Jenni Berrios
jeberrios@ursinus.edu
You know and love him as Rob Coyle, the Campus Safety Officer who answers student calls at desperate times, assisting with lockouts and sorting out crazy situations in Reimert. But did you know he also protects us from the dead? More specifically, Rob specializes in paranormal investigations. Paranormal investigation is the study of other realms that gives sight to things the human eye does not always catch.
“People have been capturing and experiencing paranormal things since the beginning of time,” Coyle says.
Coyle believes that people have actually been capturing ghosts on film and pictures for years without realizing it, thinking they had captured a double-negative when they had actually seen a ghost.
The worst experience Coyle has had in a investigation is when he visited an old farm house in Doylestown. The house had been previously vandalized. However, his team had gotten permission from the owners of the house to do an investigation and see if there was any paranormal activity there.
As Coyle was walking around the site where the paranormal investigation was taking place, he says he suddenly saw a shadow approach him from a barred window. The shadow proceeded to throw him on his back. “Typically [being assaulted by a ghost] is a very rare thing to happen,” Coyle explains, and goes on to say that the ghost was being protective of its space.
The paranormal might be closer than you think. According to Coyle, spirits tend to linger near artifacts, and Ursinus is home to many antiques. If you want to do a little more paranormal investigation yourself, Coyle says the elevators at Myrin Library frequently open to the 2nd floor by themselves at 2 a.m. “That goes against the elevator’s programming,” Coyle warns. Is it possible that Casper is enrolled at Ursinus?