Texas A&M is home to thousands of clubs ranging from sports, music, film and now even the paranormal.
The Texas A&M Paranormal Society (or TAPS) is one of the newer clubs on campus, spearheaded by club president and agricultural communication senior Braden Deupree along with the vice president and forensics sophomore Heather Kavaloski. TAPS gained university recognition during the summer of 2018 after one year as an unrecognized organization. The year prior, TAPS was merely an idea to Deupree.
“I went on MaroonLink and typed in ‘paranormal,’” Deupree said. “I saw nothing. I said ‘Okay. I’m gonna start it.’”
Deupree began his search for fellow paranormal enthusiasts to help lead his new club, finding people like Kavaloski and the group’s treasurer, Sophie Gonzalez.
TAPS will be visiting supposedly haunted areas in search of evidence of the paranormal using high-tech equipment and sharing their findings with the world via social media and other sources. The club will follow in the footsteps of shows like “Ghost Adventures” and, more specifically, “Paranormal State,” a reality show on Pennsylvania State University’s own paranormal research group. According to Braden, shows like these were big inspirations behind the creation of TAPS.
This past Thursday, Deupree and Kavaloski reserved MSC Room 2506 for the first TAPS informational. Deupree said the small 9×9 room seemed adequate for his humble expectations for the turn out.
“I was expecting it to be really, really quiet,” Deupree said. “I didn’t expect more than 15 people.”
By the end of the informational nearly 50 people were crammed in the room, hopeful and excited that TAPS might be just the club they were looking for.
Students from a variety of backgrounds attended the informational, including sophomore Nicholas Salter. He said he is undecided on the existence of ghosts and the paranormal, but is eager to see if TAPS will convince him.
“This club seems out of the ordinary,” Salter said. “It was something unique with a sense of adventure.”
Other prospective members were excited to share their love for ghosts with others and investigate the mysteries themselves, such as junior Kirsten Covington.
“I do believe in ghosts,” Covington said. “There is so much evidence that they exist, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they appear in every culture.”
Deupree and Kavoloski said their club is excited to take on anyone who wants to join — skeptics included.
“I think that it is a good opportunity to provide proof and show that there is other stuff out there to believe in,” Deupree said.
TAPS can be found on Instagram as tamuparanormal and on Facebook as Texas A&M Paranormal Society. To join their email list for updates on the club, email [email protected].