Windham, ME – For our first adventure ever, we needed somewhere to train. All of us had a passion to explore the supernatural, but truly had very little experience doing so in a serious way. There were six investigators then, all eager to get paranormal experiences under their belt, but it had to start with training.

Ty and Carol had been on a previous paranormal team, and that’s how they met prior to Ashley forming the group. Taking what they’d learned, both of these investigators met with the others before this episode was filmed in order to share their knowledge as well as train them on technical devices. From K-II meters and audio recorders, the technology for ghost hunting was pretty rudimentary back then, but no less important. Ty led the training on identifying and classifying EVPs while Carol handled anything that beeped or flashed, and when the whole team had cut their teeth on the basic ‘how-to’, it was time to find a safe yet active space that allowed filming. Enter: Carol’s Mom’s house.

They’d had calm experiences there for as long as they’d lived in the house, so the chance was at least above zero for the team to capture something on film, while not being overly frightened. And there was another first as well: none of the team members had any real experience on camera before then, and the same went for the tech crew. No one truly had experience filming a show. Yet, with infrared systems attached to wires and no viewscreens they worked together to film our first episode, guessing where the cameras were pointed.

Just like we’d seen on cable shows like “Ghost Hunters” we interviewed our claimant (Carol’s mom, Jen Elliot) before the investigation to find the hot spots, before we were released into the dark. Her experiences consisted of seeing a full body apparition on the day they moved in 10 years earlier, thinking that someone had arrived to help them move, realizing later that they were alone. Voices, shadow play, and strong feelings also attributed to the hauntings throughout the years and encouraged the team to give them their all.

Splitting into two teams and trying to mitigate noise contamination we set off on the two floors to try to contact anything that might be there. Our questioning was…rough. Our tactics were rougher. But our spirits were high! One of the biggest experiences we had was Ash sensing a cold chill moving through her and then shortly after a mirror fell off the door in the room where Ty and Katie were stationed. Coincidence? It could be! But what it did was light a fire for each of the six investigators that would propel their curiosity throughout the rest of the season.