Odd noises in an office after closing.

Strange mists at an Auburn cemetery.

Disembodied voices at an old jail with a dark past.

Steeped in a rich, turbulent history, Lewiston-Auburn has more than its fair share of creep-inducing spots. With help from Central Maine Paranormal Investigations, we decided to check out a few of them for Halloween.

Was that chill from a cold breeze?

Or a ghost?

Old county jail

Built in the 1800s, the old jail is on the top floor of the county building on Turner Street in Auburn. For decades it housed criminals in 8-by-8-foot cells with narrow doorways, thick walls and steel bars. Inmates’ old graffiti is still readable under a layer of dust.

If there are ghosts, the spirits have good reasons for being restless here. Several inmates committed suicide in the jail. One man died when he set his cell on fire and couldn’t escape the flames. That cell is in the center of the unit, its charred walls still give off a sour, acrid odor decades after the burn.

“We’re going to concentrate on that. Definitely,” said Jim Wetherell, co-founder and co-director of CMPI.

On a rainy, windy October night, group members set an audio recorder inside the cell and placed an infrared video camera just outside, wirelessly linking it to an old TV monitor in the hall. Armed with digital cameras, audio recorders and a temperature gauge, the nine-member team shut out the lights and began to wander.

Almost immediately, one camera’s battery plummeted in power, losing half its charge in seconds. In the burned cell, the audio recorder flitted on and off by itself, its tiny red recording light blinking frantically in the dark.

“Usually when spirits, are around they do a heck of a job to your equipment,” Wetherell said. “They need the power.”

A few minutes later, a sudden headache and a sore throat forced Wetherell to leave the burned cell. Later in the night, a new member had a panic attack sitting in there.

Another member – a woman who often gets psychic impressions at the sites they visit – said one end of the unit felt hot and oppressive, the other end cool and light.

By the end of the night, several flashlights and camera batteries had drained without explanation. One psychic member had a list of names she felt were connected to the cells, including “Joshua” and “Perry.” Others heard noises they couldn’t rationalize and snapped photos of lights and vague images they couldn’t explain, including a few that seemed to show a translucent little girl with long hair.

“I never say a place is haunted until I’ve been there a few times,” said Stacey Farrington, who co-founded and co-directs CMPI with Wetherell. “But there’s definitely some paranormal activity here.”

CMPI evidence: Spirit voices on audio (“I want to die” and “No” and “Get out”), photos and video of lights, photos of partial faces in the burned cell, photos of an image of a girl.

CMPI verdict: Probably haunted

Sun Journal scare scale (1-10): 8

Remains of the DeWitt Hotel

From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, 40 Pine St. was the site of the DeWitt Hotel, a five-story grand dame in the heart of Lewiston.

At one point, fire damaged part of the hotel. In the 1960s, it was razed and a bank built in its place. The Sun Journal took over in the 1980s, using the three-story building for office space and customer service.

The basement, with its dirt floor and dim lighting, attracted Wetherell and member Lori Black.

Wetherell’s intuition told him bellhops might have stayed in the area when it was a hotel. Black perceived something … darker.

“When I walked in there, I saw a cemetery,” she said.

Other members were more intrigued by the second floor, even though the cluster of offices didn’t seem likely to be haunted.

Appearances can be deceiving.

On the night the group visited, an employee told them she refused to enter the second-floor bathroom anymore. Every time she did, she said, the faucet turned on by itself.

The seven-member team set up wireless infrared video cameras in the basement and on the second floor. In the dark, they split into two teams – one for the basement and one for the upper floors – each group carrying digital cameras, audio recorders and walkie-talkies.

Jeremy Stoddard and Scott Grant took the dirt floor basement, snapping photos as they roamed the room.

“Hey, Scott,” Stoddard said carefully. “You have a friend.”

Caught by his digital camera: a tiny ball of light floating next to Grant’s head.

A dust particle lit by the flash? Or spirit energy that revealed itself as an orb? The group would have to analyze.

Several minutes later, Stoddard was startled by a sudden, burning pain on his leg. Lifting his pant leg revealed a fresh, jagged scratch just below his kneecap.

That, he didn’t wait to analyze.

“I was attacked,” Stoddard said.

Upstairs, other CMPI members paced the long hall that separated offices, videotaping some balls of light of their own.

“That was an orb,” Black said, excitedly pointing to the TV monitor. “That wasn’t dust.”

By the time the night was over, members had caught photos of odd balls of light and an image that seemed to be a woman’s face in the bathroom mirror. Some members heard a whistle and a tapping noise in the basement. On videotape, they caught an unexplainable bang in the women’s bathroom.

The faucet never turned on by itself.

CMPI evidence: Image of a face in the bathroom mirror, photos and video of lights, unexplained noises on audio.

CMPI verdict: Low activity. Maybe moderately haunted

SJ scare scale: 3

Evergreen Cemetery

Set on Stevens Mill Road, the small cemetery is nestled between the street and woods. The oldest headstones – tilting and streaked with stains from the weather – are 100 years old or more.

CMPI had investigated the cemetery a few times before, catching lights, noises and strange smells. But this Friday night, they were hoping to uncover the truth behind an urban legend. Rumor had it Geneva Phinney, a baby who died in 1936 and was buried on the edge of the graveyard, appeared every year on the anniversary of her death.

Midnight would mark that anniversary.

In pairs and small groups, under a nearly full moon thinly veiled by clouds, CMPI members began roaming the cemetery a couple of hours after dark.

Like the old county jail, their camera batteries immediately started draining.

“I was just getting some good stuff, too,” Farrington complained.

Quickly swapping out batteries, they snapped photos: the baby’s grave, rows of headstones, the woods. Little lights – orbs or dust – abounded.

Then, near the tall headstone of a man named Major Merrill, two photos of a wispy mist wafting by.

“Wow,” Wetherell said, then giggled.

There were some false alarms. The group quickly determined that “orbs” caught by the video camera were actually dust particles kicked up as they walked by. Another spooky mist – closer to the camera and thicker than the others – was just a CMPI member’s breath on the cold night.

But by the end of the night, members had photographed an image of what appeared to be a man standing by Major Merrill’s grave. There were photos of odd lights, audio of unexplained sounds, the images of mist.

And then there were the creepy, hair-standing-on-end feelings some members got. Not evidence, exactly, but something.

“You feel it. You know if someone is trying to scare you or trying to get their message across,” Farrington said.

CMPI evidence: Photos of lights, mist and an image of a man, unexplained noises on audio. No appearance of Geneva Phinney at midnight.

CMPI verdict: Definitely haunted

SJ scare scale: 9

Ghostbusting
CMPI investigation rules:

• Always use the buddy system.

• Always speak in a normal voice. (Whispers can be misconstrued when caught on an audio recorder)

• Always announce yourself when you enter a room. (Both for any recording equipment and for the sake of fellow ghost hunters)

• Always respect the property you’re investigating and the property owner.

FMI on Central Maine Paranormal Investigations: http://www.maineghostseekers.com/