Search CCRI 
Community College of Rhode Island
Ghost Hunters explore the unknown
 |
| The Johnsons of the Sci-Fi channel's Ghost Hunters discuss supernatural happenings with psychology club members. |
Have you ever taken what you thought was a perfectly ordinary photograph, only to find strange lights, streaks or shadows on the developed print? Have you ever wondered if these oddities were caused by something more than a smudge on the camera lens or a flaw in the film—something otherworldly perhaps?
Carl, Keith and Sandra Johnson have wondered the same thing. The three self-described ghost hunters displayed some photographic examples of this phenomenon to the CCRI Psychology Club last month when they presented the illustrated lecture, “Photographic Anomalies: Ghostly Calling Card or Camera Glitch?”
Identical twins Carl and Keith, along with Keith’s wife Sandra, are all part of the New England Paranormal Society, a volunteer group of investigators who travel to purportedly haunted sites in order to document any supernatural happenings. They also work with homeowners to try and resettle any "restless spirits who may still be loitering on the property," the Johnsons explain.
For the CCRI lecture, the Johnsons were joined by Mike Dionne, a paranormal investigator with the Atlantic Paranormal Society, also known as TAPS. TAPS has recently gained a high profile in supernatural circles, as several of its members regularly appear on the SciFi channel television show, Ghost Hunters.
During their investigations, Carl, Keith, Sandra and Mike have frequently captured balls of light on both film and videotape that had not been visible during shooting. The proverbial jury, however, was still out as to whether these indicated something supernatural.
“Just because you see orbs doesn’t mean there’s a ghostly presence,” he explained. “It just means there’s a high amount of energy in the area.”
Even as the team displayed a dozen visuals to the audience, Mike was quick to offer earthly explanations for some of them. “That could be movement from the camera,” he said of one picture. “That could be energy from an electrical socket,” he said of another.
However, while some lights could be explained away as dust or reflections, others were not so easy to dismiss. Among the examples they shared with the audience were still photos of a woman with a glowing ball of light nearly touching the back of her neck, a cemetery tour guide followed by a mysterious mist, and a capped well shaft that seemed to emit rising bubbles of energy.
Even spookier, the four presented sound clips of ghostly voices caught on tape. Known as EVPs, or Electronic Voice Phenomena, these feature disembodied voices that often speak at a different speed than normal human voices. In order to make them audible, many EVPs must be sped up or slowed down during playback.
“Carl, help me,” one female voice seemed to say on a sped-up recording of a haunting investigation.
“I’m going to get you kiddies,” another voice seemed to screech from the tape recorder. Often, the Johnsons insisted, these sounds could not be heard by those present during the actual investigation, and were only heard during playback.
While many in the audience of approximately 30 expressed skepticism, others were quick to share their supernatural experiences with the group. One woman in the audience recounted how she heard two invisible men talking in a former home before they disappeared “into the walls.” Another told of capturing big balls of light in photographs she took at a logging community near the Canadian border. She also recounted ghostly happenings at the same site, such as hearing unexplainable sound of running water and watching pins inexplicably fall out of door hinges.
Whether you believe in ghosts does not make these stories any more curious from a psychological standpoint, explained Sheri Cunha, who, with fellow Psychology Club member Ron Andruchuk, brought the ghost hunters to CCRI. “We call this ‘parapsychology,’ and we are interested in everything that relates to the mind,” she said.
