A7

Paige Aarhus

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SAINT JOHN - Andrew Lawton stood beneath a tree in the Loyalist Burial Grounds when he felt a stinging pain on his face. The Saint John resident was taking a ghostly walking tour in the summer of 2006, and had what he described as a paranormal encounter.

"When I took my hand away from my face I could see a little red handprint, like someone small had slapped me in the face," he recalled.

It happened during a story about a young boy who had been hanged for stealing a loaf of bread, and it's not the first ghostly experience Lawton's had - nor does he expect it'll be his last.

A paranormal club Lawton started as a joke a couple weeks ago grew to nearly 40 members within an hour, and now he's making it his mission to find the things that go bump in the night in Port City.

Paranormal investigation is particularly hot right now. The cultural underpinnings may be a little muddled - perhaps, in a world that many people see as holding less and less rational sense, it's only natural to search out a supernatural answer - but shows like Ghost Hunters, Most Haunted, Ghost Adventures, and VH1 Celebrity Paranormal indicate a ravenous appetite for programming devoted to that which goes bump in the night.

Despite the prevalence of such shows, or perhaps because of them, Lawton says: "It's hard to talk about seeing a ghost without people assuming you're crazy or on drugs. I want to create a place where people can feel safe talking about their experiences."

Saint John is a city rich in history and steeped in folklore - from librarians and historians to underground zines, it seems everyone's got their own supernatural tale or ghostly encounter to hold forth on.

"You can't meet a person who hasn't heard of one story or another, or who doesn't have a story of their own," said Lawton, adding he was surprised by the number of responses he got, but not by the stories he's heard.

The club's just getting started, but Lawton already has plans for outings to known spooky spots like Fernhill Cemetery. He's hoping guest speakers - including David Goss, who runs the haunted walking tours - will pop by to chat with his club. If the group continues to grow, Lawton's hoping to borrow some camera equipment and do some ghost-hunting of his own.

"You have to take what you see and apply logic. When there's no logical explanation, that means something paranormal is happening, and we're interested in experiencing it for ourselves," he said. The first meeting of the Saint John Paranormal Society takes place at 2 Alpha Place, Apartment 10 on March 27 at 7 p.m. Visit www.saintjohnparanormalsociety.webnode.com for more information.

Contact Saint John reporter Paige Aarhus at aarhus.paige@herenb.com