If there’s somethin? strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call?
Oxford Community Television!
If it’s something weird and it don’t look good, who ya gonna call?
Oxford Community Television!
Teri Stiles, production manager for OCTV, is looking to investigate potential haunted houses in the Oxford/Addison area and interview local folks willing to share their experiences with the paranormal.
She wants to produce a special television program about ghostly activity to air around Halloween.
‘My hope is that it’s educational,? Stiles said. ‘Spirits are all around us, all the time. And they’re usually pretty harmless.?
Folks interested in telling their stories or having their home investigated are asked to please call OCTV at (248) 628-9658.
A member of Motor City Ghost Hunters for five years, Stiles has participated in 30 to 35 paranormal investigations.
Motor City Ghost Hunters is a group that investigates private residences, businesses, historical locations and public buildings in an effort to determine what is causing reports of paranormal activity. Every case is investigated ‘thoroughly and with much skepticism,? according to the group’s website www.motorcityghosthunters.com
‘Of all the investigations I’ve gone on, we’ve only had about four places (where) we did not find evidence (of paranormal activity),? she said.
Stiles was part of an investigation at Whitefish Point in Paradise, Michigan that captured video footage of what appears to be a full-bodied apparition.
‘It was about one o’clock in the morning,? she said. ‘We actually got (footage of) a (young) girl walking in a night dress. She walked right past the camera, turned around and came right past the camera again.?
A Detroit television news station played the footage ‘for three days in a row,? according to Stiles. ‘That was the very best proof we’ve ever had.?
Stiles believes spirits are ‘everywhere.?
‘I’ve always had experiences throughout my life with paranormal entities. I’ve lived in two homes that were haunted,? she said. ‘I think there’s a lot of reasons why (spirits) stay here.?
Some spirits ‘get stuck here? until they work through unresolved issues from their lives, according to Stiles, while others hang around to keep an eye on loved ones.
‘They eventually move on,? she said.
Stiles got involved with Motor City Ghost Hunters to help folks experiencing hauntings either get rid of the spirits in their homes (i.e. ‘help it to move on?) or learn to understand, accept and live with them.
‘A lot of times it’s just a matter of saying. ‘You don’t belong here. This is my home. You need to leave.? And they go ? more often than not,? she said.
Having a home investigated for paranormal activity isn’t difficult.
It begins with investigators asking the occupants a series of questions ‘to determine whether there really is some kind of disturbance,? Stiles said.
If there’s sufficient reason to move forward, one or two investigators will spend a couple hours in the home doing a preliminary investigation using video cameras, still cameras and digital audio recorders to collect evidence.
Based on those results, a full investigation could be warranted. This involves a small group of investigators spending five or six hours overnight using the aforementioned equipment, plus other devices, to collect further evidence, according to Stiles.
She warned people against trying to conduct their own paranormal investigations because they can encounter ‘so many things? that they’re ‘not equipped to deal with.?
For example, Stiles was part of a Motor City Ghost Hunters investigation that dealt with some type of malevolent force that had attached itself to a young lady in Fenton who had spent a lot of time using a Ouija board.
‘She brought in this dark entity that was scratching her, scratching her boyfriend and controlling her,? she said. ‘People saw this black veil, this black substance follow her around. The more we investigated, the more negative things were happening in the house. I looked up and saw one of our investigators fly across the kitchen backwards. It was awful. It was just pure, plain evil.?
Members of Motor City Ghost Hunters felt they were not equipped to deal with the situation, so they recommended the young lady contact the Catholic church to help get rid of the entity.
‘She resisted,? Stiles said. ‘She didn’t want to (do it). She was pretty attached to this thing.?
Just talking about the Fenton experience makes her ‘antsy.?
But that experience is not the norm, Stiles stressed.
Spirits can often be benevolent like the one that spent time with her son, Logan, when she lived in Metamora years ago.
?(The spirit) was a friend of my dad’s,? Stiles said. ‘He (had) owned the home that we lived in and he died in the driveway.?
His name was Al, but little Logan always called him ‘the man.?
Al ‘loved children,? so it’s no surprise to Stiles that his spirit liked to be around Logan and make itself visible to him.
‘I’d say, ‘What are you doing Logan?? and he’d say, ‘Oh, the man and I are playing with my cars,?? she said. ‘He’d turn my face and say, ‘Don’t you see him? There’s the man.??
‘It was hard for me to learn how to live with it until I realized how harmless he was,? Stiles noted.
When Logan was 3 years old, he told Stiles he saw ‘the man? sitting in the driveway in a truck. He proceeded to tell his mother that ‘the man? was sick and throwing up. Logan said he saw Gene, the next door neighbor, kissing ‘the man.?
Later, Stiles asked Gene about the circumstances surrounding Al’s death.
She was stunned by what she learned.
‘He had a heart attack in his truck and he was yelling for Gene,? Stiles said. ‘Gene came over and gave him mouth-to-mouth (resuscitation). He threw up all over (him) and then he died.?
‘Logan described that whole thing,? Stiles continued. ‘I was freaking out.?
She said her son once grabbed a photograph of Al at the neighbor’s house and told her, ‘Here’s the man, Mama.??
Stiles has experienced plenty of paranormal activity locally.
The first time she ever watched Motor City Ghost Hunters in action was at Canterbury Village in Orion Township. The group was investigating the original farmhouse on the property.
‘It was pretty incredible, the evidence that they came up with and what we saw,? she said. ‘We kept hearing somebody walking upstairs. So, we’d go up there and there was nobody there . . . The photocopier started flashing and going on and off (by itself).?
Stiles obtained some recordings of what sounds like a little girl answering the questions being asked by investigators.
‘I’ve gotten some really good recordings there,? she said. ‘We, as a group, have been there several times.?
Outside of the group’s investigations, Stiles had brushes with the paranormal at her sister Viki’s former home at Maple and First streets in Oxford Village.
One day, she was walking past the stairs and saw this woman standing at the top.
The woman was wearing a ‘long, old-fashioned dress? with a high collar and an apron.
Her hair was ‘pulled back? in a ‘real severe? manner.
‘She was as real as you and I standing right in front of each other,? Stiles said. ‘She had her hands on her hips and she was looking at me like, ‘What the hell are you doing here???
Startled by the strange woman, Stiles blurted out, ‘You’re not Viki!?
‘As soon as I said that, she just disappeared into thin air,? she said.
To learn more about Motor City Ghost Hunters, visit motorcityghosthunters.com

Is your place haunted?*
If a person answers ‘yes? to five or more of the following questions, there’s a chance a house may be haunted:
? Does it seem you lose items only to have them reappear later in a place you had already checked?
? Do cats or dogs seem afraid of certain places?
? Do lights or televisions turn on and off on their own?
? Have you heard your name called when you are alone?
? Have you heard footsteps when you are alone?
? Have you heard strange scratching of knocking coming from within the walls?
? Have you noticed any negative changes in your or another’s attitude?
? Do you feel at times you are being watched?
? Do you notice movement or shadows out of the corner of your eyes?
? Have you seen doors open and close on their own?
? Do you notice odd cold spots in centralized locations with no explainable origin?
? Do children seem to have unhealthy relationships with imaginary friends?
? Has anyone used a Ouija board or similar item in the location?
? Do photos sometimes appear with unexplained mist or orbs in them?
? Have any tragic deaths taken place in the building or on the grounds upon which it was built?
* Source: Motor City Ghost Hunters