I've been answering a lot of questions about my newest hobby, Ghost Hunting! That's the popular name for it but doesn't really describe the job in full. The real name is Paranormal Investigator. I'm part of a team that uses highly sophisticated equipment to prove or disprove claims of the paranormal or ghosts. Most of our cases can be explained away, but some cannot!
We start by receiving a complaint online and then we contact the people to get a little further information and to set up an appointment with them. We go in with skeptical minds trying to disprove or find alternative answers to the complaints. We use digital voice recorders, digital camera's, infrared camera's with a DVR recording system to see and film in pitch black. We use a thermal camera which shows the heat being released from objects, walls and areas within a structure. We have several handheld video camera's with night vision. Electromagnetic Field Detectors are used to find fluctuations in electromagnetic fields in and around structures. We have a CO detector which measures the amount of carbon monoxide in a structure and several thermometers. I also use an ultraviolet flashlight that shows things not visible with regular flashlights.
The camera's are set up in areas where the complaints originate from and then the fun begins. We generally work in teams of 2 and go through the house or building room by room, attics, basements, cubby holes, and closets. We go everywhere with the equipment. We use digital recorders to do whats called an EVP session or we just leave it recording in a room and leave. An EVP session involves talking and asking questions in an empty room or space and when you play it back hopefully there are answers to your questions that you could not hear originally. This is the most plentiful evidence we collect.
If the house is truly active, chances are somebody is going to have what is called a personal experience. I have had many. The most frequent was when I asked a ghost to touch me and the next thing I feel is a cobweb being draped across the side of my face. There were no cobwebs there! This happened 3 times. I've seen shadows of human form fly across walls. I've heard voices talk out of thin air!
We take our personal experiences and measure them up against any EVP's or video evidence and present it to the home owner. We generally talk to the home owner at length for hours. The average investigation lasts 4-6 hours. We offer solutions or direct them on where to get help. We pray a lot with home owners.
Lately, we have had claims of demon activity in a couple of homes. These cases are particularly interesting and also can be very dangerous. If there is truly a demon there, we are literally on the front lines between good and evil. This job isn't for everybody and challenges what you truly believe in. Your faith in God becomes your weapon against true evil.
We have so far proven only one demon involvement and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it. As I went on the offensive with an invisible force inside a bathroom closet, it was angered and mentally attacked my partner to the point where she had to leave the house. It followed her across the room until she was removed from the house. Fear is its tool and uses it against the investigator. The more you learn about what you are getting yourself into the better off you are. We work with a Demonologist out of Indianapolis who we advise after we do the initial investigation whether or not he is needed to come in and kick some demon butt. Our Demonologist is sanctioned by the Catholic Church to cleanse homes or do an exorcism if needed. We don't touch that stuff because that's really dangerous, however if you have ever wanted to see the power of God destroy Evil. That's when it happens.
Those cases are rare but the do exist. I'll stick with the regular hauntings and poltergeists and just people who need somebody to talk to. I could tell story after story and if you are interested ask me off the blog and we will talk. So how is your faith? Mine has been tested and remains stronger than ever. Care to go for a walk in my world? The World of the Paranormal!
4 comments:
Interesting post. I'm just curious as to what you believe that ghosts are, and what do you believe is their reason for being here? I personally do not believe that ghosts (in the most common understanding of the term) exist. But I do think it is an interesting topic.
Dana,
There are several different types of hauntings and even more types of "ghosts". I guess you could think of a ghost as the essence of a person. What made that person who they are is most typically what remains after they are gone.
As for why they are here, goes back to the 4 different types of hauntings. I don't have enough space here to talk about it but drop me an email at theshadowreturns@yahoo.com and I can go into detail and tell all about why things happen that we can't explain.
Dave
Can you put your answer to Dana out on the blog where more of us can read it even if it is longer than a usual blog? Many of us will be eager to read your answer to Dana.
While in college I did quite a bit with the paranormal based in a college course entitled Paranormal Psychology.
We didn't go in to ghosts as you are but worked with ESP: extrasensory perception. You may have heard of the ESP cards
One time we had a guy in New York turning over cards in the exact same order as our "subject" in Naperville, Illlinois. Unexplainable.
Problem I have had with the ghost approach is lack of academic data based on acceptable research. There are tons of data in the ESP approach. If you know of academic research based on the ghost approach, I'd be glad for you to refer me to it.
I also had a lot of fun with hypnosis. I did a project and wrote a major term paper on the basis of my hypnotizing other students. I had to document each and every detail of every hypnosis session--names of students present, persons hypnotized, time of day,location,length of hypnotic session, behavior of suject under hypnosis, etc. It was a scholarly study on which I received a very high grade.
While I learned a lot about the power of suggestion from the study and use of hypnosis I stopped hypnotizing anyone after the end of the course and turning in the paper. Unless a hypnotist is medically trained it can really mess up someone's mind. I chose not to do it anymore and have not hypnotized anyone since finishing that course.
But it was and is an interesting part of the larger picture of what you are doing. I know you are having fun but where are you going with this hobby? Many people will think it is just a bit strange.
Again, I would be glad to read your answer to Dana. I'm with her. I don't believe in ghosts either, in the common perception. But I do believe things happen in this world that we don't understand. Too many coincidental miracles in my own life to not believe, but I think you should be very careful about the ghost approach, the humanizing of demons, the Roman Catholic understanding (which is a far cry from any United Methodist approach).
Have fun but you may want to pursue more profitable approaches to the paranormal.Since you have given some thought to going back to school you might enroll in a psychology course that deals with this subject so you can get yourself academically based rather than hobby based.
You may not agree with me but then you don't have to.Something to think about.
Uncle Howard
Sorry Uncle Howard, I already replied to Dana. I'll see if she can post it. I don't have a copy of it.
What you are referring to is known as Parapsychology. Psychology classes often touch on the subject but don't into great detail. I too took Psychology in college and they touched on it. Leaning more toward the ESP type of thing more so than ghost hunting. There are so many beliefs out there of what ghosts are so many different descriptions of ghosts and their activity. Ghost hunters seek your evidence that you are asking for.
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