Ghost folks
Travel Channel’s ‘Mysterious Journeys’ show to feature Bedford County coupleBy Ashley Gurbal, agurbal@altoonamirror.com
POSTED: October 5, 2007
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‘‘Mysterious Journeys’’ premieres at 9 p.m. today. Each episode opens by introducing the featured locale and explaining local legends, said Megan Peterson, one of the show’s producers, in an e-mail interview.
‘‘Our series is really about exploring places that have developed with lingering mysteries or at least have a side that remains unexplained,’’ she said.
Crownover and Wilson were contacted for the show through Mark Nesbitt, a former National Park ranger and historian. He owns Ghosts of Gettysburg, which are tours of the city based on his books on Civil War ghosts. Nesbitt has co-authored several books with both Crownover and Wilson, including ‘‘Haunted Pennsylvania: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Keystone State’’ and ‘‘Historic Haunts: Ghostly Encounters with Mark Nesbitt.’’
‘‘They’re a couple of the best paranormal investigators I know,’’ Nesbitt said.
Nesbitt narrates the Gettysburg show, which tours six venues in the city. He said the episode will show ‘‘a lot of neat stuff that appeals to everybody’’ — even nonbelievers.
‘‘I am a skeptic,’’ he said. ‘‘The way we go about this, we don’t try to prove or disprove anything. We’re there to gather evidence, gather data, to explain the unexplainable. The way I always say it is once you run out of normal explanations, you turn to the paranormal.’’
Crownover, 40, appears on today’s episode, ‘‘The Ghosts of Gettysburg,’’ at 9 p.m. He’ll discuss digital technology for capturing images of apparitions, as well as recordings taken from haunted buildings. The episode was filmed at the Gettysburg Hotel in June, but Crownover said he wasn’t sure how much of his interview made the final cut.
Tangible evidence of ghosts is at the forefront of Crownover’s research. He said he has developed a technique for photographing apparitions in the daylight, using digital infrared technology.
‘‘Sometime, somebody is is going to get an answer that mainstream science will have to look at,’’ he said.
His interest in the subject, though, was piqued accidentally in 2000. Crownover and some friends were taking photographs at the Jean Bonnet Tavern in Bedford. When the film was developed, Crownover said one of the photos had a ‘‘column of light, a white glare’’ in it.
‘‘A friend of mine, who’s a photographer, couldn’t explain it,’’ he said. ‘‘He said, ‘It’s not the light source. Something’s there, but what is it?’ It had to have matter (to appear).’’
It was through the photograph that the couple met; Wilson, 43, an author and paranormal investigator, came across the photo and tracked down Crownover to discuss it. Wilson has authored eight books on the supernatural, and she and Crownover also are working with Nesbitt and other ghost hunters on a straight-to-DVD documentary series ‘‘Historic Haunts.’’
Wilson will share her research as an author on other episodes of ‘‘Mysterious Journeys’’ set to air Oct. 26 and 28.
In the episode at 9 p.m. Oct. 26, she’ll discuss Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, which has a reputation for being haunted, and at 10 p.m. Oct. 28, she’ll be interviewed on the episode about the Salem, Mass., witch trials.
Wilson said she’s known since she was 7 that she would be a writer, and since she was 12 that she would write about the paranormal. She said the subject has taught her ‘‘a lot about life and a lot about people.’’
‘‘What (people) were in life, they are in death,’’ she said. ‘‘Ghosts are human beings who’ve lost their shells. They’re there for whatever reason — unfinished business is the traditional one, but they might also love the place. Or it’s a moment of stress in the l ives of one of their loved ones.’’
Mirror Staff Writer Ashley Gurbal is at 946-7435.