INDIANAPOLIS — KJ McGlinn and Kitsie Duncan believe spirits are attracted to The Athenaeum in downtown Indianapolis. Spirits are said to be the nonphysical part of a person that continues to roam the earth, among the living, after death.
"This is such a lively place where people go and make great memories. There are terrific shows here. And there are weddings. And they're meaningful moments here," McGlinn told WRTV inside of the Basile Theatre at The Athenaeum.
The historic landmark is where McGlinn and Duncan often host live sessions and shows for Paranormal Crossroad.
"I do feel like some spirits just find this place and want to stay because it is just warm and welcoming. And there are always things going on. I mean, don't you want to see all the shows here and hang out in the beer garden," KJ said, laughing.
Because the spirits enjoy being at The Athenaeum, Duncan tells WRTV they too enjoy being there.
Duncan adds that the spirits at The Athenaeum are "family" for the paranormal researching duo.
"We're not going and finding, you know, an old Victorian lady," Duncan said. "We're speaking to people's family members from the other side, giving them life advice, and telling them that it's okay," she explained. "It's okay to keep going forward. Because there's more to life, and you just have to trust it."
Paranormal Crossroad's last live show at the Basile Theatre in October quickly sold all 50 tickets they offered to the public.
Although a sold-out show may indicate the need for a bigger space in some instances, the women of Paranormal Paranormal Crossroad won't be seeking a venue with more seats anytime soon.
The setting must be intimate for the crew to investigate and bridge communication between the dead and the living.
"Imagine a room full of people who have all brought their spirits with them, and they all just found out they can talk through this thing," McGlinn explained, holding up Paranormal Crossroad's "Odd Box." It's the physical vessel through which spirits can be heard.
At October's show, McGlinn shares that the Odd Box was bouncing, and the lights that encircle it were flashing with the dozens of spirits ready to talk.
"That moment that you realize you could get a message through, you would be trying to be the one that gets heard, right?"
The process in which Paranormal Crossroad seems to simply be able to speak with those on the other side with the help of a box and matched energies is just about as organically as McGlinn and Duncan joined forces in the first place.
Finding each other at a Crossroad
Duncan, a resident of Franklin, has been a paranormal researcher for 13 years. She had her own show on Amazon Prime called "Oddity Files" and when her paranormal investigation group broke up after three seasons, she wrote a book titled "I'd Rather Talk to Dead People."
"As I was writing the book, I realized that ghosts aren't as scary as they make them out to be on TV. I had a spirit actually tell me, 'we are just people,'" Duncan said.
Duncan said she knew she was being put on a new path but wasn't quite sure what it was until a friend of hers, McGlinn, called seeking assistance because her lights were flickering on and off.
McGlinn — a long-time radio personality on the Smiley Morning Show and Pet Pals TV — says at one point she was talking to her lamps.
"I was not scared when the light was going on and off. I've had strange things my whole life," McGlinn said.
The light occurrences inside her home north of Indianapolis kept happening simultaneously every day. Finally, McGlinn says she just wanted to know what it meant, and that's why she called Duncan.
"I mean, I'm not exaggerating when I say it changed my life," McGlinn said of Duncan coming to investigate the activity in her home. "I never had an experience that like that. I don't understand how my dad's voice is coming through [the Odd Box] and saying very meaningful things that [Duncan] would not understand. But I did."
You can watch what took place in McGlinn's home on Paranormal X's YouTube Channel where they post all of their episodes.
Duncan says when the flickering lights stopped at McGlinn's house, it was only a few days later when another one of her friends, a medium, was also having some activity happening at her home.
Duncan asked McGlinn if she wanted to come for the investigation, and, well, that's all she wrote. Paranormal Crossroad began.
"I want as many people out there to have the experience that I had, that connection of love and forgiveness, and that they're okay. And I was like, 'let's do this as much as we can for as many people as we can,'" McGlinn explained.
Making the paranormal less scary
The notion that paranormal activity is nothing to be scared of is one of the core motives behind what Duncan is setting out to do in her work with Paranormal Crossroad.
As a kid, Duncan remembers being terrified of everything she is now passionate about; thriller shows, horror movies — all of it. That is until she went on her first ghost walk.
"I felt at home when I walked into this abandoned old home. It just felt right," Duncan explained. "At places that are known for demons, I get spirits talking to me, telling me their story."
In a session with a friend, spirit medium and co-star of the Paranormal X LIVE shows, Tiffany Rice, she heard from her dad. Duncan says her dad said he was proud of her work and not to stop.
"I do this for my dad," Duncan shared, with tears in her eyes.
McGlinn shares that these meaningful moments of connection with loved ones that have physically left do not have to be sad, and sometimes aren't, in her experience.
McGlinn recalls several instances of laughter from folks they've done at-home visits with or people in the audience. McGlinn also holds fondly a time she was able to hear from her mom, and her mother asked McGlinn why she had died her hair.
"Never in my life did I think I would be doing this," McGlinn said, smiling. "Trying to explain how it works, I don't know. But the two of us get together with this thing, and people talk!"
"Honestly, it's not even the device," Duncan added. "It's the energy that KJ and I bring when we bring the Box that is getting the spirits to speak to us."
Aside from the at-home sessions and investigations Paranormal Crossroad does, they also host events, such as the one they're holding at The Athenaeum on March 12.
At the show in March, Duncan, McGlinn, and Rice will be showing two investigations they've done, sharing messages with the audience who've possibly brought spirits with them, an oracle card reading, and more.
"We give people the tools after we leave to speak with the spirits that they so choose," Duncan said. "That's our goal is — these people are terrified because they don't understand it — but we bring them the piece that we think they should have."
You can purchase tickets to Paranormal X LIVE at athenaeumindy.com, watch the entire first season of Paranormal Crossroad on YoutTube, and learn more about the group at goto.pxroad.com.
WRTV Digital Reporter Shakkira Harris can be reached at shakkira.harris@wrtv.com. You can follow her on Twitter, @shakkirasays.
