Another Paranormal Probe of the American Theater

This Saturday, May 2, Mid-Iowa Paranormal will be back to investigate the American Theater in Cherokee.

Mid-Iowa Paranormal is a group of investigators from the Des Moines area founded by Robert Sinclair. The team previously visited the site a year ago, and is anxious to return. Mid-Iowa Paranormal was the first team to investigate paranormal activities in the theatre as well. Mid-Iowa Paranormal has recently been offered a chance to have a television show , and have chosen this location to film a pilot episode in hopes to receive a green light to begin broadcast in Cherokee.

The American Theater was built in 1920 by Barry Sisk and Walter James, but ran out of finances before the construction could be completed. Dale Goldie bought the property in 1923 at a Sheriff's sale and the theatre was opened in 1925. The theatre was one of the first major buildings in the town to be cooled with a large water and fan system. The basement was also used to store civil defense supplies, and the supplies are still there in entirety.

While investigating the theater last July, Mid-Iowa Paranormal was able to conclude that the building did have some paranormal activity, most centered around a woman. The team captured around five "EVP's" or electronic voice phenomena, which are voices caught on a recording device that are usually responses to questions or certain stimulation. A few of the "EVP's" captured were the voice of a woman, but there were no women with the team at this investigation except for the manager who was asleep upstairs in a booth and nowhere near the investigators.

The team's co-founder, Sky Ankrum, had taken a picture in front of one of the doors leading out to the front of the theater, and in this particular photo one can see the expressionless face of a female standing in front of one of the doors and it looks as though she were lost.

The current manager of the theater, Linda McClaren, has also witnessed some paranormal activity. She had stated that one evening, while working downstairs, she heard footsteps above her that sounded like someone walking with high-heels on a hardwood floor, but there is not a hardwood floor that was above her, and no one else was in the building with her.

The team found no evidence to determine that the building is haunted by former owner, Dale Goldie, although he had a wife named Hazel who sold tickets in the main lobby most of her life.

Mid-Iowa Paranormal could not yet declare the building to be haunted, but is hoping to gather more evidence this Saturday to either debunk or confirm that evidence collected from their previous visit.

To read the case report from the investigation of the theatre last July, or to get more information about the team, simply visit www.mid-iowaparanormal.com and you can hear some of the "EVP's" captured as well.