Lower Bucks Paranormal Society Explores the Unknown

When night falls, paranormal investigators enter a historic building or home, with equipment in hand and cameras rolling. Then they wait. They might be waiting for a surge of energy, a conversation with an unknown entity, or just silence. For many, this could be a frightening situation, but for members of the Lower Bucks Paranormal Society (LBPS), it’s an opportunity to explore the unknown with curious and inquisitive minds.

Chris Connolly is a seasoned investigator of 34 years and founder of LBPS. After moving to Yardley in 2022, he started the group with his wife, Sheri Robertson-Connolly, and a few other investigators.

Connolly’s interest in the paranormal began when he was 16 years old and saw a floating figure while working in a Kmart stockroom. “After my experience, I watched a lot of paranormal T.V. shows, did a lot of research and reading about the paranormal, and went to abandoned buildings to see if I could feel anything,” he says. “I learned to hone my skills when I joined an investigative team in New Jersey in 2007. I’m what they call a ‘sensitive,’ I can feel energies and spirits are drawn to me.”

When Connolly and Robertson-Connolly met, they discovered they shared an interest in the supernatural. She had an encounter at a restaurant in Bristol Borough where she saw something move in a way she believed wasn’t possible. “I have always been interested in things that are spiritual,” Robertson-Connolly says. “After meeting Chris, I developed my own passion for what I call spirituality and energy work that has to do with spirits not crossing over. I believe everything we encounter in the paranormal is energy related.”

A Growing Team

In 2022, Connolly connected online with Bucks County resident Mike Dombroski who was looking to join an investigative team. He became one of the first LBPS members. The group initially explored a property in New Jersey and then Naked Brewing in Bristol Borough. Dombroski has encountered his own share of phenomena, including a shadow figure three feet from his face. During other cases, he has felt emotional charges that brought him to tears.

“For me, during an investigation, it’s a lot of sitting back, observing, taking mental notes, and a lot of trial and error,” Dombroski says. “Everyone has tools they prefer—some are high tech and some have no tech at all. It’s such a cool experience for people who have inquisitive minds.”

LBPS has grown from five members to 21, all of whom have full-time day jobs and investigate as a passion project on the side. The team uses a variety of equipment, including dowsing rods to ask entities yes or no questions; REM-Pods, which create an invisible force field and beep when something crosses it; and dead bells, which detect environmental energy shifts or physical touches. It also has SLS and XLS cameras that use infrared lasers and depth mapping sensors that project a grid, to detect human-like skeletal figures in real time. Since the group’s inception, it has investigated approximately 30 properties.

“We always ask the business or homeowners if they’ve had activity, so we know the hot spots,” Robertson-Connolly says. “We set up cameras and equipment, break up into small teams, and then it’s a lot of sitting in the dark and talking to the air asking if there are any spirits with us. Sometimes absolutely nothing happens, and then there are times where spirits are incredibly communicative and a lot of equipment is going off and there are intelligent responses. It’s very much space, night, energy, and investigator dependent.”

After an on-site investigation, the team reviews hours of video and audio. Members use a case management program to conduct historical research and examine government records, newspaper articles, and other documentation. The program creates a baseline profile that includes names, records, disasters in the area, geological anomalies, and personal accounts. The final product is a client debrief detailing the location’s history, the team’s findings, and a breakdown of all the significant video and audio evidence.

“When we get intelligent responses, we verify them historically,” Robertson-Connolly says. “In Yardley, we had a soldier tell us his name. We were able to trace back and find someone who was part of the Bucks County militia from the Revolutionary War who had the same first name that we got, and it was an ‘Oh, wow’ moment.”

Spooky History

While LBPS was conducting fieldwork in Bristol Borough in 2024, resident and Valerius Productions owner Emma Girandola came up with an idea that would become a successful partnership. She approached Connolly about joining forces to create ghost tours in Bristol Borough. A month and a half later, Spirits on Mill Ghost Walk sold out. The brand expanded to include Spirits on Main Ghost Walk in Yardley Borough the following year and Spirits on State Ghost Walk in Newtown Borough this year.

Girandola has long been a paranormal enthusiast and grew up in a haunted house in Yardley. She also serves as LBPS’s communications contact, attends investigations, and is a tour guide. “I’ve always been a storyteller, and I love to tell ghost stories all day, every day,” she says. “It’s so fun to see people’s reactions. I think people love the tours because it’s the idea of the unknown. It’s thrill seeking. Whether you’re into history or the paranormal or you want to support small businesses, it’s the best of all worlds.”

The tours—which run Tuesday through Saturday, depending on the location, through November—each have their own personality: Bristol explores the area’s industrialization past; Yardley includes the Underground Railroad and Prohibition era; and Newtown delves into tales of rebel gangs, secret societies, underground tunnels, and haunted hotels.

Rishona Myers owns The Tubby Olive, a store that is part of the fall ghost walk in Newtown. “Since we operate out of an historic building from the 1700s, we thought it would be fun to find out who and what has inhabited our space besides us,” she says. “There’s so much history in Newtown.”

The tours have been so successful that they won Bucks Happenings’ Best Outdoor Event and the Tourism Innovation Award from Visit Bucks County earlier this year. “It was such an amazing moment because it confirms people are enjoying our tours,” Connolly says. “We’re educating people and supporting the small businesses that have supported us. Our tours are different because we get into the history of the area, and then participants get to learn about the actual evidence we captured from investigations. It’s a cool tour for history and paranormal buffs.”

Looking to the Future

Each year, LBPS adds more sites to its existing tours. The group also hopes to expand into additional communities throughout the region and to eventually offer tours year-round. “Washington Crossing has a ton of history; I would love to figure out a way for us to do some investigations and possibly a tour there,” Connolly says.

Connolly and his team are continually learning new methods for investigations. Looking ahead, he hopes to launch a podcast and create more events for people to learn about the paranormal. He says he’s grateful for the continued support from those who attend the tours and share his curiosity about the unknown.

“There are so many people who are afraid to talk about the paranormal because others view them as crazy; now, I’ve given them an outlet,” he says. “They’ll come to me and ask questions, ask me to do an investigation at their home or business, and I thank them for allowing me to share my passion and wanting to be educated.”

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Frightfully Fun

Halloween holds a special place for paranormal investigators Chris Connolly and his wife, Sheri Robertson-Connolly—their wedding anniversary is on Oct. 31. Each year, they are delighted to share their love of the holiday with the community and are known throughout Bucks County for their amazing Halloween decorations at home.

“I love community and Halloween,” Robertson-Connolly says. “We started with a 12-foot skeleton, and we kept buying more decorations and lights. We have Friday night-themed events like full-size candy bar night, meet a ghost hunter night, and goody bag night, where hundreds of people come by to see and walk through our display.”

For more information, follow Light Up 394 on Facebook.

Dari Kotzker is the editor of Upper Makefield magazine. She has worked as a reporter in television news and print media since 2001 and resides in Bucks County with her husband and four kids.

Photograph by Juan Vidal Photography