Q&A with Southern Ghosts Radio

A reminder that Southern Ghosts Radio debuts Sunday from midnight to 1 a.m.

Paranormal field investigators Ray Couch, Jack Roth and Scott Flagg discuss topics such as hauntings, poltergeists, apparitions, high-tech equipment, spirit photography, EVP, ESP, urban legends, UFOs and other incidents of "high strangeness." Listeners will get the opportunity to learn about upcoming Southern Ghosts overnight events at various haunted locations throughout the country, including Gettysburg, PA, Savannah, GA, St. Augustine, FL, and New Orleans, LA. Have a ghost story of your own? Call in and tell your hosts. They will be glad to listen and provide feedback!

After I posted about it on June 2nd (mere moments after the press release hit the wires), I shot off an email to Jack Roth. He kindly replied and here's our Q&A. HAUNTED VAMPIRE: What made you interested in the paranormal? ROTH: I took some interesting photographs at the Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana about eight years ago. I knew the place had a reputation for being haunted, but the photographs I took were astounding, as they directly related to the stories being told about the plantation. I took the photographs to Andrew Nichols, Ph.D., a parapsychologist in Gainesville, and we became fast friends. I started to train as field investigator for his organization (American Institute of Parapsychology). Another field investigator (Ray Couch) and I decided to offer overnight events to the general public. It affords us the opportunity to go to really interesting places around the country to investigate the paranormal. HAUNTED VAMPIRE: What experience(s) have you had with the supernatural? ROTH: None until I took those photographs. Since I've been conducting field research, I've had plenty of experiences, including the capturing of EVP and photographs, as well as auditory and tactile experiences. Visual experiences have been rare, but I had an interesting one recently in Gettysburg, Pa. I saw a glowing form at the edge of a wooded tree line in an area known as Spangler's Spring. It was dusk, and it was an eerie experience. I could not find any definitive evidence as to what I saw one way or the other. It remains a mystery. HAUNTED VAMPIRE: Why do you think there's such a growing interest in the paranormal? ROTH: As mankind evolves, we require a better understanding of who we are and what happens to us when the physical body no longer functions. Our instincts tell us there is something more to all of this, but human nature also tends to be critical and cynical, which is why so many of us struggle with these questions. But the fascination is there, whether people want to admit it or not. Mankind was meant to explore the unknown. HAUNTED VAMPIRE: What's been your most frightening experience? ROTH: We were doing an EVP experiment on the abandoned upper floors of the Moon River Brewing Company in Savannah. It was dark, hot and creepy. We sat around a tape recorder and asked questions in sequence. Nothing was heard while we conducted the experiment, but when we played the tape back, we heard a man's voice clearly say "cold" after we asked the question, "How do you feel?" We quickly went downstairs to a lighter environment to analyze the tape. It was a very, very creepy experience. The show sounds like a lot of fun. I'm next going to lobby to get Susan Crites, author and founder of the West Virginia Society of Ghost Hunters as a guest on the show. So don't forget to tune into Southern Ghosts Radio on Sunday between midnight and 1 a.m.