Ghost Hunters Part I: South Jersey research organization offers sanity for those plagued by ghosts

Three-year-old Dave Juliano was sleeping peacefully in his bedroom when one night, something woke him up.

When Juliano opened his eyes and peered into the darkness, he saw a little boy.

He should have been alone. He had no brothers. No friends or cousins were in the house at the time.

The visitor was about two feet tall and had the features of a small child, but his head was swollen well beyond normal size. He was wearing a blue gown so long his hands were invisible, and he was surrounded by a glowing haze. He spoke in gibberish.

Frightened, Juliano ran to his parents' bedroom. He woke his father but was told to go back to sleep.

Juliano returned to his room to find the boy now standing on his bed. Juliano covered his small face with a pillow and leapt onto the bed. The boy disappeared.

Now 35, Juliano still remembers vividly that first encounter with the boy-ghost, who would continue to haunt him for the next 26 years.

"I lived the next 15 years in fear of what was going on and looking for answers," said Juliano, now a stocky middle-aged man who sits at a small table at the Blackwood Rotary Library in Blackwood, N.J. His hair is closely shaven and his features hint at his Italian heritage. "I had nowhere to turn to ask the questions that people have now, that we answer."

The "We" he refers to are the 25 members of the South Jersey Ghost Research (SJGR) organization, a practicing paranormal research group based in South Jersey and supporting all of New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the New York City area since 1998. They are retired police officers, computer analysts, Web designers, health professionals, real estate agents, and executive assistants. They work in engineering, finance, and mechanics. Some own and operate their own businesses. Some are practicing mediums and reiki masters who "channel life energy" to heal.

To many people outside the group, they are the charlatans or loose screws of society.

But to others, they are saviors of sanity who confirm that what is happening is not just a figment of their own minds.

Sitting beside Juliano is SGJR's co-director, Jaime Eachus, 29, a practicing medium, angel therapy practitioner, and reiki master. Eachus also owns a private practice, The Ancient Healing Center.

Angel therapy practitioners are trained to heal the mind, body, and spirit, guided by spirits, archangels, guardian angels, and spirit guides. They rely on intuitive abilities, oracle cards, and metaphysical tools.

Reiki is a non-invasive method of hands-on healing whereby a universal life energy is channeled through the reiki practitioner to the recipient.

Eachus joined SGJR in 2003 because she said she wanted to "really help people understand what's going on in their homes and not be frightened and really kind of embrace the possibility that there is life after death."

Eachus also heads SJGR's lightworkers, a subgroup of SJGR members who deal with private homeowners who have high levels of negative energy in their homes.

Due to the physical, emotional, and psychological demands of their cases, members working as lightworkers must be able to work and communicate well with each other, she said. "Most often we have emotional side effects: sadness, anger, depression at times, extreme fatigue, our bodies may literally feel as if we ran a marathon, feelings of being hung-over, migraines," she said. "We have had a couple of cases where a lightworker or two have walked out with physical paranormal scratches on their back."

A recent case involved a three-story home in New Jersey that was built on a Native American burial ground and has been the hub of negative energy since the hammer hit the first nail. Although the current residents are not the first owners, nor the ones who destroyed the sacred ground, the spirits were apparently upset with them.

Eachus suggested that this negative energy might have be a result of prior residents having practiced dark magic, including animal sacrifices, off the balcony that now belongs to the bedroom of an 11-year-old boy.

The boy was so sensitive to the paranormal energies of the house that, after experiencing numerous nightmares and difficulty breathing, he refused to sleep in his own bed, Eachus said.

After his breathing difficulties prompted an emergency room visit, his parents sought the help of SJGR.

When Eachus and her team of lightworkers arrived at the house last fall, Eachus said she immediately sensed large amounts of activity.

As they walked up the stairs to the second floor, Eachus felt like she was "walking into a thick oppressive atmosphere," she said. She was nauseous and headachy, too, she remembered. By the time she reached the boy's room, Eachus said she had difficulty breathing.

Eachus' team immediately began to help the family and heal the disturbances in the energy, she said.

For three and-a-half hours, the team worked with energy, creating shields to allow only certain types of energies into the house, communicating with restless Native American spirits and explaining to them that this family was not the same family involved with the dark arts.

Eventually, Eachus, the mother, and her son returned to the room upstairs. The boy's face brightened.

"'I can breathe again! I can breathe again! It feels like my room,'" Eachus said she remembers the boy saying.

"To see his reaction was amazing," Eachus said. "His face was like Christmas when he went in. It really reminded us what we are there to do."

Helping others is an essential part of SJGR's mission, which provides it services at no charge. Juliano said he has always believed dealing with paranormal situations should be not be a financial burden to those in need of guidance.

In fighting the stigma attached to ghost researchers like SJGR, thanks to Hollywood portrayals and actual charlatans, Juliano has actively pursued avenues to prove that SJGR is not just some ghost busting organization intent on taking people's money.

His first step began 14 years ago with the development of and launch of a Web site, The Shadowlands.net. The Web site features basic information about ghost hunting as well as 13,000 stories that visitors have submitted about their own experiences.

A message on the Web site from Juliano explains, "This page is a place where you can get information, comfort and help."

"Every time I saw someone selling something or charging a fee to do it, I would find out what information they were giving and put it up for free," Juliano said, "basically because I don't feel that people should have to pay when they need help like that."

Sometimes helping means answering a few questions over the phone. Sometimes it means conducting cemetery clean-ups or doing ghost investigations. Other times it involves offering lectures or seminars, which also double as fundraisers for the group.

SJGR is the first fully recognized non-profit paranormal research group recognized by the government with its own 501(c3) number.

Juliano remembered applying for the number.

"A lot of groups claim to be non-profit," he said. "We were the first ever, according to the IRS, the first ever paranormal research group because they didn't know how to the classify us. I was surprised they even gave us the opportunity because at first I kind of questioned whether they were going to do it or hang up because of a prank phone call."

The group made it past the government's required four-year probationary period and has functioned as an official non-profit every since.

This was a huge break in legitimizing the SJGR and its work.

"We aren't trying to prove ghosts exist because I don't think that is going to be possible, in my lifetime anyway," Juliano said. "We have nothing to gain by saying they are here or not. We are independently coming out and because it's typically not everyone in the house, at least they know they aren't crazy."

About This Story

Graduate student and photographer Donna Lindsay spent two months last semester following the South Jersey Ghost Research organization. Lindsay joined the group on several seminars, fundraisers and lectures, and spoke several times with director Dave Juliano and co-director Jamie Eachus. Several examples and experiences had to be reconstructed from interviews with various members of the organization. The nature of the private home investigation requires certain details to be left out to protect the rights and personal desires of the individuals involved.

This is Part One of

a Two part Series.