Ghost busting's successful, but not free!

Swedish community fathers gripe about paying for a spirit cleaning job well done. 

  • Who you gonna call? Far from the metropolis where Ackroyd, Murray and the gang do their ghost busting, in Kalmar, Sweden, your only choice is Pia Palm.

  • That's exactly what the local city officials did when that old feeling of haunting started circulating among employees at the town's facility for temporary housing of handicapped and other challenged persons.

  • The residents in the building - which unlike the castles and quaint medieval sections of Kalmar was newly built in the Reagan era - felt no chills, creepiness or such. But the workers there were so bothered by footsteps, sounds and appearances caused by the lost souls that they couldn't conduct their tasks. They were ready to take sick leave...or quit...until "certified ghostbuster," the medium Pia Palm was called by the former (!?) social welfare assistant to rescue the crew with her afterlife contact services.

  • Speaking afterward, Palm said that the location in which the building was situated precisely where the "walls" between our own existence and the spiritual world were quite thin, and this let a powerhouse of energy pass through its invisible boundaries.

  • Apparently, the principle apparition was that of an elderly gentleman who floated aimlessly on the second floor. Upon conducting a seance, Palm learned that the old fellow was lost in the cosmos and was looking for his spouse. She called for the lady, who now also dwelled among the spirits, and arranged for her to escort her bewildered mate to the light that illuminated the happy hunting grounds, parallel universe, alternative dimension or wherever they found eternal peace and contentment.

  • But other spirits were around, too, including what seemed to be a number of youngsters who were, in an ethereal sense, as loud and rambunctious as real life kids. In all it took her about four hours to find and deal with the problems. But after having done the deed, another very real difficulty arouse from communal circles in Kalmar: paying the piper.
    According to the events that Palm herself related to the local newspaper, the Kalmar based Barometern, she charged some $63.50 (SEK 500) per hour, so the bill (plus 25% value added tax, which is the official "sales tax" rate throughout the country) amounted to $318 (SEK 2,500).

  • Stating publicly that he thought such services were performed free of charge, the town's health and care bureau chairman, Steve Sjögren (a Social Democrat who had probably never seen the popular American movies), complained that the politicians did not realize that the ghost busting would cost them anything.

  • Although the "Ghost Invoice" was paid in full, Mayor Bridget Elfström promised taxpayers that no further services of this sort would be utilized by the politicians. On the other hand, the those working inside building in question reported that they are no longer troubled in any way, and they are now working contently and without fear of creepy visions and sensations.

  • Sources: www.barometern.se, www.dagen.se, www.newzglobe.com, et al