Amidst a full house of guests on a very crisp February 12 night, the courtyard of the St. Francis Inn on St. George Street was the gathering place for a film crew of nine.

For the pilot, scheduled to air April 15, 2001, at 8 p.m. (check local listings), California director Michael Hoff enlisted two new technologies: a heat-sensitive thermal camera that can detect any changes in inanimate objects from the presence of "body" heat and an infra-red camera that shoots movement in the dark. Their discoveries from approximately midnight to 2 a.m. are compared with the third "technique," a psychic who is monitored for bio-feedback while she sleeps.

"Staircases and hallways are great for finding magnetic readings," according to Hoff. Dr. Jerilyn Rogers Nichols, psychic with the Psi Paranormal Studies Institute in Gainesville, Florida, was the expert medium who went to bed at 10 p.m. hooked up to various pieces of heartrate and bio-feedback equipment. In the early morning hours, the results from each of the three techniques are compared for comparisons in results of ghost-like responses.

According to Innkeeper Joe Finnegan, ghost-friendly activities abound at the St. Francis Inn, built in the late 1700s, the oldest of the 24 Historic Inns of St. Augustine. His first concern is for the guests who stay at the inn and whether they might feel put out by the film crew during their visit to the city. He has found that the majority of the guests are excited to be around the possibility of ghosts and many even choose the rooms that are known for their "happenings."

Historic Inns of St. Augustine is a collection of 24 bed and breakfasts, all outstanding architectural landmarks depicting nearly 300 years of American history, from the late 1700s to early 1900s. Practically all of the participating inns have their own documented ghost-friendly stories.