“If anyone reports a possession or seen UFOs or experienced an alien abduction or possession by an [immaterial entity], we’re there,” said Isis Mubutu, president of the public chapter of the Pacific Organization for the Study of Supernatural Events (POSSE).
“We investigate anything out of the normal.”
Recent investigations conducted by POSSE have been the Whaley House and El Campo Santo Cemetery.
Mubutu and Josef Shannon, vice-president, believe that what makes POSSE special is that the group takes the empirical approach in their field investigations.
“We try to control variables,” said Mubutu. “We take various equipment when we investigate a site, and we try to compare (data) caught.”
Mubutu said this method of “verifiable comparison” helps to ensure there is “no tampering” of the data.
But so far the group hasn’t had much luck in their field investigations. Mubutu and Shannon said that in a recent outing to El Campo Santo Cemetery, the group’s equipment–a Mini-DV camcorder, an HD camcorder with night-vision capability, two digital point-and-shoot cameras, a 35mm film camera, and two digital audio recorders–all stopped functioning.
“All our camcorders and cameras died exactly the same time,” Shannon said. “And we just installed new batteries.”
Shannon and Mubutu attributed the uncooperative cameras as a sign that an “unknown presence” did not want to be disturbed.
“You’ve got to get information from everywhere. Scientific. We do time logs. Video logs. Episodic logs,” Shannon added.
Mubutu and Shannon both said that the club is in desperate need of sophisticated equipment. The group takes donations and is currently selling T-shirts.
“We’re raising funds for higher echelons of equipment,” Mubutu said. “Stuff like multi meters and K2 meters which measure ambient temperature and electric current, digital thermometers, and infrared gear like the FLIR [pronounced “flair”–“forward-looking infrared”] camera would be nice.”
“In the spring of next year, we’re trying to negotiate the investigation of a Golden Hill house, and a house in La Mesa, and we plan to have a three or four-day weekend field trip to a ghost town such as Bodie, near Yosemite Park,” said Mubutu, about POSSE’s future plans.
“I want unseen and untouched ghost towns to investigate,” said Mubutu, who sometimes peruses real-estate ads of ghost towns for sale. “POSSE doesn’t want to investigate ghost towns rigged for tourists.”
Mubutu adds that POSSE is “community-oriented,” sponsoring many events on campus, and will be involved in a voter-registration drive organized by the Associated Student Government.
Before the end of the semester, POSSE is planning a holiday season fund-raising event on Gorton Quad, and will be selling T-shirts, novelties, mugs and ceramics and snacks in addition to having contests where the grand prize will be ocean cruise tickets.
Mubutu says her club POSSE is always welcoming new members from both the student body and faculty, especially those who specialize in such diverse fields from “physics to parapsychology.” Please check out www.posseofsandiego.ning.com or call (619) 825-9959 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
