Spirits linger well beyond Halloween, and Longmont group Kindred Spirit Society International works to share these local stories all while teaching some history about northern Colorado. Those interested in the paranormal realm and learning more about the afterlife can join in the “Ghosts of Christmas Past” tour, an event at the City of Longmont’s Historic Callahan House, 318 Terry St., on Jan. 11.

“I work with, interact and communicate with a lot of spirits,” said society president and medium Dori Spence, of Longmont. “A ghost is actually residual energy. So what you’re seeing from a ghost, if they call it a ghost, it’s that leftover energy — or what we sense as the energy from somebody who was physical and isn’t physical anymore.”

For Spence, educating the public about the world of spirits and the energies they leave for us to interact with is an essential part of her mission. The non-profit organization is dedicated to helping the general public open up their minds. The group has been working to educate the public on how to investigate this plane since 2003, when Spence said she felt compelled by her own spirit guides to form SPOOKS Inc. (Society for the Prevention of the Ostracization or Obliteration of Kindred Spirits).

“I just feel like it takes being comfortable with your life here before you’re able to open up enough to actually accept information from another dimension outside what our minds have in it already,” Spence said. “That’s what we hope to accomplish, just getting people to look at things a little differently.”

The “Ghosts of Christmas Past” tour is comprised of two events: One that shares the history of the Callahan House and its paranormal encounters and another that invites the public to walk through the site with Spence and the Kindred Spirits Investigative Team as they take guests through each room and attempt to communicate with the spirits who have long since passed.

“We’re grateful for the opportunity to go into some places as beautiful as (the Callahan House) that’s full of history, and also be able to fill in the blanks,” Spence said. “There’s a lot of things I’ve learned about the ghost aspect from doing the investigations because of the energy I’ve picked up.”

According to Spence and her colleagues at the Kindred Spirit Society, every person has some level of psychic ability within them, they just need to open themselves up to that possibility and to the energies that surround them.

The analogy she used was that of a telephone: We cannot see the person and we have no proof that there is a living body on the other end of the phone line, but we trust that the vibrations we are hearing belong to them and are willing to communicate.

“It’s kind of nice that people really see that this isn’t Halloweeny stuff. This is stuff that really goes on in physical history,” Spence said.

Spence said that the tour is not designed to be scary or to trick attendees to believing in a certain belief system, but instead it’s an exploration into a world that many have not explored before — all with the help of an experienced guide.

To investigate further into the world of life after death, or just to explore a beautiful home and hear its storied past, visit the Kindred Spirit Society’s website to reserve a spot for the “Ghosts of Christmas Past” event.

If you go

What: “Ghosts of Christmas Past” event

When: Saturday, Jan. 11. Haunting history talk and show: 4 p.m.; paranormal investigation: 7 p.m.

Where: The Historic Callahan House, 318 Terry St., Longmont

Cost: $20-$40, RSVP required.

More info: stepintimetours.com or 720-453-4722