LANSING, Mich. — Do you believe in ghosts? Brad Mikulka does.
“When I was a child we lived in a haunted house,” Brad said.
He experienced what he describes as paranormal activity as a kid and as he got older decided he wanted to be a ghost hunter to help people get answers he couldn't growing up.
“Mom said she went inside the living room expecting to see a truck in our house," Brad said. "Mom said she went in there, there wasn’t any car, anything, but mom said she heard a loud bang like something had crashed into the house.”
That's when the paranormal activity really took off.
“Mom said at about three o’clock in the morning she woke up, she rolled over and she saw a gentleman beside her on all fours looking at her, but mom goes 'I could see through him,'" Brad said.
He said they were forced out of their home because they no longer felt safe.
“At night, when dad would leave for work they would lock all the doors and windows from inside," Brad said. "When dad got home in the morning, everything was unlocked.”
Several years later, he became a ghost hunter with the SouthEast Michigan Ghost Hunters Society.
“This year is our 25th year doing of investigations," Brad said. "We’ve been all over the state, all over America really, and we’ve done hundreds of investigations.”
Along with his wife Brenda.
“I have always had an interest in the paranormal," Brenda said. "I don’t have quite the stories that Brad talked about, but I have always believed there is something else out there once you pass away.”
Brenda said she was unsure about going to the cemetery late and night and thought it was going to be "a little strange."
But that all changed after her first investigation.
“I saw this poster of the Red Wings and I thought well, I’m just going to take a picture of the Red Wings to kind of keep myself entertained," Brenda said. "When we downloaded the picture, what was on the picture was a little girl in a nightgown with long brown hair.”
That's when she knew it was something they had to do.
“That’s where we decided that we were both going to do as much as we can to help people," Brenda said.
So, what is a ghost exactly?
“The scientific approach is energy never dies," Brenda said. "So if everybody has energy inside them, when you pass away what happens to that energy? It changes form.”
Brad said ghosts can appear in three different forms; an orb, a mist or a full bodied apparition. He said the way they appear, depends on the amount of energy in the air.
“Thunderstorms, lightning storms, the perfect amount of energy for them,” Brad said.
He said their equipment can detect ghosts in any form. Some you might have seen from movies like the TriField Natural EM Meter.
Others like a watch or Little Bear don't look like ghost hunting equipment at all.
Brad said he's never encountered any evil spirits.
“90 percent of the time it’s previous homeowners, it’s previous relatives that have passed of the current homeowner just coming by to say 'hi how’s everything going,'" Brad said.
But Brad says he once left with a bite mark on his leg after an investigation.
“I’m like why is my ankle itching," Brad said. "So I get home and it still itches so I took off my combat boots, pull down my sock and you can see like a round bite on my leg.”
Brenda said giving people closure is why they do what they do.
“We have helped people, kind of, come to terms with some of the things that are happening in their house and that’s really what we’re all about is to give them comfort,” Brenda said.
And if there's something strange in your neighborhood, to give the ghost hunters a call.
“Give it a try," Brenda said. "Come with us and we will show you things that you’ve never seen before.”
The Mikulkas say if you're interested in ghost hunting, all you need is a camera and tape recorder.
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