FAIRHOPE, Ala. — “In any old building there’s always stories about mysterious noises and creaking sounds, just sort of inexplicable things,” said John Henderson, adjutant of the American Legion Post 199 in Fairhope, during an interview this week at the site where a team of Baldwin County ghosthunters searched for otherworldly spirits last weekend. “And it’s always eerie when you’re here late at night. A lot of our bartenders just rush to get out of here, because they don’t enjoy the idea of being here alone and never want to go upstairs.”

But it was there, in that upstairs area of the third-floor attic of the American Legion building that a team of about 13 members of the Bon Secour Paranormal Investigations nonprofit group set up shop late last Saturday night, with tools of the ghosthunting trade, including infrared cameras, digital audio recorders and meters that measure electromagnetic frequencies.

“We’ve investigated a lot of places in the area,” said Richard Johnson, who founded BSPI in December 2006 with his wife, Evelyn, during an interview at the Legion building a few days after last weekend’s investigation. “Our main niche is historical places. We like to do historical buildings because it’s really satisfying when we can get evidence that goes along with the history of the place.”

During a recent concert at the Legion post, a member of the BSPI group said the unique building on Mobile Bay would be a good site for an investigation and offered that group’s services, which led to last weekend’s six-hour search for ghosts in the wee hours, Henderson said.

“What we do know is that it used to be a women’s club with a girl’s camp of some kind,” said Henderson, referring to the history of the American Legion building. “That was probably in the ’30s or ’40s. The Legion didn’t have the place until the early ’60s. Before then it sort of remains a mystery as to what it all was. But there is a big legend that it was a gambling casino at one time and that it was a brothel at one time.”

One thing few people in the area know is that in that third-floor attic are the posts that once encircled a boxing ring for local matches that might date back to the ’30s, he said.

Although Richard Johnson said their investigation was inconclusive with no major supernatural activity, they did have some experiences that indicated the possibility of ghostly presences.

“We actually got some responses upstairs in the boxing ring,” said Evelyn Johnson, referring to measurement on the EMF meter. “I asked a couple questions and it did light up (on the instrument).”

Evelyn said there were also a few other instances out of the ordinary.

“We did get a couple of other knocks that were timed pretty good with our questions, but because of the settling of the building we can’t say for sure that it was in response to our questions,” she said.

During a radio interview Wednesday in Fairhope, Richard said they work hard to first debunk any experiences, always searching first for a reasonable explanation for the sounds, images or other evidence.

“We would like to come back and re-investigate,” he said this week during an interview with his wife and Henderson at the Legion post.

During that interview, which started on the ground floor of the building and ended in the attic, one ceiling light began flickering rapidly.

“Is that normal?” the reporter asked Henderson, who smiled and said he wasn’t sure. “Maybe it just needs a new bulb?” the reporter asked.

Upstairs in the attic, both Johnsons said they post the results of their investigations without any enhancement of the audio recordings on their Web site .

“It was very active at the Richards DAR House,” said Richard, referring to that Mobile museum. He and Evelyn said they heard a number of voices there, which can indeed be listened to on their Web site.

Just then, as they were describing one of their most successful investigations, a quick trio of knocks echoed through the attic.

“That’s the knocking we heard the other night,” Evelyn said.

All four people in the attic looked at each other. Maybe it’s time to leave, the reporter thought.

There was no one else in the building at the time, although there were two men working in the parking lot. But when questioned, they said they had not knocked on any door or other part of the main building.

Out in the parking lot after the interview, standing next to the ghosthunting van, Evelyn admitted, “I have been scared a couple times. It’s when something brushes up against you and catches you off-guard.”

For more information, or to request an investigation of your own, visit the group’s Web site at www.bonsecourparanormalinvestigations.com.