2022 Memorial Day Issue

Wagner takes
photos using her
phone in hopes
of seeing a spirit
in a window of
an old house at
Waterloo Village.
Mike Hangley, Amanda and Dan Braico and Brianna
Boehm listen to Jacki Hangley describe her findings.
to happen.”
While experiencing premonitions, Wagner
also learned she could not prevent the actual
event from happening. “In one instance I blamed
myself,” she said. This led her to stifle her gift until
the age of 30, when the death of her father caused
a re-awakening from within.
“I was on the George Washington Bridge
rushing to get to my father’s bedside,” she said.
“I had a vision. He sent me this vision like a
full-fledged movie that lasted just seconds. In it,
I knew he was gone. That was my first of many
visits from my dad after his death. I knew I was
back and wasn’t going to be scared anymore.”
Even as a child, Wagner gravitated toward the
horror and ghost genres, immersing herself in
novels by the likes of Stephen King and Dean
Koontz.
“I wrote my first poem in seventh grade, and it
was about ghosts, goblins and witches,” she said.
She credits her seventh-grade teacher for
inspiring her to write, and she boasts a half dozen
published books as proof.
It is in these books where Wagner has
documented some of the experiences told to her
by people who sought her expertise.
Such was the case with Richard Clarkson, a
former Hopatcong resident, who is “pretty certain”
the outline of a phantom that burst through his
closet in 1989 would still exist—if the house
hadn’t been remodeled after his move in 1997.
“If the closet door is still on the door of the
main bedroom, you could see the outline of
the phantom, including the eyes,” he said of his
former Durbin Avenue home. “You have to look
hard.”
Precipitated by a violent thunderstorm, the
phantom appeared over Clarkson and “plunged a
sword into my heart and removed my soul,” he
said.
During the storm, lightning struck and entered
the house, hit the ceiling fan and started a small
fire. Neighbors called the fire department, but
Clarkson remembers none of it. During his
blackout, he said he was
transported to England and found himself in a
vault where he saw an elderly man and heard the
voice of his grandmother.
“There was this elderly man standing there,” he
said. “And I hear my grandmother’s voice behind
my back: ‘Albert, this is ridiculous. You need
to come with me. It’s been 80 years. Stop this
nonsense. It’s time to go.’”
Clarkson realized his grandfather was there to
tell him the real story about his death in 1924,
which was somewhat of a family secret. “He was
hanged.”
His account will be detailed in Wagner’s
upcoming book: “Sussex County and Other
Strange Phenomena: Part III,” coming out later
this year.
Wagner stores each account in digital folders,
which are organized according to county.
“If I get enough [material], I write a book,” she
said.
Her first in-person investigation took place
in 2019 at the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in
Ogdensburg at the request of the staff.
“We were there for six hours and got some
great footage,” she said. “Everyone was videoing
different stuff. There was this misty, foggy thing,
almost like cigar smoke, that was communicating,
and you could smell that the spirit was smoking.”
Wagner, accompanied by her team of six Lady
Ghostbusters, sensed a “brotherhood” of about 30
“happy” spirits.” The team was accompanied by
museum staff.
After trying to coax the spirits into the light,
Wagner said about half didn’t want to go. “So,
they all decided to stay,” she said.
Wagner never intended to build a team of
ghostbusters. “What ended up happening is that I
would be asked to bring a team,” she said.
Wagner reached out to some of the people she
had interviewed for her books, and that is how
the Lady Ghostbusters team came to fruition.
The group consists of mediums, psychics and
clairvoyants—to name a few—“each with their
own special gifts,” she said.
Following the investigation at the mining
museum, Wagner sent the footage to “Paranormal
Caught on Camera,” a show on the Travel
Channel. It aired in the fall of 2020.
After the broadcast, Wagner was bombarded
with people reaching out with their own footage,
pictures and audio.
These included accounts of Big Foot and even
Continued on page 16
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