For Long Island's paranormal investigators, ghost hunting is not just for Halloween

On a recent Sunday night at Katie’s of Smithtown, a group of about a dozen people stood in the dark. But they weren’t in search of a drink — they were there to find a ghost.

Michael Cardinuto, president of the group Long Island Paranormal Investigators, told guests to turn their phones off and recounted the tale of bartender Charlie Klein, who is said to haunts Katie’s. There are stories of glasses flying off the bar and tables, and the sound of unexplained footsteps.

Cardinuto then led the group — a mix of guests and other paranormal investigators — past a poster for the A&E show “Paranormal,” which filmed at Katie’s in 2008, as he pointed a flashlight down a wide, green staircase to the basement.

He interrogated a possible ghost, asking questions of the air and hoping to capture on video, tape recorder or EchoVox app signs that something supernatural might be present.

“It was pretty quiet,” said Cardinuto, 44, of Selden. But he was undaunted: “Consider it like fishing. You throw in your line and you hope you catch a fish. Every time I don’t catch something, I still have fun doing it.”

Interest in ghosts has become more mainstream, with shows like the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Hunters” and “Paranormal Caught on Camera” showcasing mysterious phenomena around the world. There’s also the “Long Island Medium,” Theresa Caputo, who claims to communicate with spirits.

But while ghost hunting may be Halloween entertainment for some, for those who believe in the paranormal — essentially anything that doesn’t have a scientific explanation — it’s a constant search for validation that there is indeed a reality beyond ours.

“I don’t do it for entertainment purposes. We’re documenting everything that happens, whether we capture something or not,” Cardinuto said. “I never expect to find anything. When it does happen, it happens.”

THE NEW PARANORMAL

Whether or not ghosts exist, what is certain is the popularity of the paranormal. In addition to the many television shows on the subject, there are lectures, documentaries and conventions, including The Warren’s Seekers of the Supernatural Paracon in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Long Island Paranormal Investigators has grown from 17 dues-paying members five years ago to 33 today, and Stony Brook University even has a paranormal club.

“Back 25 years ago if you were into this, you kept it hush hush,” said Cardinuto, who attended the latest Gettysburg convention in September. “Now you keep it very open.”

Author and historian Kerriann Flanagan Brosky, of Huntington, had already written two books about the town’s history, both of which included ghost stories, when her father died in 2005.

“I had always been interested in the paranormal, even as a child,” she said. “After my father died my husband suggested I get involved in another book project to help get me past the grief I was feeling.”

She said people who attended her lectures had encouraged her to write a book combining local history and ghost stories. “So at that point I decided to do so.”

Brosky has since written several books about the paranormal, including “The Ghosts of Long Island,” “Historic Haunts of Long Island,” “Haunted Long Island Mysteries” and “Historic Crimes of Long Island.”

“I interview people about their experiences,” she said. “These are legitimate people. The stories combine history.”

Brosky often teams with paranormal investigator Joe Giaquinto, of West Sayville, on lectures and investigations at libraries, historical societies and other locations.

“What better way to teach local history than through a ghost story?” Brosky said. “I’m a historian first, a ghost investigator second.”

LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE

Cardinuto said religion started him on the road to the paranormal. “I always questioned, ‘Is there a God?’ ” he said. “Do you just die and that’s it?”

When he was 23, he said he and a few friends took a video camera to the Kings Park Psychiatric Center, which operated from 1885 to 1996 and is said to be haunted. (State parks officials recently announced stepped-up patrols on the property starting Oct. 30 to discourage people from visiting the remaining buildings, which are not safe to enter.)

During Cardinuto’s visit two decades ago, he said his friends went in, heard a bang before the camera turned off on its own, and ran out. While many things could have caused both, Cardinuto said he began looking into the paranormal.

“We bought some stuff (equipment used in paranormal investigations) and started looking up some locations on Long Island,” he said. “We wanted to see what people were experiencing at these locations. We started investigating.”

Twenty-one years and 850 investigations later, Cardinuto said he has visited many sites on Long Island that are believed by some to be haunted, including Lake Ronkonkoma, where an Indigenous princess’ spirit is said to return each year to claim the life of a young man.

“Through investigation and capturing evidence, a lot through audio, I feel there’s something I can’t explain,” he said. “When we die, there is something.” 

NIGHT HIKES

Paranormal investigator Daniel Hoffman, 40, of Floral Park, remembers waking one night, startled at the sight of a figure balanced on the edge of his bed that he said vanished as he woke.

“I jumped out of my bed and turned my light on,” Hoffman, a Federal Express courier, said during a Long Island Paranormal Investigators meeting in the basement of Ciro’s Nice Italian Barbershop in Selden.

After that experience, he recalled, “I was becoming curious about the paranormal. Then I saw ‘Ghost Hunters.’ ” He realized, he said, “There were teams that do this.”

Hoffman and other investigators often go on night hikes and visit places believed to be haunted, searching for signs of something supernatural.

The members are serious about the work they do, but they also have a sense of humor — like the moment when an electronic scream filled the room during the meeting.

“That was my notification,” said Bianca Perricone, 34, of Shirley, who also goes by Medium Bianca Rose. “My phone screamed to notify me that I got a text message.”

CAPTURING THE SIGNS

Paranormal investigators apply scientific principles to occurrences that don’t necessarily have clear, scientific proof. They often use ultraviolet cameras, motion sensors, Geiger counters, barometers, thermometers and video and tape recorders in their work.

“The theory behind it is when a ghost is manifested, it will give off some type of radiation,” Cardinuto said. “We use Geiger counters to detect all sorts of radiation.”

Attuned to any anomaly, paranormal investigators capture flickering lights, footstep-like sounds, objects moving and appearances that they believe are evidence of apparitions.

“We look for orbs, which are light anomalies that appear on images that are thought to be spirits,” Brosky said. “It comes in and out of the frame, so it’s not a dust particle.”

Equipment can capture electrical and other phenomena, which they take as reinforcing the possibility, if not necessarily proof, of things.

“We’re very big on trying to debunk things,” said Cardinuto, who by day works with people with special needs. “Even when somebody captures something in our group today, we play it and try to debunk.”

Fear can fuel feelings and lead people to hear or imagine things that may not be there, the way someone who falls asleep watching a horror movie can have nightmares, Cardinuto said. Still, he talked about “unexplained” voices and images, including sounds he said his group picked up at the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe in Shoreham, which was damaged in a fire last year. “We captured some audio evidence,” he said. “Voices captured on audio not there at the time of the investigation.”

Members do free house investigations for people who say they heard or saw disturbing things, he said. He estimated they have conducted between 100 and 125 investigations. About 20% of the time, he said they detect signs of possible paranormal activity.

“You look in someone’s eyes and you see the fear,” Cardinuto said. “They have no one else to turn to.”
    

HAUNTED BY HISTORY

Sarah Kautz, executive director of the Southampton History Museum, said the facility has hosted paranormal investigations and welcomes groups like Cardinuto’s to help pique visitors’ interest in history.

“We get folks coming to the museum who wouldn’t come to the museum for any other reason,” she said. “It sort of tricks you into learning history.”

Halloween is, unsurprisingly, a popular time for such events. But Kautz said, “It’s not just about ghost hunting. You learn about science. They use some really cool stuff. You learn about the history of the site.”

Cardinuto’s Gateway laptop has a Halloween-like ghost on it, but he, Brosky and others passionate about the paranormal are ambivalent about the Halloween rush. “I love Halloween. It’s skeletons and ghosts and witches,” Cardinuto said. “It’s not what I do.”

Brosky said she believes there’s a hunger for information about the supernatural. “People love ghost stories,” she said. “I take the creepiness out of them. What we do is positive. It’s not negative, not demonic. It’s not Hollywood.”

She understands the reaction some have to discussions of the paranormal: “If people want to be skeptics, they can be skeptics,” she said. But, Brosky added, “There are things that can’t be explained.”

She talks about “undoing perceptions of ghosts and spirits” as demonic forces. “They’re not out to kill or possess you,” Brosky said. “Long Island is more than the ‘Amityville Horror.’ We’re rich in history.”

Kautz said the world is full of enough that’s difficult to explain to prompt curiosity. “Can you hear something that sounds like a voice on a frequency we can’t hear with our human ears?” Kautz asked. “Usually, you can find something weird. Explaining it isn’t that easy.”

While Cardinuto said he’s searching for possible evidence of the paranormal, members of Long Island Paranormal Investigators do come away with something definite: “There is an experience you have. It’s an experience you share for a lifetime,” he said. “Everybody else goes to the beach or the casino. Who else is doing what we do?”

Hoping to find their own Holy Grail — a sign that ghosts or spirits exist — some members said they enjoy the search itself. “It’s an adventure — the investigation, the memories we make along the way,” said Sarah Hangley, 37, of Westbury, a special education teacher who has been part of Cardinuto’s group for two years. “Fear and the unknown make us a stronger group.”

Cardinuto said members find camaraderie and a kind of peace in their work. “This is an outlet for most people,” he said. “For a few hours during the week, we forget about everything going on in the world.”