DIXON – Strange occurrences, unexplained phenomena and nighttime disturbances characterize a typical day for the Route 66 Paranormal Society, a new team investigating supernatural phenomena in Dixon.

Ashton Durband of Dixon founded the group after returning to the area from Iowa, where he was active with the Iowa City Ghost Hunters. Stu Blaine of Dixon said he immediately offered his services to Durband when he learned of the group.

“I drive a truck and haul a lot of the equipment to our investigations,” Blaine said. “I was skeptical at first, but some experiences have convinced me more and more. I’m still skeptical by nature and like to try to debunk claims with the tools we have.”

The group uses motion detectors and small digital cameras to track invisible movements, voice recorders to capture electronic voice phenomena, electromagnetic field detectors, multimeters and more.

“I drive a truck and haul a lot of the equipment to our investigations. I was skeptical at first, but I’ve had some experiences that have made me believe more and more. I’m still skeptical by nature and like to try to debunk claims with the tools we have.”

— Stu Blaine, Ghost Hunter

“It is widely believed that ghosts emit their own electric field,” Durband said. “These tools help us distinguish between electric fields generated by common household objects such as televisions or cell phones and areas where none should exist.”

Another common belief in the ghost community is that unexplained voices on audio recordings, also known as EVPs, may be of paranormal origin. However, skeptics claim that these voices, which often have poor sound quality and static, are nothing more than stray radio transmissions that believers are trying to assign meaning to. Blaine disagrees.

“I understand the skeptics, but we really take everything with a grain of salt and try to separate fact from fiction,” Blaine said. “What surprises me is that people readily believe things they read on Facebook, but the possibility of ghosts is absurd, even though new discoveries are being made around us every day thanks to technology.”

Group member Christopher Swartz recounted a harrowing moment he experienced while investigating the Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanatorium with another paranormal investigation team.

“We were driving the truck and we came around this curve when out of nowhere this figure appeared on the road,” Swartz said. “It was a man with shaggy dark hair and overalls. If that had been a living person, we would have run them over before we stopped the truck.”

Durband said he knows how the group’s claims sound to non-believers, and the group is used to dealing with skeptics, especially when it comes to misconceptions about the group.

“People have accused us of using witchcraft or pentagrams to summon demons or things like that,” Durband said. “We can’t summon things. We take what’s in front of us and try to use our instruments and our minds to decipher what can’t be easily explained.”

The group is newly formed and looking for more members and investigations. For information on joining or requesting a free investigation, contact Durband at 815-973-1651 or email [email protected].

“The fact is, we don’t know everything about this world, and we welcome you to come and experience it for yourself for a night,” Blaine said. “Perhaps it will change you.”