The Philadelphia X-Files? Getting Spooky With Olde City Paranormal

It’s the day before Halloween, and there’s no better time of year to be hunting ghosts. Yet tracking down things that go bump in the night is nothing out of the ordinary for OCP, or Olde City Paranormal. They are a group of dedicated, real-life ghostbusters. Founded by Philadelphia Police Officer, John Levy, the operation is very serious and not campy, goofy, or irreverent at all. There are two other Philly cops on the squad, George Finstein and Mike Kacey, along with five other civilian members.

Ghost hunting may get a bad rap, but the members of Olde City Paranormal, which is headed up by police officers, take it very seriously.

Olde City Paranormal is dedicated to investigating reported incidences of paranormal phenomena around the Philadelphia region. They were founded in 2009 and were even approached shortly thereafter about doing a TV show. Officer Levy says that the group declined because it was insinuated that they would have to either fake or exaggerate paranormal activity to ensure ratings. He’s careful about not calling other ghosthunter TV shows out as phonies, but he did tell Metro USA that he believes in his profession and the integrity thereof.

OCP is also interested in the good of the community. They team with historical landmarks to host paranormal-themed events to raise money for the landmarks. The group gives 100% of the proceeds from these events to the landmark in question. Graeme Park in Horsham, which Levy says is a site of frequent paranormal activity, has teamed often with OCP, and Olde City Paranormal has raised $37,000 for the park to date.

Levy says that his credentials as a police officers assist him in his work as a paranormal investigator: “There are similarities in both fields strictly in the investigative side, proving facts and doing a thorough investigation,” he says. “I hold all of my investigators to a high standard of accountability, which is also another reason I have other Philadelphia police officers on my team.”

As for the million-dollar question of what places in Philadelphia the OCP believes to be haunted? Levy says that Graeme Park, Burlington County Prison Museum and Fort Mifflin are the sites of the most confirmed paranormal activity.