Ghost Research explores the paranormal
October 29, 2000

By ED SHOLINSKY
Staff Writer

For many, Halloween is a season for fun and fright, tricks and treats, ghost and goblins. But for South Jersey Ghost Research it's the season for newspaper interviews.

"We usually don't do stuff on Halloween," said Dave Juliano, a three-year member of Ghost Research. "We take the day off and use the two weeks before to do stuff like this (interviews)."

He said that when people see ghost investigators around Halloween they think it's the only time of year they are out. 

But Ghost Research is a year-round operation, and has been so busy this year that it's booking investigations, which are free, into December, said Anne Palagruto, who has been with Ghost Research for two years.

And though both Juliano and Palagruto know there are people out there who think what they do is weird and laugh about it, they take the work very seriously.

Ghost Research, a non-profit organization, uses scientific methods and carefully documents every step of its investigations, Palagruto said. She said that members don't discuss what the others have seen until the completion of investigations so they don't influence each other.

Most of the investigations Ghost Research has done in Gloucester County are in private houses, but they've also done work in the Gibbstown Ambulance Building, a Rowan University dorm room and the East Greenwich municipal building.

Whenever Ghost Research embarks on an investigation, it has the person who requested the help fill out a questionnaire and sign a release, plus accompany the team on its search. But it also uses electromagnetic field readings, records temperature and takes photos to document its work.

Palagruto said everything that happens during an investigation has to be recorded with the time, so that when a photo of anything is taken, the corresponding temperature drops and EMF readings are available.

That, Juliano said, lends weight to contentions that something ghostly is going on rather than a photograph just being poorly developed.

At the Gibbstown Ambulance building, Juliano said, a medic working during the night would hear a door slamming and furniture moving when she left the office. When she returned, nothing would be moved.

Ghost Research's investigation lead them not to the ambulance bay, but upstairs to the courtroom, Juliano said.

He said that investigators found a presence on the stairs and captured on videotape the sound of banging near the mayor's chair.

But neither Juliano or Palagruto think ghosts are anything to be worried about.

In fact, Juliano said, he grew up in a haunted house and Palagruto said she lives in one now.

The pair said that television has shaped people's impressions of ghosts as hostile.

"People are programed from Scooby Doo on to be afraid of ghosts and dark places," Juliano said. "I don't think there's any danger of being harmed (by a ghost)."

Instead, Juliano said, having a ghost in the house is like having a pet that doesn't have to be fed or taken care of.

Palagruto could remember only two cases where people wanted to get rid of the spirit. She said in one case the ghost was a "jerk," which probably reflected his personality in life.

Most people who book investigations just want to know that they are not crazy, Juliano said.

South Jersey Ghost Research can be found on the Web at www.sjgr.org.