Boston is rich with History, and, rightly so, full of ghosts, some say.
Over the summer, The Biography Channel decided the Hub’s hauntings were notable enough that they filmed an episode of “Haunted Encounters: Face to Face” at one of Boston’s well-known spots for paranormal activity.
The show, which aired in December, explores ghost tales from some of the country’s most haunted cities.
The visit to Boston took investigators into the depths of the Hub, where historians say ghosts roam the abandoned subway tracks of the MBTA.
The Paranormal Syndicate, the name of the group that came together for the show to track ghosts, was headed by Daniel Hooven, who said his time in Boston resulted in some eerie happenings.
“We were going to do the Lizzy Borden House, and choose things in the area. But we wanted to do something non-traditional,” Hooven told BostInno. “Personally, I love exploring a lot of theses places. When we got the OK for the train tracks I was really excited.”
Hooven and the team were given access to the abandoned MBTA tunnels that run below the city in the Back Bay area.
The episode, called “Boston’s Haunted Underworld,” took the team of paranormal investigators into the belly of the underground system, searching for signs of spirits and ghosts lingering from the devastating blast centuries ago.
“It was definitely one of the most dangerous places. We could only see a few feet in front of us,” said Hooven. “It was very eerie.”
Specialized camera equipment and recording devices were used during the underground hunt to capture any signs of paranormal life within the passageways.
Using a technique they call a “ripple in time,” Hooven and his team played sounds of explosions and people screaming to “stir up raw emotion” similar to what happened at the time of the actual event, “hoping to motivate communication from the other side.”
The results were haunting.
“Our flashlights died, everything just died,” said Hooven. “When every piece of equipment starts failing, I know it sounds crazy, but what else can do that?”
In a second encounter, Hooven said he tripped and sprained his ankle, and the crew set him aside in a utility room off of the T tracks alone.
While in the room, he used an “Electronic Voice Phenomenon” device, which captures and plays back the voices of the undead.
When Hooven spoke into the device, saying he was in the room because his ankle hurt, a voice played through the recorder and said “Ice It.”
“It was an audible voice,” he said. “I was sitting in there alone.”
Hooven and his team have disbanded for now, and are working on their own projects until they hear back from The Biography Channel about whether or not a second season of the show will be picked up.
If it is, Hooven hopes they come back to Boston.
“I would like to come back,” he said. “I’ll be up there regardless. It’s one of my favorite places.”
