By Jeffry Catalano —
The afternoon presentation on the paranormal opened with a question nearly every person has posed at one time or another in his or her life. Our small group was asked by Steve Egolf, the lead investigator of Tri-C Ghost Hunters, based in Cincinnati, if we believed in ghosts and the supernatural. Most of the people in the room claimed they were open to the possibility of ghosts and the afterlife, and no one admitted to being an outright non-believer. Egolf himself is a believer, but a skeptical one. He’s been with Tri-C Ghost Hunters since 2019, but he had his first paranormal experience 23 years ago.
In 2000, Steve was serving in the Air Force when he encountered his very first ghost. It should be clarified that there’s a big difference between a ghost and spirit. A ghost, as Egolf informed us in his presentation, is tied to the location of its death, while a spirit is not. Most people probably assume that ghosts and spirits are one and the same, but they’re not. Steve’s first contact with the paranormal was with a ghost named Laurie. While he never saw Laurie in the form of a ghost, he heard her voice and felt goosebumps whenever she was in his presence. In their prolonged communication, Laurie told Steve that she had been killed.
Anyone even remotely curious about ghosts, spirits, and hauntings probably must wonder why ghosts exist and why certain places become haunted while others don’t. In his years as a paranormal investigator, Egolf and others in Tri-C Ghost Hunters have concluded that most ghosts and spirits are the victims of unresolved deaths, like accidents and violent deaths. Ghosts often exist because they weren’t prepared to die when their lives were suddenly taken from them. In the most haunted locations Tri-C Ghost Hunters have ever been to, there have usually been an abundance of violent deaths.
The most notable location Tri-C has ever investigated in the Buckeye State is the Ohio State Reformatory, and the bulk of Egolf’s presentation was dedicated to this reformatory. With its infamous history and well-known reputation for paranormal activity (not to mention the fact that Shawshank Redemption was filmed there), it was no surprise that the Ohio State Reformatory, or OSR, dominated Egolf’s presentation. According to Egolf, the reformatory was built in 1896, and it was specifically built to look imposing and ominous. Its castle-like facade was designed to intimidate and instill fear in inmates because it wanted to encourage the men who came to its doors not to come back. In its early years, the Ohio State Reformatory aimed to rehabilitate its inmates, and it was largely successful in this regard. However, the OSR’s success with rehabilitation took a turn for the worse when it was forced to let violent prisoners in after a prison in Columbus burned to the ground. When OSR became overcrowded and filled with violent criminals, violence and bloodshed increased exponentially.
The Ohio State Reformatory has been the subject of many other paranormal investigations, and was once featured on the popular ghost-hunting show, Ghost Adventures. During one of Egolf’s investigations at the prison, he felt his shirt being pulled. He also felt cold spots, which are a sign of the presence of ghosts and spirits, and saw a few shadow people. A shadow person is exactly what it sounds like, and is different from a ghost or spirit. One of the scariest traits of shadow people is that they can somehow be spotted in total darkness. The OSR is where Tri-C Ghost Hunters hold the annual ParaPSyCon, and it will be held next year on May 17-19. Anyone interested in the paranormal, psychics, UFOs, and cryptids like Bigfoot might enjoy what ParaPsyCon has to offer.
Tri-C Ghost Hunters has been in operation for about ten years and was founded in 2013 by Greg and Kathy Feketik. Including Steve Egolf, there are close to 60 full-time members of the ghost-hunting organization. Younger people can join up with the organization, and Egolf commented on how passionate the younger members tend to be. The organization doesn’t charge its clients a fee and anyone can hire them or join their ranks. Unlike what some skeptics might expect from a ghost-hunting business, Tri-C Ghost Hunters are cautious about what they deem to be paranormal. Before they determine a location has supernatural energy to it, they make sure to first rule out every logical explanation possible. Using common sense is a motto Tri-C Ghost Hunters like to stick by.
If one were to ever contact this ghost-hunting business, one would have to go through a pre- and post-investigation process. During pre-investigation, interviews are conducted and questionnaires are filled out. During post-investigation, Tri-C investigators will take up to two to four weeks to review all the audio and video evidence they’ve collected. Tri-C Ghost Hunters use digital cameras, not smartphones, to document all their footage. They don’t use smartphones because those can be used to filter and manipulate images. Common tools of the ghost-hunting trade include EMF (Electromagnetic Field) meters and EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) technology. In the event that demons are said to be haunting a location, Tri-C will recommend clients to a form of clergy. The clergy recommendations to the clients will be based on the clients’ religious faith, if they have any. Demons and possessions are not the types of jobs Tri-C Ghost Hunters feel equipped to handle.
Outside of his work in Ohio, Steve Egolf has investigated an asylum in West Virginia. At the asylum called Trans-Allegheny, Steve communicated with a ghost using a trigger object. His trigger object of choice was a cat’s toy, a little ball that can be made to light up. The ghost made Steve’s cat’s toy light up, and it even rolled the toy across the ground. The experience both fascinated and unnerved Steve. Besides Trans-Allegheny, Steve would like to visit many other haunted locations in the country. He’s been to some famous spots like the bar Bobby Mackey’s in Kentucky. Despite the bar’s terrifying claim of having a portal to hell, Steve wasn’t all that afraid of the place. As if proving Tri-C Ghost Hunters’ motto of using common sense, he discussed all the logical reasons why the place seems so haunted. When asked what other haunted places he’d like to visit in America, he listed places like Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and New Orleans, Louisiana.
After his presentation concluded, Steve offered to answer any questions thrown his way, and there were quite a few. Everyone who attended the event had something to ask him or share with him. Some of the people who came to the presentation even claimed to have their own experiences with the paranormal. Arguably the most poignant question Steve was asked was why he entered into the ghost-hunting field and why he continues to work in it. “I just want to help people feel comfortable,” he said.
Steve Egolf’s October 25th event at Miami University in Hamilton was his first, and hopefully it won’t be his last.