It's not quite rifle time yet in Michigan, but for ghost hunter Brad Mikulka, Halloween is open season.

The leader of the Lansing-based SouthEast Michigan Ghost Hunters Society brought his trade to MSU's campus yesterday to investigate Fairchild Theatre, a building known for its historical haunted happenings.

Armed with an electronic tape recorder, digital camera and a red, flashing electromagnetic field detector, Mikulka searched every nook and cranny of the theater - from projection booth to storage basement, in search of the paranormal.

"What you try to do is photograph balls of light commonly referred to as ghosts," said Mikulka, a Lansing resident.

Mikulka said he has certain powers that allow him to "sense" spirit activity.

Upon entering the Fairchild Theatre, Mikulka said he could feel the presence of something watching him.

As he worked his way through the building, Mikulka said that energy could be felt in certain places, especially in the theater's projection booth.

Mikulka described the presence in the booth in a very detailed manner - a short man, very old, with a small mustache and blue bib overalls, he said.

Strangely enough, Maureen Murphy, a stage manager guiding Mikulka, said the description reminded her very much of Craig Chapin, an older man who used to run the projector.

Chapin died two years ago.

"Sometimes you'll be here alone at night, and you'll hear a noise and you'll think 'What was that?'" said Murphy, who has

worked at the theater for three years.

Stories of the ghost of a boy roaming the halls of the auditorium and weird noises coming from stage areas in Fairchild Theatre have circulated for years among theater students and building workers.

Aside from the SEMGHS, at least a half-dozen other ghost investigating groups meet throughout Michigan, including Michigan Ghost Watchers, which is based in Canton.

Cindy Blake, the president of the Canton group, relies on photography and scientific methods in conducting searches for spirits.

"A ghost is a persona, a personality, the part of us that doesn't go away when we die," said Blake, a dental technician, wife and mother of four. "My ultimate goal is to try and gather evidence that cannot be debunked."

MSU offers a myriad of supposedly haunted spots, including Mayo Hall, West Holmes Hall and the Children's Garden.

And to do some ghost hunting of your own, all you really need is a camera, Mikulka said.

Lisa Deratany, a no-preference freshman, said she'd be wary to go into a building that was said to be haunted.

"I get really spooked out with ghosts," Deratany said. "I've never experienced one, but I still believe in them."

Mikulka said students are welcome to join the SEMGHS, which already has 258 members. Those interested can go to the group's Web site, www.SEMGHS.org, for more information. The group regularly conducts investigations, some of which include work with video cameras, motion detectors and Geiger counters.

But some skeptics at Fairchild Theatre don't believe in ghosts.

"The whole thing got started as a joke in 1968 when two actors got lost in an elaborate set," said Frank Rutledge, professor of directing and theater history. "They became the ghosts of Fairchild."

Rutledge has worked at Fairchild "longer than anyone else," and he's never seen anything, he said.

"Sometimes the wind blows across the tin roof and makes funny noises in the theater," Rutledge said. "I don't believe in ghosts."

Although some people think his hobby is strange, Mikulka said it isn't about proving people wrong.

"We're not here to change opinions or get in an argument about what is real and what isn't," Mikulka said. "We will show you what we have, and you can make your own decision."

Staff writer Don Jordan can be reached at jordand3@msu.edu.