[August 02, 2011] Ghost trackers: Filmmaker enlists medium in search for spirits Tweet Aug 02, 2011 (El Paso Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Jackson Polk didn't really set out to shoot videos and still pictures of "ghosts." The award-winning documentary filmmaker poked through the nooks and crannies of the El Paso Playhouse with a medium on a recent Friday night in search of energy orbs or ghosts represented in balls of light. "We're going to take a look at the theater and see what may be here spiritually," Polk said. The spiritual orbs show up on digital still photographs. Outside the theater, a light drizzle, a sunset rainbow and lightning in the distance made the evening seem perfect for hunting ghosts or spirits. Polk enlisted Diana "Lady D" Calamia, a well-known El Paso medium who has established a reputation for her psychic skills or ability to detect the spiritual energy of ghosts. The search for orbs in the theater began with a prayer: "Oh spirit, we come here tonight to help bring light and understanding to those spiritual beings who continue to reside in this place. We wish not to incite or anger those spiritual beings who reside in the realm beyond our sight and normal senses." Over the years, the community theater in the 2500 block of Montana has staged melodramas, comedies, light dramas and even musicals for a spell. Actors, directors and others associated with the theater have reported unexplained phenomena: footsteps on wooden staircases, voices or whispers, doors slamming shut, someone walking across the stage, someone looking out of the spotlight booth. Others have felt as if someone is staring at them. For Polk, all these stories make good fodder for what will eventually become his third video on El Paso ghost stories. He already has produced videos touching on ghost stories revolving around El Paso landmarks such as the El Paso Public Library, Concordia Cemetery, Magoffin Home, Keystone Site, Mount Cristo Rey, El Paso High School and the L&J Cafe. Polk was once shooting a historical video at Magoffin Home when he first encountered a group studying paranormals on a private tour. He tagged along on the tour and later accompanied the group to Concordia Cemetery, where orbs or dots of light show up often on photographs. "So we're finding things that appear to be spirits, according to these folks," Polk said. Calamia quickly detected spiritual energy on the stage and other spots in the theater, which served briefly in the 1950s as a church before being transformed into the Festival Theater in 1964. The theater became known as the El Paso Playhouse in 1978. This night, Calamia detected spirits named Thomas and Edgar, a woman named Hilda or Hilde, an elderly couple dancing, and two girls named Madge and Martha. "A lot of the time the orbs that come here are not necessarily that they inhabit this area. But they know we're working with them tonight," she said. "Some will come very strongly to me. It's like turning on a light bulb." Ruben Escandon Jr., one of the photographers helping Polk, caught digital images of what appeared to be well-defined figures. He said he felt a door open and a breeze just before he snapped the picture. For Erika Moeller, an actor and director at the El Paso Playhouse, the medium's presence helped illuminate some of the mysterious theatrical noises she has heard over the years. "It's been interesting," she said. "Very few of us have actually seen stuff. It's mostly hearing things, people walking up and down the stairs. We hear things fall all the time." If you ask Jackson Polk, El Paso's video ghost storyteller, whether any of this paranormal stuff is real, he will usually reply: "This is weird." Ramon Renteria may be reached at [email protected]; 546-6146. More details -- To learn more about El Paso ghost stories on video, check out Capstone Productions' website: elpasogold.com. -- Information: 533-6364, 490-6579. To see more of the El Paso Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.elpasotimes.com. Copyright (c) 2011, El Paso Times, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]