Ghost hunter Steve Gonsalves isn't afraid of things that go bump in the night. It's the things that pull hair, produce horrible smells and induce vomiting that get to him. The 27-year-old co-star of the Sci-Fi Channel show "Ghost Hunters" will talk about his encounters with the paranormal Saturday at Comic Book I-Con.
The aforementioned hair-pulling and vomiting occurred during an investigation at a private home in Enfield, Conn., a case that Gonsalves said was his scariest ever.
Within about 20 minutes, Gonsalves said he saw a woman's hair pulled and a cat dragged backward across a rug. Then there were foul smells like sulphur, rotting flesh and feces.
"It actually made me vomit," he said. "The family and I left and stayed in a hotel that night."
Gonsalves first got interested in ghost hunting at about 14 and began attending seminars and conventions at 18. At 20, he founded New England Paranormal, which he continues to run. Not long after founding NEP, he was contacted by The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS), the team featured on "Ghost Hunters."
TAPS and NEP both work to disprove hauntings, and Gonsalves said that nearly 80 percent of the cases they investigate turn out to be nothing. To assist in their work, the team uses electro-magnetic field detectors and thermal imaging cameras. The items are expensive (the camera costs $20,000), but they are all items with legitimate scientific uses and are not tailored for paranormal use.
Ghosts are a popular subject for films, and you might be surprised what films get their facts straight. One of the films in which Gonsalves finds accurate terminology and theories is the action-comedy "Ghostbusters."
"[Co-writer and star] Dan Aykroyd is actually a paranormal investigator, and he brought a lot of that to the movie," he said. "Of course, you can't trap ghosts."
"Poltergeist" also gets high marks from Gonsalves for what he feels is an accurate portrayal of investigators.
Gonsalves has never investigated a case in Iowa, but he hopes the TAPS team will check out the Villisca axe murder house for the show's third season.
"Usually what sparks hauntings is trauma and untimely death," Gonsalves said. "When you have eight murders that happened in one house on the same day, it's likely you'll see some activity.
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