(CNN) -- Strange things seem to happen when Grant Wilson enters a room.

Grant Wilson, left, and partner Jason Hawes were driven by personal experiences to track ghosts.

Human forms materialize in darkened hallways. The dead whisper greetings from beyond the grave. Unseen entities attack and hurl terrified people to the ground.

Every day is Halloween for Wilson, co-star of the Sci Fi Channel's hit show, "Ghost Hunters." Close encounters of the paranormal kind would drive most people to look for another hobby, but Wilson says he ain't afraid of no ghosts.

"That's part of the job," says Wilson, who investigates suspected hauntings with his co-host, Jason Hawes.. "We tell everyone that we train that you'll be punched, slapped and grabbed. Be prepared for it."

Anyone who has watched their 401(k) account evaporate during the recent stock market dive knows something about horror. But Wilson is part of a growing community that prefers getting their chills the old-fashioned way. They are ghost hunters, or, as they prefer to be called, paranormal investigators.

"Ghost-Hunters," which airs a special live show at 7 p.m. Halloween night, is helping lift the stigma once attached to paranormal investigators. The show has become so popular that the group featured in each episode -- The Atlantic Paranormal Society - has spawned imitators across the United States and affiliates in 12 countries.

TAPS, as the "Ghost Hunters" group is informally known, even has its own "Beyond Reality Radio" show, magazine, lecture tours, T-shirts --and groupies.

"Ghost Hunters" has made creepy cool, says David Schrader, a paranormal investigator and co-host of "Darkness Radio," a radio show that investigates paranormal activity.

"Five or six years ago, you'd be embarrassed to sit around the water cooler talking about ghosts, but now everybody talks about it -- it's gone mainstream," Schrader says.

It's also gone Hollywood. Paranormal shows like "Paranormal State" on A&E Television; "Haunting Evidence" on truTV (which, like CNN.com, is owned by Time Warner); "Dead Famous" on the Biography Channel; and "A Haunting" on the Discovery Channel are trying to mimic the success of "Ghost Hunters."

Paranormal investigators aren't just chasing ghosts anymore; they're chasing television gigs, Schrader says.

"Everybody I know has a pilot in development -- including me," Schrader says. "They throw it around like Frisbees. It's become a joke."

The paranormal shows have also created a paranormal circuit. Families and friends attend ghost-hunting conventions, retreats (one was dubbed "GhoStock,") swap tips on ghost-hunting gear and make pilgrimages to famous haunted places like The Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the setting for the Stephen King movie, "The Shining."  I hear dead people. Â»

Why they chase ghosts

Many of these amateur paranormal investigators are inspired -- and freaked out - by what they see on "Ghost Hunters."

Some of the incidents recorded by "Ghost Hunters" are mystifying: Ghostly forms appear on camera, chairs lurch across rooms by themselves and voices of people long dead are played back to their wide-eyed relatives.

In one of the most famous "Ghost Hunters" episodes, a cameraman is grabbed and hurled to the ground --though no one appears to touch him. The cameraman is so shaken that he sobs and quits the show.

Wilson says people who think they have a ghost at home should not try a do-it-yourself home ghost repair. A person who uses Ouija boards or anything else to contact ghosts can unleash malevolent spirits.

"You might not be ready for what happens," Wilson says. Watch Grant's encounter with a ghost Â»

Some ghost-hunters say they entered the field because, like Wilson, they had personal experiences with the supernatural. Others want to know if there is something beyond death.

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