Apparitions, cryptids, bad energies and poltergeists are regular encounters for the Sunshine Coast’s only “legitimate” ghost-hunting crew.
The public group Para Vision Crew investigates “haunted” locations around the region by detecting and documenting “spirit” activity with specialised equipment.
Head investigators Daniel Shigroff and Justin Harmon started the group about five years ago after realising there wasn’t another “legitimate” active group in the region.
“There are YouTubers and individuals who do it, but we do it for different reasons,” Mr Shigroff said.
“We are not in it for fame and fortune, we are genuinely interested in the paranormal.
“Most of us have been doing it a long time with collectively more than 50 years’ experience.”
The group’s nine current members investigate local public locations as well as private dwellings.
The co-founders run two private Facebook pages, including one called Para Vision Crew Investigation, and an Instagram account called @paravisioncrew, where they document most of their evidence.
Each platform has about 1000 followers or members.
After years of experiencing varying degrees of paranormal activity, Mr Shigroff said they began the group for others to connect, share their experiences and investigate “activity” without judgement.
But they also created the group to help others who think they might have activity or have seen something they can’t explain, to help validate what they might be going through.
“I’ve heard a lot of things and seen a lot of things moving that I can’t explain, like apparitions (ghosts),” Mr Shigroff said.
“A lot of people have experiences and then get curious from there … they don’t know what they are looking at and want to find out.
“We are not outright believers, we are skeptical believers. We don’t proclaim anything to be paranormal unless we try to debunk it. We try and be logical about it and work out the nuts and bolts of it.”
He said the group was fairly active from North Brisbane area up to Maryborough, conducting about four major investigations a year and several minor investigations.
“There are a lot of rumoured haunted places on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.
“Technically the paranormal can be anywhere, it doesn’t have to be a spooky old houses. I have had experiences in new houses.
“Sometimes it’s not just an energy or spirit, it can be something manifesting from the person, for example a poltergeist moving.”
The most terrifying thing Mr Shigroff has experienced was at an abandoned camp on the Sunshine Coast, but he couldn’t reveal its location.
He recalled how it was close to midnight and he and Mr Harmon were doing a sensory deprivation experiment by listening to a machine called an SB7 spirit box.
“I was standing there in this huge building asking him questions through the spirit box and I could hear something running and belting through the forest,” he said.
“It ran the whole distance of the building within a few seconds … you could hear trees snapping and branches breaking. It scared the hell out of me. I was thinking ‘what is that?’.
“I said ‘let’s get out of here, there is something here that isn’t maybe a ghost but a cryptid, something like a yowie’.
“When it comes to ghostly stuff I’m usually not scared of anything, but that freaked me out because it felt physical.”
The experience piqued the crew’s interest in expanding their sphere of investigating other types of activity.
Related story: Yowie sightings: ‘You don’t find them, they find you’
“I was checking my videos back later and as we were walking out of the location of that experience, you could hear sounds like dogs howling, but like a real weird gurgling sort of sound.
“Then we saw a pair of red eyes in the bushes about five to six feet tall looking square at us and then it turns away and walks away from us. I haven’t released that video, but I plan to.
“I didn’t believe in yowies until that but I am still on the fence about it.”
Investigating the Buderim Pioneer Cottage through the historical society was another frightening event for Mr Shigroff and the crew.
“We actually captured an apparition there, just before COVID.
“We were meant to go back there but COVID hit.
“I captured something looking into the room, peeking around the corner, and it wasn’t any of us.”
He explained what a typical ghost hunt would entail by using an investigation into the old Maroochydore Fire Station as an example.
“One of the tenants said they were experiencing all sorts of stuff; seeing things, stuff moving, having weird feelings and sometimes feeling sickly,” he said.
“We try and find if there is anything leading to those kinds of feelings. There a number of things that can cause that, like high EMFs (electromagnetic fields) that can make you feel unwell and have you being able to see things and a feeling of unease.”
He said the crew makes sure there isn’t any high EMF readings first using the specialised equipment (K2s). They look at the environment first and then go into the investigation
“There is a bit to it, it’s not like we just go in there and find ghosts. We find out and make sure they are having these experiences,” he said.
According to Mr Shigroff, the “highly active” investigation into the old Maroochydore Fire Station went over three nights.
“We found all sorts of things; everything from weird feelings to electrical static charge to our machinery going off to batteries being drained, unusual sounds and audible voices at some stages,” he said.
“We didn’t see a physical apparition move but I did capture some weird stuff on camera, mostly EVP (electronic voice phenomena) where you can be recording and you will hear a voice and no one is there.
“I captured a weird mist moving and climbing across the ceiling in one of my videos too.”
He said they were always looking for new members to join the Para Vison Crew.
“It’s OK to be a believer in the paranormal but don’t blindly believe, be a skeptical believer as not all is what it seems,” he said.
“Use common sense and research your evidence.”
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