Julia Guerrero HARLINGEN– History and hauntings intertwine in ghost tours led by a local pair of paranormal investigators.
Downtown Harlingen is where the most haunted and historic places are part of the ghost tours led by a paranormal investigation company. Owners Darrin Bippes and Lysa Hillestad bring 20 years of paranormal investigation experience to life with their company Leaux Leaux Paranormal Investigations, LLC.
After traveling all over the United States, the couple says they fell in love with the Rio Grande Valley and decided to stay and bring their ghostly knowledge with them. They celebrated their first anniversary for the ghost tours operating in Harlingen in September.
Hillestad said they were choosing between Georgia, Galveston or the RGV to retire but in the end the people and food in the valley won them over.
“I’ll just say we absolutely love the RGV. It is the best decision we ever made,” Hillestad said. “We’ve never been happier.”
Two tours are offered for local entertainment, a family friendly “Historical Ghost Tour” and the “Nothin’ but Ghosts Tour” where Hillestad advises parental discretion as it pertains to four downtown Harlingen locations that dominantly exhibit paranormal activity.
While Hillestad and her husband encounter many paranormal experiences, Bippes said some are more memorable than others.
“The one for me is I went up to some doors to put my phone up against the glass to take a picture so I wouldn’t get a reflection and the doors started shaking and rattling.” Bippes said. “That [kind of] made me a step back a little bit.”
Some of the equipment used during the tours includes electromagnetic field meters which detect electromagnetic frequencies and metal dowsing rods that are used for speaking with spirits.
Bippes and Hillestad operate their tours in Harlingen every weekend in October. They had their last tour for the season this past weekend. Even ghost investigators need to rest so they will take a break until March when the tours start back up and are offered every second and fourth weekend until September.
