http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=855983&auth=Peter+Downs%2C+Standard+Staff

TV show a creepy experience for teen

Posted By Peter Downs, Standard Staff

Devin Robbins used to be skeptical.

He had a tough time seeing much to believe in the murky world of the paranormal.

That was until the St. Catharines teen donned some high-tech ghost-hunting gear for a popular kids TV show and went searching for signs of disembodied spirits in a building some think is haunted.

The 15-year-old came through the experience with a whole new mindset.

“I started to find some evidence that I couldn’t find and an explanation for. I started to believe in ghosts,” Robbins said Saturday, relaxing at his family home in the city’s north end. “By the end of it, it really changed my opinions. It was really creepy.”

Robbins, a Grade 10 student at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, recently wrapped up filming episodes of the YTV show Ghost Trackers.

The series, which begins its fourth season Feb. 2, is shot at spooky locations around Ontario, including one episode shot in November at Keefer Mansion in Thorold.

Robbins is among a dozen teenaged contestants who will compete over 13 weekly episodes at finding signs of ghostly beings.

Each week, two contestants face off in the same location. They’re judged by other contestants on how well they track down paranormal activity using various gadgets, such as electo-magnetic field detectors, infrared thermometers and a parabolic microphone.

Robbins originally auditioned for the show in August and then landed the job after a second meeting with the show’s producers.

“It was a lot different than I thought it was going to be,” he said.