Ghost hunters search in Texas

The San Antonio Express News has the details:

Feeling a presence in one of the darkened rooms of Victoria's Black SwanInn, Gloria Young began to speak. "If you're here, will you make your presence known?" she asked. Nothing. She tried several more questions. Then, finally, "If you're here, will you speed up the Geiger counter?"

It had been clicking about once every 30 seconds. Click click click click click. "Thank you," she replied, ever respectful.

The Geiger counter was just one of the many devices pressed into service by Young and the handful of other ghost hunters who descended on the innfor a ghost hunting seminar, which took place Saturday in the day andnight at the storied inn.

Though Young acknowledged no one yet knows if a Geiger counter can detect ghosts, it is one of many technologies sheand other ghost hunters use.

The inn and the buildings surrounding it on the 35-acre property along Salado and Walzem creeks are thought by many to be chock-full of spooks and spirits. American Indians lived on the land for hundreds of years. The Mexican Army and early Texans met in bloody battle there in 1842.

The grand oldhouse that now hosts weddings and brunches has seen its share oftragedies. Jo Ann Rivera, who bought the property in 1987, became a believer notlong after moving into the inn.

She says she constantly hears voices, piano music and footsteps. She says she's even seen apparitions,including a little girl who shows herself more often to men staying at the inn.