Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

My interest in the paranormal goes back a long way. When I was about six years old, I organized my brother and my cousins into a small group we called “The Ghost Gang.” I’m not sure how interested they all were in looking for ghosts, but I organized them into the group anyway. We repeatedly investigated our own homes, mine in Slatington and theirs in Spring City, because it was all we had access to. I believe we also once tried to investigate my grandparents’ place, in spite of the fact that nobody had ever died there.

Time passed, because it has very little else to do. We grew up. My cousins had kids and joined the Marines and the Navy, respectively, and my brother became a reputable journalist. (I myself grew into a disreputable journalist.)

The Ghost Gang was almost fifty years ago. But, oddly, today I am known largely for this same kind of thing. I’m the field leader for the Lock Haven Paranormal Seekers, and we investigate ghosts, and often I write about it. I hadn’t really realized, at age six, that I could make this whole thing into an actual career. As far as I know, I’m the only one of the Ghost Gang who is still at it.

My son, Paul, is nine years old. He’s been learning about ghost hunting for quite a while, and he’s gotten good at it. Last summer, when one of his little friends said her house was haunted, Paul went and got his equipment to investigate. “I’ll handle this, Daddy,” he said as he headed out the door.

About a year ago, one of his little classmates moved in next door. Serena. I mean, she wasn’t alone; she brought her whole family. Serena and her little sisters: Seriya, Sekiya, and Samiya. And there’s another little girl, Love, who lives across the alley.

Serina was thrilled when she found out I’m a paranormal investigator. She wanted to learn all about it. By contrast, Paul is pretty casual about it. “Oh, yeah, we look for ghosts all the time.” Paul thinks nothing of going with me on investigations; that’s just life for him. Paul is going to rebel against me one day by getting an accounting job.

So I taught Serina to hunt ghosts. She and Paul now have their own little toolbox of equipment that they use to check out our house, and any other neighborhood property they think might be haunted, like the alley. I made them T-shirts, with their names on them, and a little ghost symbol. And I added the team name: “Ghost Gang.”

Serena’s shirt is black; Paul’s is pink. Later, Love and Seriya came to me requesting their own shirts. So I made them each a shirt, respectively yellow and red, and I taught them how to use the equipment, and now we have these little technicolor investigators running around the block. (My Ghost Gang never got our own shirts.)

They investigate my place, specifically Paul’s room. We’re haunted by Ida Yost, a suicide from 1905, so they know they’re in an authentic haunted house. Recently, it was the anniversary of Ida’s death. On August 19, 1905, she committed suicide on my back porch, so the kids wanted to stake it out. We lit a fire in the fire pit, and they roasted marshmallows, and investigated a little, and had a good time.

In this age of constant reboots, it’s interesting to see my old club rebooted. In today’s era, the kids have a lot more opportunities to do these interesting things, and learn a lot more, and they’re having all kinds of fun with it.

The Ghost Gang lives.