Veronica Bautista was a skeptic about encounters of the ghostly kind until, she said, one happened to her. In 1990, she was 19, living in Pompano Beach, Fla. It was midnight, and she had just turned the TV off when a big, white circle appeared at her apartment doorway. Fear flashed over her as the orb came closer. Inside the circle, just feet away, she saw the face of her father. Donald Blackburn died when she was 9 years old.
Smaller devices include digital recorders, flashlights, night vision cameras and motion sensor cat balls that flash red and blue lights. The group has explored a range of locales, from downtown to old jails, hotels and hospitals across South Texas. Their downtown outings have included the third floor of The Ticket, the Menger Hotel, Room 636 at the Guenther Hotel, the Alamo Antique Mall, The Buckhorn Saloon Museum, and the old San Antonio Express-News building.