Intruders seeking paranormal thrills from local church

Amarillo, TX - After seeing multiple intruders already, one local church is increasing their security as Halloween approaches.

The Summit Baptist Church is a local hot spot for teenagers looking for paranormal activity. What they don't know is this building is already occupied.

Over 50 kids have reportedly trespassed onto the church property within the past couple of years, while 10 incidents of theft have been reported as well. The reason being could tie to the fact Summit Baptist was once an elementary school where rumored mysterious disappearances of children occurred.

Larry Townsend, Pastor of Summit Baptist Church, said he knew the Church's alleged history before purchasing it.

"Well the old part of the building on the east end was built in 1927 and then the west end of the addition was added in 1953 as a school, the summit elementary school," Townsend said. "And the school closed down in 1972, from what we understand, and there were a lot of stories about the janitor killing some of the children and throwing them in the broiler and things like that and then the janitor supposedly hung himself."

Townsend and his wife moved into the building in November to establish a church, which opened in March. The building sat vacant for almost 45 years and the Townsends have worked tirelessly to restore it, which is costing them quite a bit of money.

The building has become an attraction to the public because of it's haunted history. However property owners are warning if anyone is caught trespassing they could pay a fine or face time in jail.

"It's 90 days to 180 days in prison and I think its up to a 2,000 dollar fine if they get caught breaking and entering," Townsend said.

The owners want everyone to know the property is not haunted, and they haven't seen any abnormal activity since they have lived there for the past year. They said they have encountered many trespassers already, and are preparing for the Halloween thrill seekers.

"We will be watching things a little closer," Townsend said. "If we do have any problems, police will be here shortly. All we have to do is just give them a call. And we have done that in the past and we'll do it again if we have to."

The Townsends said they have moved thousands of pounds of trash and repainted almost every wall of the building which sits on 7 acres of land.