Paranormal Activity? 'We Are Here For You'

Whether one believes in ghosts or not, Connecticut Paranormal Research Society investigators offered compelling testimony at a program last week on why is it worthwhile to seek help with or investigate suspected paranormal incidents.

Joseph M. Franke and Orlando Ferrante, society co-founders, shared their adventures involving about two dozen cases around the state with 40 area residents on Tuesday, April 19 at in Newtown.

“If you have a problem from paranormal activity, we are here for you,” Franke said.

The pair supported their talk with photos and audio recordings, which they said might prove or indicate the existence of spirits in graveyards, private homes and commercial buildings.

In some of these cases, they assisted persons troubled by spirits that either possessed them or haunted their homes.

“We aim through our work to resolve your problems,” Ferrante said.

They also checked on places where people claim spirits dwell.

“I’m a skeptic, too,” Franke said. "I have to be shown. That’s why I like to try to capture proof in a photo, a video or an audio recording."

Ferrante showed photos of a ball of light, possibly from the “white lady,” said to haunt the on Stepney Road in Easton. The photos were taken at night in the graveyard.

A number of persons claimed they saw the “white lady,” supposedly the spirit of a woman murdered many years ago, when they passed by the graveyard after dark. 

Franke and Ferrante asserted spirits from persons who have suffered violent deaths have been known to haunt the sites of their murders.

They advised residents they will face arrest by police if they hangout at the Union Cemetery, because of past problems with vandalism and gatherings of curious people.

The “white lady,” whom residents claim they have also seen outside the graveyard on Pepper Street in Monroe, was the subject of a book, “Graveyard,” by Ed and Lorraine Warren, of Monroe, well-known ghost hunters.

The investigators said they have gained knowledge, expertise and inspiration in their work from associating with the Warrens. Lorraine Warren is still active, but her husband died several years ago.

They showed photos from their investigation of a haunting at the Carousel Garden commercial building, originally the home of 19th century industrialist William Wooster, on North Street in Seymour.

“We found in the building a spirit had attached itself to a young man. It went away. But, he claimed it came back with other spirits, and he rushed from the building,” said Franke, showing a photo that might be of a “spirit form” outside the structure.

The investigators also told about a case in Westport about two years ago in which a woman reported loud banging, pungent cigar smoke and a “spirit” walking in high heals across an upstairs room. They said a psychic claimed the phenomenon stemmed from a playwright who lived in the house in the 1930s.

Their most difficult case, still unresolved, involves an Enfield family, troubled for several years by unseen forces and unexplained events, such as the levitation of a baby’s changing table, the presence of a black animal-like spirit, a German Bible torn to shreds, and a negative entity that threw an investigator against a door.

“A force got tied to me and started going after me. We just wanted to make peace with the spirit and have it let us alone.” Ferrante said. “We’re just two guys with an abnormal hobby. A spirit can come after me as well as anyone.”

In telling the Enfield story, Franke said, “Everyone likes a ghost story, but we want you to know the things we talk about are very real.”

The family took their story to the Discovery Channel, which presented it in a program “The Demon House,” Ferrante said.

“We love to go to haunted places, but we mostly help scared families who experience unexplained, troubling events,” Franke said. “But, if you have lights flickering in your house, don’t call us. Call an electrician.”

For assistance or further details, visit the society’s website, www.cprs.info or e-mail the investigators, ghosts@cprs.info.