Who ya gonna call? Ghost hunters investigate Cohasset Town Hall

By Nancy White
GateHouse News Service

Cohasset, Mass. - The Town Hall is haunted.

That’s the determination made by a team of ghost hunters who investigated paranormal activity within the “old” part of Town Hall this past weekend.

A five-person team calling themselves the Enfield Paranormal Society investigated the possibility of a ghostly presence at the Town Hall.

After two nights of investigation in the dead of the night, founder and lead investigator Matt Kondracki has declared the Cohasset Town Hall haunted — and he has evidence to back up his claim.

On infrared camera, the Enfield Paranormal Society captured a door that leads to the Town Hall attic slowly closing by itself around 11:30 p.m. Saturday night. The other members of the crew were outside, and Kondracki was downstairs in the auditorium.

He wanted to ensure the door closing was truly paranormal activity, not a draft or a person’s doing. Accompanied by a police officer that stopped in to check on them, Kondracki attempted to debunk the video by trying to re-create the closing of the door in the same fashion. He could not close the door without being seen by the camera.

“We couldn’t do it man-made,” Kondracki said. This led him to conclude, “Something in this Town Hall is haunted.”

The camera’s positioning on this particular door, located on the second floor just off the Board of Health office, was purposeful. On Friday night, several of his team either witnessed or heard the door slam shut.

To Kondracki, the door closing was the smoking gun evidence of the weekend, but not his only evidence of paranormal activity in Cohasset’s Town Hall.

On Friday night, Kondracki and his crew began to set up cameras and digital recording equipment around 8 p.m., with all lights being turned off around 9:30 p.m. The first night they were able to capture electronic voice phenomenon, or EVPs, on a digital recorder. Ghosts use the electrical energy in a digital recorder to manifest themselves. EVPs cannot be heard by the ear alone, but can be heard through a tape recorder. On Friday night, they recorded a male voice saying a stern and clear “no.”

“EVP does not make a house haunted,” Kondracki said Friday. Unexplained heavy breathing was also caught on the digital recorder. Their medium, Mike Quadrato, said he felt the voice was an older gentleman who believes the Town Hall is his domain.

While in the actor’s dressing room behind the auditorium stage, Kondracki got a huge spike on a K2 meter, a device that picks up on changes in a room’s electric magnetic field, which is thought to be connected to paranormal activity. As soon as Kondracki saw the spike on the meter, a nearby video camera battery went dead.

It’s unclear who the ghost (or ghosts) of the Town Hall could be. Given the older portion of Town Hall has served myriad purposes since being built in 1857 -- including a theater, a private school, a movie theater, a basketball court, a ballroom, a jailhouse and, of course, a building for town departments -- the ghost could have been a part of any of those activities.

Town historian and archivist David Wadsworth can shed no light on the possible identity of the Town Hall ghost.

“I don’t know where the story (of a ghost in Town Hall) came from,” Wadsworth said. “People hear something about it and it becomes a legend.”

But theories abound from the ghost hunters, the medium and people in the community on who the haunting could be — a disgruntled prisoner in the basement jail cell or the victim of a hanging, a longtime janitor, school headmaster or a beautiful actress.

Ghost hunters
Kondracki, 25, has done investigations in private residences, public buildings and graveyards in Connecticut and Massachusetts. He lives in Enfield, Conn., while others in his team are based in western Massachusetts. He found the Cohasset Town Hall in a listing of haunted places on the Internet (www.theshadowlands.net). The detail explained there was possible poltergeist activity, particularly in the basement area, which once served as the town’s jail.

“A true poltergeist is a rarity,” Kondracki said. Poltergeists are troublesome, noisy ghosts often manifesting themselves with doors slamming, strange knocking, or similar unexplained events, he said. With his interest piqued, he called the Town Hall to seek permission for his team to investigate over a weekend.

When Kondracki called the Town Manager’s office, he reached administration assistant Jennifer Oram. A fan of the SciFi’s Channel’s “Ghost Hunters” series along with her son, Oram had a knowledge of what Kondracki meant by a paranormal investigation. With permission, she scheduled them to come this past weekend.

Kondracki has been ghost hunting for about a little more than a year, but he’s passionate and committed to it. Although always somewhat interested in the paranormal, it wasn’t until his aunt, a psychic, passed away in August 2006 he started his ghost hunting. His aunt had told him he had a special gift but he was too young to understand it, he said.

“I can see and bring out spirits,” said Kondracki, who considers himself a “sensitive”— a person who can feel a ghost’s presence, and often their emotions.

“Ghosts and paranormal like to respond to me, it’s crazy,” he said.

What he has encountered so far has only propelled him to continue investigating the paranormal. He has devoted nearly all his free time to ghost hunting. He started two groups: Ghost Hunter Investigations and Enfield Paranormal Society.

“I’m in this to convince people that ghosts are out there. I want to teach people the paranormal and ghosts are real,” Kondracki said. "There is an afterlife, and maybe people will have a better ease of dying.”

While skeptics doubt him at every turn, Kondracki is unwavering and unashamed in his beliefs. His Jeep Grand Cherokee is plastered with “Ghost Hunters” on the side. He is truthful at job interviews when they ask him of his other interests. He wears his “Enfield Paranormal Society” t-shirt out and about. He is willing to talk to anyone about paranormal activity and doesn’t turn down any investigations. He offers his services without charge and will often drive hours to an investigation, like he and his crew did this past weekend.

“I wouldn’t change this for anything in the world,” Kondracki said. He’s been able to convert six non-believers into believers over the past 13 months, including his mother and grandmother.

“if I can convince a non-believer to believe, I’ve done my job,” he said.

While the reference to the '80s movie “Ghostbusters” is nearly unavoidable, Kondracki said he doesn’t mind the reference to the iconic pop culture movie.

“If people want to know us by a well known movie that’s OK with me,” he said.

Pat Martin, host of the Comcast local cable television show “Our Town,” tagged along with the Enfield Paranormal Society members all weekend. She has hours of videotape from the two nights of investigation she plans on turning into an hourlong television show, and Martin plans on proposing a television series for Comcast’s CN8 station.

Methodology

Ghost hunting is a high-tech endeavor with infrared cameras, digital audio recording devices, video cameras, and electromagnetic field recorder (K2 meter). However, the most important piece is the human element.

“I approach it as if I’m intruding on their space. I’m just a guest,” Kondracki said. Having the right attitude and tone in your voice is imperative.

“If you introduce yourself, explain why you’re here, you tend to get a better response.”

When trying to pick up EVPs on a digital recorder, Kondracki will ask questions when he senses a presence. Some of the questions he may pose to the ghost are: "Who are you," "Why are you here," and "Did you die here." He waits about 20 seconds between questions. He’s had experiences where every question was answered.

He brings a small group with him on investigations, typically around five to six people. People interested in going on an investigation can send in a request from the Enfield Paranormal Society’s Web site.

“I take it serious, I don’t bring 15 or 20 people,” said Kondracki, which makes it more like a haunted house than an investigation. To the Cohasset Town Hall investigation he brought medium Mike Quadrato, lead assistant Tammy Kraft, technology specialist Jay Grundstrom and Kondracki’s cousin Kevin Koropatkin.

He does not recommend investigating alone and “never say you’re scared.” Ghosts feed off the fear, Kondracki said.

Renovations

The old portion of Town Hall is on the cusp of some major renovations in the next year. An historical architectural firm is currently investigating the Town Hall on a much different level, determining what kind of renovation is necessary and desired for this integral piece of town history.

David Farrag has been heading up the Town Hall renovation committee for the past year. The committee plans on seeking Community Preservation funds at the upcoming Town Meeting.

When Kondracki heard about the possible renovations, he warned the Town Hall could see increased paranormal activity.

“During renovations ghosts can really start letting you know they’re there,” Kondracki said. As he feels at least one of the Town Hall ghost considers the Town Hall his domain, he might take action to keep it just the way he likes it. The last time the Town Hall was renovated (not including the addition in the 1980s) was in the 1920s.

Farrag isn’t too concerned with the interference of a ghost in upcoming renovation, but knows the renovations will cost a significant chunk of money.

“If there are any ghosts, I want them paying rent,” Farrag said.

To find out more about the Enfield Paranormal Society including how to request an investigation or to join on an investigation, visit www.freewebs.com/enfieldparanormal or www.myspace.com/enfieldparanormalsociety.

Cohasset’s ghostly haunts

Maritime Museum

Cohasset’s Maritime Museum, once Samuel Bates’ ship chandlery on Border Street, is reputed to have been haunted by a ghost for some years after it was moved to its current location on Elm Street in the Village. Not long after the Maritime Museum opened to the public, its curators began to hear pacing footsteps coming from the upstairs office. During a meeting of the Historical Society downstairs in the Maritime Museum, the entire board witnessed the footsteps. A ghost hunter and author, Hans Holzer visited the museum and deduced the ghost must be John Bates, the last of the Bates family to own the building. John Bates was likely unhappy with the building’s move from the harbor.

It’s been said that the ghost of John Bates left the museum in 1972; perhaps satisfied the museum was a worthy use of his old chandlery. Since David Wadsworth has been the museum’s curator since the early 1980s he has never heard the footsteps.

The Enfield Paranormal Society wrote to the Historical Society to investigate, but were told the building was too cold during the winter months (it doesn’t have heat). The ghost hunters are interested in returning to Cohasset to investigate the ghost of John Bates when the weather gets warmer.

Minot Light

The tall granite lighthouse standing off the coast of Cohasset wasn’t the first Minot Light. Built in 1848 to 1849 the first Minot Light was a lantern room atop nine legs driven into Minot Ledge. In a severe April 1851 storm, the lighthouse toppled into the sea taking with it two lightkeepers, Joseph Wilson and Joseph Antoine. Wilson reportedly swam to Gull Rock off the glades in Scituate but did not survive the night. Antoine drowned in the storm before reaching shore.

During storms fishermen have reported seeing the ghost of Joseph Antoine standing on ladder outside Minot Light yelling “keep away, keep away.”