Ghosts have always surrounded me.

The things that never leave me, that rattle my bones and give my arms goose bumps, are the stories breathed out by my ancestors. The dead come to life again through storytelling.

I grew up in a household that loved to tell tales of banshees, specters, devils, and other spooks. I will be the first to admit that my family is a bit crazy, and with a little drink in them, a lot crazy, but these stories went deeper than a bottle of Guinness.

The Irish are famous for their superstitions, and my family is no different—if someone accidentally dropped a comb, everyone immediately stopped what they were doing to take turns stepping on it. But, why?

Part of the answer hung above the fireplace in my childhood home: an ancient-looking crucifix made of straw called St. Brigid's Cross. The relic harkens back to the days of Ireland's pagan druidism, before St. Patrick came and drove those snakes to the sea.

Ghosts are and will always be apart of Irish culture, though. The first Halloween was, after all, celebrated in the Emerald Isle. And no matter how hard Old St. Paddy tried, that primal curiosity in the darker elements of life and beyond have never been completely swept under the rug of Christianity; the tales and superstitions still pass down from generation to generation to this day. My family is living proof that these stories still flow through Irish veins.

I do not know if I believe in ghosts, but I have certainly grown to believe in the stories, and that might be just as important.

Now older, I find the tales less frightening and more fascinating as a kind of universal link that all of humankind shares—since the dawn of man, spirit folklore has thrived not only in Ireland but in all corners of the world. There is something inherently humanistic in giving face to the unknown, in taking back the power of Death by becoming His storyteller. For that reason, I find ghost stories to be cathartic for the soul. They make us face our innermost fears, and by doing so, we release their power and hold over us.

Just days before Halloween, I find no better time to tell you a ghost story.

On March 15, 2005, at 3:16 PM, a New Yorker by the name of Joe Cascron placed an item on eBay. He listed what he claimed to be a haunted Nintendo Entertainment System.

I've been an eBay seller in the field of vintage games for close to a year. I've exchanged hundreds of video game related items, new and used, and still do till this day, but I have never experienced anything like this or even remotely similar. I don't feel threatened by this, supernatural or whatever it may be, but I do not feel exactly comfortable with it either. Up for auction is what I would call a haunted, Vintage, Video Game System, The Nintendo NES. I don't really like using the word 'haunted' when describing this, considering the first thing you would think about is something from a horror movie, but I really can't come up with another way to explain it.

There is a local thrift store here in Brooklyn, NYC, that I've been doing business with for some years now. About a month and a half ago I made one of my visits to the shop and found this '80s Nintendo System. When I purchased this Unit I asked the owner of the shop about who brought the System in, and what he actually told me was that a gentleman had donated it that same morning and said "It was just sitting in his attic", and according to him, it supposedly belonged to his son who passed away years ago. At first I thought the guy was just joking with me like he usually does, so I really didn't think much about it at the time.

Unfortunately, that's all I know about the background of this system. I do not know any specifics about anything else as far as the previous owner is concerned. I went back there about 2 weeks ago to try to find out more since what has been happening, but he doesn't know anything else. But I do know something is not so right with this. As far as technical functioning, the Nintendo System has its occasional 'blinking' screen if a game is dirty, like any other Nintendo System, but for the most part it functions pretty well. However, that's not what I mean about something not being right with this...

I brought this System home, and on the first night of playing, about 10 minutes into the game, I began hearing sounds similar to human voices, mumbling to the background music of the television. Naturally I thought it may have been static or something to that effect, or maybe it somehow interfered with a truck driver's CB Radio System, so I didn't pay much attention to it. But it continued through-out the entire time I was playing, stop for a minute or two, then start again. It got to the point where I went really close to the TV, I paused the game to try to hear it a little better, but then it would get silent. When I would unpause it, there it would go again. I know it sounded like there was a conversation going on but I couldn't make out any of the words.

I have my beliefs but I've never really been one into believing so much about Spirits and Crossover-Communication, but repeating the conversation I had with the guy in the shop wasn't helping at all. And until this day, I go back there and this man still sticks to the same exact story. To my knowledge, there is no technical problem with any vintage Nintendo Gaming System that causes any of these 'symptoms'. Since owning this System, I've experienced hearing sounds of mumbling and laughing in the background music of different games (all sounding Exactly the same and all on numerous occasions).

On 3 separate occasions I've had the game 'Pause' by itself, without having my finger anywhere near the 'Start' button of the controller, and the really suspicious thing about it was the fact the timing of the Pause always happened to be during an intense moment of a game, as if the intentions were made for me to lose. I even tried different controllers, which I've sold on eBay, thinking it may have been some type of controller glitch with the originals... and yet still have the same exact things happen. Every time I power this unit on is like getting ready for something new to happen. And not only with me. I've invited close friends and family members over, and some but not all have witnessed something strange happen, like the one time the 'Arrow icon' on the Main Options screen of a game actually moved down to 2 Player Mode, all while the controller was out of my hand. I've had some of my friends accuse me of purchasing this Unit from a Novelty store for the sake of pulling pranks, which I doubt even exists in the first place. It has gotten to the point where my Fiance never lets me turn the System on when she's in the house and I have friends that refuse to even play a game with me. Even my cat won't go anywhere near this System, unless she's 5 feet away and hesitating to sniff at it, and not only that, she's been running back and forth through the house in the middle of the night during the past few weeks, and that's something she's never done in the entire 8 years that I've owned her.

I sincerely believe there may be some form of strong connection or attachment between this system and its previous owner. The reason I am listing this... to be honest it's starting to freak me out, as well as the people around me. I don't feel threatened, I just don't understand it and I'm not exactly comfortable with keeping this in my home. So, at the request of friends and loved ones, I'll be going my separate ways with this system, regardless if it's an actual supernatural presence or everyone is just being paranoid. I'll be putting this unit up for 1 Penny without a reserve price, if you're the high bidder, the Unit and everything with it will be yours. It comes with its 2 original controllers, the original Zapper Gun, a copy of the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt game, along with its original AC-adaptor which came with black electric tape wrapped around it, but works without any problems, and a naki Rf-switch, which is everything needed to power-up and play.

Above are photos of the actual 'Haunted' System and accessories.

The System will come in the exact same condition from when I purchased it. There was some dust, but I cleaned that off. I have it already packaged and will ship the next day from receiving payment.

*** PLEASE NOTICE ***

Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee what you will or will not experience with the System. Obviously, if this is what myself, as well as others believe it to be, the supernatural is something completely beyond my control. Do not bid if you do not acknowledge and agree with this.

We welcome your questions and we will answer them to the best of our ability.

On Mar-10-05 at 10:52:55 PST, seller added the following information:
A very nice person recently emailed me and asked if I felt the type of presence with this Nintendo was Evil. Honestly, I don't believe that its Evil, I never really felt any type of negative vibes. I'm not a suspersticious [sic] person at all and I consider myself very level headed, If I had to put it in words... when looking at this System, I get a strong 'feeling' like it's actually looking right back at me. It's a distracting energy of a feeling like I'm not alone, but not in a way that I feel I'm in some kind of harm or danger.

On Mar-13-05 at 12:45:54 PST, seller added the following information:
This just in, someone just brought to my attention that in the first photo of the Nintendo Console, it looks like there's a form of a portion of a face in the photo. It was pointed out to me right in the center of the Nintendo where the cartridge slot is, and below it, is a shading, it somewhat resembles and eye and a mouth, what do you think? I'm not exactly sure so I'm not making any definite claims, but I'm getting more chills thinking about it. These photos have came [sic] out not so crisp, but they haven't been altered in any way.

On Mar-13-05 at 16:32:48 PST, seller added the following information:
I received word from fellow eBayers that our Unit has been mentioned on GA and NC radio stations -- thank you, hopefully word will reach those with expertise in this field. Please contact us if you've heard about this System through other media sources

A man in Minnesota named Jerry Belich purchased the so-called haunted Nintendo for $225.53.

He began a blog to document his investigation online: The Case of the Haunted NES.

After a short introductory post on March 23rd, Jerry updated again two days later.

“We will begin documenting over the next few days, see what we can get out of it," he wrote. "After we are sure we have enough data from use, both feelings and observable phenomena, and then we will carefully examine the actual components (both internal and external) for decay/damage.

I also want to experiment with artificially causing interference to see if it causes strange effects while playing. Not sure if I have the stuff on hand to do that this weekend however. I've always been a man of science and logic that has hoped for existing paranormal activity. I don't know if I believe in ghosts myself, but I want to!”

On April 1st (of all days), he posted another update.

“So nothing out of the ordinary yet, but we've only just begun.”

On April 6th, Jerry uploaded three photos of the NES and its accessories to a Flickr account, appropriately named ghostnes.

Pictured: The new owner’s partner playing Super Mario Bros.

Pictured: The Zapper light gun accessory that came included in the auction.

Pictured: A tape recorder plugged into the audio outlet to document any ghostly communication.

The next day, on April 7th, he detailed some of his initial findings.

“I didn't want to really talk specifics until we were more or less finished working with it, but an email from one of you prompted me to not be so tight-lipped about it. So here.

There has been some odd intermittent flickering (haven't opened it up yet so the quality of the connections may be to blaim [sic]?) as well as the occasional 'stutter' (freeze for a moment then continue, sometimes disrupting play). Also twice while playing last, the character moved back left on it's own at just the wrong time to take a life. The controller itself may have issues and I tried it briefly with the other one and it hasn't happened again yet.

I'm holding back on the audio until we know what we're looking at. Because of the specific frequencies of sound the NES systems use they are pretty easy to pick out in a spectral graph so we can look at what else is in there.

After normal testing and we open it, we will then clean the NES properly and see what behaviours change. Since the reason we are doing this is for everyone's curiousity I suppose it doesn't make since for me to be all secretive. Ok till later.”

This would be the last significant post. Updates halted when the NES traveled across country to the Ziff Davis offices in San Francisco. Jerry had agreed to loan out the system for an article to be written.

The blog's final post came on April 25th.

“The original guy stated that voices and sounds could be heard 'behind the music' but would stop when paused. That was probably the most significant thing he mentioned so if it's true, the insubstantial nature of the rest of his claims don't really matter. So here's hoping that off in the pink & purple misty waves of the spectral audio view there are frequencies being populated by what couldn't possibly be the familiar beeps & blips of our NES friend. That sounds better than saying, "Let us hope we can hear the unearthly cries of a dead child trapped in an old gaming console" doesn't it?”

Around the same time, Jimmy Lee of Electronic Gaming Monthly received the NES. After Jerry was nice enough to FedEx his Nintendo to the West Coast, Lee returned the favor by mocking him with a sarcastic write-up, going as far as taking the system to a psychic and paying to have the supposed spirit cleansed. I refuse to link to the story because I find the disingenuous page rather void of any additional insight; the writing serves no other purpose but to put down and make fun of Jerry. ("Game journalism" is more often than not an oxymoron, and you have these cheeky pseudo-journalists to blame.)

After the piece ran, anonymous commenters began flooding the blog with nasty remarks.

One person posted, “Man, you'll feel so embarassed [sic] to find out that you spent $225 on a stupid NES...aww nerts [sic], the human race is high-freakin'-larious....huanted [sic]...he he.”

Jerry replied, “No, you'd evidently feel embarrased [sic]. I decided to embark on a research project for the joy of it, despite the slim chance of finding hard evidence of the paranormal.

Maybe $225 is a lot of money to you, to me it's not a big deal. It's only money, and why are you concerned about how someone else spends it? You don't know how I stand either way financially so worry about yourself maybe?”

Jerry's last activity on the blog came as a response to another unkind message.

“I was Playing Super Nintendo the other day and a ghost came out of it and puked on my shoes," wrote one poster. "Any insight on such a paranormal event? Let me know if a ghost ever gave you a Cleveland steamer or anything of that nature. Thanks.”

He responded, “You took a sample of the puke I hope, Egon would've wanted you to.”

And so concluded the case. Some might say that the ghost story ended the same way that it began: as a joke.

Others might argue differently, that the unexplained is not at all a laughing matter.

One such person is Mark A. Keyes, Director of The Pennsylvania Paranormal Association and Host of Paranormal Science Radio on WILK-FM News Radio (serving the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton area). A full-time criminal investigator by day and a ghost hunter by night, he has appeared regularly on Animal Planet's The Haunted series.

Does he think a Nintendo could be possessed? Well, yes and no.

"You have some interesting questions that I haven't talked about in a while but have come across many times," Keyes told me. "From what you are telling me, it would make sense that if the young boy who died loved to play with the Nintendo and it was his, for whatever reason he stuck around his house after he passed and probably took note that the Nintendo was being given away. I would not consider the Nintendo box possessed or even a spirit residing within it, but think of it as an attachment the boy has to his game. He most likely stays at his home but is energetically connected to the game because it is his. He can get to it at will."

But could an "energetically connected" game be potentially dangerous?

"In this case I don't think so. In some other attachment with a different spirit, possibly. Think of a spirit, ghost, entity or whatever you want to call it as a person without physical body. Whatever the personality of that spirit, that is what you get when you take in an object that spirit may be connected to. A mean alcoholic who killed himself will definitely have a different personality than a child and the activity can get bad."

Keyes believes that paranormal entities can not only attach to certain objects but also settle down to occupy other places.

"So here is the tricky part. Getting rid of the item, in this case the Nintendo, can stop the activity at Jerry's home. That is, unless the child really likes Jerry and having now met him in a way, the child may want to hang out some times. So, most likely the child would go with the Nintendo but there is a small chance he could stick around at times too. Again, think of him as a living young boy, whatever he would do in life, he may do in death."

What about people who say that any attempt to communicate with a spirit is like opening up a doorway to the unknown?

"From my experiences, just showing an interest in wanting to investigate a system is not enough to bring about a haunting. Some substantial steps must be taken to have that happen. However, trying to communicate with spirit repeatedly at the same place can definitely bring about activity. It makes any aware spirit take notice that you know they are there so why wouldn't they want to respond. Problem is, that may cause some other, maybe not so friendly spirits, to take notice as well. Now you may run the risk of attracting them as well. It is very much like using a Ouija Board. In fact, we are seeing many people using voice recorders in their own homes because they see how teams do it on TV. They want to know if anything is in their home and it seems fun. Problem being, they are creating a forum or space with an open invitation for a spirit to come in. There is no way to only ask for the nice ones to come and you get what you get. We then get called because they don't know how to get rid of what they pulled in. Most hauntings are usually not harmful but every person reacts different to them. For some it may be a problem, others embrace it. It depends on the person."

The most pressing issue here is, if Jerry were to remove the system from his home, would he be free from anything that he may have released?

"If [he] wants to stop the activity, the first thing to try is getting rid of the game and see what happens."

Get rid of your Nintendo? Now there's a scary thought.