Ghost Hunting

by Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson

  MATERIALIZATION

  The procedure through which a ghost appears. Materialization can be sudden or gradual, resulting in an entity that is indistinct or seemingly quite solid.

  MATRIXING

  The natural tendency of the human mind to add details to sensory input (perceived through the visual, auditory, olfactory, or tactile senses) so as to create a familiar or easily understood pattern. In effect, matrixing is mentally “filling in the blanks.”

  OUIJA BOARD

  A wooden board preprinted with letters, numbers, and words used by mediums to receive supernatural communications.

  PARANORMAL

  The realm of occurrences and phenomena removed from those to which people are exposed in everyday experience.

  PHANTOM SMELL

  Any scent through which a supernatural entity is attempting to express itself. Typically, phantom smells are reminiscent of flowers, cigarettes, or perfume, but they don’t come from any identifiable source.

  POLTERGEIST

  A ghost that manifests its presence through noises, rappings, the moving of objects, and the creation of disorder. The relocation of furniture is an indication of poltergeist activity.

  RESIDUAL HAUNTING

  A scene from the past that continues to be played out over and over again, like a recording, with the witness of the phenomenon essentially peering into a former era.

  The ghostly participants in these time displacements often seem unaware of their living observers.

  SENSITIVE

  A medium or clairvoyant. A sensitive can see or feel people, objects, and events in the realm of the paranormal.

  THERMAL-IMAGING DIGITAL CAMERA

  A device that records images of long-wavelength infrared radiation (i. e., heat) that are invisible to the human eye. The thermal-imaging camera facilitates the capture of images in darkness, smoke, or fog.

  VORTEX

  An anomaly that sometimes shows up in still photographs taken at the site of a suspected haunting, appearing as a translucent white tube or funnel-shaped mass. Some researchers believe vortices may be portals to the spirit realm.

  The Ghost Hunter’s Manual

  SAFETY

  There are two sources of danger in a paranormal investigation. The first kind comes in the form of physical obstacles like doors, chairs, low-hanging chandeliers, loose carpets, and rusty nails. In the light, these are easily avoided. In the dark, you can do real damage to yourself.

  Always conduct a walk-through before you shut off the lights. Make note of possible hazards and share the information with everyone on your team. The last thing you want to do is interrupt a ghost hunt to drive one of your colleagues to the emergency room.

  The second kind of danger is more difficult to foresee. Most of the time, the supernatural entities you will encounter are human or benign spirits. Occasionally, they will be inhuman spirits, the kind that want to do you harm. Through interviews and simple observations, try to get a sense of what kind of activity you’re dealing with. Then proceed accordingly.

  THE CLIENT

  Always interview your client before you begin the investigation. How credible are his or her accounts? Does he or she have an agenda in asking you to hunt for ghosts on his or her property? Is this person in touch with reality?

  Ghost hunters have to be careful whom they’re working for. Our investigations may lead to book and movie deals, as in the case of the Amityville Horror house, or to other kinds of commercial success. What hotel or restaurant isn’t going to benefit from the label “haunted”?

  Still, we have to remember why we got into this business—to help people. It’s better to be taken advantage of than to walk out on a person who might sincerely need your assistance. When in doubt, take the client’s word at face value.

  EVIDENCE

  As we have noted, some investigators are content to base their assesments on their feelings. If a house seems haunted to them, they believe they have done their job and can declare it haunted. We approach ghost hunting from a scientific point of view.

  The only kind of evidence we accept is the kind that can be examined by others, whether it’s a still photograph, a video recording, or an audio recording. If other people can’t go over it and come to the same conclusions we did, it’s not proof as far as we’re concerned. Therefore, we go to great lengths to ensure the integrity of our documentation.

  That starts with our policy to keep the client separate from the investigation. Once we turn our cameras on, we don’t want anyone except a member of our team going near them. That way, no one can say the evidence was tampered with. Only after the data has been thoroughly analyzed do we share it with the client.

  It is also important to have your investigators work in pairs. Paranormal experiences are difficult to come by. When they happen, you want more than one person on hand to witness it. There’s a safety issue here as well. If someone is hurt or endangered, you want a colleague on hand to help or call for assistance.

  Identify the naturally occurring sources of noise and light in the venue under investigation. These can affect the integrity of your evidence. What sounds like growling might be an old heating system turning on and off.

  Log everything in detail, including fleeting sensations. Later on, it may be difficult for you to remember what happened and in what sequence. By keeping a log, you give yourself a chance to re-create events as they occurred.

  Subject any anomalies you may have captured to various modes of processing in order to clarify their nature or to debunk them. In other words, use different kinds of equipment in the same areas. If you picked up a strange image in a bedroom, take some EMF readings there as well, or try scanning with a thermal-imaging camera.

  Even after you’ve analyzed the data, your job isn’t over. Return to the place where you captured the anomalies, replicate as closely as possible the conditions under which you were operating, and try to come up with an alternative explanation. If you can do so, you may not have legitimate evidence after all.

  PROFESSIONAL DEMEANOR

  No matter what you see or hear, be professional. Whatever your feelings may be, keep them in check. Act responsibly so the other members of your team know they can count on you.

  Paranormal investigations aren’t slumber parties. They’re attempts to help real people with real problems. Remember, it’s not just your own reputation on the line—it’s the reputation of all ghost hunters everywhere.

  DEALING WITH SPIRITS

  When attempting to communicate with supernatural entities, observe what has become the established protocol. Speak clearly and in a relaxed fashion. Try not to let eagerness or anxiety get in the way. If you were a spirit, what kind of living person would you want to speak with? More than likely, one who is calm, unhurried, and in control of his or her emotions.

  After you ask a question, wait a few moments. The spirit you’re addressing may not be able to answer as quickly as you would like. Give him or her time. Then, if you haven’t detected a response, ask another question.

  SELF-CONTROL

  The scientific approach demands one thing above all else: objectivity. If you’re going to conduct a reliable investigation, you can’t give in to preconceptions. You’ve got to check them at the door.

  In some cases, you will be investigating sites with long histories of supernatural activity attached to them. It’s tempting to go in trying to add to these histories. However, you’ve got to treat every venue as if you’ve never heard of it before.

  Always try to find a natural explanation before accepting a paranormal one. Let’s face it: paranormal occurrences are rare. Most of the time—eighty percent, in our experience—what seems like a ghostly voice is only a cranky waste pipe.

  Whether you’re observing phenomena firsthand or analyzing them afterward, you have to be careful of matrixing. The human mind is a helpful organ. If you let it, it will show you exactly what you want to see—as opposed to what’s actually there.

  Th
en there’s the client. It’s only natural for ghost hunters to want to appease him or her, even if he or she’s not paying them. After all, clients are nice people. They’re inviting you into their homes. You don’t want to disappoint them.

  However, you’re not doing anyone a service by making claims without evidence to back them up. The homeowner has a right to know the truth. If you don’t find anything, say so.

  Photographic Insert

  There was no one ahead of us as we ascended the stairs…or was there?

  Jason thought he was alone. This picture would seem to indicate otherwise.

  There on the stairs—a shadow! But whose is it and what is it doing there?

  Heeeere’s Jason! But not everything at the Stanley Hotel was quite so funny.

  Eastern State Penitentiary is still haunted by the souls of those who perished there.

  St. Augustine Lighthouse looked innocent enough—but it was plenty creepy inside.

  The Crescent Hotel still echoes with the suffering of Norman Baker’s victims.

  Here’s the T.A.P.S. van in front of the battleship North Carolina. A lot of things happened onboard ship that we couldn’t explain.

  Was this gunk on the porthole dried ectoplasm? All we knew for sure was it wouldn’t come off.

  The real work starts after we get back to headquarters and review our data. Here’s Jason with Steve Gonsalves, our technology manager.

  These shadows were all too visible to our camera, but not to the naked eye.

  There’s someone at the far end of the closet…but all our people are otherwise accounted for.

  A bizarre trick of the light…or evidence of a supernatural entity? You be the judge.

  Ghosts aren’t particular. Warehouses and industrial sites can be haunted too.

  We often detect orbs, but we don’t accept them as evidence of a haunting.

  Our EMF detector alerts us to the possibility of a supernatural manifestation.