The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor is one of the two Maine locations selected for the Haunted New England 2014 calendar created by Jeff Belanger and photographer Frank Grace. Over the past 15 years Belanger has become a leading expert in the paranormal realm. He has authored several books, and is a sought after speaker on the subject of ghosts, spirits, UFOs and legends, and is a talk show host. He is also the writer/researcher for the Travel Channel series “Ghost Adventures.”

Although no investigation was conducted, the Opera House's reputation for being haunted, the stories connected with it and its unique architecture made it a great natural, or rather, supernatural candidate, for Belanger's first calendar. The calendar months feature two photos of each of the 12 locations along with a brief history and bits of haunted lore.

Belanger said they began the search for subjects by looking for New England locations with an established reputation for being haunted. Once possible locations are identified, Belanger and a few others visit spots and then interview locals for information, same as for “Ghost Adventures.”

“These legends are as much a part of the fabric of our history in communities as the history that can be agreed on,” Belanger said. “Ghosts can be taken from a ghost hunting-investigation standpoint, but also from a sociological, historical one and a folklore one, which is where we were coming from on this calendar.”

He was familiar with the work of Grace whom he met at paranormal events where Grace was taking photographs. Belanger was impressed with Grace's talent and thought his work was amazing.

“Frank,” Belanger said, “could make a McDonald's look creepy.”

Opera House Director Cathy Sherrill, who is known for playing down the haunted character of the region's beloved opera house, agreed to have its being used in the calendar.

“No, we (Sherrill and Opera House board) don't normally promote the apparent spiritual side of the Opera House, but the photographs they took are great and they stuck to the facts,” Sherrill said. “We figured people in the region might be interested. The photographer did a great job with both the angle and doctoring up the image. It looks great.”

One could say that his career in the field of the paranormal was destined. Belanger grew up in Connecticut and his neighbors were Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens were the investigators of the case in Amityville, Long Island, N.Y., that became the film “The Amityville Horror” in the late 1970s. Another one of their investigations is the basis for “The Conjuring,” a recent Hollywood release.

Belanger said his friends lived in these old 250-year-old haunted houses. At 10, they would break out the Ouija Board and try to contact the spirits. He was intrigued. When he set off for college as a journalism major, he sought out subjects for fall/Halloween features. Learning stories about people and places with a haunted “rep” and writing about them got him hooked.

In 1999 he founded www.ghostvillage.com, as a place to post his paranormal writing and hear from others who had experiences. Little did he know that that website would lead to book deals, lecture tours and the gig for Ghost Adventures.

“Now its my full time job — isn't it crazy?”

By 2008, Belanger had “a bunch” of books on haunted places and legends published. “Ghost Adventures” co-founder Zak Bagans contacted Belanger because he had heard Belanger was a good resource. Now, its season eight (the show started out as a documentary on the Travel Channel in 2004) and 100 episodes later. While some ghost shows try to prove if a place is haunted or not, if its not haunted “Ghost Adventures” isn't going there.

The Travel Channel series stars Bagan, cofounder/investigator/cameraman Nick Groff and cameraman Aaron Goodwin. The trio visit haunted locations (mansions, prisons, asylums, hospitals, sanitoriums, etc.)   researched by Belanger where they are locked in with an array of ghost detecting devices for one night.

In addition to research, Belanger must find locals in the towns where these haunted places are located to go on camera and talk about what they have experienced. Or, at least share information that has led to the place's reputation.

Belanger said only once has a spirit accompanied him back to his Massachusetts home. That site was a Victorian mansion in Gardener, Massachusetts (the subject of the September 27 GA episode).

“The owners said they would feel something pushing at the foot of the bed where their feet were,” Belanger said. “I remember thinking 'that's strange.' But that night, at home, it happened to me. I woke up feeling something pushing on the foot of my bed. I laid back down to get back to sleep and it happened a second time. Sure, this is my work, but I don't want to take it home.”

Belanger has talked to numerous people who have experienced hauntings in their homes after visiting a location, including the “Ghost Adventures” crew. They say the ghost or spirit doesn't stay very long, maybe two or three days in a diminishing capacity.

He said the GA crew members each have their own method of preparing/protecting themselves for a lockdown. They also have their own individual methods used once the investigation has begun.

Although Belanger has traveled to sites with haunted reputations the world over, it was the Waverly Hills Sanitorium in Louisville, Ky., that really got to him. The sanitorium was the place of 400 rooms in which TB patients went for treatment and to die.

“I walked into that building and I just went “WHOA … this place is haunted,” Belanger said. “I had that tingly, electrical fear feeling. I've been to battlefields, dungeons, castles, creepy prisons, cemeteries … and there have only been a few times when I reacted that way.”

During that visit, he and three other people were talking and a “shadow” of a man not 20 feet away put an end to the conversation.

“It was a validating experience. We all stopped talking and said, did you see that? At the end of the day, after you do this kind of thing for awhile, I think you realize truth, real truth, is in the eye of the beholder.”

Belanger added he had been back to the sanitorium since that spinetingling visit – and nothing happened.

“This stuff is elusive, but when it happens, when you experience it, its a game changer. It reminds us that there are still mysteries in the world and all you can do is listen to your gut. ”

Belanger says paranormal researchers and investigators will never run out of stories. This month on PBS stations in Springfield and Boston, Mass. his new series, “Our New England Legends” aired. Each episode is at a different “legendary” location at which he talks to folks who know the folklore. He hopes it will be picked up by other PBS affiliates. (ournewenglandlegends.com)

“People want to pooh-pooh the stories. They'll say I don't believe in ghosts, but I've heard that place is haunted,” Belanger said. “I don't need them to believe in ghosts, I'm not trying to convince anyone.

“Whether we are talking about it, writing blogs about it, or reading about it in a newspaper or magazine, these stories, these legends bind one person to another, and the present to the past. We are all storytellers. We respond to a good story and like to tell our story. By going to locations and checking them out, you become part of the stories, part of the history.”

The 2014 Haunted New England Calendar is available at the Tide-Mark Press website, www.tide-mark.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and bookstores.

For more information on Belanger visit www.jeffbelanger.com.

For more information on “Ghost Adventures,” visit www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/ghost-adventures.