I saw my first full body apparition at
age 15. There was a young man standing
in my bedroom looking at me. I was very
afraid because I thought he was a real
person and I didn't know what he was
going to do. We stood there staring at
each other for a few seconds, me being
too afraid to move or scream. Then
slowly he became more and more
transparent until he finally disappeared.
In my life I had premonitions and lucid
dreams that would turn out to be true.
I've had visits from people who have
crossed over. They gave me messages to
give to people that were still here.
age 15. There was a young man standing
in my bedroom looking at me. I was very
afraid because I thought he was a real
person and I didn't know what he was
going to do. We stood there staring at
each other for a few seconds, me being
too afraid to move or scream. Then
slowly he became more and more
transparent until he finally disappeared.
In my life I had premonitions and lucid
dreams that would turn out to be true.
I've had visits from people who have
crossed over. They gave me messages to
give to people that were still here.
Messages with subtle hints of things I
could not have known, but which
confirmed the visit to the person still on
this side. I have raw psychic and medium
abilities, and I hope to sharpen them in the
coming years.
I took two years of photography class in
high school. At the end of my second year
we had to pick a subject and do a
portfolio of pictures on that subject. Of
course, always having spent so much time
lurking in graveyards, I picked that as my
topic. Every weekend I would spend
walking around different cemeteries on
Long Island snapping pictures. That is
when I got, what I believe to be, my very
first picture of a ghost.
could not have known, but which
confirmed the visit to the person still on
this side. I have raw psychic and medium
abilities, and I hope to sharpen them in the
coming years.
I took two years of photography class in
high school. At the end of my second year
we had to pick a subject and do a
portfolio of pictures on that subject. Of
course, always having spent so much time
lurking in graveyards, I picked that as my
topic. Every weekend I would spend
walking around different cemeteries on
Long Island snapping pictures. That is
when I got, what I believe to be, my very
first picture of a ghost.
I've seen objects levitated, and even heard a voice
speak to me in my bedroom when no one was home
but me. I have seen a shadow person in the form of a
human in the middle of the afternoon, but he was
totally void of any light. As black as black can be.
While I was out one day, I noticed an old cemetery
set back off the road through some trees. I felt the
need to turn around and go inside and look around. I
often walk through cemeteries and read the
epitaphs. This beautiful spring day as I was walking
through the cemetery, I heard a hawk above
screeching. I stopped and looked up to the
speak to me in my bedroom when no one was home
but me. I have seen a shadow person in the form of a
human in the middle of the afternoon, but he was
totally void of any light. As black as black can be.
While I was out one day, I noticed an old cemetery
set back off the road through some trees. I felt the
need to turn around and go inside and look around. I
often walk through cemeteries and read the
epitaphs. This beautiful spring day as I was walking
through the cemetery, I heard a hawk above
screeching. I stopped and looked up to the
sky to try to see him or what he was yelling about. When my glance came back down to the ground there was
a man in the cemetery with me about 20 feet away from me. He scared the pants off me because I didn't
expect to see anyone else, so I yelled "Jesus Christ!" And just as I was about to tell him, "You scared me!"
He just disappeared. I found him to be very intimidating and quite scary because he was dressed mostly in
black. He was wearing a black cape with a black hat and even black boots. I remember thinking to myself
how strange he looked and what kind of person wears a black cape besides Zorro? After doing some
research on the Internet I learned that men used to dress like that in the second half of the 19th century. This
cemetery was in a part of Long Island rich with culture and history along the north shore. Although, I believe
spirits are everywhere all the time.
Every apparition I have seen has been somewhat devastating to me. I can't seem to think of anything else
and I become consumed with the memory. It doesn't seem to matter how long ago it happened, I still
remember every small detail.
Now I'm a member of Long Island's P.A.S.T. (Paranormal Activity Study Team) I'm still lurking in
cemeteries, with my Sony 6 megapixel in hand. I'm not doing it to prove to myself that ghost exist. I know
that they do because I have seen them. I guess what I'm looking to do is prove to the rest of the world that
they do exist. I even believe that if people had definitive proof of an after life, that maybe people would pay
more attention and maybe be kinder in this one. Death is not an end, merely a transition. I know people are
supposed to have faith in that, but a little proof of life after death may help.
-30-
a man in the cemetery with me about 20 feet away from me. He scared the pants off me because I didn't
expect to see anyone else, so I yelled "Jesus Christ!" And just as I was about to tell him, "You scared me!"
He just disappeared. I found him to be very intimidating and quite scary because he was dressed mostly in
black. He was wearing a black cape with a black hat and even black boots. I remember thinking to myself
how strange he looked and what kind of person wears a black cape besides Zorro? After doing some
research on the Internet I learned that men used to dress like that in the second half of the 19th century. This
cemetery was in a part of Long Island rich with culture and history along the north shore. Although, I believe
spirits are everywhere all the time.
Every apparition I have seen has been somewhat devastating to me. I can't seem to think of anything else
and I become consumed with the memory. It doesn't seem to matter how long ago it happened, I still
remember every small detail.
Now I'm a member of Long Island's P.A.S.T. (Paranormal Activity Study Team) I'm still lurking in
cemeteries, with my Sony 6 megapixel in hand. I'm not doing it to prove to myself that ghost exist. I know
that they do because I have seen them. I guess what I'm looking to do is prove to the rest of the world that
they do exist. I even believe that if people had definitive proof of an after life, that maybe people would pay
more attention and maybe be kinder in this one. Death is not an end, merely a transition. I know people are
supposed to have faith in that, but a little proof of life after death may help.
-30-
Write to Erica: tisherself2004@yahoo.com
This extraordinary photograph of a luminescent orb was taken by Erica Popino on December 4, 2006
while on a P.A.S.T. ghost hunt at a graveyard in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Erica spotted a bright orb
with her naked eyes and quickly photographed it before it vanished. "It was two feet" (in diameter) she
recalled.
The bright white, luminescent orb in this photograph is not a typical orb. Orbs are usually spherical,
and most commonly translucent. The orb in this picture is neither spherical nor translucent. Perhaps
the orb's odd shape is due to its quick movement towards the camera or away from it. The exact spot
where Erica photographed the orb is the spot where she had seen the apparition of a man dressed in all
black, including a hat and a cape, a few months earlier. She heard a bird screaming and looked up.
When she looked down, the man was standing twenty feet in front of her. The man in the cape vanished
before her eyes. After researching clothing styles, Erica concluded the man's attire was the way some
men dressed in the late Nineteenth Century. The question is why did this ghost appear to Erica, and is
the orb in the photo the man's spirit?
while on a P.A.S.T. ghost hunt at a graveyard in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Erica spotted a bright orb
with her naked eyes and quickly photographed it before it vanished. "It was two feet" (in diameter) she
recalled.
The bright white, luminescent orb in this photograph is not a typical orb. Orbs are usually spherical,
and most commonly translucent. The orb in this picture is neither spherical nor translucent. Perhaps
the orb's odd shape is due to its quick movement towards the camera or away from it. The exact spot
where Erica photographed the orb is the spot where she had seen the apparition of a man dressed in all
black, including a hat and a cape, a few months earlier. She heard a bird screaming and looked up.
When she looked down, the man was standing twenty feet in front of her. The man in the cape vanished
before her eyes. After researching clothing styles, Erica concluded the man's attire was the way some
men dressed in the late Nineteenth Century. The question is why did this ghost appear to Erica, and is
the orb in the photo the man's spirit?
Paranormal investigators Erica
Popino and Karen Isaksen
exchanging a secret password
with Joseph Flammer as he
photographs them. The scene is
Lakeview Cemetery in
Patchogue. On this night mists
were photographed and an orb
appeared to Erica and Diane
Hill. The orb was photographed
repeatedly as Diane and Erica
followed it around the graveyard.
Popino and Karen Isaksen
exchanging a secret password
with Joseph Flammer as he
photographs them. The scene is
Lakeview Cemetery in
Patchogue. On this night mists
were photographed and an orb
appeared to Erica and Diane
Hill. The orb was photographed
repeatedly as Diane and Erica
followed it around the graveyard.
Erica atop the Fire Island Lighthouse during a P.A.S.T. investigation 2007
Erica Popino Seeker of the Paranormal
Island Ghost Investigations
Island Ghost Investigations
Photo by Erica Popino
an accident and received a bad head injury. I had what people refer to as a NDE (Near Death Experience). I
came out of my body for a little while but was fully aware of what was happening as I watched from above. I
had a feeling of pure euphoria until I returned to my body. I guess it wasn't my time to go.
came out of my body for a little while but was fully aware of what was happening as I watched from above. I
had a feeling of pure euphoria until I returned to my body. I guess it wasn't my time to go.
Photo by Erica Popino
Photo by Erica Popino
Photo by Erica Popino
Erica photographs a
mysterious mist in a
graveyard at night
mysterious mist in a
graveyard at night
In the same graveyard shown
above the mist has now
thickened and formed to the
right of the tree..
above the mist has now
thickened and formed to the
right of the tree..
Mist in the tree and multiple
orbs above a graveyard at
night. Photo lightened from
original.
orbs above a graveyard at
night. Photo lightened from
original.
Featured Paranormal Investigator
A Long Island
Ghost Hunter
Erica's Tools
Raw psychic and
medium abilities
Six megapixel SONY
digital camera
Infrared thermometer
Nightvision scope
Digital voice recorder
EMF detector
Pendulum
Photo by Erica Popino
The Paranormal Adventurers, Joseph
Flammer and Diane Hill, are surrounded
by orbs in this photograph taken by
Erica Popino in a Long Island cemetery
at night in December, 2006.
Flammer and Diane Hill, are surrounded
by orbs in this photograph taken by
Erica Popino in a Long Island cemetery
at night in December, 2006.
Photo by Erica Popino
Erica Popino
In her own words
by Erica Popino
I'm not sure but I think what started the ball rolling for me as a
para-normal investigator began in the 1970's. When I was 9 years old I had
by Erica Popino
I'm not sure but I think what started the ball rolling for me as a
para-normal investigator began in the 1970's. When I was 9 years old I had
The Pine Hollow Cemetery Investigation
Erica and Grant Wilson of T.A.P.S. at the T.A.P.S. Ghost
Hunt at the Houghton Mansion in North Adams, Massachusetts
March, 2007
Hunt at the Houghton Mansion in North Adams, Massachusetts
March, 2007
P.A.S.T. Leader
Erica, 44, was instrumental in the
formation of Paranormal Activity
Study Team (P.A.S.T.) of Long
Island, a paranormal outings group.
She leads the group in ghost hunts at
locations across Long Island. She is
also an investigator with ISLAND
GHOST INVESTIGATIONS, an
in-depth paranormal research group.
Erica has been pursuing the
paranormal for over twenty years -
ever since she photographed a
mysterious illumination and image
on a gravestone in a cemetery in
Centerport, Long Island. Erica calls
the image "Ghost Eddie" (photo
below).
formation of Paranormal Activity
Study Team (P.A.S.T.) of Long
Island, a paranormal outings group.
She leads the group in ghost hunts at
locations across Long Island. She is
also an investigator with ISLAND
GHOST INVESTIGATIONS, an
in-depth paranormal research group.
Erica has been pursuing the
paranormal for over twenty years -
ever since she photographed a
mysterious illumination and image
on a gravestone in a cemetery in
Centerport, Long Island. Erica calls
the image "Ghost Eddie" (photo
below).
As heard on Classic Rock WRCN 103.9 FM Morning Show with Double D. and Glen, and B103 FM's Morning Show with the Wiseman and Frank
Photo by Joseph Flammer
Photo by Joseph Flammer
Spotlighted on USB Radio Stony Brook 90.1 FM's Friday night show Unsported Live
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