The Spectre Inspectors

When it's a question of spectral orbs -- or ectoplasm, or cold spots, or plain old ordinary ghosts -- who are you going to call? Why, Bay Area Paranormal Investigations, of course.

Comments (0) By Matt Palmquist Wednesday, Jun 19 2002

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"Look, I love ghost stories, and I grew up in a house that was purported to have ghosts in it," O'Reilly says. "And when I was a kid, I thought it was haunted, too. Then I turned 11.

"It's too bad, because if ghosts were out there, it would be such fun."

In his photograph of a Gettysburg house, Mosbaugh sees an ectoplasm mist leading to the porch and a small orb over the front door.

Paul Trapani

Tina McGarty often shoots video during the group's paranormal investigations, hoping to document visual or audio evidence of a ghost.

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As we finish one last sweep of the grounds before heading off to explore what used to be a Civil War hospital, Mosbaugh and I check the side of a building adjacent to the sanitarium. At first glance, the façade looks just like the others: There are some broken windows that I'm not going anywhere near, much of the white paint has flaked off, and the graffiti is creepy, if largely unintelligible. But I look closer -- and that's when my pulse quickens.

In heavy black lettering, distinctive in its childish script, a single word stretches across several other long-faded messages.

It says, "Boo."