The evening of paranormal exploration kicked off about one hour earlier, with a tour of the Denver Firefighters Museum. The museum’s Collections Manager, Kate Bowers, lead the tour, pointing out spooky experiences had by staff along the way. 

“One time we were opening up the museum, and I heard someone sneeze,” says Bowers. “It wasn’t either of my co-workers, I was staring at both of them.” 

Bowers keeps a detailed list of encounters. They include many occurrences you would expect from a haunted building; tapping on the walls, jiggling door handles, disembodied voices, items being rearranged. One afternoon Bowers happened to be in the basement at 12:15 p.m., when she is usually upstairs. An alarm in the basement sounded. She followed the line, and it wasn’t hooked up to anything. 

“It keeps us on our toes, and I like that,” Bowers laughs. 

Word of possible otherworldly activity at the Denver Firefighters Museum made its way around the paranormal community, and the building ended up on MacKenzie Koncher’s bucket list. The XX Paranormal Communications Co-Founder has been investigating since 2011. 

"I was trying to think of an awesome female team name," said Koncher. "I think it's a male dominated industry with paranormal investigating."

So her all female paranormal team decided to check out the Denver Firefighters Museum. It was an active station from 1909-1975.

“It’s always fun to investigate places that have a lot of history, and museums are always a fun and interesting experience,” says Koncher. 

Bowers suspects any souls inhabiting the museum belong to those who used to work at the station, or those who may have perished in fires. Either way, “I don’t think there’s anything here that harbors ill-will,” says Bowers. “Everything to me feels very warm and welcoming.” 

The XX team begins their investigation in the basement. They have a myriad of tools to help them communicate with spirits. They set Maglite flashlights around the room, and an audio recorder, K2 meter, and spirit box on the table. The K2 meter detects electromagnetic fields. The spirit box is an AM/FM transmitter that allows spirits to communicate through the white noise. 

The investigation begins. “Is there anyone here with us?,” Hendrickson calls out into the room. Before long, a flashlight placed on a nearby filing cabinet turns on. The team perks up, and excitedly responds. “Hi! Thank you!” 

They dig deeper with their questions, asking how many spirits are in the room with us, whether they are male or female, what their names are. They watch the flashlights, and listen closely for any words that may pierce through the white noise of the spirit box. 

“Five! I heard five,” says Koncher. 

When they finish in the basement, the team thanks the spirits for their communication and heads upstairs. They investigate the Officer’s quarters, bathrooms, and the communal kitchen area, where the door has been rattling mysteriously all week. Each room holds similar, but slightly different experiences. 

“Paranormal investigations are not typically what’s conveyed on TV,” laughs Koncher. “It’s not as scary as people think that it is. A lot of times you’re literally just sitting in the dark and waiting for an answer. If they really recorded that, I think people would actually laugh at the hours of footage of just sitting in the dark talking to yourself.” 

Even so, Koncher loves it. They all do. 

“It is really beautiful to be able to communicate with the spirit world. It gives me hope that there is something that happens after death,” says Koncher. “Sometimes you’re just having a communication with someone and it’s nice to be able to know you can relay any messages that they might have, or visit them in case they’re lonely. It can be really fun.” 

When asked if the night was a success, Koncher says, “Absolutely tonight was a success. We were very happy with the communication that we had. We had communication through multiple devices, which was amazing.” 

To the left, the XX team points out the difference in the uniform laid out on a bed with the shoes pointed the same direction. Then after leaving the room the shoes were pointing different directions. 

Alexis Kikoen is a multimedia journalist with Rocky Mountain PBS. She can be reached via email at alexiskikoen@rmpbs.org or on Instagram @alexiskikoen.