IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Johnson County Board of Supervisors has changed its mind about allowing a paranormal team to look for ghosts at the county poor farm and mental asylum.

Board members last month approved an investigation of the Chatham Oaks buildings, but they recently voted down the idea after receiving negative feedback, said Board Chairman Rod Sullivan.

He said the board initially did not oppose a request from the Johnson County Historical Society to have a paranormal team conduct a free investigation at the site, which is now a private residential care facility for the mentally ill.

Then a flood of e-mails and a request from Chatham Oaks to block the investigation forced the board to reevaluate its decision.

“I think the rules have changed a bit because Chatham Oaks stepped up,” said board member Terrence Neuzil. “Obviously, the cards have changed a bit.”

Historical society officials said the controversy began in March when they passed along a request from the Carroll Area Paranormal Team to do a scientific study of the site. The team planned to spend one night at the site to look for paranormal activity, using equipment such as thermal imaging cameras and voice recording systems.

Brandon Cochran is the museum operations assistant for the historical society, which gives tours of the site. He said one of the most common questions from folks who tour the 153-year-old poor farm is whether it’s haunted. Cochran said he had hoped all speculation of hauntings would end after the study was completed.

Now it seems the questions will continue — but some society officials don’t seem to mind.

Shaner Magalhães, the historical society’s executive director, said many people from outside the state have shared their interest in visiting the poor farm since word of the paranormal investigation spread.

“We could have put out a thousand news releases about the poor farm and not created this reaction,” he said.