By Tim Binnall
A rather unique business has opened its doors in a Virginia community: a shop that specifically sells ghost-hunting equipment. The store, dubbed GhostStop, is reportedly the brainchild of paranormal researcher Shawn Porter, who had previously operated a similar enterprise in Florida prior to moving the operation to the community of Lynchburg this year. In addition to the standard devices used by those seeking spirits, such as EMF meters and night vision cameras, the shop also sells equipment that the seasoned investigator personally designed for an array of popular ghost hunting TV programs.
The inspiration for his work, Porter recalled to a local TV station, comes from paranormal experiences that occurred in his childhood and a desire, upon becoming an adult, "to put a logical explanation to those things that may have happened." While one might think that a store selling ghost-hunting devices might have a fairly limited clientele, Porter marveled that there's a remarkable amount of walk-in business from bewildered homeowners experiences eerie events. "We've always had people coming through the door," he marveled, "and I always say the sentence usually starts with 'You're going to think I'm crazy but, I have this thing going on in my house."
Beyond providing people with the means to possibly get to the bottom of paranormal activity unfolding in their home, Porter envisions GhostStop as something of a command center for all of the various research groups seeking spirits across the globe. "The end goal here is to gather information from all these teams that are doing investigations all around the world," he explained, "and collect that here into one place" which he has dubbed 'Ghost HQ.' The shop plans to hold a grand opening gala early next month and tours of Lynchburg's purportedly haunted locations are also in the works.