Ghost hunters in search of the paranormal

Armed with this information, Franz returned to the scene of the ethereal laugh to videotape the location and see what else he could discover. While he didn't see or hear anything unusual at the time, when he watched the videotape later Franz heard a disembodied voice captured on the tape quietly say, "Come with me."

Across the nation, people like Franz are using modern technology to answer an age-old question: Do ghosts exist? These paranormal enthusiasts are harnessing Web sites to share their hair-raising stories, just like kids swap spooky tales around a crackling campfire.

"There's been a boom in ghost hunting ever since the Internet took off," said John Zaffis, a ghost buster of 30 years who is deemed an authority among the supernatural set.

A measure of the trend's popularity is the success of the recently released movie "White Noise," and a cable television show on the SciFi channel called "Ghost Hunters." The reality show stars everyday men and women creeping through dark houses with flashlights in search of the unknown.