SAN ANTONIO – In the weathered hallways and rustic rooms of VFW Post 76, there lingers three spirits — a little girl poisoned by her father, a wandering woman, and a man with serious head trauma.
That is what Tasha Smith believes, anyway.
She is the leader of Paranormal Agents, a San Antonio-based group that investigates all things paranormal.
"We've been doing it since about 2008 and we continually add equipment to improve our operation," said Eddie Hill, one of the group's members.
In the wee hours of a Monday morning, five group members gathered at the downtown post, setting up cameras and waiting for the music to die down.
Once the bar's patrons filed out, the group filed in.
Smith led the way, going on a walk by herself through the building to get a feel for the place.
"I've been able to hear and see things since I was a little kid that others can't see," said Smith.
She walked by herself because, as she put it, she did not want anyone else energy to contaminate what she might feel from a nearby spirit.
"If I'm by myself, then I know that when I feel some energy, it belongs to a spirit," she said.
Her walk-through over, the group went to the places Tasha said they'd likely have some luck. A few of the members went to the attic, and others went to the basement.
If Tasha's intuition tells them where to look, it's Eddie Hill's equipment that gathers the proof.
The group uses night-vision cameras, electro-magnetic field sensors, sensitive audio recording devices, and laser fields to track any and all paranormal movement.
The entire investigation takes hours, and all of it is recorded.
It's footage that Smith later goes through frame-by-frame, looking for any evidence.
Footage from the VFW showed two promising leads — what appears to be a pair of fingers along a wall near the attic, and a humanoid figure sitting on a ballroom chair in the building's dance hall.
"We'll have to go back and check out those spots and make sure there is no logical explanation for those, because there very well could be," Smith admitted. "That said, if we can rule out something rational, then we might have something paranormal."
The group's motivation for these investigations is based purely on curiosity.
"We all want to know if there is something else out there, and look for some meaning in it," said Smith. "We pay for all of this stuff out of our own pockets because we really like doing it," said Smith.
And to the doubters, her response is simple: "Look at our evidence and see for yourselves."
For a look at some of the Paranormal Agents' other investigations, visit the group's Facebook page.
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