By day, Chris Warneka is a corrections officer at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility.
But in his spare time, Warneka moonlights as director of operations for the Carroll Area Paranormal Team.
"Everybody at work knows I do this," said Warneka. "They all give me a hard time."
For Warneka, encounters with the paranormal began at an early age.
"I used to live up on North Adams Street, right across from the high school," he said. "There were strange things that happened in that place."
He saw apparitions in a bedroom, and he wasn't the only one seeing things.
"My sister would see me standing in the corner with red glowing eyes looking out the window," he said. "But, I'd be in bed at the same time."
His brother saw an entity with a goat head and cloven feet.
"You couldn't see it from the waist down, but we had hardwood floors and you could hear it walk across the floor," he recalled.
Over the years, his interest in paranormal activity continued to grow as he seeks to find answers to anomalies.
In 1998, Warneka helped found the Great Lakes Paranormal Team while living in Spencer.
At a friend's house in Spencer, Warneka said, a shadow would slide across the doorway into the kitchen nearly every night around 10 p.m.
"We went out and we got a tape recorder and we got a 110 camera and we would sit there and try to take pictures of it," he said. "We never got a picture of it, but everybody would sit and talk about it all night long."
They decided if it was happening there, it was probably happening elsewhere. They started spreading the word, and eventually people started inquiring about investigations.
"It's very addictive," he said. "Once you get into doing this, you don't stop. I guess it's a good addiction."
Warneka moved back to Carroll and formally reorganized the Carroll Area Paranormal Team in 2005.
The CAPT now has several members including Warneka's wife, Vennessa.
Vennessa Warneka had her own paranormal experiences. The couple said the house they live in now, which was built in 1890, is inhabited by a dark shadow figure they call Casper.
"He likes to move things and hide them," said Warneka.
"He definitely likes to play games," added Vennessa Warneka.
CAPT has conducted 11 investigations since November 2007. Out of 10 investigations, only one proved to be nothing, Warneka said.
"Almost every one we've been in has had something that you can't explain," he said.
For example, one time the team was meeting in the driveway during an inspection when they heard footsteps walking across the hardwood floor in the living room. The homeowners weren't home at the time, and no one was in the house, but the sound was caught on the digital recorders.
There is no formal training for paranormal investigations.
"There's no real certification," he explained. "The more experiences you have, the better you can deal with it. You can't sit in Ghost Hunting 101 and then walk out and think that you know everything."
Hauntings can be classified into four types: intelligent, poltergeist, residual and demonic.
Demonic haunts are dangerous.
"You have to call in a specialist," fellow CAPT member Lisa Smith said.
"They will taunt you, test you, ruin your life," Warneka added.
Entities have occasionally been known to physically touch a person, and although most are light brushes, some can cause injury.
While conducting an investigation in Carroll, Warneka said, he was slapped by something he couldn't see.
"Then it laughed," he said.
The low growl and laughter was recorded and can be heard on the CAPT Web site www.carrollareaparanormalteam.com.
Warneka said CAPT tries to research a site as much as possible before they go in.
"This way we have some kind of idea going in," he said.
Before starting an investigation, the team will meet and discuss the situation. After arriving at the destination, members will go through the structure with the owners or caretakers. They will then go over the information about where things are happening and decide where the best places are to set up cameras and digital voice recorders. CAPT then splits into smaller teams with specific assignments.
"There's not a script to it," said Warneka. "Every case is unique to itself."
Warneka said the team will try to disprove everything going on while there.
"We don't necessarily try to prove anything's going on, but we try to explain what's going on," he said. "We walk in and try to disprove it. ... We'll come in and explain how something happens naturally, rather than unnaturally. If we cannot explain it away, then we'll look into it harder, but 98 percent of the time, you can explain it somehow."
CAPT does not accept donations from clients at any stage of the investigation. Members themselves purchase the gas and equipment.
The investigators have accumulated high-tech equipment including infrared, night-vision cameras.
Warneka said people have experiences with the paranormal but oftentimes write it off as something else.
"A lot of people are coming to realize that there are other people who will believe them," said Smith. "You have to go in with an open mind and be ready for anything."
Warneka said this is just another way to give back to the community.
"People can get on edge or be afraid to walk into their home because they think something is going to hurt them," he said. "I enjoy helping people. This is just another way to do it."
"It's very rewarding," added Warneka. "You'd be surprised how good you feel after you get done."
