SALEM | For Donna La Croix, it started with the House of the Seven Gables.
La Croix was 11 years old and visiting the Witch City with her family from Scituate, R.I. During a tour of the historic home, she entered a room and felt another presence, sending her into a trancelike state.
"I can't even describe it. It was almost as if someone was looking back at me," said La Croix, now a case manager with the popular Sci Fi Channel series "Ghost Hunters," which attracted more than 2 million viewers for its recent season premiere.
"Ever since that day I always wanted to go back to Salem," La Croix said.
Her wish was granted last fall when the reality series traveled to the North Shore to film the episode "Salem Witch," which will air Wednesday at 9 p.m. on the Sci Fi Channel.
Though the modern-day ghostbusters weren't able to check out the House of the Seven Gables, they did set up shop at the Hawthorne Hotel and the Lyceum Bar and Grill, built on the apple orchard of Bridget Bishop. Bishop was the first person executed during the famed Witchcraft Trials.
"There was something about the town I loved. It was so mysterious to me," said La Croix, who made her recent trek to Salem with fellow members of the The Atlantic Paranormal Society, including founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson.
Since 2004, the series has followed these ghost hunters as they set up heat-sensing cameras, audio recorders, electromagnetic-field detecting devices and other high-tech equipment to investigate claims of hauntings.
Sometimes the investigators find things they can explain. Sometimes they find things they can't explain. Regardless, the show marches on, trying to decipher the origins of the weird things people see and feel connected to in the places where they live and work.
The "Salem Witch" investigation started at the Hawthorne Hotel, built in the 1920s, where guests have witnessed strange sounds and occurrences. The second night, investigators turned to the 19th-century Lyceum building, where people persistently smell apples, despite the lack of them on the menu. Workers there also report feeling a presence and unexplained problems with electrical equipment.
"There is a certain energy about the town," said La Croix, adding that she felt like she stepped into the past when she and the team visited. "There is just something there in the air, a lot of things took place there."
While La Croix couldn't go into specifics about what the "Ghost Hunters" found in Salem, she did say viewers will see some interesting happenings on this episode.
"Nothing extreme," she said. But she added that she couldn't shake the feeling of something around her all the time.
La Croix, who has been on countless investigations with "Ghost Hunters," found something different about this experience: She had a hard time stifling her own preconceived notions about Salem.
"You are dealing with a town that is steeped in the history of the witchcraft trials, but that doesn't necessarily translate to paranormal activity," said La Croix, saying the places that have experienced tragedies often do have connections to paranormal activity.
"We had to really put it out of our minds | the story behind the place | in order for that not to bias our judgment."
La Croix hopes to return to Salem someday, to continue the investigation.
"For me personally, there is definitely a presence and an essence of mystery there," she said. "I can't put my finger on it, but it is there."
If you watch
What: "Ghost Hunters"
When: Wednesday, 9 p.m.
Where: Sci Fi Channel
Information: www.scifi.com
'Ghost Hunters' glossary
EMF: Electromagnetic Field. Most ghost hunters will tell you that certain entities are believed to emit some kind of electromagnetic field, an EMF. Specialized EMF detectors are used to read this data.
Entity: A disembodied consciousness commonly referred to as ghost, spirit or, if of an apparently malicious or resentful nature, demon.
EVP: Electronic Voice Phenomena. Disembodied voices and sounds imprinted on audio recording devices.
Ghost: The image of a person witnessed after his/her death, reflecting the appearance of the living, physical body, yet less substantial. These forms often seem to exist in a dreamlike state of semi-awareness, at times, though not always, cognizant of their human observers.
Haunting: The manifestation of a ghostly presence, or presences, attached to a specific locale. Hauntings can usually be categorized into four distinct types, these being: Intelligent (responsive), Poltergeist (likely initiated by pent-up stress on a subconscious level), Residual (replay) and Demonic (nonhuman origin).
Infestation: Repeated and persistent paranormal phenomena, generally centered on a particular location or person(s). Also known as a haunting.
Paranormal: The realm of occurrences and phenomena removed from those to which people are accustomed and can comprehend and are presently uncategorized by standard academia.
Spirit: Existence apart from, or transcending, the purely physical; also, the life-force of an organism. Spirit and ghost are commonly interchangeable.
Source: "Ghost Hunters" press Web site
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