Who you gonna call? Ghost Searchers

By day Rathfriland woman Amy O’Reilly is an interior designer but by night she is a ghost hunter, on the trail of ghostly goings on throughout the UK and Ireland.

Amy is part of the ghostbusting team ‘Ghost Searchers Ireland’ (GSI) who carry out supernatural investigations in private homes, public buildings and notable landmarks, including Crumlin Road Gaol and, more locally, a haunted house in Banbridge.

Last year Amy and the ghost searchers were asked to investigate strange activity at a row of houses in the town.

“There used to be a manor house in the area and we think these houses were for the workers,” explained Amy.

“We had been told there was a man haunting the house who was supposed to have worked the land there.

Neighbours had an exorcism done after suspicious activity at their house and had been told the activity was actually coming from next door, which was the house we ended up investigating.”

Amy and the team set up their equipment in the Banbridge house and set about finding out all they could about what might be going on.

“There are about six to eight people in our team and we tend to split up once we arrive to cover different areas in the building,” Amy explained. “We use a lot of scientific equipment because our aim is to record proof of supernatural activity.

“We had been told people could hear footsteps going up and down the stairs so we set up motion detectors there. We use motion sensors at every location we investigate. We were all in the living room and the motion sensors we had set up in a room on the third floor of the house were going crazy. We asked for the spirit to go to the sensor to make it go off and it happened. The sensors were going off on demand.

“There were also reports of a very dark, menacing man walking up and down the alleyway to the house,” continued Amy.

“Footsteps had been heard and the neighbours could hear people in the house when they knew no-one was there. A small boy was there, as well as a lady but the spirits are all from different time zones. We got the feeling the boy was afraid of the man. It was a very interesting case.”

Ghost Searchers Ireland also regularly carry out tours and public investigations at various locations in Northern Ireland, including Crumlin Road Gaol. To find out more about Ghost Searchers Ireland log onto www.ghostsearchers.com or search Facebook for ghostsearchersireland.