A group of paranormal investigators think the legends of Teackle Mansion ghosts could be true, particularly in a part of the house where their equipment batteries died and they felt a cold spot.

"There's enough evidence to be suspicious," Christine Power, co-director of Eastern Shore Paranormal, said at a recent meeting of the Somerset County Historical Society.

Power, along with her husband, James, and two other volunteer investigators, spent nine hours in the mansion just before Christmas armed with audio and video recorders, electromagnetic field meters and infrared thermometers.

Although their equipment picked up suspicious sights and sounds all over the building, much of it could be explained by equipment problems or the wind and rain outside that night. However, investigators in a second-floor room couldn't explain why the batteries suddenly went dead in a two-way radio, a digital camera and a video camera at the same time, Power said.

Group members also reported a "heavy" or close feeling in the room, which is located in the oldest part of the mansion. The thermometer also recorded a drop in temperature.

"That's bizarre," said Historical Society President Jill Hall, who previously said she didn't believe in ghosts. "It does make you kind of wonder."

The mansion -- which has had numerous owners and tenants since it was built in 1802 -- is now owned by the Historical Society which operates it as a museum.

None of the members have seen or heard a ghost, but some said they had suspicions about the upstairs rooms in the center section where the equipment batteries died. Most reported a "creepy" feeling whenever they went upstairs, even in broad daylight.

Rooms in that part of the mansion originally served as Littleton and Elizabeth Teackle's bedroom, their young daughter's bedroom and Teackle's library. A stairway in the second-floor hall leads to a finished attic that once housed some of the Teackle slaves.

Since the Teackles owned the house, it changed hands numerous times, and briefly housed a school. By the middle of the 20th century, it had been converted to apartments.

Because of the many occupants throughout its 200-year history, Power thinks it would be unusual for there to be no supernatural presence in Teackle Mansion but more data needs to be collected to prove it.

"There's just not enough evidence (so far) to say 'yes, there is a haunting,' " she said.