By Don Jovich
Record-Courier staff writer
AURORA -- The popular "Ghosthunting 101" course may be looking for spirits elsewhere, if the city-owned Margaret Harmon house is no longer available for use.
The Aurora Landmark Commission recently recommended that ghosthunting investigations not be conducted at the historic Harmon house on Page Road.
Commission chairman Tom Dreher mentioned to the members that several people have spoken to him about the use of the Margaret Harmon house.
He referred to a recent newspaper article which explained that the facility is being used for paranormal activity.
Since 2005, the ghosthunting class has been offered by the city's community education program.
Dreher asked the commission to review the article and give their thoughts on it to Jim Kraus, the parks and recreation director. He asked them to decide if they think that the landmark commission should take up the issue formally.
The commission passed a measure that advises the Aurora Parks and Recreation Committee to not allow ghost hunting activities at the city's landmarked properties.
Mayor Lynn McGill said the use of the cemetery for a similar program, "Gravestones, Lanterns and Legends," also was "improper."
The ghost hunting class is led by instructor Sherri Brake-Recco, owner and tour guide/researcher for Haunted Heartland Tours and Haunted History Walks of Canal Fulton.
She instructs classes on paranormal subjects such as ghost hunting, dowsing and spirit photography and electronic voice phenomena or EVP.
As a paranormal investigator, Brake-Recco also is the instructor of ghost hunting classes at the West Virginia Penitentiary and has led ghost tours since 2003.
In Aurora, nearly 200 participants have taken the ghost hunting courses.
The class includes two hours of classroom work, a slide show presentation, hands-on use of ghost hunting equipment and a two-hour investigation of the century-old Harmon home.