Nancy Coffey has been interested in the paranormal after being scared in her house at a young age.

"I was 6 years old. And there was a demonic thing in there," Coffey said. She lived in a Houston suburb.

Her grandfather and father, both ministers, joined with colleagues to exorcise the house, she said.

"They got (the demon) to stay in one room, which was my room," said Coffey, who now lives in Waco.

The suspected apparition would hurl toys and once caused a coin bank (in the shape of Pinnochio's head) to float at the foot of her bed, she said.

Finally, the family moved out of the house. But Coffey's interest in ghosts and paranormal activity was set.

Now she is hunting the specters with the Central Texas Ghost Hunters Society.

Founder Melissa Baker said she's been documenting paranormal activity for 17 years.

"A lot of people will have a ghost story. ... Most of the time, that's all it is -- a story," Baker said. "We're looking for that little-bitty 1 percent that maybe is true."

The year-old group has a Web site and sends out a newsletter to 100 people.

And members document their findings, Baker insists. Their site is full of pictures of suspected activity.

"We're not saying that we have proof, we're saying 'Oh what is this? Let's check it out,'" said Baker, who lives in Chalk Bluff.

The group has checked out a house near Cameron Park, an old mansion in North Waco, a downtown warehouse, even a graveyard in China Spring.

On Tuesday night, Baker and eight others went to Lindsey Hollow in Cameron Park. They were following up on a previous visit to the site, where two suspected horse thieves were hung in 1880.

Some of photos the group took there appear to show a misty aura around the tree.

"It looked like one man was hanging from the tree, which shocked us," Baker said.

If stories are to be believed, you can hear the deceased making noises at the site, which is near Fourth Street and Herring Avenue.

Head Park Ranger Larry Simms has heard all the tales.

"No, there's nothing going on over there," he said. "Everything over there is more or less a wive's tale."

While historians have confirmed accounts of the hangings, Simms suspects the rest is a man-made account to play on the somewhat isolated atmosphere of the place.

Of course, old legends are nothing new to Cameron Park. Take the well-known story of an Indian warrior and his forbidden love from another tribe. The two supposedly took a dive off the cliff now known as Lover's Leap.

"That's more of a Valentine's story, it's not really a Halloween story," Simms joked.

But to some people, apparitions and paranormal activity are not the stuff of fiction.

"I don't know why but ghosts like me," Coffey said. "They make themselves present. They let me know that they're there."

Baker said if others could see and feel what's she's experienced, they'd be believers, too.

"For them, I feel sorry ... because they haven't experienced it," she said. "It's really incredible."

Her group hopes to investigate more locations in the area. Halloween just helps to draw interest to their work, Baker said.

"A lot of people do this, just not in Waco," she said. "Are they ready for it? We don't know."

The group's Web site can be found at: http://www.centexghosthunters.homestead.com/ghosthunters_files.html

• Story originally published by:
The Waco Tribune-Herald / TX | Brain Gaar - Nov 02.01

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