Pictured: Amy Bruni, Kris Williams, Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Dave Tango, and Steve Gonsalves

By Chad Alan

Philadelphia Zoo - Philadelphia, PA

Built in 1874, the Philadelphia Zoo is the first and, of course, oldest zoo in America.  There’s been talk that the zoo was built on ancient Indian burial ground, but isn’t just about everything by now?  The zoo staff seem to have experienced multiple sightings of ghostly apparitions, doors opening and closing, lights going on and off, and footsteps in areas where there was no one to be found.

TAPS co-founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson started their investigation in the administration building where night staff members have heard doors opening and closing, even though nobody else was in the building at the time.  One staff member saw a face in an office window, an office that was locked up and empty.  The guys heard a few noises but out of nowhere came a heavy door slam, and with no one else in the building, it bordered on the line of paranormal.  They then headed to the “The Solitude” house, which is the oldest building on the site, dating back to 1784 and built by John Penn, son of William Penn, who spent little time there before heading back to England.  Multiple tenants have occupied the building and now it serves as more of a museum then anything.  They wanted to investigate a door that is said to lock itself but instead they ended up experiencing some noises coming from up the stairs only to be followed by their EMF detector being knocked down a few steps. 

K.J. McCormick and Britt Griffith started their investigation in the Vet laboratory.  As they were in one of the offices, they heard some noise coming from the corner of the room where they found it to be a bit colder.  Soon after this experience, they heard something coming from the hall and K.J. believed he saw something sticking its head out at them from another doorway.  K.J. and Britt then headed to the basement area of The Solitude house where a white, misty apparition had been seen by one staff member.  They were in the area called “the tunnels” and believed they heard someone humming a song.   They hoped this might have been caught on some of their audio devices. While they were casually talking on the main floor of the house, a huge slam was heard and they were able to trace the same noise to a door that was closed and they had remembered closing it on their way in. 

Kris Williams and Amy Bruni headed to the building called the “Tree House” where multiple apparitions and footsteps have been reported.  They tried a few knocking techniques and believed they were getting some response back to them and they did share this with the client at the end of the show.  Nothing too paranormal here to report unless they can produce some EVP results from their questioning.  They then headed to the tunnels in the basement of The Solitude house and Kris felt something touch her hair.  It was caught on camera and it definitely caught her off guard.

Jason and Grant took their turn in the tunnels of The Solitude house.  It wasn’t long before they started to hear two females talking followed by some old style music, like a waltz.  They could not track it anywhere and then it just stopped.  They could only hear it in one particular area of the tunnel

TAPS had some personal experiences and it didn’t seem like a bad investigation but it wasn’t very exciting, although Jason claimed it to be “one of his most interesting investigations ever.”  With Dave Tango and Steve Gonsalves continuing to play hooky to work on their other show, there’s a lot of dryness.   They did get one EVP coming from where Kris and Amy where standing saying “Who are they?”  Jason and Grant also played another EVP for the client but it’s really hard to understand what was being said.  The team did seem to have a lot of personal experiences and they've been doing it long enough to know what counts and what doesn't.

Ghost Hunters airs Wednesays at 9/8c on Syfy.  Check your local listings, especially

since the HD channels offer different times for the show.

(Image courtesy of Syfy)