Plumbers by Day, Ghost Hunters by Night

Oct. 31, 2007— -- Let's get one thing straight from the beginning. Do not compare Grant Wilson or Jason Hawes to "Ghost Busters"…they hate that.

For the stars of "Ghost Hunters," a hit show on the Sci-Fi channel, names can be deceiving.

"We aren't walking around with hoovers strapped to our backs," Hawes said.

They have never been slimed either.

"We have done lectures at colleges and they'll play that song and we're like, 'Can you just turn that off' — drives us crazy — because we're so not that," Wilson said.

Hawes and Wilson have captured images of ghostly shadows in New England lighthouses and glimpses of eerie apparitions in Michigan cellars. They have also caught their share of flak from skeptics.

"I don't care at all what the skeptics think of what we're doing because they don't need help," Wilson said. "There are people who need help in their homes. Who's helping them? Are the skeptics going to help them? No!"

Hawes also sees their work as a community service.

"Whether they're rich, whether they're poor, all the people out there who believe that they have paranormal issues need help," he said.

Hawes and Wilson have been hunting ghosts on their own for nearly two decades. It all began after they encountered a few paranormal experiences of their own, experiences they didn't want to talk about. The phenomena inspired them to found TAPS: The Atlantic Paranormal Society, a group that tries to help people who think their house, farm, garage or anything might be haunted.

"We are not looking for ghosts," Wilson said. "We're looking to disprove them."

"We're looking for explanations," said Hawes.

Their day job doesn't have anything to do with ghosts. Wilson and Hawes are plumbers—who happen to be interested in flushing out the paranormal.

"This is a hobby that we do," Wilson said. "The plumbing does come in handy because people say their dead Uncle Fred is flushing the toilet at night. We go in there and tell them they've just got a bad flapper valve, fix it, and magically the ghost disappears."