BENGALURU: Get ready for some spookiness. Believers, non-believers and adventure-seekers are all welcome to join a team of 35 ghostbusters in Bengaluru.
They are a group of doctors, engineers, IT Professionals, students above 18 years and employees of MNCs and go by the name of Team Pentacle. And the city has many haunted spots, says Dr Rahul Kumar, a founding member and a medical officer at Vidal Health ttk in Whitefield.
On the most haunted places in the city, he says, is a super-speciality hospital in Whitefield. “As soon as you enter the hospital premises, you feel low. Something even drains the batteries in our equipment.”
The team uses some impressive devices for their investigations and even easily downloadable apps. They measure the electromagtic fields with an EMF meter and Ghost Meter Pro (GMP) to converse with the ghost, or as they call it, “the energy.” They use apps for their initial investigations. “If the EMF reading on the app is between 50 and 80 milligauss and the orange light goes off on it, it indicates the presence of some energy,” he says, and adds, “These apps do not always give accurate readings.”
So, they record the activity and go back to their studios, where they have sound mixing and editing software. “We enhance the background sound and reduce the foreground noise.” says Rahul. “If we hear something unusual, then we go for the second round of investigation.”
In the second round, they bring out an impressive number of devices - GMP, Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) recorder, K2 (which is a handheld device to measure electromagnetic fields) and infra-red cameras. “Last year, an audio equipment, Ecowalk was invented, with which you can hear the answers from the other side (or from the ghosts),” he says.
Investigations into any paranormal activity is initiated either by Team Pentacle or based on individual requests. “If our second round of investigation proves the presence of something unusual, we suggest some measures to correct it,” he says. “Our doctors counsel them. The psychics recommend rock salt or lemon to ward off negative energy.”
A dentistry graduate, Rahul never believed in the paranormal till he had a personal experience. As is the case with many college students, he was experimenting with the ouija board. “When I was studying dentistry, I used the board a few times in my hostel with my friends. After a few days, I saw 3 scratches on my hands. They appeared out of nowhere and later vanished too,” he says. Spooked, he got in touch with the California Ghost Busters through the internet. “They asked me to keep an open mind and try a basic course,” he says. Then he tried out some experiments with devices like EMF meters, and was “shocked” by his experiences. “I realised that there are many events that science can’t explain.”
In 2008, he founded SHARP (Spirit Hunting and Research in Paranormal). In 2014, they merged with the Team Pentacle, which is one of the working arms of PPRS - Pentacle Paranormal Research Society, headquartered in Mumbai. “Now we are known as Team Pentacle. There are 35 members in the team including three girls and CPRs (Certified Paranormal Researchers) who have completed their course in paranormal research through Institute of Paranormal research and UFOlogy, Mumbai.”
An ardent believer of science, Rahul is not easily convinced by reports of paranormal activity. “Ninety five per cent of the reports we receive are fake,” he says. They receive 5 to 6 calls a month. When the team gets a call from someone reporting an unusual activity or seeking help to deal with one, they do a thorough background check of the space and the person. “We even check their medical history,” he says. He marries belief with logic with Einstein’s Law of Conservation of Energy. “There are no ghosts but there are energies,” he says. So the energy of a person who dies is released into the atmosphere, since it can neither be destroyed nor created. “Human energy carries emotions and memories.”
He adds quickly that electromagnetic force leaks could also cause readings in their equipment. Once a sceptic, now he “80%” believer, he says, “Have an open mind but do not blindly believe what others say unless you do an investigation into the claim. World is a big mystery.”
SPOOK SPOTS
Sweeper of Murugeshpalya
Team Pentacle’s devices measured high activity here. Near it, a woman hanged herself on a banyan tree in the early morning hours. “Months later, another woman hanged herself in the same tree,” he says. The ghost seems particular about cleaniless though. People in the neighbourhood report seeing a woman walk up to the tree every morning, around the same time and sweep the place before resting under the tree for a few minutes.
Hungry Ghost?
It is disappearing food that led the team to a hospital in City Market. “There were also disturbing stories from the morgue,” says Rahul. They used EVP and asked several questions to the “energy”. When they enhanced the audio clip, they heard a woman introducing herself as Soumya when she was asked for her identity. “The rest of the clip was blank,” he says. They also had an encounter with the ghost of a man who died at 80. “He led us to his house and told us about his family,” says Rahul. “He was happy to talk and wanted to keep talking as he said he couldn’t talk to anyone for 45 years.”
Slippery Flight of Stairs
Rahul claims that he was once thrown down a flight of stairs in a bungalow in Whitefield, where he had been for an investigation. “I felt someone push me down the stairs and I suffered a fracture,” he says. “A girl was killed perhaps by her husband and in-laws after she found out about her husband’s extra-marrital affair.”
You can Join Them
Team Pentacle is planning a trip to Kuldhara in April. It is said to be a ghost village in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
Watchman, not Ghost
Several claimed to have seen a ghost in a cemetry near the Ulsoor Lake. But investigations revealed that it was just the watchman on his nightly walks. “He was scaring people away to help some goons,” says Rahul. “Generally, hospitals and cemeteries are the places where you find unusual activities,” he says.