“Are all castles haunted?” ghost hunter John Zaffis asked. “Heck, yeah! I’ve never been in one that hasn’t been.” Zaffis, the “Godfather of the Paranormal,” entranced a large number of Colgate students the day after Halloween when he gave a talk about his life as a ghost hunter, supplemented by a slideshow of genuine photographs and audio clips.

As an authority in the field of the paranormal, Zaffis became interested in ghosts at the age of 16 when he first saw the ghost of his grandfather. He has appeared in a number of documentaries, including several on the Discovery Channel, and has written a book called “Shadows of the Dark,” with future plans to publish books entitled “The Struggle Within” and “Possessed Possessions.”

Zaffis began his bewitching talk by discussing ghosts. He defined a ghost as the energy of an individual,whose purpose is to communicate with the living world. Ghosts, he explained, do not come back to kill or harm us. Sometimes ghosts can be quite friendly, which can be exhibited through the concept of imaginary friends; children who claim to have imaginary friends may actually be conversing with the spirits of friends or loved ones.

Zaffis also explained how spirits tend to haunt houses into which new families have recently moved because they strongly dislike change. They are unwilling to deal with charge, and so they may cause problems for new house owners.

However, there is nothing people can do to get rid of ghosts, Zaffis said. When they are ready to cross over, they will cross over, and people, even ghost hunters, cannot do anything to change that. In the meantime, the ghosts are stuck following around those who are living.

“There is no time in the spirit world,” Zaffis said. “Therefore, ghosts keep repeating what they did when they were alive.” In his line of work, Zaffis takes thousands of photos, and most of the time he does not find anything paranormal. Although some do witness real apparitions, most people who think they see ghosts actually just see energy masses, which can be gray, white or black. People often send Zaffis photographs of paranormal activity, claiming that they see ghostly orbs or even 20 to 30 ghosts in one single picture.

“Nine out of 10 times it’s dust or moisture that shows up in these photographs,” Zaffis said.

However, when Zaffis does find paranormal photographs, he usually does not realize it until he goes home and studies all the ones he took that day. In one spellbinding picture that he shared during his lecture, there was a pitcher resting on top of a table. Yet, upon further inspection, he discovered that the pitcher was actually levitating off the table, and was even tilted forward a bit, as if someone was grabbing it by the handle.

Zaffis also shared several EVPs, or Electronic Voice Phenomena. In one particularly chilling audio clip, a little girl could be heard saying “hello” in the background of others talking. Although there was no young girl in the room when the conversation was occurring, Zaffis later discovered that there had once been a little girl living in the house.

“We have to keep an open mind when it comes to the paranormal,” Zaffis said.

It is most important to Zaffis when he receives evidence of the paranormal from nonbelievers. Not only is it the best proof, but it also quite rewarding to see in his enchanting line of work.

Contact Jaime Gelman at [email protected].