BY CAROLE KLEMENT HUXEL

Paranormal Ghost Quest, a company created in 2001 by Raven Duclos, Beckah Boyd and Katie Boyd, was recently invited to the Goffstown Public Library to investigate the possible presence of spirits walking the stacks. And on Oct. 8, 30 interested guests filled the North Room of the library to meet the group and listen to their findings.

Duclos is the lead investigator; she says she’s been a psychic medium for 35 years. Beckah Boyd also professes to be a medium, having been raised in a gifted family who encouraged her to explore her talents. Katie Boyd has studied the occult for nearly 20 years, and is the demonologist of the group.

“She’s our last line of defense. If it’s demonic, we call her.” said Beckah.

Traveling from Maine to Cape Cod, they combine their psychic talents to, as Beckah puts it, “help the client and help the spirit.”

“Spirits come right from everywhere – they wander about,” said Duclos. “They usually come through with dates, events, how they passed. They don’t answer questions.”

The team explained that the spirit could be anybody. According to the team, there’s a man upstairs in the library wearing a long black coat and a small girl who seems to prefer the sunny South Room.

Most of the librarians have said they have also caught glimpses of these spirits. Though they weren’t expecting anything, Beckah said they were pleasantly surprised when they came to check the building.

The team said there is a significant amount of science in the techniques that Ghost Quest uses.

Taking care to introduce all their equipment, the group told the audience about divining rods and electromagnetic fields, the importance of audio visual recorders and the differences between film and digital cameras.

“Tape is too much work,” said Beckah. “But it’s difficult to tell if digital is real or not. Everything is about the evidence.

Everything must be backed up several times.”

The group has high standards for evidence.

“If you have to put a picture through a filter, to sharpen or clear away the shadows, then it’s not official evidence.”

The team uses analysts who can help them determine if a submitted photo has been digitally altered, cropped or tampered with in any way.

“What good is evidence if you can’t prove it really is evidence?” said Duclos.

Every step of the process is recorded, and the team is scrupulous about not overlapping their findings. They enter each building one at a time, without any communication equipment so they are not tempted to share experiences until each has seen the area for herself.

“You don’t actually get to see all the real hard work that psychic mediums do,” said Katie. “All the hours of paperwork and computer editing. There are forms to fill out, prying questions that sort out truth from exaggeration.”

Ghost Quest has a weekly TV show on Manchester Channel 23.

You can see the Ghost Quest team at several stops around the state this fall, including:

• Oct. 30, 7 p.m. – Toad Stool Bookstore, Milford

• Nov. 1, 1 p.m. – Barnes and Noble, Nashua

• Nov. 12, 6 p.m. – Hooksett Public Library

And on Nov. 14, Ghost Quest will be featured on ABC’s “The View” at 11 a.m.