Team Leader:

Barry Fitzgerald

 

Story By: Chad Alan

 

Petrovaradin Fortress - Novi Sad, Serbia

 

The Petrovaradin Fortress, built over 300 years ago, sits on the Danube River and is by far the largest area the GHI team has ever had to investigate.  It took one hundred years to build by the Austrian Empire and is considered the biggest undestroyed fortress in Europe.  The upper fortress is large enough but the lower fortress contains 12 miles of tunnels, some of which carry very little oxygen, snake around the grounds and at one time provided enough extra space to house over 30,000 troops.  Many people have died in these tunnels, simply by getting lost and never being able to find their way out.   Of course what fortress would be complete without an "execution wall" and a prison that could be better described as a dungeon.  Living conditions in the prison were very bad and the moans that have been reported could be those of the lost souls who never did see their freedom again. The fortress is now more of a museum but locals have used various distant areas of the underground tunnels and their associated rooms to have satanic rituals.  Visitors and caretakers have described seeing shadow figures, grey to black misty masses and hearing footsteps and whispers.  Some have reported hearing the clanking of chains in the prison and rifles going off.  Others have reported feelings of being watched and or followed in the tunnels and around the fortress grounds.

 

The team spent most of their investigative time in parts of the 12 miles of tunnels that lie at various depths of the fortress.  Team leader Barry Fitzgerald, accompanied by Kris Williams, were the first to experience shadow figures and strange noises.  At one point something startled them so bad that they both hit the deck.  They tried to make further contact but nothing else caught their attention.

 

Paul Bradford and Susan Slaughter did their investing in what was called the "Barricade tunnel" which is in the upper fortress area.  Susan believed she saw something block out their laser spectrum and both headed in the direction of the activity.  After again seeing something move they headed down the tunnel to see if they could identify what was trying to get their attention.  They settled in a spot and Susan then experienced a heavy, "painful" tug on her hair. While reviewing their evidence they were able to capture a very clear black shadow figure on their camera, right where Susan believed she had seen something in the first place.  Without a doubt one of the better ghostly captures in GHI TV history.  Later they heard a moan and a woman's voice and again saw a shadow figure.  Kris and Barry not only experienced the same shadow figure activity but also thought they heard something exhale followed by footsteps during their time in the tunnel.

 

Joe Chin and Scott Tepperman spent some time around the execution wall and believed they were coming into contact with something as their temperature gage begin show a drop in temperature, meaning that something may have been sucking up the energy and trying to manifest itself.  Both then began feeling something touching their hair.   They left the area with plenty of questions.  Their next stop was the prison and they did hear the sound of a chain on two separate occasions, one of them audible to the viewer.   

 

A few EVP's were found during the review of their evidence. While in one of the tunnels, Susan had asked "Did you have a body?"  The reply, "Yes."  Another EVP of a woman's voice came from when Barry and Kris were investigating the prison.   Unfortunately what the woman was saying could not be made out.

 

The team believed the Fortress was haunted but added that the paranormal activity was not to be feared as an evil presence.

 

Ghost Hunters International airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy.  Check your local listings, especially since the HD channels offer different times for the show.

 

(Image courtesy of Syfy)