Living with things that go bump in the night
A&E takes a look at paranormal activity in city condo building
By Lindsay Sauvageau Lsauvageau@leominsterchamp.com

"When you first realize something's going on, you're in disbelief and
then you live in disbelief every day because you want to debunk
everything, you hope you're not crazy. There's always a logical
explanation and then, when there's not, it's probably paranormal."

Shannon Sylvia
This is the way seasoned paranormal investigator Shannon Sylvia
explained how she goes through each day, working as owner and operator
of In Design in Leominster, as a paranormal investigator for New England
Paranormal and living in her condo on Main Street, which she believes,
is haunted.
And she's not the only one.
Since moving into the 12-unit condo complex she purchased in 1998, the
complex has been investigated several times by both paranormal
researchers and psychics. Investigators have collected data using the
personal experiences of Sylvia and the building's other tenants. Some of
the building's tenants report of pets acting strangely, televisions
turning on and off for no reason and a few who claim to have seen visual
images, a full-figure apparition of a man in an old-style fireman's
uniform as well as small, dark figures darting through the hallways -
what investigators call "shadow people." They have also collected
physical data such as a series of sound clips known as electronic voice
phenomena or EVPs.

"In January of 2005, investigators caught some very good EVPs. They're
still used in paranormal lectures in Boston to show people what they're
like," said Sylvia.
The events and experiences that have been recorded in what was formerly
the Pierce Street School have incited producers of "Paranormal U," a new
reality show for the A&E network, to tape an entire episode in her home
beginning Jan. 11.
"We found the case through a psychic who had been to Shannon's house,"
said Autumn Humphreys, one of the show's producers. "In terms of our
decision to film, we felt there was enough urgency and activity to
address the case on camera."

"Paranormal U" will focus on members of the Penn State Paranormal
Research Society and will consist of 13, 30-minute episodes, of which
the Leominster haunting will make up its eighth. Producers said the
series will include investigations of not just ghost hauntings, but
demonic cases and UFO sightings. Using high-tech video and audio
equipment, as well as thermal-imaging equipment, Sylvia hopes this new
investigation will give her even more answers.
"I've had things disappear right in front of my eyes," she continued,
"I've seen things moving and I've heard footsteps, children's laughter
and voices in the middle of night," she said. "We live on Main Street,
so it's not like we live in the quietest place on the planet, but you
learn to differentiate."

Sylvia has experienced both the frightening and the annoying in her
home, from doors slamming open and shut violently, to packages of
hotdogs going missing in front of her eyes.
"I lay out my outfit for the next day the night before I go to sleep and
I have actually lost an entire outfit before. I haven't seen it again,"
Sylvia said. "I never even got to wear it"
However, Sylvia's experiences with the paranormal are not limited to the
strange happenings in her current home.
Sylvia herself has been working as a paranormal investigator for several
years and her interest in the subject began when she was only a child
and went against her Catholic upbringing.

"I got interested in the field during my early childhood. My family and
I once lived in a home in Leominster which was so badly haunted we
actually had the house blessed," said Sylvia. "I barely remember what
happened, I was very young but I know I used to hear voices speaking in
tongues. The only thing I could recognize was my name. After that,
growing up I read everything I could on the subject, against my parent's
better judgments."
For several years Sylvia has been taking her interest to the next level.
She has trained in Boston and now works with New England Paranormal, a
non-profit paranormal investigation team with members from Massachusetts
all the way to New York. She has also helped the TAPS paranormal
investigation team out of Rhode Island on several occasions.

She says between both groups she has been part of at least eight to 10
investigations in the past year and a half, including two, which she
sited as the most noteworthy. An investigation of the Veau Mansion in
Gardner for instance got "good results" she says, and has prompted
further study since.
Recently she helped the TAPS crew with an investigation in Clinton,
which produced one of the group's most famous investigations. Aired on
the TAPS Sci-Fitelevision show "Ghost Hunters," the episode captured
Grant Wilson, one of the lead investigators, being mysteriously
scratched on the back. Sylvia herself captured the heavy breathing
experienced by all of the crew during that episode on tape as an EVP.

Sylvia says in her experience that about three out of every 10
investigations turn out to have positive results. The activity she has
experienced in her own home.
"I lived in two other apartments with never any incident before I moved
into the condo, but when I did it started right away," she said. "It's a
great place though, it's very beautiful. I love living here."
She says her husband Jeff has been very supportive of the whole
experience.
"I'm happy he's accepted all of this. He's not as excited about it as me
but he has helped on investigations and he is supportive. He's sort of a
go-with-the-flow guy. He's fine with anything after his eight hours of
sleep," she said.
When asked if she was excited about the new "Paranormal U"
investigation, she said she was simply nervous to have her home on
television.

"I just hope the house is clean enough," she said. "The world's going to
see it. I also don't want them to be disappointed. Out of three or four
investigations there was only one bad (uneventful) night and even then
the crew was only there for a few hours so I'm hopeful they won't go
away emptyhanded."