Ghost hunters rely on common sense
Thursday, January 25, 2007
By PAT CAHILL
pcahill@repub.com

As Grant S. Wilson and Jason Hawes crept up the spiral staircase of the old lighthouse, they saw a figure grab the railing and look down at them. They quickened their steps, ran after him and found ... nothing. A dead end. Two padlocked doors. No one at all.

Just another day in the life of "Ghost Hunters," the TV show on the Sci-Fi Channel that follows the real-life exploits of a team of unusual investigators.

Now the public is invited to meet the stars of "Ghost Hunters" in person, Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m., at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield. Joining Wilson and Hawes will be their fellow ghost hunter Steven A. Gonsalves, who lives in Springfield when he's not on the road filming.

Admission to the event is free. Autographs cost $10, with proceeds going to The Republican's Newspapers in Education program.

The Sci-Fi Channel calls its hit, which has a crew of 10, an "alternative reality show." Gonsalves appears on camera as well as serving as technical manager, in charge of equipment.

He says he has been reading up on ghosts since he was 13. His mother is one of his biggest fans. "She always wants to go with me!" says Gonsalves.

He is not fazed by being on the TV. "It feels like you're talking to a black box," he says, "not like 6 or 7 million people are watching you."

Fellow ghost hunters Wilson and Hawes never did find out who was in that lighthouse in St. Augustine, Fla. But a camera in the building did pick up traces of the figure.

"He was walking around, and then he zipped up three flights of stairs in about a second," said Wilson in a telephone interview. "He leaned over the railing a couple of times, and once he just totally disappeared."

The ghost hunters have also explored prisons, schools, libraries, castles, aircraft carriers and many other sites of strange happenings. They never charge a fee for their services.

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