Posted on 01/27/2007 1:27:06 PM PST by lowbridge
Ghost hunters rely on common sense
As Grant S. Wilson and Jason Hawes crept up the spiral staircase of the old lighthouse, they saw a figure grab the railing and look down at them. They quickened their steps, ran after him and found ... nothing. A dead end. Two padlocked doors. No one at all.
Just another day in the life of "Ghost Hunters," the TV show on the Sci-Fi Channel that follows the real-life exploits of a team of unusual investigators.
Now the public is invited to meet the stars of "Ghost Hunters" in person, Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m., at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield. Joining Wilson and Hawes will be their fellow ghost hunter Steven A. Gonsalves, who lives in Springfield when he's not on the road filming.
Admission to the event is free. Autographs cost $10, with proceeds going to The Republican's Newspapers in Education program.
The Sci-Fi Channel calls its hit, which has a crew of 10, an "alternative reality show." Gonsalves appears on camera as well as serving as technical manager, in charge of equipment.
He says he has been reading up on ghosts since he was 13. His mother is one of his biggest fans. "She always wants to go with me!" says Gonsalves.
He is not fazed by being on the TV. "It feels like you're talking to a black box," he says, "not like 6 or 7 million people are watching you."
Fellow ghost hunters Wilson and Hawes never did find out who was in that lighthouse in St. Augustine, Fla. But a camera in the building did pick up traces of the figure.
"He was walking around, and then he zipped up three flights of stairs in about a second," said Wilson in a telephone interview. "He leaned over the railing a couple of times, and once he just totally disappeared."
The ghost hunters have also explored prisons, schools, libraries, castles, aircraft carriers and many other sites of strange happenings. They never charge a fee for their services.
Wilson has been researching paranormal phenomena since he was a teen-ager in Scituate, R.I. "It's not scary to me," he said.
He compares himself to a marine scientist sitting in an underwater cage to observe sharks. "It's fascinating," he said.
The TV show grew out of an organization called The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS, get it?), headquartered in Warwick, R.I. Hawes founded the group in 1990, and Wilson soon joined him.
The local branch has about 25 members in Massachusetts in Rhode Island, but Wilson said the TAPS "family" is global. There's even a TAPS "para magazine."
Wilson says the ghost hunters rely on reason to solve paranormal mysteries.
"We have a logical approach," he said. "Common sense is our biggest weapon. We don't summon spirits. We don't use a Ouija board.
"About 80 percent of what comes our way is natural phenomena that the person (who asked for help) just doesn't understand," he says.
"Sometimes it's a plumbing issue. If a toilet flushes by itself at night, that doesn't mean it's a ghost."
What looks like a mysterious orb in a photo can be light reflecting off a speck of dust, said Wilson.
And what about furniture that moves by itself, which his team has also been called in to investigate? "It's not necessarily a ghost," says Wilson. "It can be some force we don't understand. It's like lightning and thunder were to the ancients."
Whatever fireworks happen on the show usually center on ghost hunter Brian Harnois. "We're all good friends," said Wilson, "but, as in any relationship, you have to vent sometimes." Most of the arguments are about time constraints, he added.
Both Wilson and Hawes are married and have children. Wilson said his penchant for ghost-hunting does not conflict with his being a " a pretty religious guy" who teaches Sunday school. He does believe in an afterlife.
He tries to pass on his confidence and sense of security to the people who have asked for his help. Some of them are terrified and confused.
But not all of them. Some people, he said, actually like the idea of being haunted.
"Ghost Hunters" has been on the Sci-Fi Channel for three years. It airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m., six months at a time.
bump
This show cracks me up, because they *never* see ghosts, just "floating orbs" that are 'probably' created by dust motes. :-) But they are so dramatic in the buildup sometimes, you get goosebumps just from that!! Seems like they spend more time actually scaring each other than being scared by real ghosts, LOL.
No, I'm referring to the guys who work for Roto Rooter during the day, and hunt for ghosts at night and on the weekends. :-)
I don't watch "Most Haunted".
Can you seriously say you've seen undeniable proof that they've *ever* recorded a ghost? I've seen the snippet they refer to in the story, and there really wasn't anything there. :-)
No... I'm saying that your description isn't accurate.
Guess you're watching a different show than me, then. :-)
Ghost Ping!!
Thanks for the ping. I love the episode at Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania.
One of the most amazing things I've ever seen is the video clip from the haunted prison. The pitch black, blacker than black, image that came from the wall and then shot off away from the camera. It was amazing.
The best episode was the light house that was mentioned in the article. You can see something dash up the stars and look down. It is located in Florida. The live show on Halloween night was great.
Whether the anomalies are actually ghosts remains debatable... but that they were certainly paranormal occurrences... let there be no doubt. If I have any gripes with the show... it's the 'back-story' that runs through it with the 'investigators''.
Bump (in the night)
That's the only gripe I have with it. I don't care about Brian's problems. They really screwed up the Williard Library investigation with that garbage. Other than that, I like the down-to-earth practical attitude of the GH staff. I also like that they are determined to debunk as much as possible - and no psychics, mediums, ouija boards, table-tipping, etc. I heard the next show is due out in March. Can't wait!
If these are the guys who argue and complain behind each other back......... I don't like them.
The episode I like is the one from the hotel in Arkansas where they caught on video, the full-length image of what appears to be a Civil War soldier. No matter how they tried to recreate it and disprove it, they couldn't.
Was that the same lighthouse in which they caught a chair on film, moving on its own?
Thanks for the heads-up on the next season. I went to the Sci-Fi Channel just yesterday and all it said was "new episodes coming soon" but no details.
The moving chair episode was not the one in the St. Augustine lighthouse. Another great episode was where they stayed at Stephen King's "The Shining" hotel (I forget the name). In that one you can see the door open on its own while the guy is sleeping in bed. You can also see it close by itself and there was no one there. I want to believe that they are sincere but a part of me wonders if it's just all made up for TV. Honestly, how could anyone sue them if it all turns out to be fake? But their show is the best one out there. Most Haunted is fun to watch also.
I think they're for real. Did you see the episode on the Queen Mary? They were all excited that "something" unmade the bed in the one room, and they caught it on camera - until Steve noticed something funny in the video. They determined that somebody had snuck into the room, hid behind the bed, and pulled the blankets down. They never found out who did it, but they were really mad that somebody would play tricks like that during an investigation.
I got my information about the March episode from the TAPS website.
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