Copyright © 2001 - 2008 South Jersey Paranormal Research and its investigators. All content may not be used or reproduced without the express written consent of South Jersey Paranormal Research. SJPR is organized exclusively for scientific research and educational purposes, as specified in Section 501(c)(3).
Site maintained by Sochtek
Things that go 'Boo' in the night
South Jersey Paranormal Research investigators are sometimes creeped out by what they find.
By Rusty Pray
|
|
Susan Bove’, Founder of South Jersey Paranormal Research, shows video clips that were captured during an investigation of a private residence. |
Inquirer Staff Writer
It was early October, far enough from Halloween for Indian summer to be settled in, close enough for the spirits to be restless.
The members of South Jersey Paranormal Research went out looking for them - first at a cemetery in Batsto with the unlikely name of Pleasant Mills, and then at the Ireland Hofer House in Williamstown, home of the Monroe Township Historical Society.
The ghost hunters went with cameras, camcorders, tape recorders - even an instrument similar to a dowsing rod - in hopes of capturing evidence of paranormal activity. They carried flashlights with red filters to guide them - because, well, they do their work in the dark.
That wasn't lost on Susanne McKee, president of the historical society, who, when asked to take the group on a tour of the three-story Ireland Hofer House, replied nervously, "With the lights on, right?"
Yeah. Right.
The house, which dates to before the Civil War, has a history. Only two of the investigators - Susan Bove and Debra Thornton - knew the truth: Its last occupant was William Hofer, the Gloucester County coroner. He performed autopsies there. The seven other investigators were left, well, in the dark.
They fanned out in teams of three, each charged with searching for evidence of spirits on one of the three floors and in the basement. After about an hour, they changed places.
|
|
The audience reacts to spirit voices at a presentation held at the Oaklyn Memorial Library in Oaklyn, NJ. |
They walked the floors restless with anticipation, relying on their experience and their senses. When they felt something - maybe a cold spot in an otherwise warm room, or "you kind of feel someone near you when you know there's no one near you," Bove said - they turned on their tape recorders and their camcorders, and they took pictures of the darkness with their cameras.
There was nothing that could be seen by the naked eye when the pictures were taken of the dark rooms and hallways. But when the images came up on the cameras, there they would be - orbs of light of varying sizes and brightness. The orbs, Bove explained, are spiritual energy.
Not as many orbs turned up in the house as the cemetery, naturally, but a few wandering balls of light did show themselves, especially in a third-floor bedroom, where, McKee said, legend had it a boy had been shot.
The group had uncovered more dramatic evidence in some of its earlier
|
|
Displays of pictures showing paranormal anomalies at the Oaklyn Memorial Library. |
investigations, including voices captured by tape recorders, and mists and moving apparitions by camcorders. The group, which was founded by Bove in 2001, has investigated paranormal activity in such varied places as a radio station in Manahawkin, the Battleship New Jersey, a volunteer fire company, even a house in Marcus Hook that once belonged to Blackbeard's mistress. Each investigator turns in a report to Bove. The findings are posted on the group's Web site: www.sjpr.org. The client receives a CD compilation of all the reports.
"My first investigation - the Burlington County Prison Museum - I saw an apparition," said Al Agar, one of the investigators at Pleasant Mills Cemetery. "It creeped me out."
Getting the creeps - and ignoring them - is part of the job.
"I like to call it 'unnerved' rather than 'frightened,' because the investigator in you kicks in," Bove said. "But it's always unnerving when somebody plays with your hair or touches you on the shoulder and no one is near you."
Despite their unusual hobby, these people who investigate weird goings-on are everyday folks with everyday jobs. "We all have families," Bove said.
She said they do it because "it's just interesting work." And they do it to "prove there is an afterlife. It's comforting to people who want to know their loved ones are waiting for them."
How would they know for sure?
To quote the motto from the group's Web site: "The proof is in the evidence."