Jason Conrad Hawes (born December 27, 1971) is an American plumber and the co-founder of

The Atlantic Paranormal Society The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) is an organization that investigates reported paranormal activity. Based in Warwick, Rhode Island, TAPS was founded in 1995 by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. In 2004, the organization itself became the s ...

(TAPS), which is based in

Warwick, Rhode Island Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States, and is the third-largest city in the state, with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Warwick is located approximately south of downtown Pr ...

. He is also one of the stars and co-producers of Syfy's '' Ghost Hunters'', which ended its initial run after its eleventh season on October 26, 2016. Several years later, the show was renewed and revived for a 12th season at A&E, with new episodes premiering in August 2019 without Hawes's participation but although he was mentioned in two episodes of A&E version '' Ghost Hunters'' by Grant Wilson. TAPS co-founder and former lead investigator Grant Wilson returned to lead a brand new team, while Hawes moved on to lead his own show with ''Ghost Hunters'' alumni Dave Tango and Steve Gonsalves in '' Ghost Nation'', which is no longer airing on the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

since October 2019. The series ended in 2021 when the trio returned to Ghost Hunters after it moved to Travel Channel.

Personal life

Background

Hawes was born in

Canandaigua, New York Canandaigua () is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,576 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county complex in the adjacent town of Hopewell. ...

and moved to

in 1979. According to his own account, Hawes began to see

apparitions Apparition may refer to: Supernatural *Apparitional experience, an anomalous, quasi-perceptual experience * A vision, something seen in a dream, trance, or religious ecstasy *Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear ...

at the age of twenty after a girlfriend who practiced

Reiki Reiki is a pseudoscientific form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine originating in Japan. Reiki practitioners use a technique called ''palm healing'' or ''hands-on healing'' through which, according to practitioners, a " unive ...

manipulated his

life force energy Proponents and practitioners of various esoteric forms of spirituality and alternative medicine refer to a variety of claimed experiences and phenomena as being due to "energy" or "force" that defy measurement or experimentation, and thus are d ...

. Paranormal researcher John Zaffis told Hawes that he was becoming sensitive to paranormal phenomena. Hawes founded the Rhode Island Paranormal Society (RIPS) in 1990 as a support group for people who had paranormal experiences. When Hawes was twenty-two, he went on to found TAPS/The Atlantic Paranormal Society and co-create the major television hit ''Ghost Hunters'', which became the flagship show of the Syfy Channel and made it one of the top watched channels on cable. The show's initial run ended in 2016, although it was eventually revived for a 12th season in 2019. By that time, Hawes had opted to create his own show, '' Ghost Nation'', with ''Ghost Hunters'' alumni Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango, which has been airing on the

since October 2019.

Interests and hobbies

Hawes has written two books on the paranormal and four

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

/ thriller screenplays. Hawes bio on DragonCon.org He and fellow TAPS founder Grant Wilson are longtime co-workers at their day job as plumbers for

Roto-Rooter Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup (formerly called Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Service) is a plumbing company based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company, founded in 1935, originally specialized in clearing tree roots and other obstructions from ...

. It was Hawes who brought Wilson into the plumbing business.''Ghost Hunting'' (Hawes, Wilson and Friedman), p. 12. Jason has mentioned on several occasions he has a fondness for beanie hats with brims. The two are former co-owners of the Spalding Inn, based in Whitefield,

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. They finally sold the Inn in the summer of 2014.

Charity work

Hawes has used public ghost hunting events and personal appearances to raise money for various charities, such as the

Shriners Hospitals for Children Shriners Hospitals for Children, commonly known as Shriners Children's, is a network of non-profit children's hospitals and other pediatric medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord inj ...

and Cure Kids Cancer.

Threatening e-mail

In March 2005, Barry Clinton Eckstrom, 51, of Upper St. Clair Township, Pennsylvania, began to send threatening e-mails to Jason Hawes, founder of TAPS. Hawes alerted the FBI in Providence. When the e-mails began to include threats against then President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

, the

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

became involved. Eckstrom also used Hawes's name to send e-mails to some female members of TAPS, in which he threatened to rape and murder them. While under surveillance by federal agents, Eckstrom used a

Bethel Park, Pennsylvania Bethel Park (officially the Municipality of Bethel Park) is a borough with home rule status in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a suburb within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, located approximately south of Pittsburgh. Th ...

library computer to send an e-mail in Hawes' name to Roto Rooter's

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

headquarters, threatening to shoot employees there. Next, Eckstrom typed a message threatening to kill President Bush, again in Hawes' name, using the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

's website. Before he could send the message, he was arrested. Because of these activities, Eckstrom was sentenced to two years in federal prison in January 2006.

Bibliography

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawes, Jason Conrad 1971 births Living people American plumbers Paranormal investigators Participants in American reality television series People from Canandaigua, New York People from Warwick, Rhode Island Ghost Hunters (TV series) 21st-century American novelists American male novelists 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state)