Community Corner

These Ghost Busters are Always on Call

Island Ghost Investigations team searches for evidence of spirits near and far.

Island Ghost Investigations, a non-profit ghost hunting and research team, is what you might call a group of modern-day ghost busters.  But before you go thinking that they're really out there, you might want to consider that their approach to all this is very scientific. 

These ghost hunters travel to places believed to be haunted and use advanced technological equipment to examine and measure possible evidence of those who have passed on.  Video cameras, Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) recorders, digital audio recorders, electromagnetic measurement devices and temperature gauges are just some of the devices used to determine if there is an otherworldy presence in an area being investigated.

"We have some really interesting devices that turn electromagnetic energy into phonetic speech," said Southampton resident Oliver Peterson, a member of Island Ghost Investigations.  Peterson said the team also uses old-fashioned techniques. "Things like dousing rods and pendulums and more of the non-technological, or if you want to call mystical, but generally the group is scientific, but we'll try anything basically," he said. 

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Island Ghost has collected evidence of the paranormal at suspected haunted sites all over the country and on Long Island, including Katie's Bar in Smithtown, the Maine Maid Inn in Jericho and mansions on the Gold Coast.  They have even searched for spirits at Good Ground Cemetery in Hampton Bays. 

Last year, the team took a trip to Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, a notoriously haunted site.  There, the group's founder, Mike Taylor, proposed to his girlfriend in the death row section of the old, abandoned prison.  Peterson said ghost hunting has created a bond that has made team members very close.  "We're all good friends.  We've done some fun things over the last couple of years," he said. 

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The group presents what it calls proof of the paranormal on its website at www.islandghost.com.  This evidence includes photos of ectoplasm and images that suddenly appear in photographs taken in rapid succession.  There is also video.  However, the most interesting evidence is in the ghostly voices that have been recorded.  "Most of the evidence that is captured is audio," Peterson said.  "For the most part the audio is the most compelling stuff.  With photography you're just not sure of what you're getting, but with audio we have a very controlled atmosphere."

In a handful of EVP recordings on the group's website, human speech is very distinct.  Most of the voices sound innocent, others demonic and strange.  Some of the voices are muffled, others are as clear as the voices of the embodied humans working the electronic equipment.  On an excursion to Gettysburg, the team captured the voice of an elderly man in a hotel room.  Peterson said that when team members listened to the EVP recording, the man's voice was alarmingly loud.  "It was a very clear voice of an old man going 'who's this'"?

Island Ghost Investigations will also help anyone who has had experiences with a haunting.  They can be reached through their website.  People can describe their haunting and the team will evaluate the situation and decide whether or not they can help.

Peterson said the group's efforts are sometimes daunting, but the payoffs have been worth it.  "Everyone in our group is fun and we all have a good time," he said.  "It's too much work not to have fun while you're doing it."


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