Haunted Collector filmed at the Inn at Herr Ridge, Gettysburg.

Reproduced here with permission of Jeffrey B. Roth

Inn at Herr Ridge, Gettysburg, Pa., featured on “Haunted Collector” Wednesday night

By Jeffrey B. Roth

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- Fans of SyFy's “Haunted Collector,” paranormal series, and customers at the Inn at Herr Ridge, on Wednesday night, viewed the latest episode of the show that featured an investigation at the Gettysburg-area tavern.

In January, John Zaffis, his daughter, Aimee, his son Chris, along with their TV production crew investigated reported paranormal events witnessed by staff and customers in the historic structure, said Tom McPherson, general manager. Built in 1815 by Thomas Sweeney, the original Herr Tavern and Publick House was built along the Lincoln Highway, (U.S. Route 30), about four miles west of Gettysburg.

Zaffis and his family researched the history of the tavern and conducted interviews with staff and customers who reported experiencing anomalous events. During the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, the tavern served as a Confederate army hospital.

“They, (“Haunted Collector”), were successful in finding some things, including some artifacts,” McPherson said. “They were here a week.”

Zaffis, the host of “Haunted Collector” and founder of Museum of the Paranormal, located at his home in Stratford, Conn., said in an interview at the Phenomenology 105 conference in Gettysburg, in late March, that he has visited Gettysburg numerous times and knows it well. Currently, in addition to working on the third season of “Haunted Collector,” Zaffis is writing a book about the more than 1,000 items that compose the collection at his private museum.

“I've been working in the paranormal field for 40 years,” Zaffis said. “Doing the TV show is not that much different from what I had been doing. The show really hasn't changed anything; except, it has provided a lot more contacts.”

McPherson said through the years, people have experienced odd events at the tavern. In fact, McPherson said he has experienced unexplained activity at the tavern on several occasions. In one incident, McPherson and several customers all witnessed a possible paranormal event.

“Once, while I was sitting at the bar, something ran into my bar stool and I turned around and there was no one within 30 feet of me,” McPherson said. “The other incident involved a bucket full of bar pours, (spouts on liquor bottles), which weighed about 10 or 12 pounds. It literally started moving left to right and only rattled a little, like someone was moving the bucket. There were two customers sitting at the bar, watching it and we said: 'Did you see that?' We answered that 'we didn't see anything.'”

Zaffis explained that artifacts suspected as being haunted or that may have an entity attached in some way are subjected to binding rituals by clergy before being placed in the museum. Items that are resistant to cleansing rituals are often buried in the ground or disposed of in a body of water.

As a teen, Zaffis considered himself to be a skeptic when it came to the paranormal. That all changed one evening when he was 16-years-old, when he saw a transparent apparition that was standing at the foot of his bed shaking its head back and forth. Upon relating the details of the incident to his mother, she told Zaffis that when his grandfather was alive, he was often seen shaking his head back and forth when he was upset. A few days after the incident, Zaffis' grandmother who lived with the family, died.

From that point on, Zaffis, who founded the Paranormal and Demonology Research Society of New England, in 1988, researched the science of the paranormal. Fortunately, the passion for investigating the paranormal runs in his family. Zaffis' aunt and uncle, Ed and Lorraine Warren, were already well-known, established paranormal researchers, authors and demonologists.

Zaffis and his family continue to do private investigations of alleged paranormal incidents, the details of which, are never released to the public. While they use some of the same research and investigative methods for both private investigations and for those that are subjects for the show, there are ethical and legal differences involved in public versus private investigations, he said. In private cases, Zaffis rigidly adheres to the confidentiality rights of clients.

“Haunted Collector” is a family affair, Aimee and Chris Zaffis said. Both were exposed to the paranormal field while growing up in the Zaffis extended family.

“It was something I was used to,” Aimee said. “It put me on the right path. I like putting together puzzles. I kind of just go with it, never knowing where it's going to lead.”

Aimee has a passion for history and does preliminary research into cases chosen for investigations. Some investigations lead to “dead ends,” she said.

“We work well with each other as a family,” Aimee said. “He, (her father), definitely has his ways of doing things. He has a real feeling for the work.”

Chris Zaffis said he follows his father's lead during investigations. Aimee favors doing research, while he is often involved in the technological aspects of investigations.

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Jeffrey B. Roth

Reproduced with permission of Jeffrey B. Roth