A Night of Boos and Brews at the Penndel Fire Company

If you hear strange bumps in the night, get random chills while walking around the house, or if something just doesn't feel right about the basement, who are you going to call?

For people in Bucks County, the answer may be the Oakford Paranormal Society. For the past two years, Carol Haughey and her team of researchers have helped local homeowners and businesses explain the unexplainable.

"Our main purpose is to debunk theories that a house may be haunted," said Haughey. "We look for logical reasons for strange happenings. We are very careful before we say a place is haunted. We don't want to scare people."

Using a combination of high-tech equipment and her own innate psychic intuition, Haughey averages about two investigations a month. Most of the time, she can find a non-paranormal explanation, but sometimes the evidence is undeniable.

"The Continental Tavern in Yardley, the General Davis Inn in Upper Southampton, the Road House Inn in Newportville and Brittingham's in Lafayette Hill," says Haughey. "They are all haunted."

As she continues to establish the Oakford Paranormal Society as a reliable resource for haunting investigations, Haughey also wants to give a hand to newcomers by offering grant money to budding ghost hunters. 

The Oakford Paranormal Society will raise money for the new grant program with the inaugural Boos and Brews Festival this Saturday at the Penndel Fire Company, 220 Centre St., between 1 and 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online for $30. After the first 300 tickets are sold, proceeds from additional tickets will benefit the fire hall. The Penndel Fire Company will also sell food, with those proceeds going directly to the firefighters.

Haughey grew up in Northeast Philadelphia surrounded by the supernatural. Her mother and grandmother were both psychics, and she says her basement was haunted.

"My mother always told me to open my third eye," says Haughey. "She meant that I should keep the psychic channels open. It's something that came very naturally for me."

Besides paranormal investigations, Haughey also performs psychic readings by appointment. With Master's degrees in Parapsychology and Occult Sciences, she also teaches night classes on paranormal science at Bensalem High School and the Bucks County Technical High School.

"I have psychic conversations that pulls in information for clients," says Haughey. "I learned a long time ago how to control the readings so they don't disrupt me while I am doing other things."

The inaugural Boos and Brews Festival takes place at the Penndel Fire Company, 220 Centre St., Penndel, Saturday Oct. 5 between 1 and 3 p.m. Tickets cost $30 and can be purchased online.