The Story of a… Paranormal Investigator
If the spirit moves you, Digna Quiles, 38, of Orlando Paranormal Investigations may be able to sort things out.
We’re not out there looking for ghosts. We investigate what people are claiming; we want to either prove or debunk it. Everything’s made of matter, and we’re really looking for proof—recordings, audio and video. Some see it as more of a spiritual thing, but we think we can measure it.
Some people call and they just want some validation. Others are scared and it’s really a burden to live with. They think there’s something demonic in their house and they’re really desperate. We analyze the evidence and try to open people’s eyes. [The group’s services are free.]
We have nine members in our group. I want people who have a passion for the paranormal, who can put time into it. We take members to Cassadaga or to a cemetery for practice.
We use an EMF detector that senses changes in electromagnetic fields. We work off the theory that when a spirit is trying to come through and show itself or talk, there will be a fluctuation in the electromagnetic field. When we hear knocking and we feel a chill and the detector’s going off, all at the same time, how can you explain that? We don’t jump the gun, but ultimately we base our research on what our equipment is saying.
We try to use trigger objects. One trigger is to sit around in a room and talk among ourselves and ignore anything else in the room. And that’s when something happens.
A little girl at Miss Caroline’s Bed & Breakfast in St. Augustine was scared to death of something in her closet, and we just empowered the family by telling the bad energy to go away and leave this place. So the little boy and girl were stomping their feet and telling it to get out, and the shoe rack on the door started swinging.
There have been several times where I felt scared. Primarily because of shifts in energy. Annie Russell Theatre at Rollins College was one place where I was really freaked out.
The most interesting place I’ve been would have to be Colby Park in Cassadaga. We all felt the hairs rise on the backs of our necks. We brought in psychics, too, and some were really scared. There was no electricity around and we called out asking to see one flash for ‘yes’ and two for ‘no’ in response to our questions. At first we thought the responses we saw were a fluke, but then we asked the same questions a different way and saw the same answers.
In my opinion, the stronger the emotion, the more energy something will have. You know how you can feel it off somebody, when they’re mad or sad? I imagine how they are in life is how they are in death.
Before I die, I want to know what’s out there. I want to find proof one day if there’s a God, if people die and they’re still hanging around, if there is reincarnation. It’d be good to have that closure, you know?
