The Ghost Hunters were in town this weekend.

Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, stars of the Sci-Fi series Ghost Hunters, spoke to about 350 people Saturday night at the fourth annual National Paranormal Conference, hosted by the Paranormal Research Society (PRS).

Hawes and Wilson, members of The Atlantic Paranormal Society, shared video clips, electronic voice phenomenons (EVPs) and other evidence from their various cases of ghost hunting.

Wilson and Hawes showed videos from Eastern State Penitentiary that showed a black figure, which appeared out of nowhere and ran down one of the cellblocks.

"I watch the show all the time, and it was really cool to see them in person," Nicole Dugan (senior-psychology) said.

Common sense and rationality are always a huge part in investigating these types of cases, Wilson said.

"We don't pretend to have all the knowledge out there," Wilson said.

PRS founder and President Ryan Buell said this year's conference drew 200 percent more people than in the past.

"In previous years, the outcome has been half of this," he said. "This is our biggest conference yet."

Some have even asked for tickets to next year's conference, said Topher Young, PRS general director.

"It has been absolutely insane," Young said.

The four-day event kicked off Thursday night with the first lecture by Buell and psychologist Adam Blai, PRS adviser. This was the first time both spoke at the conference, and they were welcomed by an audience of more than 100 people.

Buell and Blai discussed everything from the functions of PRS to their own experiences and cases with the paranormal.

The aim of the talk was to educate and inform the audience, and to give them something to think about, Blai said.

"We are not here to try to convince people of the paranormal because that would be impossible," Blai said. "You need a direct experience to believe."

Buell said that although it is impossible to make someone believe in the supernatural, the message of the conference is to acknowledge its existence.

"The supernatural is real. There are consequences to dealing with it and it is not how the movies portray it," Buell said. "There are people working constantly to try to explain the unexplained."

Later, Lou Gentile, demonologist and paranormal radio talk-show host, escorted a group to the basement of Old Botany Building on a ghost hunt.

Gentile said he was able to communicate with one spirit there and then played an EVP of a "gurgling" voice back to the stunned group.

"He asked it questions like, 'Are you happy here?' " Blai said. "We all heard a distinct voice saying 'No' when he played the tape back to us."

On Saturday, an audience of more than 300 people, from as far as Georgia and Oklahoma, came for the various workshops about everything from the psychological aspects of the paranormal to the equipment that is used to detect the presence of the supernatural.

"I think it is really great that Penn State can get people like this to come here," Denyelle Dickerson (sophomore-psychology) said.

The 2005 National Paranormal Conference was a success, Buell said.

"This has been my favorite one so far," he said. "It has been one big celebration, and everyone has really enjoyed themselves."