BRADENTON BEACH – It's hard to imagine paranormal activity on Friday night as the sounds of live entertainment waft down Bridge Street, but two members of the Paranormal Society of Bradenton and five young ladies went "ghost hunting" in the company's inaugural ghost tour on the Island.

Liz Reed led the excursion with Kara DiComo bringing up the rear with an electromagnetic field detector (EFD) that senses disruptions in the field, thought to be evidence of the presence of ghosts.

Unfortunately, the presence of red tide in the air made it hard to concentrate and everyone in the party had fits of coughing.

Reed has investigated hauntings at several Island locations, including the Sign of the Mermaid where things get rearranged overnight and some locations on the beach. One area that is reportedly active is the locations where a woman reportedly took her own life, but her mother said she was murdered. She said the beach is often active.

"The ghost of the woman who was murdered in Anna Maria (Sabine Musil-Buehler) by her boyfriend has been seen near where she was buried by him," Reed said. "Victims of the molasses barge that sank off Bradenton Beach in the 1940s – the cook and his dog – are said to have been seen on the beach at night."

Reed also said on a previous walk, they communicated with the ghost of George Bean, the pioneer promoter who marketed the Island as a tourist destination a century ago.

As we walked from the Island Time Inn toward the Historic Bridge Street Pier, the lights on her EFD started to blink. Was it the presence of a ghost? The device's red light glowed. Were we communicating with George Bean? There was no reaction from the EFD.

As we neared the pier, Reed told the party to take pictures of the water and look for red circles above the water, said to be the existence paranormal activity. The five young ladies, who did not want to be identified, started taking pictures with their smart phones.

We turned around after resting at the end of the pier and headed toward the beach, entering at the dune walkover at the end of the street.

Again, they took pictures but the red tide finally got to us and we decided to put some distance between us and the waves before the red tide made a ghost out of any if us.

Back where we started, Reed thanked the ladies for coming – they had been on a ghost tour of Bradenton before – and they said they loved the tour of Bridge Street and would take it again when the red tide went away.

The tour is held Tuesday through Saturday. It begins at the Island Time Inn on Bridge Street and tickets are required. For tickets, call 941-704-0621.