Need Help with a Haunting?

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview four members of a ghost "hunting" group: South Jersey Ghost Research (SJGR - www.hauntedhelp.org/). It is a non-profit organization that primarily serves the tri-state area of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Our phone interviews were conducted on three separate occasions but they are represented here as being simultaneous. The four members are Joann Richmond, Rich Fullerton, Sharon Carroll, and Maureen Carroll (sisters).

So, tell me about the history of your group.

Maureen - SJGR can trace its roots back to 1955. That is when Hildred Robinette founded Ghost Hunter's of America. In 1998, Dave Juliano (founder and current director of SJGR) and his group merged with Robineette's group; the new crew was named South Jersey Ghost Research .

Are you affiliated with The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS)?

Joann - We are affiliated with TAPS. They are often busy so we get some of the cases they cannot handle.

Sharon - We chat with them sometimes. Our geographic areas are not the same but they overlap. We go to some of the same places they go. We investigated Fort Ticonderoga about a year and a half before TAPS did.

What are some of the different types of hauntings out there?

Sharon - The term "residual haunting" is often used. This situation is akin to an impression or recording in an area. At times this impression can play back but there is no entity or being there. Other hauntings are "intelligent" in that there is an intelligent being or beings, not merely a force, at work. Sometimes these entities are aware of the living and sometimes they are not.

OK guys, what are some of the freakiest paranormal experiences you have encountered?

Rich - Spirits can at times physically manifest. I have had experiences in my past where spirits looked as solid as a person. On one occasion, in a Masonic lodge, a spirit pushed me.

Sharon - At a cemetery I once saw a dark, shadowy "creature", that resembled a rodent, scurry under some gravel.

What prompts someone to contact your group?

Joann - It varies. Oftentimes people contact us when they are frightened. Something that may frighten one individual may not frighten another. Anytime a child is involved the level of fear among those who contact us goes up.

So you investigate in people's homes? Where else do you go?

Rich - We primarily investigate people's homes. We do some of our training in cemeteries. Sometimes, we go on field trips to places of special interest.

So if someone thinks that he or she is experiencing paranormal activity what should some do? Or not do?

Maureen - Don't try to solve paranormal problems by yourself. Contact our group or one like ours. If you do contact a group never pay. No reputable group would ever charge for their services.

Joann - Don't play with Ouija boards.

Rich, Sharon, and Maureen - Ditto

Rich - Before we even go into a residence we ask the residents, via a questionnaire, if there are any occult objects in the house . . . Including Ouija boards. If they have one, then we remove it from the home before we do any type of investigation. We then take it to consecrated ground and the people at the church know how to dispose of it. Our group has done this on multiple occasions.

Thanks all. Keep us posted.