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By John Anastasi - Staff Writer

A firm is checking for ghostly activities in Hatboro's borough hall.

HATBORO —Viki Connolly knew he was not human the second she saw the sad-eyed man standing in the tax collector's office at borough hall.

Mouth hanging wide open, Connolly watched from her desk 15 feet away as the figure, dressed in a gray military uniform, crossed the office in five quick steps and disappeared into thin air.

"He walked from one corner of the room to the opposite corner and when he got to the wall he was gone," said Connolly, the borough's administrative assistant. "His facial expression was sad or sick or tired. I wasn't scared. I felt sorry for the guy. I'll never forget it."

The man was tall with a moustache and salt and pepper hair pulled back in what may have been a ponytail. She saw him in December 2000, on a Friday morning before anyone else was in the building.

"For the first few months, I told just about everyone who walked in about it," she said.

With some help from a firm that is working to market next month's Ghost and Historic Walking Tours in Hatboro, news of the incident has reached South Jersey Paranormal Research Inc., which, late Saturday night, hauled all sorts of equipment into the Loller Building to conduct an investigation.

Kathy Rusch, of the Rusch Marketing Group, explained Thursday that she timed the visit to the Loller Building to promote the tours which are part of HatOber Fest, which is being co-sponsored by Main Street Hatboro and The Greater Hatboro Chamber of Commerce.

Still, South Jersey Paranormal Research Inc. officials were enthusiastic about the opportunity to study the old building.

"We definitely have reports of people seeing and hearing things there," said Susan Bove, founder and co-director of the organization.

Bove and her crew of 15 use digital, 35mm, audio and video cameras with night vision, motion detectors and electromagnetic field detectors to record what they see and hear. They will spend much of the week looking for evidence of supernatural activity on the tapes.

"We are our own worst skeptics," said Bove. "We look for all other explanations for what we find. It's a fishing trip."

Before the investigation, she indicated the team would split up and check the entire building, which was constructed as a school in 1811 and now houses Hatboro's administrative offices, council chambers and district court.

They do it all with the lights off.

"We don't tell them where the hot spots are supposed to be," Bove said. "We let them come up with that on their own. Public buildings tend to have a lot of residual energy there —schools, theaters, places where there is a lot of activity."

South Jersey Paranormal Research Inc. will conduct a free lecture at the Loller Building Oct. 22 to discuss what, if anything, they found.

"Viki is a very credible person," said District Justice Paul Leo, whose courtroom is on the second floor of the building. "There have been nights when I've come in here for arraignments and I've suddenly felt as though someone was behind me or that I wasn't alone."

Although not convinced that there are ghosts in the Loller Building, he and councilman John Younglove are curious to see what they find.

"I won't say I'm a skeptic and I won't say I'm a believer," Younglove said. "There's always a possibility of something being there, but I wouldn't bet the mortgage on it. They obviously believe to a much greater extent than I do, and that's great that they are getting in there to do this."

He added that council was happy to allow the investigation to help promote events in the borough next month.

"The investigation is kind of our PR kickoff for Ghost Tours," said Rusch. "It's a historic walking tour of the south end of Hatboro that will start at the Main Street office in the Red Barn mall and end down by the Old Mill Inn."

The tours will be held every 15 minutes to half an hour on the evenings of Oct. 19, 23, 24, 25 and 26. They will feature guides in period costumes providing participants with information about Hatboro's history with local ghost stories like Connolly's mixed in.

Tickets for the Ghost Tours are $8 each and may be bought through Main Street Hatboro, executive director Sam Friedman said. Sponsorship proceeds will offset HatOber Fest production costs, while ticket sale revenues will go toward Main Street Hatboro operating costs.

John Anastasi can be contacted via e-mail at janastasi@phillyburbs.com.

September 29, 2002