I would like to thank you for writing the article “Searching for Spirits” in the latest issue of The Murfreesboro Pulse.

I was never a member of S.P.I.R.I.T., but I used to do the same thing with some friends, and some members of S.P.I.R.I.T., here in Rutherford County. New Hope was the first place we visited, and we went back almost weekly. We also went to places like Beth Brie Cemetery, the haunted railroad tracks in Chapel Hill and various other places.

I found it so awesome that you wrote this because it is something that is misunderstood by almost everyone that doesn’t participate in it. I am a Christian, be it not hard-line, still a believer and I would have all sorts of people tell me what I was doing was wrong, and that I doubted my faith by doing so.

I am very understanding of people not believing, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But until they have gone out and witnessed the things we have seen and felt, they have no clue. It’s living (or not so living) proof that we are not alone in this world, and for whatever reason, spirits still inhabit the earth.

I don’t know if they are looking for answers, or just wanting to scare the hell out of people for a good laugh, but they are out there, and will make themselves present to you if they feel like it.

S.P.I.R.I.T. is a lot more sophisticated than my group was. We never had infrared cameras, or electromagnetic field detectors. It was simply us, and our digital cameras. We would go out for hours, just snapping pictures, and looking for anything mysterious. The night would conclude with all of sitting around a computer and uploading the pictures to see what we had gotten.

Sometimes we would find things that appeared right next to us, while we were walking, stopping to talk, or even taking a break to sit down. We definitely

didn’t know it was with us when we took the pictures, but it was very exciting to see what decided to have its picture taken with us.

Keep up the good work with The Murfreesboro Pulse, it’s about time that Murfreesboro has an entertainment and culture newspaper like some of the surrounding cities. Thanks so much!

? Mike McDougal

mike_mcdougal@comcast.net