Episode 9: The Teacher As Paranormal Investigator

Ways to reach Kristy Sumner and Soul Sisters:

Website: www.soulsistersparanormal.com

Facebook, Instagram, and You Tube: Soul Sisters Paranormal

Make sure to check out my blogpost The Teacher As Paranormal Investigator: Reading the Energy in the Classroom ! Also, Soul Sisters Paranormal is an excellent example of collaboration. Read Jack Mangan’s guest blog post about collaboration, The Teacher As Collaborator.

Transcript:

(transcription by kayla.r.fainer)

Melissa Milner 00:09

Hi, this is Melissa Milner. Welcome to The Teacher As... podcast. The goal of this weekly podcast is to help you explore your passions and learn from others in education and beyond to better your teaching. The Teacher As... will highlight uncommon parallels to teaching, as well as share practical ideas for the classroom. 

In this episode, I interview Kristy Sumner. She is a paranormal investigator, and she does investigations with her company, Soul Sisters. She works with her sisters to tell the stories of different historical locations. 

Now, whether you believe in ghosts or not, this interview will hopefully inspire you, like it did me, to get into digital storytelling with your students. Kristy also highlights the importance of doing your research, and that some of the best stories are right in your own local area. 

Next week, my interview with Nicole Kang will be about the same topic of digital storytelling. Enjoy my interview with Kristy Sumner. Welcome, Kristy Sumner.

Kristy Sumner 01:09

Thank you so much, Melissa. I appreciate you having me today.

Melissa Milner 01:12

So what do you want The Teacher As... listeners to know about you?

Kristy Sumner 01:17

I think the one thing that I would really like to have known about Soul Sisters Paranormal and about myself is that, first, we're an all female team of paranormal investigators, and we also have advanced degrees. So we take that knowledge that we've learned from the classroom, from being in the classroom not only as academic teachers, but also as students, and we want to take that and really use that in our paranormal research. 

So instead of saying we're ghost hunters, we actually want to say that we are paranormal investigators. And we use, again, what we've learned as teachers, that methodical research method, if you will, to really approach our investigations.

Melissa Milner 01:57

What is your proudest moment in your work so far?

Kristy Sumner 02:01

Overall, the proudest moment I can say is that I've been able to form this team with my sisters. It's something that we greatly enjoy, and that we've been able to go across the country investigating these amazing, historic, as well as reportedly haunted locations as a team and as researchers. So for me, being able to bring that sense of professionalism, if you will, to the paranormal community, which is somewhat seen as a subculture by the mainstream community, I think that's my proudest moment.

Melissa Milner 02:34

What makes a great paranormal investigator, and why isn't it more mainstream?

Kristy Sumner 02:41

Well, for us personally, when you tell somebody that you're a paranormal investigator, the response is they either look at you like you have two heads, or they want to tell you their ghost story. There's very little in between. And because of the first response, we really felt that what we want to portray is that sense of professionalism. 

So when we first decided to formalize the group, we got our name together, which is Soul Sisters Paranormal. We had our branding created, we had our logo created, our theme music created. And when we go to these locations, we're extremely uniform. We wear polo shirts, khaki pants to do our initial walkthrough investigation. And again, we feel that we need to do that, because we're already fighting that stigma of, well, ghost hunters or paranormal investigators are strange, they're kooky, they're crazy. They're investigating something that can never be proven. 

And so we really had to fight that battle as well, as well as being an all female team. So for us, I think the fact that we are able to portray what I hope is a professional look and feel allows us to kind of step above that subculture thinking, if you will, and bring it to the mainstream. And that's what our approach has been.

Melissa Milner 04:00

Can you tell the listeners a little bit more about how you decide what story you're going to tell?

Kristy Sumner 04:06

Well, first and foremost, for us, the historical piece is the most important. So regardless if we find anything paranormal or unexplainable when we go to these locations, we're still going to highlight the historical piece of the locations that we visit. Because we think that the history is the driving force behind what we do. 

Being able to visit Civil War forts, or Revolutionary War forts, or the St. Augustine lighthouse, or prisons, they all have their place in history. And that's something that we will highlight, regardless of what we find unexplainable. For us, when we go into these locations, the first thing that we do is we take a day tour the day before we do our investigations. And we want to do that to control for any environmental factors. 

So we'll go in, and we'll look for things like street lights, car noise, airplane noise overhead, if we could find it, any settling in the building, any electronics or electrical outlets in the building that can affect our readings. So we take very copious notes when we go in, because we don't want that to interfere with what we find that could be considered unexplainable in these investigations. So then the night of the investigation, we will go in, and we will set up our stationary equipment, such as night vision video cameras, voice recorders, some electronic equipment that we have that measures energy and static electricity. So we'll take that in there, and we'll set all of that up. 

And then we begin our investigation. And we go through the location very methodically in order to conduct these investigations. Like I said, we do have tools that measure electromagnetic energy, that measure static energy. So theoretically, these tools, if they sit by themselves without any outside interference, they shouldn't alarm. So for example, if I take what I call-- 

There's a tool that we use called the REM Pod. It measures, again, electromagnetic energy. If I take that out, and say we set it in a field somewhere, because there's no energy out there, that thing should sit by itself and not alarm at all, because nothing's acting upon it. So when we take the REM Pod into a location that we know has no power to it or no electricity to it, when we set it up, same theory, it should not alarm at all. 

So when we go into these locations, and we find that it does alarm or alarms on command, that, to me, is unexplainable. And so that's what we will put forth in our videos. And it is hard to get over that stigma that has been created by television shows. 

Because what we do is different. We don't go in with bravado. We don't go in to look for something to attack us or anything that is demonic. We legitimately go in to tell the story. And for us, that's extremely important. If you watch any of our videos, you'll see that the common phrase throughout is: can we tell your story? We're here to tell your story. We're not here to hurt you or manipulate you in any way. But we legitimately want to know what happened to you and to this place. 

We feel what we're doing is we're attempting to educate our audience on a couple of things. The first one is the historical locations that we visit. If we can, in some way, instill an interest in our audience about the locations that we've gone to, then we feel that we've done our job. Because these places need to be preserved. 

And if somebody says, oh my gosh, I want to go to the St. Augustine Lighthouse now, and they're willing to put forth money to go and visit that, then that's helping with the preservation of that location. And that, to me, is doing my job. The second one is to attempt to validate some of the paranormal occurrences that have been reported at those locations and see if we can mirror it up with that historical research.

Melissa Milner 07:49

Why did you choose to make video presentations of your work instead of just audio or, for instance, writing a book?

Kristy Sumner 07:56

For us, we feel that, based on what we do, the video component allows us to convey the historical aspect, as well as the paranormal investigation aspect. It just conveys better over visual media than it does over audio or written forms of media. That's not to say that at some point we won't do a podcast or put together a book. But for right now, the historical portion, as well as the paranormal investigation, it really highlights better over a video, I feel anyway. 

For example, we go into the Lizzie Borden House. It's difficult for me to describe the rooms of the Lizzie Borden House, you know, the first story, the second story, the basement. I feel that would take a very long time to describe the layout of that house. But if I can take a walking tour with a video camera and show that, I think it translates a little bit easier. So the audience can see what actually transpired in that house or get a historical perspective of that house. 

So again, for me, it's just the medium that we've chosen. We've gotten a great response from it. And you know, at some point, like I said, a podcast may be in the works or a book may be in the works. But for right now, this is just the easiest form for us to convey both the historical aspect, as well as our paranormal investigations.

Melissa Milner 09:25

When you're researching, do you start with a specific story in mind? Or do you just do broad research and then find your stories?

Kristy Sumner 09:32

It's kind of like a funneling down, if you will. I start very broad on most topics, and then I funnel down into the information that I feel is either lesser known, or some facts and figures that our audience might find interesting, and just really delve into that. So most of our videos will start with an overview of the location, either the county or the city that the location is in, and then delve down into why that location is important, and then delve down further into what events happened at that location. So for me, it's a very broad overview, and then we go down into very specific things that I think our audience might find interesting.

Melissa Milner 10:14

As far as collaboration, how do you work as a team to do these things? So like, are you also producing the video and editing?

Kristy Sumner 10:22

Yes, so we have different roles on the team. So because I'm the founder, what I do is I'll actually scout out the locations. Or somebody will tell us, hey, I think you should investigate this location. And then we talk about it as a team, and we decide where we want to go and if we want to do that. And then I'll start the research on it. My sisters also help when they can, as well as Kim and Cara. They help also. 

And we just start compiling information about that. And then when we go to the location, we use that information that we gained in our research to really drive our investigations. So our questions during the investigations, how we set up our equipment during the investigations, it's all led by that research, that overall broad research. 

And so then during the investigation, we all have different roles such as, Jenny will set up this type of equipment, and I'll set up some other type of equipment. So we do different things like that during the investigation. And then afterwards, I'll be responsible for compiling everything, and putting it all together, and editing our videos. I do all of the editing. Because, for me, it's our team, and I want to essentially have control over it, because I feel that that is what is best for our team. 

So after the investigation, because we have so much equipment running-- we have night vision video camera. We have voice recorders. We have other things that either measure audio or visual components. And so we take all of that, and we go through everything. 

So if I have 14 cameras running for 10 hours, I have 140 hours of audio and video that I'm looking through. So then I will go through all of that. And if we find anything compelling or unexplainable, then we clip that and we include it into the videos.

Melissa Milner 12:14

Right. Wow, that's a lot of work.

Kristy Sumner 12:17

It is. And a lot of people in society now have that instant gratification where they know that we're going on an investigation. So the next day, I'm always asked, what did you find? What did you get? What did you capture? 

And it's like, slow down a little bit. Because I have to go through everything. It's a very meticulous process to go through all of the audio and video footage. But it's something that I feel is important to our credibility to do that. In the paranormal world, there are no experts. 

I will never call myself an expert in the paranormal community, because there isn't any. We're dealing with theories. We are dealing with the unexplainable. And so, for me, what I do is I build my case through the videos. 

So let's take the Exchange Hotel investigation, for example. I will start the video with the history of the Exchange Hotel and why it's important, and then I will show you through the video and tell you through the video that we had five investigators, female investigators, that night. And we set up this equipment here, here, here, and here, and here. And so that's building my case on what we did. So you can see our investigation strategy, and then I'll go through the actual investigation. And then I will show you the compelling evidence, the unexplainable evidence that we captured that night. 

So for example, we captured a male's voice, and we captured a child's voice that night. There are no men and there are no children on our team. So I feel that's very compelling, unexplainable evidence. But I am not going to try to convince you of that through my videos. I'm just, again, building this case of something that I can't explain. It's up to the viewer to decide whether or not they believe it.

Melissa Milner 13:54

Do you have any advice for teachers who are trying to help students do digital storytelling like you are doing?

Kristy Sumner 14:02

So my suggestion would be if you're doing something historic, like a historic location or a national park or something like that, really delve into the history. Go to the State Archives. Go to the Smithsonian website. Go to the Library of Congress website. And really look through a lot of the articles and videos. I mean, the Library of Congress has videos that you can use. So you can use those to really back up what you're doing. 

And then just kind of build that research first, and then put in some compelling narrative about that location. And to me, I think that adds a lot to what you're trying to convey, especially if you've done that research and have that strong narrative behind either the location or, like I said, the national park or anything that you're trying to research. Just come up with a compelling narrative and a script first based on the research. And then record that, and put your visual pieces together.

Melissa Milner 15:05

What program do you use for your editing?

Kristy Sumner 15:08

I use Corel Video Studio, C-O-R-E-L.

Melissa Milner 15:12

Did you find the learning curve with learning how to edit? Was it easy, hard?

Kristy Sumner 15:17

I have a pretty good understanding of technology, but this was something that I had never really delved into before. So for me, I just sat at the coffee shop for several hours one day, just throwing different video clips in, like just video clips from my phone, just a dog or something, and just throwing it in there, and then just trying to manipulate it to see what this button does. Or if I click this, what does this do? Or if I hit this, does this zoom in or zoom out? 

So it really was a self taught process with the program that I use. But now I absolutely love it. I think it's very easy. I can just drop my clips in and record my audio straight to that program. So if you're not familiar with it, obviously there's going to be a learning curve. But once you find that and you really start playing around with it, which is what I recommend with any program, just play around with it and get proficient in it. And it's amazing what you can do.

Melissa Milner 16:14

Yeah, I think that's a huge message for kids is just go in and play around. Save your stuff somewhere else, then bring it in. And see what the buttons do, just like you said, and not to be afraid of it, and to be brave, and just see what the things do. Because these kids are digital natives compared to us.

Kristy Sumner 16:33

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And another thing is, don't get discouraged. There's been several times where it hasn't turned out exactly as I wanted. But the next time, you learn tricks or methods of doing that, and it works. So hang in there, essentially. Don't get discouraged with it, play around with it. And it's amazing what you can learn when you do that process.

Melissa Milner 16:53

Yes, it's definitely a growth mindset situation.

Kristy Sumner 16:56

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Melissa Milner 16:57

This might be a tricky one. What is your favorite story that you've told, and why?

Kristy Sumner 17:03

For me, it has actually been the story of the Ma Barker House in Central Florida. And this story was very compelling to me for a couple of reasons. The first one was, it is essentially in my backyard. My Nana and Grandaddy lived about six miles from that house. And so when we would stay over, and we would visit with them, and we'd go into Ocklawaha to get the mail, we'd pass that house. 

And my Nana would say, there's where the Ma Barker shootout happened. So I was always fascinated with that story. And to be able to get into that house and do an investigation was really just a highlight of our paranormal investigation experience so far. And to be able to tell that story to the people in my community, again, was just thrilling for me. Because it was amazing how many people did not know the history of it. 

And so after that investigation, and after our video, we were interviewed by several newspaper outlets in the community. And I had people contacting us saying, I never knew this was here. I never knew this history was here. I never knew that in 1935, little Ocklawaha had the national spotlight on it for three or four weeks. And so that video has been viewed over 37,000 times, I believe, now.

Melissa Milner 18:18

Wow.

Kristy Sumner 18:18

And it's just fascinating to me that there's so much history in our backyards that people don't either know about or appreciate. And if I can bring that to the forefront, or if I can highlight some of those historic places by what I do, then I feel that I've done my job. You can't go outside your doorstep, really, and not hit something that's historic, whether it be a cemetery, or a building, or your downtown. Most downtowns in cities and communities across the country have some type of longevity to them. They have a history to them. 

And it doesn't have to be ancient history. It doesn't have to be like St. Augustine from the 1500s. It can be something that is from the 1800s or the early 1900s. In the Ma Barker case, it was 1935. So it doesn't have to be ancient history. You can absolutely go and find compelling stories that people would love to learn about right in your backyard.

Melissa Milner 19:19

So what are you zooming in on right now? Is there a certain place or a certain project you're working on?

[ZOOMING IN SOUNDBITE]

Kristy Sumner 19:27

Well, there's several things that we're doing right now. We actually have been fortunate enough to have three investigations in our hopper right now, if I can say that. And we're going back in, analyzing all of that evidence that we captured there. So I'll be putting out some different videos. We do have some of what we call paranormal conventions lined up that we're due to speak at. And that should be, hopefully, still going in October. So we're looking forward to that. 

And just really getting out and trying to tell our story. I've been doing what I call a podcast tour. So speaking to individuals, such as yourself and other general interest podcasts where we can really tell our story, and tell what we do, and attempt, again, to bring this a little bit further into the mainstream.

Melissa Milner 20:12

I know it seems unrelated, but actually you can tell a lot about a person from their favorite movie. So what is your favorite movie, and why?

Kristy Sumner 20:20

My favorite movie is Star Wars, the original 1977 version. And I feel that it is the classic movie of good versus evil. And you are able to have this very cool, different reality, but still have moral messages throughout, such as friendship, the need to to stick up for what you want and what you need. And you know, a little bit of cool lightsaber action going on in there. So for me, I've always loved Star Wars. In fact, for my college entrance essay, the essay was on Star Wars and using the force. So yeah, for me, it's always been Star Wars.

Melissa Milner 20:58

Interesting. And that's an interesting parallel, your favorite movie to the work of looking into forces and energy like that.

Kristy Sumner 21:06

Yes, absolutely. So yeah, Star Wars has always been very, very influential in my life.

Melissa Milner 21:11

So how can people check out your work and reach you?

Kristy Sumner 21:15

Well, we're on Facebook under Soul Sisters Paranormal, and that's where we're the most active. We do have a website, which is www.soulsistersparanormal.com. We do have a YouTube channel where you can watch all of our videos, and that's Soul Sisters Paranormal. And we are on Instagram under Soul Sisters Paranormal, but that's the one that we are least active on.

Melissa Milner 21:36

Thank you so much, Kristy Sumner. That was amazing.

Kristy Sumner 21:39

Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

Melissa Milner 21:41

If you enjoyed this episode, and have not done so already, please hit the subscribe button for The Teacher As... podcast so you can get future episodes. I would love for you to leave a review and a rating, as well, if you have time. For my blog, transcripts of this episode and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.theteacheras.com. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner. And I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. 

I am sending a special thanks to Linda and Lester Fleishman, my mom and dad, for being so supportive. They are the voices you hear in the Zooming In soundbite. And my dad composed and performed the background music you are listening to right now. My intro music was "Upbeat Party" by Scott Holmes. 

So what are you zooming in on? I would love to hear from you. My hope is that we all share what we are doing in the classroom in order to teach, remind, affirm and inspire each other. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap!