NZ Ghost Hunters request to government

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Government Agency in New Zealand Queried by Curious Ghost Hunters - Coast to Coast AM

Workers at a government agency in New Zealand have become reluctant ghost hunters thanks to a rather clever official inquiry from one of the country's paranormal groups. The weird situation reportedly arose when an organization known as 'NZ Paranormal Investigators' submitted what is akin to an FOIA request to the country's Department of Internal Affairs concerning "a matter of considerable interest" centered around their headquarters located in the city of Wellington.

The remarkably detailed request calls for "all information that you hold about potential paranormal/supernatural/haunting related occurrences in this building." The group asserts that this "includes anything that your staff have perceived or suspected may be of this nature," regardless of whether or not the department believes the events to be paranormal. The group goes on to ask for "full information regarding any reports of unusual environmental observations."

As if that is not enough, NZ Paranormal Investigators also want the department to provide "hard data" on the buildings air conditioning system, "any electromagnetic sensory equipment you may have," and "environmental monitoring mechanisms." The group declared in the request that the information "needs to be broken down into absolute detail." And, finally, the ghost hunters asked the agency to reveal "any measures that you have taken" to study or prevent paranormal activity in their headquarters.

Amazingly, due to the nature of New Zealand's Official Information Act, it would appear that the department is actually required to find answers to the many questions asked by the paranormal group and provide the information in a timely fashion. An official response from the agency indicated that is the case and, presumably, someone working for the country's Department of Internal Affairs is currently conducting a legally-required ghost hunt, so to speak, at their headquarters.

Understandably, some in New Zealand have expressed concern over how much time and money will be required to respond to the paranormal group's fairly comprehensive request, but it would seem that the department has no choice in the matter. To that end, a similarly weird OIA request two years ago actually saw someone asking for evidence that the country's prime minister was not "a David Icke style shapeshifting reptilian alien ushering humanity towards enslavement." Oddly enough, the government's official response to the matter was that they couldn't find any information to disprove the theory.
 
I can't remember if I told this story here, but the last building I worked in at WPAFB before I retired, Bldg 12, had been totally renovated before we moved in. It was a very historic building, and had even been the Air Corps Museum back pre-WWII.

As workmen were finishing up the renovation, one of them claimed to have seen a figure in uniform walk down a hall and through a wall in the basement. The story was the buzz of the building by the time we moved in. I jokingly told my boss at the time I was going to submit a FOIA request seeking information on the ghost, maybe I should have. Maybe I will now.
 
And here's the update!

A government agency in New Zealand that was tasked with looking into whether or not their headquarters is haunted has issued the findings from their legally mandated investigation. Last month, the country's Department of Internal Affairs received what is akin to an FOIA request from a paranormal research group asking for information about any potential paranormal happenings at their main office. Since the inquiry was filed via New Zealand's Official Information Act, the department was actually required by law to provide some kind of answer to the group and, late last week, they shared some rather interesting insights into the matter.

In their official response, the department indicated that, in fact, they had uncovered some chatter among employees on an internal DIA online message board regarding potential ghostly encounters in the Department of Internal Affairs offices. Remarkably, they actually included the conversation with the employees' names omitted. Titled, "so there is no easy way to ask this … ghosts?," the exchange began with one worker wondering if anyone had "any stories or experiences" during their time working for the Department of Internal Affairs.

While the question was largely dismissed by the other employees, a handful of workers revealed that they had encountered something unusual. One staff member wrote that "we have the infamous lower level 1 ghost here at Archives Wellington." This person described the spooky experience of being in the building's elevator when "the floor counter inside the lift flickers and the doors open on lower level 1, no one is there it is dark and you either stand there unsure of what to do or mash the close door button before something gets in."

As one might imagine, a skeptical employee responded to that tale by musing that the elevator was probably just malfunctioning. However a different account from another staff member is particularly tantalizing, yet also quite maddening. That's because they wrote, "I can confirm I have seen a specter around level 13. It stared at me just long enough for me to take a quick photo." Alas, although the worker posted this purported ghost photo to the forum, the release from the DIA stated "the staff member who posted a photograph is no longer working at the Department and the link to the photograph is not active," leaving us to wonder what the image may have shown.

Sadly, it would appear that the conversation among employees was the only information uncovered by the department in their 'ghost hunt.' Regarding the other questions asked in the exhausting request, the agency said that they found no reports of "unusual environmental observations" and they had no "environmental monitoring mechanisms" in their office. And, finally, as to the question of what measures they have taken to "alleviate a potential paranormal situation," the department replied that "there is nothing in place to deal specifically with this issue. If it arose, we would work through this like any other issue and liaise with the appropriate groups."