Between shows like "Ghost Hunters,"  and a rumored sequel to "Ghostbusters," Americans seem to be going through one of those periodic fascinations with finding the paranormal spirits around them and figuring out how to get rid of them.

According to The New York Times, spiritual housecleaning is a booming business and experts abound. One such paranormal expert on the bleeding edge of the paranormal business is Bonnie Vent, who operates a site called San Diego Paranormal and is the author of "Is My House Haunted? A Practical Guide."  She claims that all sorts of hocus pocus such as potions and lotions to rid your home of spirits is a bunch of hooey. Communication is allegedly the key to good relations with the afterworld.

Other paranormal investigators go the high-tech route, outfitting themselves with all sorts of electronic monitoring gear and nightvision cameras. That's the strategy that the investigators use on "Ghost Hunters," a spooky series on The Sci-Fi Channel.

As a general rule, it's best to just take the obvious precautions to prevent a good haunting. Don't build your home on an old native American burial ground. Or move into the house where an entire family was butchered by a tormented relative. You know--the standard stuff. Or you can take your hauntings with a grain of salt, and realize that they might not even be real. But what's the fun in that?

Even experts know that not every ghost-cleansing operations goes smoothly, like when the stacks of The New York Public Library are haunted.