Collegiate Times

Craig Harmon has traveled to the battlegrounds of Gettysburg and Bull Run to look for ghosts.

Harmon's ghost-hunting interests became a reality in his junior year of high school in Northern Virginia during 2004. Since then, he has visited several battle grounds such as Gettysburg and The First Battle of Bull Run Manassas. When he does go ghost hunting, he likes to fully immerse himself in the story by interviewing people and learning about the area that he is investigating. For example, when investigating the legendary "Bunny Man Bridge" in Clifton, Va., he ended up interviewing the mayor.

Recently though, Harmon's activities have been at a graveyard pitch. "I'm kind of on a hiatus right now," Harmon said, "Because I came to college and I've just been focusing on music and stuff."

Blacksburg is relatively unexplored for Harmon, though he has heard many tales since he has been here. One of the most recent ones he has heard is the Catawba "Murder Hole," which tells the tale of a murderous husband who killed several people including his wife and hid the bodies in a cave.

He has also heard of strange happenings at Cabo Fish Taco that Harmon said used to be a church.

These places are in downtown Blacksburg; however, Harmon believes that the true activity can be found in the areas surrounding the town.

"Any southern kinda creepy town is going to have stuff all scattered around it," Harmon said. "Blacksburg itself, I wouldn't say, is haunted."

In all of his experiences, the closest Harmon has come to having some type of definitive truth is a phenomenon called "orbs," which are balls of light that appear in photographs.

Some say that they are balls of energy, unrecognizable to the human eye. Others have argued that the phenomenon might be easily explained by reflecting dust.

Believing is a hard thing to do for Harmon and his enthusiasm for ghost-hunting stems from the opportunity to not only have an adventure, but to also come to some type of truth.  "I don't think you can believe in something," Harmon said, "Until you can personally see it."

Baker isn't quite sure about ghosts himself, despite his front row spot at the Lyric. For him, finding out the same truth as Harmon might actually be a little helpful for business.

"Shoot, if there were I'd do tours," Baker said. "I'd love for there to be something, but I just haven't had any of the experience myself."  

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