‘Ghosts Of Shepherdstown’ returns

So, the show is back for another season of eight episodes. Episode one premiered July 10 at 10 p.m. on the network, with an investigation at the John Brown Wax Museum in Harpers Ferry. Episode two took the investigators to Sharpsburg, Maryland. Today, they are in Martinsburg.

Season one premiered after 911 calls reporting what appeared to be supernatural activity in Shepherdstown inspired Police Chief Mike King to enlist the help of paranormal investigators.

Paranormal investigator Nick Groff has over 10 years’ experience. He was one of the original three investigators on “Ghost Adventures.” He now heads “Ghosts of Shepherdstown” and “Paranormal Lockdown.”

Groff said of his first experiences in Shepherdstown, “I was intrigued when I learned that the police were trying to figure out the unexplainable happenings that were occurring and Chief King needed my help.”

In the first season of “Ghosts Of Shepherdstown,” Groff, paranormal investigator and tech expert Bill Hartley and paranormal sensitive Elizabeth Saint enlisted help from local historian Dana Mitchell and psychic medium Lorie Johnson to uncover clues linking the rash of mysterious incidents to Shepherdstown’s history. The first season finale culminated in a ceremony on the Potomac River to cleanse the town of its “Witches Curse.”

Groff said he didn’t expect to encounter all the strange phenomena he did in Shepherdstown.

“I did rule out a lot of the claims that we attributed to natural causes, but there was a lot of weird things we couldn’t explain,” he said. “This intrigued me even more. I was very surprised with all of the calls the police were getting, and it was interesting to hear the different experiences people were sharing with us.”

Some cases really intrigued Groff, he said.

“The case down by the water intrigued me the most. Hearing about a girl seeing a body floating down the river and the woods where we all had experiences with something unknown,” he said. “Not only that, but there were other unusual things happening I noticed on several investigations that didn’t relate to the end story of our puzzle pieces we were putting together.”

However, he said he never thought they’d be back once they thought they’d resolved the town’s strange activity.

When Chief King began hearing from his colleagues in neighboring police jurisdictions that the mysterious happenings had spread to their nearby towns — suggesting that Shepherdstown is only one piece to a much larger paranormal puzzle — Groff, Hartley and Saint returned earlier this year to follow new leads.

“There are several towns and even still now they have some others happening,”Groff said. “It’s always intriguing to find ourselves searching for these unexplainable events to conclude, but sometimes it goes deeper than what we think. We were able to rule out some typical claims, but some cases get intense.”

The first case was at the John Brown Wax Museum in Harpers Ferry. The manager complained of unusual activity that made her fear being in the museum alone. Throughout the investigation, Groff said the team discovered spirits with ties to the Civil War, the raid on Harpers Ferry and a family that suffered a tragedy.

In tonight’s episode, they are called to Boydville, the 1812 mansion built by Revolutionary War General Elisha Boyd on South Queen Street. It has long been a popular bed-and-breakfast and wedding locale.

Other towns visited this season include Charles Town, Sharpsburg, South Mountain and Shepherdstown.

Actual ratings numbers weren’t yet available, but a spokesperson for Destination America said Season two is performing well above average.

Episode 3 premiers at 10 p.m. Previous episodes air all afternoon and evening. Or, watch all 8 episodes and Season one online at www.destinationamerica.com.

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