As paranormal investigator Greg Bakun turned on his spirit box, he warned of the shrill white noise that would permeate the air. He had already strategically placed other paranormal investigative equipment around Rogue Buddha Gallery, 357 13th Ave. NE, based on his sense of where he might get a signal from an unseen presence.
With a small bottle of holy water out of his bag and on the table, Bakun scanned the art gallery, eyeing the back room.
Just as he placed a self-radiating electromagnetic field REM-POD, a paranormal surveillance device, next to a doll that looked like a sibling to Annabelle from the movie, “The Conjuring,” the drawn-out noise from the meter appeared to indicate a brief electromagnetic fluctuation.
“So, we’re not alone,” said Nicholas Harper, owner of the gallery.
“No,” Bakun said.
Communicating with the unknown
Bakun grew up in St. Anthony, attending St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School. He spent years working for companies like Carmichael Lynch and Best Buy but slowly shifted his career goals in a different direction after stumbling across an episode of “Ghost Adventures.” He was intrigued by the equipment used to communicate with spirits.
“I thought to myself, if this really works the way that they’re showing it, where you ask questions and they’re [spirits] answering you back, I’m interested,” he said.
Soon after, Bakun purchased his first spirit box, a device that scans different radio frequencies to capture paranormal activity through electronic voice phenomenon (EVP). If the box detects a spirit, it relays the voice, audio or communication with a brief pause through the white noise of the continuous scanning frequencies.
His first experiment was with a co-worker in the basement at Carmichael Lynch. And it was a success.
The two communicated with a spirit who gave them a full name and a date of birth through the spirit box. Bakun was hooked. “Suddenly my life changed at that moment,” he reflected. “I don’t want to stop doing this. It’s amazing.”
Spiritual proximity
Bakun is the first to tell you he’s had some intense conversations and interactions with varying spirits, whether connecting families or talking with historic figures. Some that top the list include Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Walt Disney, and Bigfoot. Bakun believes spirits do not need to be in a particular space relevant to their history and can be summoned elsewhere to communicate.
“The way that I approach paranormal investigating is about the focus on energy, bringing the energy to me,” Bakun said. “Proximity doesn’t matter. Through different recordings, [I have] what I believe is the voice of Mary Todd Lincoln. I’m not over at the Peterson house or Ford Theater to try to get it. I brought them to my house. So, with that in mind, that’s how I approach reaching out to spirits. I realized that it’s no different [than being on location], and that everything is energy.”
Ouija boards are used for paranormal investigation and it’s no surprise Bakun has used some of his boards to contact spirits. One experience led to a voicemail left the following day by what sounded like a child who tensely told him, “How dare you? Let me out, let me out again.” Eerily, the phone company could not identify the number and told him it did not exist.
Being on location has led to one of Bakun’s most fascinating experiences — sighting and being touched by a Bigfoot at Fort Duffield, Ky. After sighting an “elemental,” a paranormal entity he explains that, if seen, tips your chances toward seeing a Bigfoot, the potential seemed promising.
“Elementals often precede the sighting of a Bigfoot,” Bakun explained. “Elementals are little entities, very powerful, but they are entities that are one with nature, and connected to nature.”
Bakun’s came in the form of what appeared to at first be a bug, but upon a closer look, a flying entity with a defined body and face. The next evening, he said he and several other paranormal experts encountered a Bigfoot.
The Bigfoot Bakun says he saw was silver in color and backed away quickly into the woods. Upon following it, he says he felt a large hand touch his head, and when he told his colleague, “I’ve just been touched,” his colleague responded, “They [Bigfoot] like you.”
Paranormal encounters
According to a 2022 poll by YouGov, 67% of those polled believe they have had paranormal experiences. From hearing strange noises to seeing what appeared to be a spirit, hearing voices, smelling strong odors, seeing lights and other devices turn on on their own, objects moving on their own, or even a strong drop in temperature, there seems to be a showing of paranormal experiences among some Americans.
Harper has had his own experiences with the paranormal in his gallery. Harper owns the building that houses Rogue Buddha,The Northeast Social and the Polish National Alliance (PNA) Hall,
Harper and Bakun attended grade school together at St. Charles Borromeo, and by happenstance, connected years later through Harper’s paranormal experiences, and Bakun’s work. Harper believes a young girl haunts his studio. He says he’s had direct encounters with her.
“I paint in the back room, and she’s hidden my paint,” Harper said. “She’s moved my paintbrushes. She’ll turn the water faucet on, which doesn’t turn on easily.”
He’s learned to live with his paranormal company.
“I told her, I’m not going to send you out of here, just don’t freak me out,” Harper said about the spirit. “You can stay.”
For the 20 years Harper has used the space, she has stayed with him.
Are you here with us?
The goal on a recent evening was to communicate with the spirit of the child in the gallery and others, including Bakun’s parents, who may be frequenting the empty PNA Hall upstairs. Bakun warned that the conditions needed to be right for a spirit to want to communicate. Sometimes they won’t appear if they sense they are being recorded.
More equipment appeared out of Bakun’s bag of paranormal supplies at the gallery including an Ovilus, a word and syllable box that senses both temperature or magnetic field changes from spirit presence, subsequently resulting in either an auditory response or words that appear on the box screen.
Bakun’s k2 monitor also displayed an array of colors as he turned it on. “It will light up if a spirit breaks the energy field,” he said. “Basically, it’s a stud finder.”
Respect for spirits is important when bridging communication because “that’s what paranormal investigating is about,” Bakun said. “To me, it’s also being polite, respectful, asking permission and never expecting.”
All equipment was on and Bakun attempted contact. “The girl who has been communicating with Nick over the past many years, we’d love for you to come in and say hi. If you were part of the PNA, please come through here. Anybody who is up at the PNA, we invite you to come in now with us.”
The white noise from the spirit box is sharp and it begins to continuously scan frequencies.
“Is there anyone from the PNA who could say hi to us, please?” Bakun asks.
“Yes,” the spirit box reverberates.
The Ovilus spits out several words — rent, walk, starve, center, us, 9, nine.
That evening after using the equipment, Bakun was doubtful there is an immediate presence. He described the gallery at that moment as “calm.”
Normalizing the paranormal
Now in his 16th year, Bakun has made a career out of his paranormal work as an investigator, paranormal educator and full-time daily radio show host on GhostBox Radio AM950. He has interviewed countless paranormal authors and investigators for his show, and also speaks at conferences. He’s visited and investigated haunted venues globally. He’s on a mission to normalize communication with spirits.
“Just seeing where we can go, who we can talk to, or how we can talk to them, that’s the stuff that interests me,” Bakun said. “It’s no longer wanting to see if they exist. We know that part. I know that part. For those who aren’t convinced, that is totally fine. We all have our own journey.”
Whether he is helping a spirit cross over, telling a story, or explaining their presence, Bakun says hearing them is important. “We’re giving them a voice,” he said. “We’re trying to see what they need from us.”
The two are collaborating for “Inside the Paranormal with Greg Bakun,” an event held on Day of the Dead and Rogue Buddha Gallery continues to host Death Cafe’s — the next in late October. Find out more at https://www.roguebuddha.com/events. Bakun’s live radio show is Monday-Friday on AM950 beginning at 10:06 p.m. with an encore presentation Saturday evenings at 8 p.m.
Greg Bakun at Rogue Buddha Gallery holding his spirit box and recorder prior to his communication attempt. (Marla Khan-Schwartz)
Rogue Buddha Gallery shares space with PNA Hall (above) and Northeast Social (right) in a building noted to have paranormal activity. (Marla Khan-Schwartz)
The words “starve, center, us” appeared on the screen of the Ovilus, a word and syllable box that senses temperature or magnetic field changes caused by spirits. (Marla Khan-Schwartz)