The groundbreaking first season of A&E‘s Ghost Hunters reboot is delivering a whole other level of spooky with its latest episode, proving the paranormal investigation series is in a league of its own among the genre. In Wednesday night’s episode, “There’s Something in the Seminary,” team leader Grant Wilson and his investigators head to Ohio’s 200-year-old Madison Seminary to explore the alleged dark history of a former women’s psychiatric hospital and claims of aggressive paranormal activity that have recently created unrest on the property among patrons and staff.
With many on the grounds witnessing paranormal activity and admitting a sudden rise in fear and discord, Ghost Hunters investigator, Richel Stratton tells PopCulture.com exclusively that when claims get that serious, it’s important to err on the side of caution.
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“I think anytime that you hear activity’s gotten more aggressive and things like that, you have to be a little leery just because at the end of the day, you have to make sure that you’re being safe,” Stratton told PopCulture.com. “But also our whole goal is to help people [and] we have the tools to do that and we deal with paranormal all the time, so we may be able to handle it better than say, someone who’s not used to it.”
Stratton adds as an investigator, she’s always a “little leery,” because of prioritizing safety. However, she adds that at the same time, you have to be conscious of the activity.
“You have to realize that even though [entities] may not be alive, they’re still people,” she said. “But just like there’s good and bad people, there’s good and bad spirits, and you just try to treat them with respect and usually you’re okay with it.”
The Illinois native goes on to share that this week’s episode, which is also one of her favorites, is “something different” for viewers than previous episodes seen and is “more intense.”
“I don’t get scared very often. I do a lot of investigating based off feelings and emotion, and then I back it up with equipment. And this place actually gave me like, that scared feeling — which is always fun, especially when you do this,” she laughed.
As an investigator with more than 40 investigations under her belt conducted both independently and in a group, Stratton admits being with the Ghost Hunters team is not only fun, but a lot like family to her.
“It’s been amazing, the whole entire team is great. I’ve said before, that when I’m gone on the road, I miss my family. But when I’m home, I miss my road family. Like, we live together and we investigate — like, we play together, we work together,” she laughed. “They’re amazing people and they’re all really great investigators and bring different things to the team.”
Stratton adds that every single investigator on the team has a “different strength” that complements one another.
“It’s been an amazing experience and I just feel lucky that I get to be a part of it,” she said.
Another aspect Stratton finds amazing is the reception from fans.
“It’s really crazy because before the show and everything, I didn’t do too much social media. I usually just do what normal people do and stalk people on there,” she laughed. “And now, I got a lot of friend requests, people comment on things and it’s a lot of interaction, but I love it. Like it’s great and I’m glad that people are enjoying the show as much as we enjoy doing it.”
Ghost Hunters airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on A&E.
Photo credit: A&E Network
