The verdict is in: there might actually be something going bump in the night at the Rome Area History Museum. What those bumps might be are what the Southern Paranormal Investigators were trying to find out, and they still don’t exactly know what they are. But they do have a theory. 

A group — comprised of locals who have previously conducted investigations at the historic Floyd County Courthouse, the Chieftain’s Museum and at Fort Norris — presented some spine chilling audio evidence of noises recorded during an investigation conducted on Mother’s Day weekend this year. They presented their evidence to a curious crowd of Romans at the museum during a fundraising event. 

Chris Lanham, co-founder along with Barry Candle of the organization back in 2007, said that one can clearly hear something in the recordings but that his theory is that it might be some kind of paranormal activity. 

“We have some good audio evidence,” he said. “Audio seems to be one of the better things. We have a good bit of audio and we thought the crowd found some things on that.”

Candle said during the presentation Tuesday night that the group always follows the scientific method in their investigations, using a variety of equipment that helps them collect evidence of any activity. Cameras, Candle said, typically aren’t fast enough to get photographic or video evidence of anything other than humans in the room. But audio recorders, especially digital ones, are able to pick up sounds that the human ear cannot.

Regardless, nothing is ever presented as hard fact in their findings.

“All this stuff is just theory,” he said. “It would never stand up to the light of day of the scientific community.”

According to Rome Area History Museum Executive Director Leigh Barba, there is something in the building. She explained during Tuesday night’s presentation of the findings that she’s heard two different female voices in the building greeting her with a friendly “hello, how are you today?”

She said she’s also heard footsteps behind her in the building, and after checking, has found herself all alone.

The building does have history. Along with previously being used as a five-and-dime store, it was once a furniture store that also served as a mortuary. 

The museum was just the right kind of place to explore for the investigators.

“It’s neat just being there, in a place where stuff is happening,” Lanham said. “Especially when you go back to a lot of the Civil War-era type things (locations). You just put yourself into a situation. The setting is right, you think about what’s happened and you hear some of the claims.”

Now whether the tapes present hard evidence of paranormal activity going on inside the Rome Area History Museum is a decision only someone can make on their own. However, the team will soon be posting the audio files of what they recorded at the museum on their website at southernparanormalinvestigators.com. Lanham said people should decide for themselves what they choose to believe. 

But regardless, Lanham said the team was glad to be able to provide a service for the museum and to give a peek into what might be going on.