By Marcia Moore
SELINSGROVE -- A small sign bearing the intriguing words, “We hunt what haunts you” hangs high on the porch of Ed Cover’s Eighth Street home.
It’s a simple message that conveys his ghost-hunting hobby.
Cover and his wife, Gail, run a local chapter of Restless Spirits Paranormal Investigators (RSPI) with 25 members, including former Northumberland County Coroner Rick Ulrich and an Episcopal nun from Steelton.
Since October 2008, the group has investigated 10 home and business hauntings in the region free of charge. Several more investigation on the Isle of Que, Penns Creek and Harrisburg on tap.
“A lot of people question if there is life after death. I’ve always been fascinated by it,” Cover said, explaining the wide interest in ghost-hunting.
Ulrich said the proliferation of technology and people’s willingness to speak openly about paranormal experiences — including seeing apparitions, cold spots in otherwise warm buildings, unusual noises, items moving, voices, and inexplicable smells — has increased awareness and understanding about the work RSPI and similar groups are doing.
The Covers, Christians who each lost their jobs earlier this year due to separate company closures, also believe the rise in ghostly encounters is due to a lack of faith and attempts by demonic spirits to make headway in the world.
“I do think God is strong enough to handle this, but as Revelations say, the battle between good versus evil is coming,” Gail Cover said.
And she’s willing and ready to face it with her faith and equipment purchased from the Ghost Store in New Jersey.
The group uses infrared, digital and film cameras, recorders, thermal thermometers, a hand-held “ghost meter” or electromagnetic meter on their investigations which can take hours to complete.
In some instance when the entity is persistent or demonic, “We do a cleansing with prayers and blessed water and oils,” explains Ulrich, adding that they do not perform exorcisms.
His interest in the realm of otherworldly spirits began at the age of 9, when his father died.
“I’d always hoped he’d come back,” Ulrich said, recalling the signs of ghostly activity in his home that he interpreted as his father’s response to that wish.
As a coroner, he said there was one spine-tingling incident where he said he saw a vision of an evil spirit hovering over a body he was examining in the morgue.
“The hair went up on the back of my neck,” he said.
Ulrich’s strong faith prompted him to consider the idea that demon spirits exist and he decided to get involved in helping families get rid of them.
“I’m a Christian and see it as a battle of evil,” he said.
Santa Rodriguez said RSPI got rid of the non-threatening male presence that was in the mid-19th century Kratzerville home she bought two years ago.
It took three visits by RSPI before the footsteps, shadows and cherry aroma ceased a month ago, she said.
“I do believe it’s gone,” she said of the entity. “Before I didn’t feel comfortable walking into my bedroom alone without the light on and door open. Now I do have my house back.”
For more information, visit restlessspirits.org.
