Provincetown's Adam Berry believes in new ghost hunter role

/Home/Paranormal Personalities

Provincetown's Adam Berry believes in new ghost hunter role
July 20, 2010
By Pru Sowers
Wicked Local

PROVINCETOWN —
All the searching for ghosts and paranormal activity that local resident Adam Berry did recently on the Syfy channel television spin-off series “Ghost Hunter Academy” was real. Really.

Berry, who was the winner of the summer television reality show competition, is no stranger to the strange. Even though he is an Equity actor and is often seen around Provincetown in various theatrical and musical performances, he was hired to compete for a coveted spot on the main “Ghost Hunter” program because of his long history with searching for paranormal activity. He truly believes that ghosts, spirits, exist. And the ghost hunting episodes on the “Academy” program were real, he said.

That belief helped the 26-year-old Berry win out over his eight fellow cadets on the program, where each week saw one member eliminated, à la American Idol. Berry was chosen to become a member of the main ghost hunting team on the Syfy Channel series “Ghost Hunters,” which he will begin filming this fall.

“All of it, honestly, is real. No one was an actor. Obviously I’m an Equity actor. I’ve been doing theater for a long time, But I’ve had an interest in the paranormal,” he said.

Berry and his partner, fellow actor Ben Griessmeyer, started the Provincetown Paranormal Research Society (PPRS) two years ago. Using a variety of equipment such as digital cameras, tape recorders, EMS detectors and thermal imaging, they have investigated possible hauntings around town. While they’ve turned up little or no activity they could record, there was one incident that took place at the Grozier family above-ground tomb at the top of a hill in the Provincetown Cemetery. Berry stood outside the door and asked any spirits in the tomb to let him in. He heard nothing but when he played back the tape recorder, he distinctly heard the word, “Help.”

“Provincetown is very old. That’s why we started this group,” he said about PPRS. “[The spirits] speak on different frequencies and can be heard. So you go somewhere that might be haunted and ask questions. We do get answers. Whether it’s a ghost, a spirit or an angel, I’m not sure. But it’s something.”

Berry and Griessmeyer will do haunting investigations in town upon request. People have often come to them saying there are strange noises or a “cold spot” in their homes and the two will spend the night — for free — investigating. Most often there are earthly reasons for the phenomena: old houses creaking or tilted floors that distort perception. But the two men are hoping they can find something.

“I’m not scared. I want them to talk to me,” Berry said.

As for his new gig as a television ghost hunter, Berry intends to take each weekly assignment seriously. The program, even though it is on television, is a serious look at possible entry to the spirit world, he said.

“The paranormal stuff is real. Whether we know what it is or not is the question,” Berry said.