They’re called TAPS, The Atlantic Paranormal Society: Roto-Rooter men by day, ghost hunters at night.

I’ve been a fan of Ghost Hunters since I happened to catch a SCI FI channel episode of a TAPS investigation of the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, during Season Two. Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, the two lead investigators and Roto-Rooter plumbers by trade, captured the ghostly image of a man who wore a cap that looked like military wear. Jason and Grant were able to capture the image of the ghost using a thermal imaging camera.

TAPS’ approach to ghost hunting lends to their credibility: they’re in the business of debunking a location rather than adding “ghost” sighting feathers in their collective TAPS caps.

As a fan of the show for several seasons, I’ve watched the TAPS crew as they traveled across the U.S. and overseas to interesting, and at times historical locations, they’ve even expanded into a TAPS International Ghost Hunters show.

Viewers are privy to the dynamics of the TAPS team: former Tech Manager Brian’s frequent firings by Grant and Jason and rehirings: Brian is now a member of the International Team. Steve Gonsalves, a former cop afraid of flying and heights, replaced Brian several seasons ago as head tech guy. Steve attempted to conquer his fear of heights when the TAPS crew investigated the St. Augustine Lighthouse in Florida. That episode, as well as several others, was simply amazing. TAPS was able to record voices as well as an image leaning over the stair rail several stories above. A woman’s voice was caught on tape: “Help me”, the voice cried from up above. The following Youtube video shows the TAPS “reveal” portion of the show where Grant and Jason bring back evidence which either debunks or colloborates evidence that a location is haunted.

The following Youtube video is a compilation of just some of the paranormal activity caught on film and voice recording by TAPS:

TAPS has visited some interesting places such as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum located in Weston, West Virginia. Also known as the Weston State Hospital, the asylum, now closed, was built in 1858. I happened to visit the location several months ago and was amazed at the size and structure:

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, constructed between 1858 and 1881, is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America, and is purportedly the second largest in the world, next to the Kremlin. It was designed by the renowned architect Richard Andrews following the Kirkbride plan, which called for long rambling wings arranged in a staggered formation, assuring that each of the connecting structures received an abundance of therapeutic sunlight and fresh air. The original hospital, designed to house 250 souls, was open to patients in 1864 and reached its peak in the 1950’s with 2,400 patients in overcrowded and generally poor conditions. Changes in the treatment of mental illness and the physical deterioration of the facility forced its closure in 1994 inflicting a devastating effect on the local economy, from which it has yet to recover.

The asylum looked “haunted”, a depository for lost souls who suffered the torment of mental illness. The asylum offers “haunted” tours.

TAPS has visited several prisons, another potential site of lost, tormented, and possibly evil souls, which no longer house inmates. TAPS visited Burlington County Prison in Mount Holly, New Jersey, Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, Mansfield Reformatory in Ohio where the film Shawshank Redemption was filmed, Fort Delaware, which served as a prison for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, and the West Virginia Penitentiary located in Moundsville, West Virginia.

Another site visited by TAPS serves to illuminate what was once a tragic reminder of our recent past: the Waverly Hills Sanatorium.

The sanatorium, located in Kentucky, opened in 1926 with 500 beds for patients suffering from what was then a terminal illness: tuberculosis or “white death”. Estimates of the actual numbers of deaths, of patients of all ages, have ranged from the 60,000’s to 6,000.

Besides Penitentiarys, hospitals, lighthouses, restuarants, castles, and museums, TAPS has investigated paranormal happenings in people’s homes.

Watching a TAPS investigation of suspected paranormal activity is fun, and at times, boring. Which one would expect in real life. The first priority of the TAPS team has been to look for reasons other than “paranormal” such as a sticking door, squeaky floors, or noisy pipes. Another area investigated by TAPS teams is electromagnetic fields, which the TAPS team claims can cause disburances which seem paranormal.

Other tools used by the TAPS team are digital audio recorders which, at times, have recorded eerie voices, some of which seem to be quite adamant in commanding the TAPS team to “get out”! Digital thermal and infrared cameras along with EMF devices used to measure electromagnetic fields, K-2 Meters, a device which also picks up electromagnetic fields, are just some of the tools of the trade for the TAPS team.

Buffalo Central Terminal

With their usual dose of skepticism and steps taken to look for more logical reasons for “paranormal” activity, TAPS maintains a high standard for professional paranormal investigation field work. The current season of TAPS has been great fun to watch as the TAPS team travel to unusual “haunted” locations such as the now defunct and creepily decrepid Buffalo, New York, train station, the Buffalo Central Terminal. The TAPS team caught a totally inexplicable form on one of the thermal imaging cameras set up at the end of a long hall. The “form” seemed to resemble a strange human-like shape which seemed to walk or “shuffle” through a far wall.

TAPS is one reality show that’s on my list of “must see” TV. Kudos to the TAPS team, for allowing the viewing public to “travel” along on their weekly hour long series of paranormal investigations.

By LBG

Image – Waverly Hills Sanatorium
Image – Buffalo Central Terminal
Image – Ghost Hunters