Finding the truth in the paranormal

Standing in the second floor bathroom of Portneuf Valley Brewing, the Pocatello Paranormal Research group remembers an encounter there when they investigated the brewery in 2013.

“She rushed through us,” Colleen O’Hara, one of the group’s founders, said. “She moved the table in front of the door and went through the whole team standing there. People were immediately ill.”

Founded by O’Hara and her friend Lynn Southworth, the PPR team’s goal is to give the reasons behind the spirits in people’s homes and businesses. One way to do that is having the people who requested their help join in on the investigation.

“We want them to be involved in researching or figuring out what they’re seeing,” said Lynn Southworth.

Equipped with cameras, detectors and other technology, the group takes a spiritual and scientific approach to each case.

“We don’t believe a story right off the bat. We go in there with a clean slate. We want to see what we think is really happening,” O’Hara said.

Bob Bosworth and Heather Wilson round out the four-person team and each member has varying degrees of experience — but as far as what it takes to be an investigator? O’Hara said you have to be somebody who really likes to look for an explanation.

“There are people that are pretty satisfied with what they see, but there are those of us that are always seeking to learn more,” she said.

All of PPR’s services are free of charge. Describing their services as a community service, O’Hara said if anyone charges you for this kind of work they probably are not in it for the research or for the right reasons.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can find their website here, which also has videos of past investigations.