‘Do you have any ghost stories’? Because this Wareham resident has many

Wareham resident Carlston Wood has seen it all when it comes to what goes bump in the night. With dozens of paranormal investigations under his belt, disembodied voices and apparitions are nothing new to the seasoned investigator. 

Wood deals with both pet tails and pet-trifying tales as he spends most days at the Marion Animal Hospital as a customer service representative. The former Director of Wareham Animal Control, Wood now takes care of patrons, often sitting behind the counter asking pet parents if they have any ghost stories.

"I've asked thousands of people that question," he said. "'Do you have any ghost stories? Have you or anyone in your family had a strange experience with anything? UFOs, cryptic creatures and anything like that?'"

While Wood has worn many hats over the years as a DJ, rockstar and vet surgery technician, his ties to the paranormal began when he was growing up in Bridgewater. His childhood home was a 1760 Colonial that, "had ghosts and a lot of other weird stuff going on," he said.

As a child, Wood said he would go to the library and read up on spirits and history to get a grasp on what was happening within his home.

"My experiences began from curiosity and it wasn't a fun thing," he said. "I was a terrified child and my research started then. It continues to this day."  

Making the move to the gateway town in 1980 with his parents, he first experienced the paranormal in Wareham years later after his stepdaughter and her friend had an encounter in Fearing Tavern. The historic building contains portions built in 1690, 1765  and 1820 and features 16 period themed rooms.

"They looked over their shoulder and saw a lady knitting sitting in a rocking chair dressed in clothes of the time period of that room— the 1600s," he said.

According to Wood, the lady looked at his stepdaughter and smiled. Upon asking the guide who the lady in the room was, the guide had told the pair that nobody was there.

Wood's curiosity was sparked well enough by his stepdaughter’s story that he became part of the first group to investigate the tavern for paranormal activity. His initial investigation caught some, "pretty cool stuff," and led to dozens of other groups touring the building for a good haunt. 

From the ghost of a little girl asking to play dress-up to the discovery of what might have been a Revolutionary War era tunnel, the tavern is filled with paranormal activity, according to Wood. One instance included a team from Rhode Island who caught what they called, "Tinker Bell."

"There's a doll room, and the room is pretty creepy because— dolls are super creepy already. But they captured a light in there one evening," he said.

Wood also highlighted an investigation at the Wareham Media building. Built in 1902, the building used to be Town Hall before the 54 Marion Road location was constructed in 1937.

A crew of three psychic mediums, lots of television equipment and an electronic voice phenomena specialist who uses electronic devices, such as digital audio recorders, to record sounds in locations believed to be haunted, sought a spirit named William.

The mediums conducted a flashlight test in the old vault room. The flashlights were touch sensitive and the mediums asked any spirits present to flash once for no and twice for yes for their questions.

"They asked if it was William and it flashed twice," Wood said. 

However, it seemed the post-production of that investigation yielded even more frightening results. The video taken inside the vault was fast-forwarded even though the timestamp and original footage remained in real-time. 

Wood told his technician to check all the manuals to ensure that the instance wasn't just a malfunction. 

Wood said the technician told him "’Listen, I called Mac, Sony and everybody I could think of. There's no way possible that piece of film could have shown up like that.’"

Through all of these experiences, Wood describes himself as a “1% believer and 99% skeptic,” often opting for logical explanations for circumstances. As for what makes a building inherently haunted like Fearing Tavern or Wareham Media— it gets complicated.

"It's the history of the building and it depends on the people who are investigating it," he said. "I've gone in with equipment and yes we have caught things on film— but for the most part? You feel it. You are the ghost detector." 

From a haunted violin that shook the room of the former Wareham Courier to the lost souls opening Wood's buck knife while on an animal control job at a cemetery building— he mostly listens to stories nowadays. 

"I believe people see things and that stuff happens. I believe that people have these experiences but if I say that I believe in ghosts that pigeonholes me. It's an ongoing thing— it's research," he said. "That's the way you have to look at it otherwise you're never going to find that truth. It's like the X Files. The truth is out there."