(L-R) - GHI's Paul Bradford and Barry FitzGerald at the controls of the plane in Peru. Photo by/copyright of Barry FitzGerald.
As a published author, photographer, explorer, world-traveler and team leader on Syfy’s popular paranormal reality TV series Ghost Hunters International, you never know where Barry FitzGerald might turn up. In the show’s third and current season, he and his fellow teammates have continued to travel the globe in order to prove or debunk local paranormal claims.
In the season opener, Temple of Doom, the GHI team journeyed to two locations in Peru, the first being Chavin to investigate a pre-Incan, sacred stone hiding an extraordinary secret. From there they traveled to Lima to see if they could communicate with the ghost of a famous matador who was killed during a bullfight at the Plaza de Acho.
“As a singular case, the bull ring in Lima was OK,” says FitzGerald “Unfortunately there wasn’t much to report. The biggest obstacle for us came up in Chavin and the Incan ruins high up in the Andes. We had to fly into that [location] on a small plane, which at times was going sideways, and the turbulence was extremely severe. Once we landed we were already at 11,000 feet, and when you began to move you could feel that there was a lack of air and your body was trying to compensate.
“We then jumped into pickups and began our climb up over the top of the mountain ranges. It was both staggering and beautiful. There was also hardly anyone to be seen. Once we cleared the towns and moved into the mountains it was just complete desolation, but it still had a certain beauty to it, which I was in awe of.
Road to Chavin. Photo by/copyright of BarryFitzGerald.
“That case itself threw a spanner into the works because it wasn’t your typical ghost case. The stone, the Lanzone itself, presented a noise or type of frequency that we didn’t expect. It was absolutely amazing to see a stone that for all intents and purposes was dead – there was nothing going on with it – but the moment we criticized the priests, that’s when the stone kicked into life and began producing this vibration.
“When I got back home I was speaking with some friends of mine, who said to me, ‘Barry, you’ve heard that vibration before.’ The aborigines actually used a device called a bullroarer, which they spun around their heads, to produce the same vibration in order to contact their sky gods. It was just fascinating to see that continents apart, there appears to be a common knowledge, buried or otherwise, when it come to communication with these higher spirits or gods if you want to call them that.
“While I was in Peru I took the opportunity to explore the land of the Nazca and flew over the lines that are drawn on the desert. It was also my first time seeing a UFO at the coastal city Chincha, although I’m not going to say that what I saw were little green men and a flying saucer,” he notes with a chuckle. “What I did see, though, and I was told this might happen, were objects rising out the sea and flying over the city. I was very surprised I must say at whatever I did see. In fact, I went one step further and actually managed to photograph it coming out of the water and flying over the city. Honestly, I have no idea what it was, but it left me stunned for quite some time wondering what on Earth I did just witness.
“So there is something really bizarre going on in Peru and those Incas were really tapped into something two or three thousand years ago that we’ve forgotten. It was fascinating just to be able to scratch the surface and see what was hiding underneath.”
Behind-the-scenes at the haunted bull ring. Photo by/copyright of Barry FitzGerald.
From Peru, GHI moved on to Italy, specifically the Italian Alps, to investigate The Fort of Fenestrelle, known as “The Great Wall of the Alps.” It is believed that one of history’s most famous prisoners, “The Man in the Iron Mask,” was held there and is the cause of a great deal of paranormal activity. FitzGerald and his colleagues had to clear a rather large physical hurdle in order to get to the actual fort.
“That was one hell of a climb,” he says. “I thought Peru was bad, but this one really put us through our paces. It’s a four-thousand step climb up to that fortress, which is just staggering and some of the team were having serious problems with the various staircases. You can do the climb in about two-and-a-half hours, but that’s just the steps. There are also areas where there are no steps, but just a steep hill. So you have to climb the hill as well as the steps. We didn’t discover that, though, until we started to ascend to the top.
“Something bizarre was definitely going on there, and I did mange to experience some unusual things happening at the top of the fortress and away from the areas that had been redeveloped. That location is, of course, also where Susan [Slaughter] had the stones thrown at her. It was interesting that after we filmed the [episode] reveal, our client was able to see the shadow move along the top floor of the barracks. I must admit that my own eagle eye never let that one pass. I brought it to the team’s attention and everyone asked me how on Earth I’d managed to see that.
Paul Bradford climbing the steps to the Italian fortress. Photo by/copyright of Barry FitzGerald.
“It was great that we were able to capture that shadow moving because it was a place that none of us ever would have gone to. It was just too dangerous, yet whatever this was it was moving very fast along the top floor of the officers’ barracks. This is also the place where I heard footsteps running away whenever I raised the French flag in the fortress. Funnily enough, after the reveal, the client’s son came up to him and said, ‘Dad, don’t you remember there was a photograph taken of that building and there was something unusual about it.’ Again, at that stage we had already shot the reveal, so unfortunately we missed out on that, but it would have been a nice touch to have added that piece of information.
“We weren’t able to uncover the identity of The Man in the Iron Mask, but I am sure that there is something very strange happening at the higher levels of that fortress which really warrants further investigation.”
The Actun Tunichil Muknal Caves in Belize was the next port of call for the intrepid GHI team, where the Crystal Maiden’s spirit is believed to be trapped. “It was a sad story,” says FitzGerald, “and I’ve been contacted by people from all over the world who’ve been asking, ‘Are you sure she was a sacrifice?’ We were told that that was the case, but we really don’t know at this stage because of the way she was laying on the ground. It seemed unusual, and she was brought to the very back end of the cave system, which would have been almost impossible to get up, to. In my opinion if you wanted to hide a body, that would be the best place to do it. However, they say she was sacrificed to the Mayan Gods of the underworld. It wouldn’t surprise me considering what I’ve uncovered in Malta and the over 30.000 remains, which suggests there were sacrifices to these gods of the underworld.
“The tunnel system that we explored in this episode was incredible,” he continues. “Most times we were up to and sometimes over our chins in water, and as you’re walking through these tight passages you can’t help but wonder, ‘Is there going to be a flood? Are we going to survive it?’ At one point, Scott [Tepperman], Susan and I were lured deeper into the cave system by something responding to our calls. When I later questioned the guide about it at the reveal, he said that his grandfathers had told stories about these voices and how such things would lure people off into the cave system and lead to their demise. When I asked him what would have happened had we continued to follow the voices, he said, ‘You would die.’ He was that point-blank – it will kill you.
The Landzone Stone in Peru. Photo by/copyright of Barry FitzGerald.
“We arrived at a certain section where the cave floor dropped off into the water and we couldn’t see around the corner. Whatever this thing was it was at the other side of the corner, but safety wouldn’t have allowed us to go any further. So there was something else I have to say down in that Mayan underworld that shared that cave with us that night, and the strange thing was whenever we turned around and started making our way back, it stopped calling. It was an eerily creepy place, but yet it had this profound beauty inside with different natural sculptures and stalagmites and stalactites.”
This same episode also featured a trip to Queaux, France to investigate the Chateau De Fougeret. “The lady there was having some problems and was very worried, which brought us back to basics,” explains FitzGerald. “It brought us back to helping a family out rather than a lot of our cases having to do with big castles and ‘Avant-garde’ hauntings. This lady was truly terrified for her family and deeply concerned that she might lose her daughter, who had already become ill.
“The house itself has a huge history that dates way back. You could even see that within the basement itself. You went down into the chateau basement, and then you went down into, I think it was a 1700s basement. Then you descended further into a medieval basement and it just kept going down and down. We also discovered a doorway that was blocked by sand. We began poking at that to see if we could uncover what was behind it, and the recording device was thrown back at our feet. There was something else down there as well and that we could not account for. It only understood French, and never responded to English.
“Although there was something going on down there, there was nothing to be afraid of in the main part of the chateau. This woman’s daughter was fine and they’ve gotten the all-clear to start renovating. I wish them all the best and, in fact, they’ve been in touch since our investigation to invite me over for the summer. I said that if I went back, I’d like to bring along a pick and shovel and find out what’s behind that door. They told me that I’m more than welcome.”
Barry entering the Mayan underworld. Photo by/copyright of Barry FitzGerald.
Belize was once again the locale for the next episode, Sacrificed Mayan Spirits, in which a man was being tormented by spirits haunting the Mayan Ruins of Cahal Pech. “This was my first time ever being in Mayan ruins of a Mayan city, and to be there at night as well was remarkable,” says FitzGerald. “The jungle was right there at our fingertips, and just the opportunity to understand their culture was fantastic. It’s just completely different to ours.
“Of course, then there was the bloodletting ritual, which caused quite a stir. A lot of people were saying that it was Satanic and it would conjure up demons and everything else. In fairness, Satanic in the reference of that is a subletting of Christianity, and Christianity had nothing to do with the Mayan culture. What we did that particular night was cultural and certainly not a Ouija board-type experiment. This is something done by the Mayans to contact their deities and ancestors, and in certain parts of the world it’s still practiced today.
“I think I was misunderstood by some folks’ point of view, and we had already seen that our client had had some results from that [ritual] and it would have been a mistake for us not to have examined it at some point in order to see if we could understand what was going on. Nothing really came out of it, though, so we left it and moved on. Again, it was interesting to see that culture and the way that its people approach the whole spirit world. Their spirit world is mixed up within their modern day life, whereas with us now in the West, we’ve got a religion that is separate, really, from our business life and everything else. In the Mayan culture it was very much interconnected; everything was connected with spirituality, religion and their belief systems, and certainly this was brought out as well within their rituals, and, again, it was a cultural ritual as opposed to some sort of voodoo-type thing. But I think it was mistaken by some for being the latter, which is regrettable.”
The haunted bull ring. Photo by/copyright of Barry FitzGerald.
Last week’s GHI episode, Ghoul’s School, took the team to American Samoa to investigate an abandoned all-girls school. It is believed that the spirit of a Samoan chief resides on this property and in the past had possessed and killed schoolgirls. “I think it’s great that we’re able to explore all these different cultures as well as belief systems, and I feel American Samoa lived up to that,” says FitzGerald. “When we called out to these spirits for proof of their existence, these insects began chittering, and then we heard what sounded like a freight train coming along the valley wall. The sound passed by us and traveled around the back of the valley wall, which you can’t hear in the recording on the show, and up the other side of the valley. It was totally bizarre.
“When we spoke with the natives of Samoa, they recognized that sound straight away. They explained it was their deities’ way of contacting them and communicating. It was a great learning experience for us to not only understand such things but experience them, too. It helps broaden our horizons. Then, of course, when we challenged these spirits, the heavens opened and we were soaked out of the place. I must say that location really had its moments. It was a fantastic place and there were a lot of weird things going on with shadows and everything else. Let me also add that Paul [Bradford] is very scary with a machete,” he jokes, “so I kept a fair distance away and gave him his space as he was cutting down the jungle growth.”
In this week’s penultimate season three episode The Rise of Frankenstein, airing Wednesday, March 28th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on Syfy, GHI visits the Fortress of Antwerp in Belgium to find out whether or not a spirit is still guarding the fortress. The team also checks out a 16th century Italian villa where it is believed Frankenstein author Mary Shelley may have conducted experiments to help a man determine if his ancestor is still guarding the property or if the presence being felt is something far more ominous.
Frankenstein's Villa, Italy. Photo by/copyright of Barry FitzGerald.
“With this episode we were trying to find if there were bodies hidden underneath this villa,” says FitzGerald. “The villa’s history stems a ways back, and we were even looking at Roman ruins underneath the villa. These apparitions had appeared to some folks and frightened the life out of them, so it’s a fantastic case with lots of adventure.
“We then did two cases in Canada [Hell’s Gate, airing April 4th@ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on Syfy], one of which was at Hell’s Gate [Boston Bar, British Columbia]. This was a railway where I believe it was something like six people in ten who worked on the railway died trying to put down this run of track. A number of entities had been reported there and were supposedly interfering with quite a lot of the machinery and such, so we went there to check things out and see if we could find anything. I’ll just tell you that some unusual video footage is going to be brought forward which shows that at least one of the spirits hasn’t left,” he teases.
“The other Canadian case was at a fortress [Lower Fort Garry in Winnipeg]. The English had originally set it up on behalf of a huge trading company and there were tales of a suicide, a hanging and other deaths, with much of the history seeming to have stemmed from and was brought across from Europe.”
Tunnels inside Italian fortress. Photo by/copyright of Barry FitzGerald.
Writing-wise, So My House is Haunted….Now What?, FitzGerald’s second book co-written with friend and former GHI team member Dustin Pari, was recently published. He is currently working on his next book, In The Midst of Gods. ”It takes me outside of my comfort zone and away from ghosts and into another area of investigation which is global,” says FitzGerald. “I find myself in the pursuit of this phenomenon and I’m being led into areas which potentially could have ended my life.
“I have some more research to do, but I’m already about three-quarters of the way done writing the book. It’s a fantastic read and as a reader it takes you out of your comfort zone as well and poses some really interesting questions that you have to answer for yourself. So it’s a challenging book, again, not only for me to write because of the places I find myself in, but also for the reader because it brings up some topics that will potentially shake their foundations.”
This October, FitzGerald will be taking on yet another challenge, a very personal one, when he hikes up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on behalf of the worldwide charity Oxfam.
“Oxfam’s target this year is to feed one million people, and this year there are going to be 15 million people around the world going hungry, “he says. “It’s important for me to give something back and this is a charity that stood out for me, so to help and raise some funds for them, I’m climbing Kilimanjaro, which is the largest freestanding mountain in all of Africa. It’s a six-day climb. I start off in the jungle and by day six I’ll be in the snowcaps right at the very top, provided I don’t suffer from extreme altitude sickness and things like that. Having seen the way that my body reacts to altitude in Peru with GHI I think I’m going to be OK. There will be days that I’ll be hiking for 17 hours, so it’s going to be physically, mentally and spiritually exhausting, but it’s all for a good cause, and hopefully I’m able to give someone, even if it’s just one person, a chance.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, all photos by, (courtesy), and copyright of Barry FitzGerald, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
It is wonderful for me to get to vicariously enjoy traveling to such fascinating places and getting to see them in a much more intimate level than tourists would usually get to do.
Good luck with Mt. Kilimanjaro. Can't wait to get my hands on the books.
Posted by: Della Gardner | 04/02/2012 at 11:17 AM
love the show since the other lead investigator is not on the show any more. I like the way you and your teammates handle things when ya`ll are on investigations. It would be cool if ya`ll did an investigation in the United States along with the other ghost hunters team.
Posted by: christy c. | 05/02/2012 at 06:52 PM
I was wondering if Barry, Paul or one of the International team will join The GhostHunters in America? I think many people have experiences some form of spirits, or ghostly black shapes in their lifetime. Most people do not notice them. I have had seen black blobs and my daughter has also had things thrown down from the fireplace and whisperings and such. I was also wondering if sensitivity to animals and esp or whatever it might be called make that person notice these ghosts even more because of those sensitivities. Dogs come to me when I speak to them in my mind. My daughter is the same way.
I would love to be a ghost hunter, but so would millions of others. Thanks for the fine shows and I will be watching Wednesdays.
Posted by: Rita Palmer | 05/23/2012 at 02:11 PM
Dear Barry...thank you for this wonderful and inspiring program about hunting ghosts. I have myself experienced several encounters with ghosts since I was a little girl (it started when I was 12-14 years old, so it has been for the last 34 years I have experienced many things with ghosts) and at one time my Family and I lived in a haunted house where we experienced ghosts activity on a daily basic. On another occasion I was out walking the dog when I was a little girl and to experienced how scared the dog suddenly became when I felt something standing right before me...it was crazy....I'm am grateful for the show...You and your wonderful team is doing such a remarkable job. God bless you all for that. If you are interested in my encounters with ghosts you are most welcome to contact me through [email protected].
Many heartfelt greetings here from Copenhagen, Denmark
Cheers
Heidi
http://www.contactwithin.webs.com
Posted by: Heidi Hansen9 | 07/22/2012 at 11:49 AM