‘This is a very haunted building’: NBC comes to Hamilton for segment on worldwide ghost hunt

The Butler County Historical Society’s headquarters was featured on NBC’s Today show on Halloween in a spooky-looking feature about the World’s Largest Ghost Hunt, which was based in Hamilton but happened in more than 80 locations in eight countries around the world.

“This is a very haunted building,” Schmidt said in the television segment about the historic Benninghofen House on North Second Street, where the historical society is based.

RELATED: The Today segment can be viewed here

A crew from Chicago visited Hamilton on Sept. 28, the night of the World’s Larges Ghost Hunt, which was created by Hamilton residents Maria and Bob Schmidt, who in 2016 established National Ghost Hunting Day, the final Saturday of September.

During the ghost hunt, home base was Hamilton, at the historical society, with people linked by computer to similar hunts in seven other countries — Canada, Mexico, Philippines, England, India, Australia and late addition, Argentina. The event also could be viewed via live streams through a website.

The ghost hunt raised about $1,500 for Butler County’s historical society, and was estimated to have brought in $150,000 for the other historic locations worldwide where the ghost hunts happened.

“They gave Hamilton a lot of plugs, so I was happy about that,” Maria Schmidt said.

She said she wasn’t sure where in Butler County next year’s event will be — possibly at the historical society again — but “e definitely will have the fifth annual World’s Largest Ghost Hunt next year as well, and definitely Butler County will be participating.”

Hamilton resident Charlotte Hendrix previously told the Journal-News it was her first ghost hunt, and she experienced some spiritual forces of her own.

She used hand-held rods that help ghosts communicate with people who hold them and ask questions, and was amazed with what happened to her.

“As soon as I grabbed them, the one in my left hand — I’m glad I had my hand out, because the one in my left hand started spinning like crazy,” Hendrix said. “It was going around and around.”

She said while talking to “the lady of the house,” and she said, “‘I know you’re upset that everybody’s in here. This is your home. We’re sorry we’re invading your space,’ and the more that I talked, everything calmed down, and the rods finally came to a stop.”

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