La Spirits take to NSU

Group attracts locals – live and spooks – for summer Continuing Education course

By KYLE CARRIER

Louisiana is known for hunting game … deer, duck, rabbit and the like. Thanks to La Spirits, ghost hunting can be added to the list.

After successfully offering Ghost Hunting 101 as a Continuing Education course at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the group brought the class to Nicholls State University and is currently entering the final leg of the three-part course.

“The very first class we did at UL (Lafayette), one of the students in the class was Cally Chauvin, who now works for Nicholls as the College of Education assessment coordinator,” said Brad Duplechien, founder and director of La Spirits and a course instructor. “When she took the class at UL, she liked it. She asked us if we wanted to come do it at Nicholls. Of course, we took her up on it.”

Nicholls intrigued Duplechien and his partners, Brandon Thomas and Jennifer Broussard, after rumors that several places on the Thibodaux campus were “haunted.”

As part of the class, students break off into groups of four or five with the lights turned off. They investigate the supposed “haunted” areas using thermal cameras, digital video recorders, digital voice recorders, flashlights, video cameras and electromagnetic field meters (EMF).

Ghostly rumors of hauntings in Bollinger Memorial Student Union, Beauregard Hall and Peltier Hall are all being investigated, according to Duplechien.

“We’ve heard some strange stories coming from those places,” he said. “We’re going to take (the class) there and see what they come up with.”

The class kicked off June 14 with a run-down of what to look for, Duplechien said.

Last Saturday, the class actually went looking for spirits. The students will reunite this Saturday to review and critique the evidence.

“I knew a lot of people would like to hear about it, but many would actually like to go out and search for spirits,” Duplechien said. “It gives them a chance to get the feel for it and get their hands dirty.”

Ghost hunting has always fascinated Houma’s Randy and Denise Alfred. When Denise saw a class was being offered at Nicholls, the couple decided to give it a try of their own.

“It’s just something that has always intrigued me,” Denise said. “It’s exciting. I hope we see something.”

Kevin Theriot, of Gray, acting on his interest since childhood, signed up for the class.

“I’ve had a couple of experiences and I have always had an interest in it,” he explained. “Once I read about (the class), I had to enroll.”

“I believe there could be something out there. We’ll see,” he added.

La Spirits was formed three years ago after Duplechien garnered an interest in ghost hunting. He mentioned that the group was formed to not only seek answers for themselves, but to assist others who suspect paranormal activity.

Even as a kid, Duplechien said he was amazed by ghost stories.

“My grandmother would tell me lots of strange stories,” he said. “I never had anything significant or weird happen to me. Three or four years ago, I watched all of these programs on television and I really wanted to start some groups around. I wanted to try it and it’s been pretty successful since.”

Apparently people have taken an interest in the process as the group’s Web site, laspirits.com, has had over 68,000 hits.

Although he wouldn’t divulge what the class discovered on campus during Saturday’s investigation, Duplechien did say that knowing something is sharing a room with you brings an eerie feeling.

“Chills,” he said. “We definitely get the chills.”