Is this historic Fresno home haunted? How you can find out

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The Meux Home Museum in Downtown Fresno is a Victorian mansion that has been in Fresno since the late 1800s, and though regular tours of the home can be booked to learn about the Meux family, a new kind of tour can connect visitors to the family directly.

Kimi Lopez is a docent for the Meux Home Museum. She tells guests all about the Meux family’s history, including Dr. Muex’s living relatives.

“I do a number of other things, but I lead day tours here on Friday afternoons,” Lopez said.

Lopez is also a Paranormal Investigator, and has been for over 17 years.

“I’m the Lead Investigator,” Lopez said. “We started it a year ago. We are the first paranormal team to ever be able to investigate the museum.”

Lopez says she and her team, 911 Paranormal Rescue Fresno, are the only ones allowed to investigate paranormal activity at the Meux home.

“As a paranormal investigator, I go through the house using a lot of scientific equipment,” Lopez said.

Lopez says she and her fellow investigators measure electromagnetic fields, temperature and other metrics to find anomalies and make contact with the spirits in the home.

“All these things together show us when something that is not natural is happening,” Lopez said. “We start a lot of our paranormal investigation on what is known out there. What is the urban legend? What is the story?”

As a docent for the Meux Home, Lopez says she can help visitors who are just as curious as she is about the paranormal – but there are conditions.

“These were living, breathing human beings, and we were going to enter the house and be respectful,” Lopez said. “No negative provocation. We’re not going to scream and yell at this family.”

Lopez says the purpose of the paranormal tours is to study, investigate, and learn.

“1887 might be something that we hear over EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) on our recorder,” Lopez said. “I can say, ‘That’s the year the house started to be built. That’s the year the Meux family moved to this location. That’s our history.”

Lopez’s 911 Paranormal Rescue Fresno is actually a 501(c)(3) accredited nonprofit. She says the paranormal investigations help contribute funding towards the preservation of the Meux Home Museum.

“There are other tours that don’t go through the house, but they stop at the house and they tell urban legends. They don’t tell accurate history,” Lopez said. “We tell the actual story and talk to the family, through the history of the house, and hopefully through the history of the spirit.”

To find regular tours of the Meux home, visit the Meux Home website. Tickets for the next paranormal investigation at the Meux home are available through 911 Paranormal Rescue’s website; there is more information on the nonprofit’s social media.