Another team of ghost hunters is coming to take a look at the Russ House in Marianna. Emerald Coast Paranormal Concepts is at least the third such organization to do so since 2008. The group of six from the Panama City area will be here March 3, starting their work around 7 p.m.
Tracy Todd, leader of the team, said he became interested in the Russ House after talking with one of the other ghost-hunting teams who have been to the house, which is said to have been the site of a suicide.
Now the home of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, the house on Lafayette Street was built by Joseph Russ, who is said to have taken his life in a bedroom of the structure. For years, Chamber staff members and others have reported unusual occurrences there. Objects are said to move about on their own, footsteps are heard where no one is walking, and children’s disembodied voices have been heard, for instance.
Todd says his team members researched information about the house, the reported incidents, and talked with other hunters - who have reported some minimal spirit activity in the house - so they will be well prepared when they arrive.
His team’s goal, Todd said, is to find out if they can record any activity and perhaps find out what the spirit wants from the living, if anything. He said they are coming in with an attitude of quiet respect for whatever spirit may haunt the mansion.
They use a number of methods in efforts to communicate, gently asking simple questions that can be answered by the spirit by some means in an indication of “yes” or “no” for instance.
The team uses a suitcase full of meters, lights and other devices in trying to detect the presence of spirits, Todd said.
In an attempt to draw them out, the team is bringing a few children’s books and toys, and recordings of some music from the very late 1800s, the time that Joseph Russ lived.
Todd says he won’t be surprised to hear negative feedback from skeptics, but he doesn’t worry about that.
“If you believe spirits exist, I don’t need to prove it; if you don’t, nothing I can do can prove it,” he said. “So we don’t waste any time on that. Really, our goals are to try and give the living some assistance in dealing with the spirits that they feel they may be encountering, or to try and help them determine what is really going on if it turns out that it’s not a spirit causing the things they’re experiencing.”
Todd, an engineer by profession and a former Air Force security officer, said he does this as a hobby and doesn’t charge public or private entities for the work he does.
Whatever the outcome of next Saturday’s session at the Russ House, Jackson County Chamber of Commerce President Art Kimbrough said the stories that persist about the Russ House draw questions from visitors nearly every week, and the situation presents a unique opportunity.
He said it may be a good idea to package the Russ House legends with similar accounts at other locations in the area in marketing the region as a tourism destination for those interested in the subject matter.
Getting the information to this niche market, he said, may be an idea that the Tourist Development Council’s new executive director could be asked to handle once on board. The position has been advertized and had drawn 22 job-seekers when the application period closed on Monday.
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