Nick Groff has long been a friend to Arrow in the Head. And with the premiere of season two of the Destination America series Ghosts of Shepherdstown, we are thrilled to watch as he continues to look for answers where others may fear to tread. Along with Elizabeth Saint and Bill Hartley, Nick once again finds himself in this exceptionally creepy world of haunts and history that gather in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
We recently sat down with Mr. Groff to talk about the upcoming season, working with the fine folks in Shepherdstown and rumors about “staged” events on the series. He opened up about his own views on that sort of negativity, and why he felt that he should speak out. Make sure you check out Ghosts of Shepherdstown, season two premieres tonight on Destination America. You’ll be spooked if you miss it.
To start things off, where are we at for season two of Ghosts of Shepherdstown?
We thought we figured everything out with what is going on in Shepherdstown in West Virginia, but suddenly the police and the townspeople had this increase in paranormal activity of unexplainable things happening. We were called back in to try and figure out the ongoing [activity] – not just in Shepherdstown this time, but it’s going into different towns surrounding Shepherdstown. So it’s going to Charleston, Martinsburg and more. It’s been really interesting trying to figure out why these things are happening. A lot of things can be ruled out and you’ll see in season two of GOS that we actually do debunk a lot of things that could be caused by environmental elements or other things that people might think its paranormal but aren’t. A lot of the stuff that is happening definitely became part of a very intense investigation for Elizabeth [Saint], Bill [Hartley], myself, and even Chief [Mike] King who came to a couple of different places with me personally to try and figure out what the heck is going on. That’s the real reason why we are back trying to help, not only to document these claims and eyewitness accounts, but to get to the bottom of the paranormal activity.
How have the locals been when it comes to what you are doing in the town and why you are there?
The townspeople have embraced us fully. Our headquarter is right in the town hall with the police department. It’s really interesting because that would never happen if the town didn’t want us there. They want us there. They want our help. They want to try and figure out what is going on. Not only that, they’re super genuine. There are a lot of great people out there that have credible stories. These people that we are talking to are very terrified at times, but also very curious. It’s interesting to be in not only just several different locations spanning over several different towns, but also having the whole town behind us trying to figure out what is going on. They need our help to get to the bottom of it because we’ve been doing this for so long we can rule out certain possibilities. Also, you know me, I’m trying to discover new things in the paranormal field. Doing what we are doing right now, we are getting closer to some of those answers. But, I think Chief King really needed our help this time because it is more than he can handle at this point. It’s not just Shepherdstown anymore.
Recently, the series drew some fire from an article saying that much of it is “staged.” How did you deal with that personally and what was your reaction?
I posted a response [which you can read below to some of these outlets that have been misquoting different people, and putting it into their own perspective and their own opinions. And it was completely wrong in my book. I mean, we’re talking about people in Shepherdstown that are wonderful people, it’s a beautiful town with an amazing history. That kind of got under my skin a little bit. We work so hard and we are super dedicated. Our team is very passionate, and there is nobody else out there that pretty much works as hard as us. It’s a small community at the end of the day. The paranormal field is a small niche community that we all try and work together. And there is no hardship. I don’t understand why there has to be this kind of fuel of negativity out there. Why can’t we all just come together and figure out what is going on with some of these paranormal happenings.
One of the people in Shepherdstown [I am not adding their name] you’ve dealt with was misquoted specifically correct?
Yeah, the one thing they said was "to make good television" in regards to locations that are not still standing for reenactments. All she meant was that the locations for the reenactments that we are not a part of – our investigation team – they use real actors for reenactments to portray those in the Civil War and to tell a story. And the production company does move locations around all the time to tell the stories for the reenactments. We aren’t even a part of that. Our investigations are legit. We have no part in that aspect. The quote wasn’t meant to be negative. It was taken out of context to make it seem like it was.
Right.
At the end of the day we are all going to pass away and move on to wherever that place is when our body dies. Why does there have to be so much negativity to diminish everything that we are doing? We are working so hard with the police department to try and figure out what is going on for the people in Shepherdstown, and Martinsburg, Charleston and all these other towns that people are wanting our help. All the people we talked to are real people with real credible stories. Some are owners of the locations, and some are managers, and some are sitting there crying to us trying to figure out what is going on.
One lady in the first episode – premiering tonight – on Ghosts of Shepherdstown season two… we go to the wax museum and she fell down the stairs halfway through us filming at the location and trying to investigate it and helping her try and figure out what’s going on. She is actually frightened to go there at night. She fell down the stairs and broke her arm. I mean, how is that staged? You know, is someone going to just throw themselves downstairs and break their own arm for the sake of it? This lady is terrified of this location at night, and she falls down the stairs and she is claiming that possibly spirits are doing this to her. And she has a broken arm. My point is that I don’t necessarily understand why some outlets sometimes take things out of context and misquote and try to have a really harsh opinion towards what they don’t like. So the point is we do what we love to do man, and we try to avoid all that stuff.
Honestly, I usually don’t get into the negativity of that side of things. We are just doing what we love to do and we are super passionate about it. But there comes a point where you draw a line and you start misquoting people, especially people that I know personally, that we have a relationship, and people that are really sincere from the places we were at trying to help. That’s where I draw the line. It’s just not right.
I’m sure it’s not the first time you’ve dealt with people who are skeptical or have something negative to say.
Exactly. That’s why I try and avoid it. I usually don’t get caught up in all the drama, it doesn’t bother me. Everyone has different opinions. You’re not going to win over everybody. I don’t want to win over everyone, I want everyone to have their own mind and think their own way that they want to think. I just want things to be told in the way that it is true… period. At the end of the day when you start misquoting, you start saying all these other things and that is where you kind of just have to draw the line man.
Working with Destination America and the return of Shepherdstown – and of course the success of Paranormal Lockdown – where has it taken you personally and professionally?
Life is interesting and you never know where you are going to go and the path that it’s going to take you on. What I thought was really cool is working with the police department and trying to figure out all these unexplainable things that are happening. The police can’t even figure it out. And that’s a real thing. And I think that intrigued me so much to be a part of this team and try to work together as a team to try and understand what these people are going though. And working with the police also helped me understand the realism of these things that you sometimes just can’t explain. Things that are just bizarre. When the police can’t explain it, and I’m trying to figure it out, you try and rule out the possibilities of environmental elements. When it comes to a point where I can’t personally explain or understand it, I document it, and make up my own theories and conclusions and present evidence.
We try and figure out how to stop [what is going on] so we can help the people coming to us when they are asleep at night and go to these locations and live their own lives. That’s what I find so interesting about doing this show, we are crossing paths with people in this world every single day, that have experiences and stories. Or some might be skeptical and possibly might be a one-hundred percent believer and might not understand it. They just might need help to get to that next stop in their own lives. That’s what I love about Ghosts of Shepherdstown, connecting with different people and really understand in my own personal quest in my life, what is going on beyond just dying?
You mentions skeptics in Shepherdstown. Do you find that there are a lot you come across?
There aren’t as many skeptics. There are a lot of people in Shepherdstown that love the history. All the surrounding stores and the restaurants that we eat at, including the Domestic, we talk to people that have ghost stories to tell. That’s what I find really interesting about this town is everyone has some sort of story. No matter if they believe, don’t believe, are skeptics, or just have interesting stories to talk about – or weird things to talk about – or the town history or the Civil War. The layers of history that occurred in that time and it is engulfed in rich history, it’s just fascinating. And that is what I love.
Some of the people that I’ve talked to, like even Chief King who I work with very closely and our team does as well, he is somewhat of a skeptic. He’s like, Nick, I’ve never seen a ghost, but I’m definitely open to the possibilities and I’m not closed off to it because there are too many weird things happening that he can’t even explain. He’s like, you know I get calls and people are saying there is a burglar in my house. He rushes over there asking where is the burglar, and they are like, well somebody was in our house because they were shaking our door or banging on the door. They were running around. I could hear them. We’d close our door and barricade ourselves in. We were scared for our life because we thought there was a burglar. The police are there and there is no burglar. He’s experienced situations like that before, but he is still a skeptic because he hasn’t had that full blown experience of seeing a ghost face to face. Yet he’s really intrigued. He’s like, Nick, I need to go on more ghost hunts with you. It’s not like he goes on paranormal investigations [laughing] he’s a police officer.
It’s interesting, he wants to go out because he wants to experience it. Just because he said he is a skeptic, it doesn’t mean, I don’t like you and I don’t believe and all that stuff. He’s a great friend of ours and a good guy, but he just hasn’t had the full blown experience. I love people like that. I was somewhat like that too back in the day. I’m a logical thinker and I try to explain things. Until I had my experience in 2009 when I was at the Linda Vista Hospital and I saw the spirit of a lady right [in front of my face], it really opened up my eyes to the possibility of other things and that is really what pushed me into the paranormal field, even when it is harder to figure out what is happening.
That must have really opened up your eyes to the possibilities of answers which you’ve continued to look for.
It’s interesting how we go through life and everyone starts from the same place right? We’re born into this world, then we go through life as we mature. We gain more knowledge. We read books. We have experiences. We all talk to each other and we communicate and we share stories and experiences. I think that’s really what life is about, but it’s also about being positive and trying to understand where you are going on your own quest and what you are doing with your life.
Going through my life has been really interesting because I honestly didn’t think that I’d be doing a TV show, or anything like that. I was enthusiastic for all things paranormal. I loved UFO’s and aliens. I loved talking about different theories and possibilities of the universe and what happens when you die. Going to unexplainable locations and hearing ghost stories, mysteries and legends, I love all that stuff. It gets me thinking. And I think that is the greatest thing about what we do is we are thinking, we are using our brains. We are trying to adapt to this world we live in and trying to understand it because, yeah, we do pass on and that is a real fact. But where does the energy go that is in the body that we produce? Where does it go? Where does the conscious thought that is within our brain that we produce go when the body dies? I believe that’s what we are dealing with at different locations that I’ve dealt with on Paranormal Lockdown, and that we are dealing with on Ghosts of Shepherdstown.