Darren Davies' childhood home had its own resident ghost, and he had his first paranormal experience at 14. Today, he's bringing scientific investigation methods to the search for ghosts and hauntings.

It's something of a status symbol for an old pub to have its own ghost, but are these just spooky stories dreamed up to bring in customers, or could there be more to it?

A team of Queensland ghost hunters are looking for the truth, using high-tech gear and careful historical research. They say they've found evidence to support some local tales of haunting, using specialised gear to pick up otherworldly motion, sound, lights and energy.

Darren Davies is an investigator with Paranormal Paratek, the non-profit group behind the research. His interest in the paranormal goes right back to his childhood.

"I grew up in a convict built lighthouse back in Sydney," Darren remembers. "It was built in 1812 from the first fleet settlement ship, the flagship HMS Sirius. We had a known residential spirit there, the Master's Mate of the vessel."

Darren says he had his first real paranormal experience at 14, but it wasn't until his father passed away at home in 2006 that he started looking for scientific evidence of the spirit world.

"My three year old niece was laughing, running around the house, and I asked her what she was doing. This was in front of the rest of the family, and they all looked at one another quite strangely. They all felt something. My niece said "I'm chasing Poppy" while she continued to run around the house laughing.

"So I continued to look into what could possibly be haunting in my house, of my own father.

"I decided that was a good time to go out and start experimenting, buying gear regarded as state of the art in this research field to see that whether or not we could make contact with the other side."

While it's the specialised gear that makes recordings of paranormal activity possible, the first step in an investigation is much more mundane - old newspaper clippings, or the births, deaths and marriages register.

First the investigators have to work out who the ghost, if there is one, could be. This means careful research into the site's past to find out whether any deaths occurred there, and gather some background of the victim which could be relevant to the haunting. For instance, while researching a pub in Childers, the group found that a man had died there in an accidental fall while fleeing a group he'd dobbed in for illicit gambling. Years later, on the anniversary of the death, a lightning strike took out the pub's poker machines.

Once the historical research is done, it's time for Darren and his colleagues to move in with the electronic gear.

"A digital audio recorder is regarded as one of the most important pieces of equipment in investigating," Darren says, "Because it can pick up voices we sometimes don't hear with our own ears.

"On review of those recordings we find there may have been a voice, there may have actually been a timely, responsive answer to a question we asked. If we can prove that there was nobody else talking, that it wasn't me mumbling to myself for instance, then perhaps then we have caught something from the other side.

"There is also full spectrum video, there is infrared video. You cannot use a normal video camera or digital camera, because you are not seeing the full light spectrum. Spirits can work outside the normal light range, where our eyes may not see."

The investigators also use motion and vibration sensors, heat-detecting cameras and devices which seek out electromagnetic fields to build up a full picture of what's happening at the site. There's quite a bit of preparation involved in setting up for a night's research. For example, rooms need to be sealed so a light breeze doesn't trigger sensitive motion detectors, and infrared cameras need to point away from each other so their fields of vision don't overlap, which can cause interference.

If there is paranormal activity at the site, that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to encounter the ghost of Marley wrapped in chains. Darren says there are different levels of haunting, from an 'intelligent' ghost which is self-aware, to a simple noise mindlessly replaying itself over and over again.

"A residual haunting is a replay of events. They're mostly audible, so you may hear footsteps, there may be shuffling sounds or voices, some people hear musical instruments like an old piano playing. These are most likely residual imprints left over time.

"There are certainly unusual sounds people have heard over the years. Musical instruments, we've heard that at the Criterion Hotel in Maryborough. We've heard baby cries in certain places. On May 16 in Maryborough we picked up the sound of a steam train taking off and its whistle blowing.

"An intelligent haunting is potentially a spirit or a ghost that can interact with the living. For example, if we can find a way to prove that the voices we've picked up on audio devices are actual answers to questions we'd just asked, that becomes a level of intelligence."

The site itself can also affect the haunting. Some materials conduct electricity better than others, and Darren says since spirit activity is basically a form of energy, this means the building itself can affect the paranormal activity inside.

"For example, old castles made out of granite and quartz with limestone mortar, with water leaking down the walls, that's a situation that's a natural conductor for electricity. If you then get a lightning storm outside, that can be what helps charge up these old buildings and help them retain a haunting."

Paranormal Paratek is a Queensland-wide organisation, but much of Darren Davies' attention is focussed on Maryborough at the moment.

"There are a lot of reports about old buildings in Maryborough, and we know that the townspeople love their heritage and the historical side of Maryborough. It's a beautiful place and most people are very proud of the history of Maryborough.

"Thankfully it remains here in the likes of the old courthouse, the Criterion, the Wharf Street Portside precinct is one special part of Maryborough which shows that in some places time can stand still.

"A lot of people do want to do know. They are genuinely interested in the claims and want to know the truth.

"We would hope that in some way we can give something back to the places we investigate, but not every place has a haunting."

Some of the alleged hauntings the group investigates do turn out to be hoaxes, wishful thinking or old wives tales. Others are mundane things genuinely mistaken for paranormal phenomena; Darren says some suspected hauntings turn out to be faulty wiring on old buildings.

But they've found enough promising material to keep up their investigations. While investigating a pub in Maryborough, Darren says his audio recorder picked up a voice that was identified as belonging to a former caretaker, who passed away at the premises. He was apparently a grumpy chap in life, a trait his ghost has kept - the voice told Darren in no uncertain terms to sod off.

As well as regular investigations around the Wide Bay Burnett region, the group is planning a trip to north Queensland next month.

"We will be going up into Ravenswood in late October early November to investigate the whole township, because of the reports that are widespread throughout that town.

"You do hear things. We go places and it might be the tradies sitting around the bar, it could be the tourist operators, it could be anybody, suddenly says they've seen or heard something. We're hearing a lot of these reports from the likes of Ravenswood and Charters Towers."