormal activities, such as voices, apparitions in the stairway and sudden temperature drops,” said Tate. “People believe this area is haunted. My whole life I’ve been sensitive to feeling things.
Definitely, the stairwell makes me nauseated. That’s how I feel when there is paranormal activity. I felt cold, sick and extremely sad in the stairway."
“With the history here, it’s definitely possible something is here,” Tate continued. “People died tragically in this space. A lot of people died so suddenly here, they don’t even realize they’re dead.
The main thing is if there is anything here, I want to communicate to them to move on. There must be something else better than a drafty stairway.”
No accounts of apparitions or voices were reported immediately following the paranormal investigation. More detailed findings will take G.R.A.S.P. about a week to unravel.
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