The Long Island Paranormal Investigators, who have been active for 21 years, utilize various tools and tests to investigate mysterious happenings around the country, including when they visited the Bridgehampton landmark of the Nathanial Rogers House.
When describing one test, James Saccone of Smithtown, the tech manager of the Long Island Paranormal Investigators, said, “We’ve been experimenting with colored noise”—which refers to the various sound frequencies associated with different types of physical sensations—“and just seeing what happens with paranormal activity based on different types of noises.”
While standing in one of the second-floor bedrooms, Mr. Saccone played two “colored noises,” purple and brown, from his cell phone and proceeded to address any “entities” that might have been present. The hour-long session was recorded using what Mr. Saccone described as “the most important thing in your toolbox,” which happened to be a simple digital audio recorder.
Through the recorder, along with video cameras that were stationed around the house, the group would be able to go back and double-check their findings, whatever they happened to be. The colored noise test, in particular, could, it had been explained, allow an “entity” to use the wavelengths of the colored noise to transmit a new message. This is what is referred to as “electronic voice phenomena,” or EVP, which the Long Island Paranormal Investigators described as “the hearing of unexplainable voices during the playback of a recording made on an electronic recording device.”
A Science-Driven Approach
“We’re very science-driven,” Michael Cardinuto of Lake Ronkonkoma, a founder of the group, stated when asked about the tests being conducted. “Ever since we started, from day one, we fill out field reports. The team has done over 1,000 investigations with over 1,000 field reports.”
The goal, Cardinuto later stated, was to “compile all the data and see if there are any patterns.”
Mr. Cardinuto has said he has been interested in the paranormal since childhood. When he and his childhood friends received their driver’s licenses, they began exploring local urban legends, such as the long-closed Kings Park Psychiatric Center, which is now a popular destination for ghost hunters and vandals.
“I dared two of my friends to go in, and they went in with a cheap video camera and walkie-talkies,” he remembered. “They were in the sublevel basement, and they heard a loud ‘bang’ sound. The camera shut off, and it freaked them out, and that kinda intrigued us.”
An Intricate Operation
On the night of their investigation, the paranormal investigators’ cameras, motion sensors, and heat-sensing laser grids line the hallways. Music boxes were tucked into corners, all in an attempt to capture any sign of ghostlike activity. The stillness and silence of the investigation might have shocked some who have watched shows such as Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures, which often introduce theatrics to keep viewers hooked.
“We try to explain to people that’s not how it really is,” Mr. Cardinuto stated.
The flashiest tests came from those that took place in a tiny bedroom using a cellphone app called EchoBox, which is an app “full of word banks with phonetic sounds that supposedly spirits can manipulate,” Mr. Saccone said.
While most of the test sounded as if the phone was spitting out nonsense, recordings of the word “no” and a reference to “fued” were recorded. The most telling part wasn’t the “talking” but the silence in between.
“The real core part of paranormal investigations is just sitting around in silence. It’s a lot like fishing,” Mr. Saccone stated. “You throw your line out there, and you hope you catch something. The only difference is I know there’s fish somewhere in the ocean. Do I know what’s here? I’m hoping somebody is here with us.”
