When paranormal sensitive Elizabeth Saint, a Mount Laurel native, first arrived in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, all she knew was that the tiny town was experiencing a spike in unexplained activity.
Little did she know she would make a connection with the spirit who was causing all the chaos.
Saint, along with paranormal investigator Nick Groff — formerly of "Ghost Adventures" — and founder of the Greater Maryland Paranormal Society paranormal tech Bill Hartley, were called to Shepherdstown by police Chief Mike King after countless unfounded emergency calls got out of hand.
The team investigated several locations including a bakery, several homes, and even the woods near the Potomac River.
It didn't take long for Saint to realize there was a pattern forming.
Water seemed to play a part in all of the activity, and psychic medium Lorie Johnson sensed the spirits of many children throughout the town.
In the final episode on July 17, after one final investigation, the team finally figured out what was plaguing the oldest town in West Virginia.
After being called to the home of a couple who had recently moved to the town, Saint, Groff, and Hartley went into the basement where homeowner Claire claimed to have heard a baby crying.
"In the beginning, I started picking up a woman," Saint said.
But what wasn't mentioned in the finale episode was that Saint picked up more than just feelings of the spirit. Saint was actually seeing through the spirit's eyes.
"It's only happened to me a couple times," she said. "I started getting images of her and her baby."
On camera, the audience witnesses Saint's reaction, but some of what happened in the basement was cut from the episode.
"I started pacing back and forth," she said. "I looked at Nick and he asked me if I was OK. I started crying, and I don't remember anything after that."
Saint doesn't remember anything up until she got outside the home.
"It was like coming out of a cloud and coming back to myself," she said.
While in the empathic state, Saint was saying she had "done something bad," and didn't want to leave the basement.
Later, the team was called back to Claire's home after she reported that a poltergeist had destroyed the kitchen.
"I've never seen anything like that before," Saint said of the disarray. "At first I was skeptical, but having that experience in the basement made it more believable to me."
The team decided it was time to get to the bottom of what was happening in Claire's home, and set up an in-depth investigation which would include a reading with Johnson.
The psychic immediately picked up on a mother and child in the basement.
She also picked up on Claire's pregnancy, even though neither she nor her husband had told anyone they were expecting.
Johnson said the woman whose spirit inhabited Claire's home had been accused of killing the town's children with witchcraft back in colonial times.
Dana Mitchell, Shepherdstown historian, found historical records of a rash of infant deaths attributed to water poisoning that correlated with the time period when Johnson said the woman was accused.
The residents said the woman used witchcraft to poison the town's water, in turn killing their children.
"They drug her to the river and drowned her," Johnson said.
While the woman was murdered by the townspeople, her baby was left in a basket in the woods where she starved to death.
"When Claire came into the home, she woke up all those memories for the spirit," Saint said.
Johnson explained the spirit was so angry, she began becoming everything she was accused of. Her anger and sadness, plus the large amount of water — which is a strong conductor of energy — surrounding the town, is what sparked the overwhelming paranormal activity, Saint said.
Each member of the crew participated in a ceremony at the river where the woman died, apologized to her for what the townsfolk had done so long ago, and sent her to the other side to reunite with her child.
"I felt like she latched onto me to get her story out more," said Saint, who recently had a baby of her own.
Saint hasn't heard news of another season of "Ghosts of Shepherdstown," but said the six episode Destination America series ended up being the highest rated show in the network's history.
The entire season of "Ghosts of Shepherdstown" is available on Comcast OnDemand.
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