Students and staff joined together at Titan Nights last Friday as ghost hunter Chris Moon led them on a quest for spirits around campus.

UWO senior and human services leadership major Clara Hewins said hunting for ghosts is an opportunity students are not typically given.

“This was an event unlike any other that brings out a curious side of students that draws them to participating,” Hewins said.

Moon gave a lecture to nearly 300 students eager to learn more about ghost hunting techniques.

After the lecture, 50 randomly-selected students roamed the campus for signs of ghost activity with stops at the Oviatt and Pollock houses.

Hewins went on the adventure and said she was a little apprehensive to go, but only because she didn’t know what to make of it.

“I believe in ghosts to an extent but wasn’t sure how the hunt was going to go,” Hewins said. “I wouldn’t say I was scared, but nervous might be a good word to explain how I felt.”

Reeve Union Board and Late Night Programs adviser Dylan Bram said he and his staff have been looking to bring a ghost hunter to UWO ever since author and inspiration to the “Conjuring” movies Lorraine Warren visited years ago.

“It’s the one thing, when I started here three years ago, [that] my staff has always suggested,” Bram said. “So it’s always been something that I’ve been watching for, someone to fill that part.”

According to a 2009 Pew Research Center survey, 18 percent of U.S. adults said they have seen or been in the presence of a ghost, while 29 percent said they have been in touch with the dead.

For the benefit of those who don’t communicate with the dead, Moon brought his self-made telephone to the dead.

The telephone is a sound box that picks up waves of communication brought on by “an incredible variety of spirits,” according to Moon’s website.

The telephone to the dead was inspired by one of Thomas Edison’s least-successful endeavors, dial-a-ghost. Unlike Edison, Bram said Moon was picking up on ghost activity with his telephone.

“I’m not sure if it was activity coming out of the houses or spirits following the students that were with us,” Bram said. “But the machine was letting out static-like sounds.”

Hewins said she also heard sounds coming out of the sound box. She said those sounds added to her unsettled feeling.

“The static and the voices coming out of the box had a very eerie sound and feel tied to them,” Hewins said.

Bram said he was blown away by Moon months ago after he performed a palm reading on six of his staff members at the National Association for Campus Activities convention. Bram said he knew then they had to get Moon to UWO.

Moon travels to college campuses nationwide and gives lectures on ghost hunting techniques that are backed by positive evidence, according to his website.

Bram said he is happy that students are having fun at Titan Nights events, and the turnouts represent their goal of giving students what they want.

“Our numbers this year have been higher than they were last year,” Bram said. “Our average turnout is about 75 to 100 people higher every month.”

Bram said his staff is mostly seniors, and anybody who has a great personality, loves to have fun and wants to make a little money while doing it should sign up to be a part of the Titan Nights staff.