'Ghost Hunters' visits Pearl Harbor

A team from The Atlantic Paranormal Society, led by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, investigates claims of paranormal activity at the Pacific Aviation Museum in Pearl Harbor and its findings can be seen in a special episode Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Syfy when ‘Ghost Hunters’ makes its first visit to Hawaii.

The museum includes the original airplane hangars from the fateful December morning in 1941. The hangars still stand as they did the day of the attack and still bear the scars and bullets holes left by enemy fire.

Paranormal claims at the museum include hearing voices and music, seeing or hearing movement around the artifacts on display, objects being moved during the night, equipment being turned on and off on command, visual apparitions, and interacting with people who do not appear on security footage.

Special guest Josh Gates from ‘Destination Truth’ joins the team in the investigation.

While ‘Destination Truth,’ which also airs on Syfy, is geared more toward investigating paranormal or supernatural creatures, it does use a similar episode format and some investigation techniques found in ‘Ghost Hunters.’

‘Ghost Hunters,’ now in its seventh season, has followed the same format for nearly every episode.

The TAPS team learns about the location it is going to and is given a tour and an explanation of the paranormal claims of the site from the owner or someone closely associated with it. The team sets up a series of specialized electronic equipment throughout the site, focusing particularly on “hot spots” where paranormal activity has most often occurred.

The actual investigation always takes place at night with the team usually splitting up into groups of two or three people moving through the different areas being investigated and using handheld devices to attempt to collect evidence of paranormal activity.

These devices include video recorders, thermal cameras, audio recorders, digital thermometers and EMP detectors. Team members will often attempt to communicate with any entities that supposedly inhabit the location or attempt to coax the entity into revealing itself or interact with them or the environment around them. Sometimes team members have experiences that can be considered paranormal and sometimes they don't.

The team also attempts to debunk the claims made about the site by trying to find or recreate any natural reasons or causes for the activity that has been witnessed.