As an 11-year-old boy, Arthur Matos was rummaging in the closet in the basement of his home in Staten Island when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He guessed his brother had come downstairs to annoy him again. Without looking back, he said buzz off, and kept going through the closet. He felt his brother’s hand squeeze him gently. He tried shrugging it off. He finally turned around to tell his brother off. That’s when he realized he had been alone in the room all along.

“It was a bizarre experience,” says Matos. “It was my first and only experience with the paranormal. But it was enough to make me read about the subject, and want to know more.” Matos is now the director of the Eastern Paranormal Investigation Center, a ghost hunting group based in Staten Island.

Everywhere you look on TV, you see ghosts. Shows such as “Ghost Adventures” on the Travel Channel and “Ghost Hunters” on SyFy have popularized the theme, ghost hunters say. The Internet is suddenly rife with ghost hunting groups and websites of paranormal investigators. In New York State alone there are more than 35 functioning ghost hunting groups that carry out investigations. The groups carry out different kinds of investigations, some for the thrill of trying to find evidence of paranormal activity, and others to track down complaints of ghost sightings in homes.

Jamie Owens of Ghosts of New York with a tour group at St. Marks Church. (Photo by Jeffrey Karg)

William Wilkens, who runs paranormalsocieties.com, a database for paranormal investigation groups, says that his website has almost 3,100 active listed groups from across the country.

“Over 800 groups registered themselves last year alone,” says Wilkens. “The media interest in ghost hunting because of the TV shows devoted to the theme has spurred an increase in the number of groups Just when I start thinking there can’t possibly be any more registrations, I get some more.”

People have of course believed in ghosts since the beginning of human existence. Cave paintings and statuettes that depicted half-human and half-animal forms probably stemmed from belief in the supernatural. One of the first ghost stories was recorded by the Roman author Pliny the Younger, who reported seeing the apparition of an old man in his Athens home in one of his letters, according to the History Channel, which addresses the topic on its website.

But these days, Stacey Jones, founder of Central New York Ghost Hunters, says she receives at least three to four calls a week from people reporting ghost sightings in their homes.

“There was a time when we used to get around 15 calls a week,” says Jones. “That’s decreased now because of the profusion of other ghost hunting groups that have been springing up.”

Most groups do not charge for investigations.

“All of us in the group have full-time jobs,” says Artie Villareal of 602 Paranormal, a group based in Phoenix. “This is something we do as a passion.”

Phil Schoenberg, founder of the popular tour company Ghosts of New York, is clear about his stance on the supernatural.

“If there is a paycheck in it, I believe in it,” says Schoenberg, who teaches American government at Vaughn College in Queens.

Many believers in the paranormal attend his tours. At a tour in January at Grand Central Terminal attended by 20 people, at least half raised their hands when asked whether they believed in ghosts.

“Many have reported having supernatural experiences on my tours,” Karen Cecilia, a tour guide with Ghosts of New York. “There have been times when people have caught strange images and light forms on their cameras.”

Tom Frawley and his daughters, Catherine and Lauren, say that though attending the tour was for entertainment, they have a deep connection with the paranormal— as their home is haunted.

“There is the apparition of a young girl that everyone at our home sees from time to time. We’re used to her now. She’s quite a cute-looking child,” says Tom Frawley, 47, a construction manager who lives in New York.

One of the most popular ghost stories of New York is associated with the Campbell Apartment restaurant and lounge at Grand Central. The legend goes that the apparitions of two elderly gentlemen can often be seen sitting at the bar. People have also claimed to feel a ghostly presence in the restaurant’s restroom.

Matos says that though his group does conduct investigations on popular ghost sites, they focus on Extreme Residential Hauntings, or what he calls ERH.

“Extreme residential hauntings are paranormal occurrences in households that are disruptive to daily life,” says Matos.

“We send around four to five people per investigation. We also try and do an overnight eight-hour shift,” says Matos.

It’s also not uncommon for groups to collaborate with one another.

Sasha Haydon, the director of G.H.O.S.T. Research, a group based in Alaska, often collaborates with the Investigation of Paranormal in Alaska group.

“We have different skill sets; we are more into ghosts and spirits,” says Haydon, 28,  adding that the other group  “is better with UFOs and cryptology. So collaboration works great.”

Liz Milano, a case manager at Entities Inc., a paranormal research agency, conducts training sessions for aspiring ghost hunters.

“You don’t need to have had supernatural powers to be an investigator,” says Milano. “We conduct three-month training sessions that primarily deal with the use of the equipment required on paranormal investigations.”

Jones says that part of her work comprises explaining to people that they needn’t be afraid of ghosts.

“People’s perceptions of ghosts are influenced by Hollywood movies and the media. They’re perceived as scary creatures, when in most cases they’re harmless,” says Jones.

Most investigators agreed that it was harder to deal with the non-believers than with the ghosts.

“People are just afraid. Some just don’t want to believe. We investigators are skeptics ourselves. Our first step is always to prove that the ghost doesn’t exist. We get so many false calls when there are logical explanations to the noises people hear and the things that they see,” says Jones.

“I invite criticism. I want someone to prove me wrong. I don’t want to be like a dog chasing its own tail,” says Jones.

At the end of the Grand Central tour, Catherine Frawley and Cecilia, the tour guide, look intently at a picture taken on Catherine’s camera during the tour. It’s a picture of the outside facade of the terminal and the statues. A circular white translucent shadow hangs above the statues next to the moon. No one has an explanation.

Email: vs2406@columbia.edu