'Ghost Hunters' Star Brandon Alvis Shares Details Behind Shadow Figure and Haunted Chapel (Exclusive)

In what can be considered as one of their wildest episodes yet, the Ghost Hunters team captured an [...]

By Tania Hussain

In what can be considered as one of their wildest episodes yet, the Ghost Hunters team captured an astonishing piece of evidence Wednesday night during their visit to the isolated, barren wilderness of southern New Mexico's Fort Stanton. Sharing footage of what can only be described as a black, shadowy apparition captured at the tuberculosis hospital, paranormal investigator and technician, Brandon Alvis, shares details behind that "mind-boggling" discovery exclusively with PopCulture.com, admitting it was a major surprise for the whole team.

"What's so amazing about that is the fact that when we initially saw something, we couldn't explain it on that electron multiplying camera, [so] Brian decided to go out and we were trying to recreate that," Alvis told PopCulture about the new device, designed to detect and amplify extreme low levels of light. "But during that time, not only were we not able to recreate the initial image, but something extraordinary happens, and being in that hospital by myself, I did not see it with my own eyes, but I can tell you this: I felt like I was not alone completely."

Despite being on his own as co-investigator, Brian Murray headed out to investigate, Alvis shares there was a very unique feeling tied to the historic site's vibe and one that he won't forget anytime soon. "It was unlike any other location I've actually ever investigated because there was such a sense of someone else in the building with me when I knew without a shadow of a doubt, there was no one else there," he said. "When we reviewed that footage and we saw that, it just takes it to a whole other level. It's just a whole other level."

Alvis shares that the team's only response to understanding what that capture meant was to recreate it, which they did on the second night of their investigation alongside team leader Grant Wilson. However, the results were not exactly what they expected.

"The best way we tried to recreate that, and the only way we could think, is to get a person in that exact spot, and to actually lean out of what we thought was a doorway to say, 'Hey look, this is what a person would look like on the electron multiplying camera versus the entity or the spirit that we collected on this device,'" he said. "So, we had not only Brian go out there and try and lean on the doorway, but we learned pretty quickly that it was a locked janitor's door, which makes it even stranger."

By placing Murray at the nearest doorway to the site of the apparition while leaning out, Alvis shares that the difference came about when the full definition of his figure appeared more prominent with every detail exposed.

"That kind of just put it even more over the top in knowing that whatever this was that we collected on the ENCCD camera was not explainable in any way, shape, or form," Alvis said. "But even going further, this camera is designed to see single photon events, and photon events are light events. And what makes it even more interesting is the fact that this figure that we collected is a complete absence of light, which is something to really think about."

Alvis adds that with the history associated with Fort Stanton, a site originally established in the 1800s as a military post that later transformed into a tuberculosis hospital, one can most definitely "feel all the history" associated with the location the moment you visit.

"But you have to look at Fort Stanton as a whole," he said. "There's so many layers of history in this location, from the Apache Wars to the Civil War, as well as the Lincoln County where a lot of people think of Billy the Kid. A lot of that took place around Fort Stanton, and Billy the Kid was actually captured and kept in Fort Stanton at one time; and then all of a sudden you start to think about this fight against tuberculosis and that tuberculosis hospital being there, so when you get there, you kind of sense the history in a way."

He adds though that there was also a "peaceful feeling" with Fort Stanton, which he admits is strange to say due to violent history and numerous deaths. "But there was a peace surrounding the property, if you will — but once you got into that tuberculosis hospital, it kind of changed," Alvis said. "And there were moments where I was in there by myself that I knew right away that something was different than the rest of the property."

Further stating that with the storied "layers of history and the unbelievable reports of paranormal phenomena by some of the most credible eyewitnesses," there were a "lot of different things happening there," which can allude to a wide variety of hauntings, ranging from intelligent to residual.

"I think it is a complete mixture of not only intelligent but residual, and there being other classifications within that as well, when you think about this dog-like creature that they see," Alvis added of the chapel his co-investigators, Daryl Marston and Mustafa Gatollari investigated on night two of the episode, which included claims of a deformed dog creature and sounds of whispering at the haunted chapel. "Not only can that go towards the idea of Native American folklore and their belief system, but it can also go into what a lot of people in the paranormal field called elemental phenomena."

With the two points in their case setting up a "series of events that really showed what Fort Stanton was about and the phenomenon associated with it," Alvis further shares that what Marston and Gatollari also experienced at the chapel was something they still cannot explain to this day.

"The interesting thing about Mustafa and Daryl's experience in the chapel, is not only do they have an experience, [but] Kristen and Richel had the same one, and Brian and I did as well," he shares. "So, it was like every time we walked in there and we tried to have an intelligent conversation, there would be sounds in those pews right in front of us and on the roof, which is very strange. We had no explanation, because if it was some kind of animal, we would be able to see that on the thermal imaging camera, which was very much shown by Daryl and Mustafa during their investigation of the chapel. But almost every team who went in there had the exact same experience, which is correlating, and which was very exciting to us. So, what's going on in that chapel? We're not sure, but it seemed to be intelligent in its responses."

Ghost Hunters airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on A&E. For more coverage on the groundbreaking reality series, spooks and other paranormal-related news, keep it locked to PopCulture.com for more, and follow us on Twitter @PopCulture.

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