Just a few articles done on us over the years
The Sun News October 29th 2016
BY ANITA CRONE
For The Sun News
Things going bump in the night? Are doors opening and closing by themselves? Do you feel someone stroking your hair when you are the only one home? How about those footsteps on the stairs?
Before you take yourself to the nearest mental health professional, you might consider calling paranormal investigators – yes, the real-life ghostbusters.
The Georgetown Paranormal Society has been investigating residences and buildings since 2005, and although the organization is small – it has just five members – it has been casting a wide net along the Low Country and even out of state..
ADVERTISINGThe group’s two main researchers spent about 2 hours recently trying to suss out the reason that strange noises have been heard in a Georgetown historic house. Was it something from the spirit world or was there a more logical reason?
“We don’t have any preconceived ideas,” said Lloyd Williams, as he unloaded cameras, meters, monitors and recorders from the two metal cases he and Richard Kopcho have brought to the house.
“This is just a portion of the equipment that we own,” Kopcho explained. “For a house, this will be enough. For a site visit to the old Charleston jail, they brought in a whole van’s worth of equipment.
Whether a large or small project, the procedure is the same. The onsite researchers set up the equipment, on stairways, in the middle of rooms, on tripods with handheld devices wherever there have been reports of strange goings on.
When darkness falls, the team is ready.
“In the dark, your senses are heightened,” said Williams, whose wife, Lynn, and daughter, Paige, also are members of the society.
He grows silent as his partner, Kopcho, a tall man with long hair tied back in a ponytail, tries to engage the entity that may be lurking in the house.
“Do you like to walk up and down these stairs,: he inquires, staring intently at a monitor. “What is the last thing you remember? Do you like to scare the people who live in this building?” He gets no answer.
“In the middle of the floor is a machine,” chimes in Williams. “It is theorized that if you try to manifest yourself, the machine will go into the yellow, possibly the red, depending on how strong you are.”
All four people in the room gaze intently on the light that stays steadfastly green. No blink, no glimmer of yellow or red.
Williams and Kopcho continue to converse with the spirit that even they are not convinced exists.
They’ve heard the resident’s stories of doors opening and closing, of a sign that moves from one part of the house to another, of the television that switched itself off after a program. But they make no judgments. Their job is to gather the information. The whole group analyzes it before rendering a verdict. It could take two to four days or even longer to generate the report.
Suddenly, a yellow light starts to blink. Just for a second or two. But definitely a yellow light.
“We want to know that you are here. Can you make a noise for us?, asks Williams. There is nothing, just the sounds from other apartments, perhaps a Halloween movie.
“Do you like listening to the noise?’ inquires Kopcho, his voice steady, not at all accusatory, rather like a parent asking a reluctant child how his day was.
“Ok,” says Williams. “We’re going to go upstairs. Feel free to join us.”
Evidently something works. Next to the green light on the machine in the upstairs bedroom is an unmistakable yellow glow. And Williams says there is a definite temperature variation.
Neither of the researchers will give a thumbs up or down about the existence of a spirit in the house, but they did say that if there was something there – something from another dimension -- it likely was a child.
While the residents of the house did not have a history of previous residents, the prior research neither helps nor hinders a probe, said Williams.
Some site visits offer almost immediate answers the duo explains, but they won’t give answers until they check that the instruments confirm their observations.
“At the Charleston jail, there were people talking, walking, lot of them,” Kopcho said.
Another site visit made it clear that a stuck door had a logical explanation – the humidity in the house caused the door to stock.
The investigators don’t charge for their work, but they will gratefully accept donations. Odds are, they will buy more equipment.
BY ANITA CRONE
For The Sun News
Things going bump in the night? Are doors opening and closing by themselves? Do you feel someone stroking your hair when you are the only one home? How about those footsteps on the stairs?
Before you take yourself to the nearest mental health professional, you might consider calling paranormal investigators – yes, the real-life ghostbusters.
The Georgetown Paranormal Society has been investigating residences and buildings since 2005, and although the organization is small – it has just five members – it has been casting a wide net along the Low Country and even out of state..
ADVERTISINGThe group’s two main researchers spent about 2 hours recently trying to suss out the reason that strange noises have been heard in a Georgetown historic house. Was it something from the spirit world or was there a more logical reason?
“We don’t have any preconceived ideas,” said Lloyd Williams, as he unloaded cameras, meters, monitors and recorders from the two metal cases he and Richard Kopcho have brought to the house.
“This is just a portion of the equipment that we own,” Kopcho explained. “For a house, this will be enough. For a site visit to the old Charleston jail, they brought in a whole van’s worth of equipment.
Whether a large or small project, the procedure is the same. The onsite researchers set up the equipment, on stairways, in the middle of rooms, on tripods with handheld devices wherever there have been reports of strange goings on.
When darkness falls, the team is ready.
“In the dark, your senses are heightened,” said Williams, whose wife, Lynn, and daughter, Paige, also are members of the society.
He grows silent as his partner, Kopcho, a tall man with long hair tied back in a ponytail, tries to engage the entity that may be lurking in the house.
“Do you like to walk up and down these stairs,: he inquires, staring intently at a monitor. “What is the last thing you remember? Do you like to scare the people who live in this building?” He gets no answer.
“In the middle of the floor is a machine,” chimes in Williams. “It is theorized that if you try to manifest yourself, the machine will go into the yellow, possibly the red, depending on how strong you are.”
All four people in the room gaze intently on the light that stays steadfastly green. No blink, no glimmer of yellow or red.
Williams and Kopcho continue to converse with the spirit that even they are not convinced exists.
They’ve heard the resident’s stories of doors opening and closing, of a sign that moves from one part of the house to another, of the television that switched itself off after a program. But they make no judgments. Their job is to gather the information. The whole group analyzes it before rendering a verdict. It could take two to four days or even longer to generate the report.
Suddenly, a yellow light starts to blink. Just for a second or two. But definitely a yellow light.
“We want to know that you are here. Can you make a noise for us?, asks Williams. There is nothing, just the sounds from other apartments, perhaps a Halloween movie.
“Do you like listening to the noise?’ inquires Kopcho, his voice steady, not at all accusatory, rather like a parent asking a reluctant child how his day was.
“Ok,” says Williams. “We’re going to go upstairs. Feel free to join us.”
Evidently something works. Next to the green light on the machine in the upstairs bedroom is an unmistakable yellow glow. And Williams says there is a definite temperature variation.
Neither of the researchers will give a thumbs up or down about the existence of a spirit in the house, but they did say that if there was something there – something from another dimension -- it likely was a child.
While the residents of the house did not have a history of previous residents, the prior research neither helps nor hinders a probe, said Williams.
Some site visits offer almost immediate answers the duo explains, but they won’t give answers until they check that the instruments confirm their observations.
“At the Charleston jail, there were people talking, walking, lot of them,” Kopcho said.
Another site visit made it clear that a stuck door had a logical explanation – the humidity in the house caused the door to stock.
The investigators don’t charge for their work, but they will gratefully accept donations. Odds are, they will buy more equipment.
The Georgetown Times December 12th 2007
By Meredith Carter
Call them paranormal investigators, or even ghost hunters just don't call members of the Georgetown Paranormal Society (GPS) ""ghostbusters.""""We're really trying to stay away from that,"" said Richard Kopcho, GPS co-founder, grinning as the business phone rings to the tune of surprise, surprise ""Who Ya Gonna Call?""So it's clear Kopcho and Ben Williams, GPS co-founder, appreciate a little tongue-in-cheek humor now and again. But make no mistake: These men take what they do seriously. As paranormal investigators, they investigate (for free) claims of haunted homes or buildings claims, Williams explained, that they set out to disprove.""People wonder if there is something after this life. We look at that in a scientific way and take an approach based on a lot of on site research and data collection,"" he said. ""We want to educate the public about phenomena that happen in the home.""And the research involves much more than a quick sweep of a residence or building. When GPS members investigate a ""haunted"" place, Williams said they take anywhere from 8 to 12 hours of video and audio recordings. After the on site data collection is finished, there's even more work to be done. The investigators then review the evidence logging everything ""down to sneezes and coughs,"" Kopcho said to see if there's evidence of paranormal activity.When the last bit of audio/video has been examined, Kopcho added, he and the investigators try to ""explain what went on without naming it paranormal.""""Most of what's seen and heard has some sort of logical explanation,"" he explained.And ""debunking"" haunted homes and buildings is something GPS members have done a lot of since the society opened its doors a year ago. The team, which works out of Kopcho's Georgetown residence, has completed surveillance on over a dozen homes and buildings in Georgetown County, Pickens County, Charleston County and more.Still, every once in awhile GPS investigators visit places where there are sounds and sights that can't quite be explained. For Williams, Mansfield Plantation is a prime example.""We were at the North guest house and we were doing digital voice recording. The camera system recorded all night long, and we were there 12 hours,"" Williams said. ""When we analyzed the recordings, we heard something say 'don't leave me,' and there were three distinct knocks.""The team gave the results to Mansfield and concluded that the building was ""hosting some activity."" According to Williams, however, GPS will return to Mansfield to repeat the process and figure out what type of haunt is present.Experiences like that one, Kopcho said, are rare because ""every place we go isn't haunted.""""Ghosts aren't going to come on-call,"" he joked.So far, Williams and Kopcho agree that public reception to their society has been surprisingly good.""No one has really shunned us so far. There are always people out there who don't believe that's just the way it is,"" Kopcho said. ""But we've really grown in the past year. Business is starting to pick up, and we didn't realize how big it would actually get.""GPS, Kopcho added, may soon outgrow its home base, since more and more people are requesting surveillance and the amount of equipment needed is growing rapidly.The GPS team, too, is growing in size, and Williams and Kopcho said they welcome more people to join but only if they have a serious interest.""We take this line of work seriously, and we have a strict set of guidelines to go by,"" Williams said. ""The members represent the society, so there's an application and interview process. We need people who are respectable, upstanding and think outside the box.""Types of hauntsHaunts, according to Williams and Kopcho, come in a number of different forms. First, there's the ""residual haunt."" This phenomenon occurs, Williams explained, when something tragic happens that ""imprints itself into time and place."" The residual haunt, he said, is like ""a VHS tape playing over and over again"" the ghost or spirit is not aware of a human's presence at all.Second is the ""intelligent haunt."" Apparitions of this type are aware of human presence and try, Kopcho said, ""to communicate by moving objects, knocking on doors or something else to get attention."" These apparitions are not ""bad or evil,"" Kopcho added. ""They are just unknown and very communicative.""The ""poltergeist,"" or noisy spirit is the third type of haunt. According to Williams, a poltergeist/noisy spirit will attempt to make its presence known by beating on objects, banging pots and pans, moving large pieces of furniture and generally ""making as much noise as possible.""Finally, there's the inhuman spirit something Williams and Kopcho agree they're very relieved they've never encountered. ""Most ghosts we encounter were at one time human,"" Williams said. ""An inhuman spirit was never human. It's similar to an intelligent haunt, but this spirit will try to trick you. It can follow you and possess you. Inhuman spirits follow no guidelines.""Haunts of this kind, Kopcho continued, generally happen when people ""dabble in the occult"" (i.e., conduct sŽances or use Ouija boards) without understanding what they are doing.""We do not condone doing these kinds of things because most people who dabble have no way to protect themselves. They are welcoming these spirits into their lives,"" he said.Williams, who noted that inhuman spirits are ""really, really rare but dangerous,"" said people who experience this type of haunting sometimes elect to do a house blessing (which can be done with or without a priest), or call for additional outside help.Need surveillance?To get more information about GPS and its services, call the Georgetown Paranormal Society at 843-458-7045, visit www.georgetownparanormalsociety.com or send an e-mail to ben@georgetownparanormalsociety.com.
By Meredith Carter
SpectralReview.com, December 10th 2007
Kudos to this group for taking the approach that they do take. Being a recent society they may have been influenced by the “Ghost Hunters” as they appear to want to debunk a haunting first before jumping to conclusions as TAPS does. It’s much harder for critics and skeptics to attack effectively when a group works like this group does.
Kudos to this group for taking the approach that they do take. Being a recent society they may have been influenced by the “Ghost Hunters” as they appear to want to debunk a haunting first before jumping to conclusions as TAPS does. It’s much harder for critics and skeptics to attack effectively when a group works like this group does.
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We are always eager to hear from you.
