These Pahrump paranormal investigators are real-life ‘ghostbusters’

Pahrump is an old western town — much of its immediate surroundings including Amargosa are even older.

Many have come and gone in the past decades, leaving behind what paranormal experts call “residual energy.”

For Charissa Horton and her team of spirit seekers, no two paranormal experiences are ever the same.

Horton is senior case manager of a paranormal investigation group based in Pahrump.

“Every investigation is different, even if you go to the same place multiple times,” she said. “You always have different outcomes.”

They’re known as the Desert Spirit Seekers. They operate three chapters, one locally here in Nevada, one in Arizona and one in London, England.

As a unit, they try to help folks out who have been experiencing strange, unexplained occurrences. Other times they go on paranormal hunts simply for the fun of it.

Whatever the case may be, they remain ready for anything — even close encounters with supernatural beings.

“A demon scratched me once, left three marks down my neck,” said Hunter Adams, the tech manager and investigator for the group. “That was probably one of the more terrifying moments,”

Adams, who lives and works in Pahrump, has been with the team for two years now. He joined after having his own paranormal experiences in his early years.

“I always had a lot of questions growing up — questions I wanted answered,” he said. “Now I have a better understanding of the world around me, so to speak.”

His team was once at an agricultural museum in Pima, Arizona, and he says the experience there was quite terrifying.

“I had to be left alone for a minute, and it just felt really off,” Adams said.

Later that evening when the team returned to base, and they were replaying audio footage of their investigation, they could hear a voice saying “Hunter, murder them.”

“It was the oddest thing, because while we were there we didn’t hear anything. It was after the fact that we caught the voices, and one was telling me specifically to murder the entire team,” said Adams.

One time at the “haunted” cement factory in Duncan, Arizona, the team had rocks thrown at them.

But not every investigation is evil or dark. There have been plenty of investigations where some form of closure has been offered.

“A lot of times the spirit may just be stuck, and will need an extra nudge to pass on,” Adams said.

These spirits, which come in all shapes and sizes, manifest themselves in a variety of ways.

“They’ll appear in a white mist, black mist, a shadow or full arbitration,” said Adams, who claims he has seen all variations.

Skeptics and non-believers abound, but over the years Adams said he has seen a shift to a more open-minded way of thinking from others.

“More and more people are starting to believe in spirits now than in any other time in history,” he said.

That’s why proper documentation is key.

The equipment used for ghost hunters is not cheap and can easily run in the thousands.

According to Adams, the team not only utilizes their physic medium (Charissa Horton) to reach out and communicate with the spirits, but they use their equipment too when gauging the level of activity in a specific area.

“We use an SLS camera with a laser grid, a portal compact amplifier, a digital recorder where we can listen and a KII EMF Emitter to pick up on strange energy emissions,” said Adams.

Not everyone will believe a psychic medium, but it’s hard to debunk thousands of dollars worth of equipment showing otherwise.

“It’s certainly not a cheap hobby,” Adams said

The Desert Spirit Seekers don’t charge their clients anything. They offer their services strictly on the love for paranormal.

How should one handle a first encounter with a spirit?

“Stand your ground with them,” Horton said.

“Most likely they were people too and don’t want to hurt you. If you don’t want them there, ask them kindly to leave. If they don’t, call us.”

For more information you can contact Horton at 775-513-8440 — but only if you are a believer.

Patrick Billings is a freelance writer in Pahrump. Contact him at arregularbillings@gmail.com.