Ever since she was a teenager, Ann Hall has been interested in the supernatural.

And now, after taking two courses in ghost hunting from the Maine Paranormal Research Association (MPRA), offered through Windham’s Adult Education program, she and three other women have formed Spiritual Enlightenment, a paranormal research group whose purpose, according to their business card, is “validating life after death.”

As paranormal investigators, Hall, Sharon Gallant, Michelle Carter, and Brenda Woodman track down spirits in private homes, businesses, and graveyards. The group does not charge for its services, which include the use of digital cameras, electronic voice phenomenon (EVP), pendulums, and dousing rods in an attempt to prove the spirits’ existence.

“We do it because it helps us show other people that when you die you do live on – in another dimension,” Hall said. “But you do live on – on another level of consciousness.”

Recently, one of the pictures Hall took at Evergreen Cemetery on Stevens Avenue in Portland was published in “Mysteries Magazine.”

Her photo, which she says depicts paranormal activity with its “sequence of bright, squiggly lights emanating from the gravestones horizontally at about chest level,” appears in the August 2005 issue of the magazine, published by Phantom Press.

Hall has visited a number of area cemeteries to look for spirit activity. She says she always takes a lot of pictures because the process is “hit or miss.”

According to Hall, she doesn’t generally see the evidence through the camera’s lens. But once the picture is taken, it can be filled with round spots of light that she calls orbs, a smoky white or colored mist she calls ecto-mist, or strange streaks and squiggles of white or colored lights.

Another tool commonly used by Hall and other investigators is a regular tape recorder. Hall says the process, known as electronic voice phenomenon, or EVP, involves asking the spirits questions and taping their answers.

But apparently ghosts don’t say much – at least to Hall. She believes a spirit voice on one of her tapes is saying “yes” in response to her question and, in a separate incident, that there is the sound of a heavy breath or sigh.

When questioned why these spirits are short on conversation, Hall explains that it takes a lot of energy for them to speak. She believes that often, they suck the energy from her fresh camera and tape recorder batteries within 20 minutes, using that energy to manifest themselves.

“The spirits play games with us all the time,” said Hall.

She also uses dousing rods and pendulums to find energy fields, believing these fields to be ghosts.

“Your body rots away but some bit of energy is left behind,” Hall said. “You don’t just dissipate; your energy carries on.”

Besides their cemetery excursions, Hall and her group investigate paranormal activity in private homes. But many homeowners don’t want to admit they invited a paranormal investigator. Hall says that’s because “most people are afraid of being ridiculed.” A second reason is that some of these homeowners want to sell their homes and wish to keep the perceived spirit presence a secret.

But in September, Hall will investigate the Magic Lantern Theater in Bridgton.

Hall has been going to the Magic Lantern for a number of years. She says she knows it’s haunted because she has “felt spirit presences.” According to Hall, the owner, Tom Watkins, thinks so too and has agreed to let her in to gather evidence before the theater’s scheduled demolition in October.

When asked how she knows it contains spirits, Hall said, “I know it’s haunted because I’m psychic.”

Hall realizes that some people say she is dabbling in satanic practices. Her answer to that is an emphatic denial.

“We say a prayer to God before we do investigation,” Hall said, “and we only call on our best and highest guides.”

Paranormal investigator Ann Hall sits at her table with some of the tools of her trade. She is holding an August 2005 copy of