MARBLEHEAD — If there's something strange in the Fort Sewall neighborhood — who you gonna call?
No, not Ghostbusters. It's CPI, Crypto Paranormal Investigations, and its director of operations, Nicholas Smith. He's only 18, but he ain't afraid of no ghost.
On behalf of his organization, Smith is petitioning the selectmen for permission to investigate paranormal phenomena — that's ghosts to the rest of us — at the town's historic Fort Sewall. A resident of Queens, N.Y., Smith has been an annual visitor to Marblehead.
"My family has a summer house," he said.
He's already done a preliminary investigation of the fort, leading to some chilling findings.
Modern paranormal investigators use high-tech gear, Smith said, including infrared night vision cameras, monitors, audio recorders, motion sensors, thermometers and electromagnetic field detectors.
It's in the nature of things that go bump in the night that, at times, the bumps can only be heard later, on tape — or they can only be seen later, recorded on sophisticated cameras. For example, Smith's investigation of Fort Sewall has already revealed EVPs, or electronic voice phenomena. That's sound that eludes the ear, but can be picked up by an electromagnetic recorder.
At the fort, Smith conducted a test of his sound equipment, calling out, "Point one, point two, point three, point four." Listening later, he heard a voice asking in reply, "What's point four?" Evidently, ghosts can be as befuddled by modern technology as the living.
"Normally we're the ones asking the questions," Smith said.
On another occasion, Smith said, he heard on the tape, loudly and clearly, aman calling out, “Help.”
Later, he used a technique that included asking questions of any ghosts within hearing distance. “Are you British?” he asked. “Are you from overseas?”
In response, the tape reveals the sound of broken glass popping beneath Smith’s feet and then a poignant voice crying, “Help me.”
“That’s what persuaded me to write to the selectmen,” Smith said.
Pam Peterson of the Marblehead Museum and Historical Society is well aware of Smith’s activities, and while she isn’t a believer in ghosts, she’s impressed with his methods and serious sense of purpose. At some point, Smith will be asked to give a talk at the museum, she said. Moreover, she thinks there’s reason to believe that some at the fort would be calling out, “Help me.”
“Prisoners were held at Fort Sewall during the War of 1812,” she said. “In the cells.”
Conditions for prisoners of war in those days were notoriously unsanitary and harsh.
The fort looked different then, too — its current stone dimensions reveal only the foundations of a defensive structure in existence since the 1600s. In its prime, the fort included wooden walls on top.
Up to six people are part of Crypto Paranormal Investigations, Smith said. Ordinarily, they are called by clients to prove or disprove claims of ghostly activities.
“Ninety-eight percent of paranormal phenomena can be explained scientifically,” Smith said. “We do not use mediums.” Even so, he’s prepared for the fact that some will ridicule his efforts to seek out life after death.
People joke a lot about the “Ghostbusters” movie, he said. They ask if he has a vacuum cleaner to suck up all the ghosts. “I do have a vacuum cleaner,” he joked. “I use it to clean.”
Smith’s father, a composer and New York City school teacher, helped him purchase his gear and initially joined in the hunt for the paranormal. CPI came into existence when Smith was only 14.
He is currently preparing to enroll at Green Mountain College in Vermont where he will study psychology and bioengineering.
He’s asking the selectmen for 12 to 24 hours at Fort Sewall with access at night — some of the cameras only work in total darkness. Further, he needs electricity to power them.
The prospect that ghosts might be dangerous leaves Smith unconcerned. He concedes that the paranormal is often found in the aftermath of “violent and traumatic events.” Some have warned of “demonic-style hauntings.”
Nonetheless, he said, “I’ve never heard of people being hurt or killed by ghosts. ... When things happen on a case — sometimes an object will move — it can be startling. But it doesn’t scare me. I’d be kind of ecstatic if I saw a full-blown apparition.”
