Have you ever heard something go bump in the night? Something you cant explain? Then Joe Franke and Orlando Ferrante might be your guys. The two heads of the Connecticut Paranormal Research Society specialize in the unexplainable. But as theyll tell you Saturday, Feb. 12, at Fairfield Woods Branch Library, theyve seen things even they cant account for.
Joe and Orlando first teamed up in 1995. But both had been investigating the paranormal long before, spurred by events from their childhood. Orlando says hes been hearing strange noises and seeing strange sights since he was 6 years old. But for most of his youth, his mother just explained them away.
It wasnt until I was older that she told me that this kind of stuff ran in our family, Orlando says. So I inherited some of their abilities.
Joe can pinpoint his interest in the otherworldly to the precise moment. When he was just 4, he was trying to fall asleep when he heard a gentle voice calling his name. He went to his parents, who just told him to go to bed. Hours later, his grandmother called. His grandfather, also named Joe, died that night.
What I feel in my heart of hearts is that I heard God calling my grandfather, Joe says.
Orlando and Joe both became friends with Ed and Lorraine Warren, renowned ghost hunters and founders of the New England Society for Psychic Research. Sixteen years ago, after working with the Warrens for years, Joe and Orlando founded their own group. To this day, they work as a nonprofit, traveling to homes across the state investigating strange happenings.
But Joe and Orlando say theyre different from most ghost hunters because their main goal is helping people, not the thrill of the hunt. In fact, they spend most of their energy trying to find logical reasons for whats going on -- like mice in the walls causing those strange noises, or drafty windows leading to telltale cold spots. Then, if they do find evidence, they try to help their clients find a way to put the spirits at ease.
Theyre looking to get the money shot, Joe says of some other groups. Thats not what this is about. This is about understanding the paranormal and trying to understand whats going on.
Joe and Orlandos lecture begins Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Fairfield Woods Branch Library, 1147 Fairfield Woods Road.
Do you believe in the paranormal? Share your own ghost stories in the comments below.
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