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LISBON - Lisbon is haunted.

At least, that's the opinion of a panel of paranormal investigators who led more than a dozen people Sunday afternoon on a Haunted Lisbon Ghostwalk.

Kimberly Mitchell, lead investigator for Ghosting 12 Paranormal, a dedicated group of eight paranormal investigators from around the county, guided the group to several historical homes and buildings around the village, some of them with fantastical, phantasmal stories of the dead roaming inside them.

"Ghost hunting is not like what you see on television. I've never been scratched. I've never been pushed ... The ghosts are here to talk to you," Mitchell told the group, whose fee to participate on the tour went toward funding 501c(3) nonprofit certification for the Columbiana County Families of Homicide Victims.

Religion and science both play a role in the job of a ghost hunter.

Sometimes, she explained, ghosts exist in this world because of fear that something they did while they were alive will cause them to go to Hell when they cross over.

The group does not practice witchcraft, but it does have reference materials to the occult to aid in investigations. She noted Gretchen's Lock contains a large stone she was able to identify as a rune for blessing crops in the area.

The term "ghost" can mean the spirit of a deceased person, but it also covers some non-human entities, such as demons.

"Thankfully, I haven't ever run into anything like that and I hope I never do," she said of demons, although she is confused why people treat demons as though they have more power than God. She has heard stories of ghosts throwing knives that land by people's feet or stick in the wall next to them, but she argued that if a ghost is powerful enough to throw a knife, it could land the knife in someone's chest and kill him or her.

Science comes into play in the tools ghost hunters use to detect spirits.

One device, a K2 meter, detects electromagnetic fields, which Mitchell said are a sign that ghosts are nearby. However, the meters can be thrown off by open electrical wires or lots of appliances plugged into one socket.

A compass with a magnetic point can be used for the same purpose, as the presence of a ghost will cause the magnetic needle to spin.

They also employ cameras for capturing physical distortions and digital recorders with their own background noise. Ghosts don't have vocal chords, she explained, so they use other things to give them a voice. She had heard ghosts use a fan, a barking dog or the rumbling of a passing car to make their words audible, she said.

But she isn't scared, even when a recording clearly tells her "get out now," because that's exactly what neighbors would say if she walked into their home uninvited.

Much of the tour centered on the Underground Railroad. While many historians deny the slavery-resistance group had any activity in Lisbon, Mitchell argued the group was secretive and would have covered its tracks well to avoid detection, which explains why its presence is Lisbon is yet to be confirmed.

One home was once owned by Erastus Eells, founder of possibly the first funeral home in the state. Eells made coffins in a barn on the property and sent some of the coffins to Canada, and Mitchell said some residents believe he smuggled living slaves out of the country in the coffins to free them.

That same house is, or was, home to a spirit some former residents had named George. She said George was a mean spirit who once tried to push a woman off a ladder while she was working on the house, but the current residents have noted no paranormal activity since they moved in.

At the site of the car wash on North Market Street, there once stood a house that reportedly was haunted by the ghost of a boy who died of a disease. She said people could hear him stomping up the steps and down the hallway, then slamming a door.

Her research showed no sign of who the boy might be, but if people really heard those noises, she said it may be a residual haunting, which is not an actual spirit but a playback of events that happened in the past being heard or seen in the present.

Mitchell explained ghosts use people's dreams as a way to communicate with them, and they are a common medium ghosts use to say goodbye. A point Mitchell wanted to stress is that many ghosts just want to pass on a message, and it pleases her to allow them to do it.

"It's really heartwarming and it leaves you with goose bumps and a new idea of where you might be when you pass on as well," she explained.

Anyone seeking more information on the ghost hunting group can follow their blog at www.evpisproof.blogspot.com.