Katharine Love, the long, black skirt of her formal Victorian parlour-maid's outfit swishing along the floor, opens the door to her visitors, the five-strong investigative team from Phoenix Paranormal.
"Oh, no. I don't believe in ghosts," says Katharine, as she leads them into the hall and through to the front stoep of her home, Lindfield Victorian House Museum, in the heart of Auckland Park, Johannesburg. "But I'm more than happy to let them come in and look around."
It's the team's second visit and they know the drill. They unpack their equipment, set up monitors and check frequencies. There are machines to detect electromagnetic fields and others that pick up on skeletal outlines; recorders and video cameras, microphones and things called Spirit Boxes.
Clean-cut Arno du Toit, who works in IT by day and is lead investigator and co-founder of Phoenix Paranormal with bookkeeper Charmaine Roos, starts reminiscing about his best paranormal encounter."It was my first time investigating at Melrose House Museum in Pretoria and it was the night everything changed for me. I experienced my first recorded paranormal experience," says Arno.
"The feeling of sitting in a room asking questions and finally hearing the replies on the recording, knowing that no one else was present, is still a feeling that I cannot explain to anyone."Investigator Juanita Botha, a hairstylist by trade, chimes in with her best scary story: "For me, it was seeing the outline of a 6ft male figure on our Kinect (see Tools of the Trade below) when we went to the abandoned sanatorium."
For the ghost-busting team from Joburg, talking about their best paranormal experiences is, well, perfectly normal.
"I met Charmaine when I joined a paranormal investigative group in Pretoria," says Arno. "She is my sister, even if we are not blood family. Our passion for the unknown and paranormal has escalated from one investigation to us helping a lot of people.
"We are proud to be one of the only true paranormal groups in South Africa and we strive to help others better understand the unknown and not to fear it."LOUD GROWLING NEARBY
So what did you discover on your first visit to Lindfield Victorian House Museum?
"Ja, the first investigation we heard loud growling next to us," says Arno. "There is also a Tibetan skull drum that we advise people not to touch. We handled it during our investigation and that night we picked up an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) of an angry male chanting 'How can you pick that thing up?'. When we were in the doll room a copper object was thrown at us."Charmaine, who researches the history of buildings before the team visits for the first time, adds: "The house is a hotbed of paranormal activity thanks to all the antiques. We captured some EVPs on our digital audio recorders."
She is ready with her most memorable paranormal activity.
"It would have to be the investigation we conducted at an abandoned sanatorium. The whole place was eerie and as a typical Highveld storm approached, the strong winds caused the doors of the derelict building to slam in anticipation of the evening's events. We were not disappointed.Investigators Jannie van Rooyen (a SAPS senior accounting clerk) and Wynand van Zyl (who works in admin) confer about their best outing.
"I am going to have to go with the Rec Hall in Cullinan," says Jannie.
"It was broad daylight but under the stage I was in full darkness once I killed the flashlight. I usually settle down before I start a session and once I'm comfortable I start asking questions.
"I started hearing dripping water. As I moved closer to where I thought the sound was coming from I suddenly felt pressure on my back and a rush of goosebumps. I pushed back and got out. The feeling of fear and anxiety never left. There is something under that stage, no doubt in my mind."A SHADOW PERSON APPROACHING
Jannie is ready to reveal his stand-out visit. "It was when we were investigating an asylum and doing a session in a rundown part of the building where there was a confirmed suicide.
"As we were doing a ghost box session I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. As I turned my head in disbelief there it was - the holy grail for a paranormal investigator - a shadow person was approaching me."
The members of Phoenix Paranormal are unanimous when polled on the most disturbing paranormal investigations they've carried out. In first place is the 100-year-old hospital in Johannesburg - they have agreed with the owner not to identify it further - where they recorded slamming doors, singing, footsteps, scratching, shadow people and an apparition of a little girl in a white dress.The paranormal team don't charge for their investigations. "We are passionate about preserving the history of the public places that we investigate, and we want to see these historically rich buildings preserved for future generations," says Charmaine.
Back at Lindfield House, the ghostbusters decide that chat time is over: the equipment is ready and it's time to start exploring. They are focused for hours, moving from room to room, monitoring, making notes, adjusting dials.
As the afternoon light starts to fade there's a rustle of crinoline and a tinkle of teaspoons. Katharine is here, with fine bone china and fresh scones.
"Would you care for some tea?" she asks. "I've got Ceylon or rooibos."..