OFF BEAT: Busting ghosts at work doesn't fly with employer

An employee with the Butte, Mont., health department became the butt of a reprimand after her boss found out she had hired “ghostbusters” to catch spirits she felt were occupying her office.

John DeMuary, co-founder of the Butte Paranormal Investigative Team, told media that he decided to take the case after the employee told him her office building was haunted.

“She said that a lot of strange things were happening and that she heard strange noises coming out of a certain part of the building,” Mr. DeMuary, who has been hunting ghosts for more than two years, told the New York Daily News, which did not identify the employee. He added that the woman also reported that her co-workers stationed in that part of the building were often angry and acted aggressively toward each other.

Mr. DeMuary’s research turned up that the office building was constructed in the 1970s on land where a house that a woman had occupied for 80 years formerly stood.

“Maybe her spirit wasn’t able to move on,” he suggested, adding that he sensed “a presence” in the building.

The ghostbuster team was busted itself, however, when one of the woman’s co-workers reported the infrared cameras and other ghost-detecting devices to health department authorities, fearing that someone was spying on the government workers.

“The public gives trust in us and we need to take that seriously, and setting up cameras in public buildings to catch paranormal activity I don’t think is gaining the public’s trust,” Butte Health Department Chief Executive Matt Vincent told the local newspaper.

The police returned the equipment to the ghostbusters, but removed the SD card from the camera on which the alleged paranormal activity was recorded.