Becky Guymon, also known as Zitania, was born and raised in Central Illinois. She is a professional Genealogist and has been doing family history research for 20 years. After having her first paranormal experience at the age of 8, she has always been interested in the paranormal, and has been doing paranormal investigations for the last six years. Becky is currently working on her first book, which blends both the Genealogical, Historical, and Paranormal stories of Campground Cemetery in Mattoon. Becky is available to speak at events and can be contacted at becky.imps@gmail.com.
Tell our readers a little bit about your team and what your team’s approach is to paranormal investigation.
IMPS was formed by a group of close friends who had similar interests in the paranormal. While the group does do paranormal investigations, its main goal was to raise awareness of the paranormal and metaphysical fields (tarot, crystals, etc.) Our team is made up of “normal everyday” people ranging from business professionals to nurses and everything in between. Our team takes a very caring and concerned approach when it comes to our paranormal investigations. Our goal is to provide answers for our client and to put their mind at ease. We always try to find a logical explanation for experiences and leave our clients comforted in knowing that their home or business is safe and secure. Our team spends a lot of time researching the history of our locations. We have a strong Genealogy background and we use those skills in order to provide our client with a detailed history of the location.
Why did you decide to start the Illinois Metaphysical & Paranormal Society in 2008? Was it a particular event that got you involved in paranormal investigation, or had you thought about creating your own team for a while?
I have been interested in the paranormal and metaphysical fields since I was a young child. I had some experiences at a young age that lead me to be a believer in the paranormal and I have always wanted to learn more about the field. I met someone from the Chicago area who was a paranormal investigator and he became a good friend and mentor. I joined his team and drove to Chicago area for investigations a few times a year. However, the drive was a bit tedious so I began exploring the option of creating my own team in the Central Illinois area. As I started asking my peers I quickly found several people who were interested in forming the Illinois Metaphysical and Paranormal Society, and so it began.
Tell our readers a bit about the former Charleston Community Memorial Hospital. Why do you think it is haunted and what kind of things have people experienced there?
The former Charleston Community Memorial Hospital is a truly wonderful building. Four of our team members have worked, or currently work, at organizations that have offices inside the building. During my three years in the building I witnessed several strange occurrences as did my co-workers. The position that I had required that I spend a lot of afterhours time in the office. My co-worker and I often stayed until 7 or 8 in the evening and that is often when we would notice the strange events. Some of the events included lights turning on and off in the restrooms, restroom water turning on without anyone near it, stall doors opening and shutting.
On several occasions, workers in the building would report standing by the bulletin boards or water fountains and feeling like someone, a large man, was standing behind them. When they would turn around there was no one there. We named this spirit John. Although a psychic later told us that she believes the spirits name is David and that he used to work in the hospital. We have not been able to confirm this relation thru our research as of yet.
Other experiences in the building include objects being moved, knocking on walls, scratching sounds on doors, shadows, and voices.
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