Rock Springs Independent Paranormal: REAL ghost stories

Jena Doak, [email protected]

October 16, 2021 — Ghosts. The idea of them is ingrained in society and is talked about in popular ghost-hunting shows like “Ghost Hunters.” But are they real?

Research reveals that nearly half of Americans think so. With a long history of reported sightings in Sweetwater County, it could be that more than half of this very community believes in them.

Rock Springs Independent Paranormal (RSIP), created in 2016, often assists in removing spirits from homes and businesses where they are reported to exist. A few of these places include Pla-Mor Lanes, Green River Bowling Lanes, Sweetwater County Library in Green River, Pickin’ Palace, the old Elk’s Lodge building, and Slovenski Dom.

Lauren Velez, co-owner of RSIP, who is psychically sensitive, shared some of RSIP’s investigative stories with Wyo4News.com. One of her favorites is about the Wyoming Frontier Prison.

“I don’t think we have ever caught anything close to it,” Velez said. “It looked headless. There were two legs, and it looked like he was wearing a guard’s uniform.” The figure appeared, and the RSIP team took a picture of it with an everyday camera (see photo at the top of the page).

Sometimes orbs are visible to the unaided eye. But they are not to be taken lightly.

“In the paranormal world, that is something that you kind of stay away from,” Velez said. “There are so many things that it could be, such as a piece of dust, a bug, or a light reflection.”

At times, the crew takes pictures with just a simple camera for the purpose of viewing the photos later. There are times when an apparition is not visible at the time but appears in the photo upon review. Other times, the phantom is plainly visible to the investigators. In an instance at the Sweetwater Library in Green River, a specter of a woman was captured on film, looking through the library window.

The Pickin’ Palace voices

Often, the team keeps a voice recorder at a scene. Upon subsequently reviewing the tape, electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are detected. The investigation at Pickin Palace is one such example. After the investigation, the laughs of a child saying his name Dean were heard on a recorder. However, some voices can be clearly heard at a scene. In this instance, at Pickin Palace, a voice of a man was heard, saying that he was looking for his son.

Velez and her team did some research and found an article in the Rock Springs Rocket from January 18, 1924, which told a story about the mysterious death of a four-year-old boy named Dean, son of a D.V. Bell, which occurred at the scene of Pickin Palace.

Other times, an Electromagnetic field (EMF) detector measures the strength of electromagnetic fields with a bright LED array of green and red lights. In fact, the RSIP crew uses several other pieces of sophisticated technology, such as vibration detectors, shadow detectors, and mag lights, which spirits can manipulate.

The stories are fascinating, but people should not be misled.

“Don’t think it’s something to do for a fun Saturday night on your own because you don’t know who you’re going to talk to,” Velez advised. She compares it to leaving a door open, not knowing who may come strolling along.

The crew conducts every investigation free of charge. Other members of the team include Tony J. Hills (Founder and skeptic/debunker), Carlos Velez Jr. (tech and equipment operations and debunker), Ursula Nabor (lead investigator/empath), Mary and Russell Conley (equipment tech and energy worker), and one anonymous member. Prior to rebranding to RSIP, Tony had 15 years experience with investigating. Ursula had approximately five years’ prior investigative work. Lauren has seen and heard paranormal beings for over 30 years.

If someone has a feeling that there is a spirit in their space, they may reach the RSIP crew on their Facebook page at Rock Springs Independent Paranormal The Original RSIP.