Ghost Hunt 2: MORE Chilling Tales of the Unknown

by Jason Hawes

  7. They look like footprints. This means…

  a) You may have evidence that the squeaky noise was from a ghost jumping on the bed

  b) There is a spirit standing on the bed right now

  c) There are mice in the bed

  d) Your body heat is throwing off the IR camera

  You look closely at the bed. You look under the bed. You try to find an explanation for the warm spots. But there isn’t anything. It seems you have evidence that something was standing on the bed. You stay in the room for about an hour, collecting video footage and audio recordings. Then you get a call over the walkie-talkie. It’s Jason.

  “Things have been pretty quiet for a while. Why don’t we call it a night?”

  “Sounds good,” you say.

  The next day, you start going over the evidence. You are listening to the audio recordings from the bedroom. Near the beginning of the tape, you think you hear something. You replay the tape a few times. It sounds like a boy’s voice saying, “Quiet, he’s coming.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” Jen says. “I guess it would make sense… like a kid watching out for a hall monitor. But it doesn’t sound like much to me.”

  “But what about the shadow and the IR camera image? We saw footprints on the bed. It all adds up.”

  “Maybe. But this audio recording just sounds like fuzz.”

  You listen to the recording a few more times, and you’re still pretty sure it’s an EVP.

  8. There’s more evidence left to go over, so you…

  a) Put the recording aside—for now

  b) Try to convince Jen that it’s not just fuzz

  c) Take Jen’s word for it and decide it’s nothing

  d) Call the groundskeeper to see if he knows a story that will back up the voice

  At the end of the day, no one has found any hard proof on tape, other than the footprints on the IR camera.

  9. After reviewing all the evidence one last time, the team comes to the conclusion that…

  a) There’s not enough evidence to back up the claim that Oakwood Academy is haunted

  b) The groundskeeper was probably making the whole thing up

  c) Because of all the personal experiences, Oakwood Academy is probably haunted

  d) Robert Miller’s spirit was trying to communicate

  “Everyone did really good work,” Grant says. “But I can’t help feeling like there’s a piece missing.”

  “I know what you mean,” Lyssa says. “There was so much going on, but I just wish we caught a little more of it on tape.”

  10. “Well, there are some things we can do,” you say. You suggest…

  a) Doing research on Oakwood Academy’s history

  b) Contacting the groundskeeper to visit Oakwood Academy again, now that you know where the hot spots are

  c) Using audio filtering equipment to try to clean up the EVP you think you caught

  d) All of the above

  Turn the page to find out how well you did on the test case.

  Give yourself five points for

  every question you got right.

  Question 1: You want to show the team what you’ve learned, but you don’t want to be too eager just in case this isn’t something they would investigate. After thinking it over, you say…

  Answer: c) “It sounds like something paranormal might be going on. If you think the groundskeeper is telling the truth about what he heard and saw, we should check it out.”

  You shouldn’t jump to a conclusion at the beginning of an investigation. You can’t assume the place is haunted based on the groundskeeper’s story. But you can’t dismiss the whole case because something doesn’t sound right to you. A person’s spirit doesn’t necessarily stay exactly where he or she died, so you can’t predict what it will do. And as a general rule, you shouldn’t do research before an investigation. If you are thinking only about the dead student, you could miss evidence that points to a new direction.

  So if everyone seems to think the groundskeeper’s story is possible and he’s not trying to fool anyone, an investigation is the next step.

  Question 2: Your teammates have several suggestions. What do you think the team should do?

  Answer: a) “Check out the hinges on the doors. Maybe a loose one is making the squeak,” Lyssa says.

  Remember, the sweep is the time when you can most easily debunk something because you are in broad daylight. Always rule out the normal reasons first. Those squeaks could be coming from the door hinges. That’s why answer a is right.

  Question 3: What piece of equipment should you use to find out if there really are spirits walking?

  Answer: d) Geophone

  A geophone is a piece of equipment that will pick up on very slight vibrations. Scientists use it to predict earthquakes. It’s the best choice if you’re trying to see if you can pick up on a spirit’s footsteps.

  Question 4: You hold the K-II meter out in front of you, and you say…

  Answer: b) “If there is a spirit present, please come closer and make the lights on the meter blink.”

  Answers a, c, and d all ask the spirit to answer questions. But you have decided to use the K-II meter here. You want the spirit to make itself known by making the light blink. The only questions you could ask would be yes-or-no questions. For example, you could say: “Is your name Robert? If it is, make the lights blink.”

  Also, a is not a good question, because the spirit could be Robert, but it could also be someone else. And d should never be the first question you ask. Would you like to answer that question first?

  Question 5: Now you’re sure there’s something going on. The next thing you do is…

  Answer: d) All of the above

  If a spirit appears to be communicating with you, you should definitely keep talking! Getting a response on the K-II meter is great evidence. And having the audio recorder on at the same time might result in an EVP. But at the end, you need to make sure the weird electromagnetic field that the EMF detector and K-II meter picked up isn’t from something normal, like electrical wires.

  So the right answer is d—you need to do all of those things.

  Question 6: She shines it at the wooden floor, at the walls, then sweeps it back and forth across the whole hall. You think she must be…

  Answer: b) Trying to re-create the shadow

  Weird shadows can be made by lots of things… even in a dark room. The moving shadow you saw could be a reflection from your own flashlight. It’s important to make sure you aren’t creating something that looks like evidence with your own gear.

  Question 7: They look like footprints. This means…

  Answer: a) You may have evidence that the squeaky noise was from a ghost jumping on the bed

  This could be a real piece of evidence. If there is no other logical explanation, it seems to make sense that the “jumping on the bed” noise and the footprints could be related. If there was anything else there, like a full-bodied apparition or mice, you would see them. And your own body heat wouldn’t register on the camera unless it was pointed right at you.

  Question 8: There’s more evidence left to go over, so you…

  Answer: a) Put the recording aside—for now

  You need to listen to everyone in the group. If someone doesn’t think a recording is a piece of evidence, it’s important to hear him or her out. However, you shouldn’t just throw out evidence because someone disagrees. Put it aside and go back to it later.

  Answers b and c both are a waste of time. And answer d is bad because you shouldn’t ask someone to back you up just because you want the EVP to be real—let your evidence do that for you. By going over the rest of your footage and recordings, maybe you’ll find something that will prove the EVP is real or debunk it.

  Question 9: After reviewing all the evidence one last time, the team comes to the conclusion that…

  Answer: c) Because of all the personal experiences, Oakwood Academy is probably haunted

 
The team experienced a lot. Weird noises, strange shadows, doors slamming—but you didn’t get a lot of recorded evidence. Does this mean there are no spirits at the school? No. Spirits are not predictable. You can’t expect to catch everything on tape.

  In fact, there could very likely be some paranormal activity going on. If you have not been able to debunk those strange things you experienced, then that leaves the paranormal as an explanation. And even though you do have some evidence of spirits trying to communicate, answer d is not right, because you can’t be sure it was Robert Miller. To be sure, you’ll have to go back to the site and try to make contact again.

  Question 10: “Well, there are some things we can do,” you say. You suggest…

  Answer: d) All of the above

  Oakwood Academy has some pretty weird stuff going on. Just because you don’t have rock-solid proof now doesn’t mean you should give up. There’s a lot to learn about such an old place, so research is definitely needed. You can also try to clean up the EVP—with TAPS audio equipment, you can try to filter out some of the white noise to clean up the recording. And definitely try to investigate again. With all that happened the first time, the place deserves a second investigation.

  CONGRATULATIONS!

  You did very well on your first TAPS case.

  Check out your score!

  • If you got 20 points or less, you might want to read through this guide one more time.

  • If you got 25 to 35 points, you have the makings of a great investigator.

  • If you got 40 points or more, you are an expert and ready to do your own ghost hunt! Awesome!

  Anecdotal Evidence: Evidence of an event that comes from people’s stories.

  Apparition: A spirit visible to live people.

  Audio Recorder: A piece of equipment that records sound. Audio recorders can be digital or analog. TAPS uses mostly digital audio recorders.

  Black Mass: An apparition in the form of a shadowy black mist.

  Cold Spot: A specific area where the temperature is colder than the surrounding areas, or an area where the temperature suddenly drops. Many paranormal researchers believe cold spots are caused by entities drawing energy from the air, literally sucking the heat out of the air in order to appear.

  Demonic Haunting: One of the four types of hauntings. A demonic haunting is caused by an inhuman spirit. They can be very nasty. Fortunately, they are very rare.

  Digital Thermometer: A device used by paranormal investigators to detect cold spots or hot spots.

  EMF Detector (Electromagnetic Field Detector): A device that records the electromagnetic field of an area (the force given off by electrical charges). Paranormal investigators use it as a tool to detect spirits either disrupting or creating electromagnetic energy.

  Entity: A disembodied spirit.

  EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena): An audio recording of voices or sounds that, at the time of recording, were not detectable to the human ear.

  External Microphone: A microphone attachment that connects to the audio recorder. Paranormal investigators use these to avoid picking up the sounds of the recorder itself. External microphones can be directional (picking up sounds from only the direction they are pointed toward) or ambient (picking up sounds of the whole room).

  Geophone: A very sensitive device that “feels” vibrations on the ground and registers how strong the vibration is on a display of lights.

  Ghost: See Apparition.

  Haunting: The continued appearance of an entity at a specific location. There are four main types of hauntings: Demonic Haunting, Intelligent Haunting, Poltergeist, and Residual Haunting.

  Hot Spot: An area where a lot of paranormal activity has been observed.

  Infrared Camera (IR Camera): A device that uses infrared waves to see in the dark.

  Infrared Illuminator (IR Illuminator): A camera attachment that shoots infrared light into a room, making the night-vision function work better.

  Inhuman Entity: A hostile entity of non-human origins.

  Intelligent Haunting: An entity that has some awareness of its surroundings. It may have some limited mobility and may be able to communicate.

  Ion Generator: A piece of equipment that electrically charges the air.

  K-II Meter: A device that uses blinking lights to rate levels of magnetic fields and frequencies. Some paranormal investigators believe it can be used to communicate with ghosts.

  Materialization: The process of an apparition becoming visible. Materialization can occur quickly or over a period of time, causing the entity to appear either solid or indistinct.

  Matrixing: The tendency of the mind to add details to images, making the images seem more familiar. It happens all the time, but it can cause problems when analyzing evidence.

  Orb: A floating sphere, often white or bluish, that shows up in a photograph or video. An orb is a contained ball of energy. Some consider orbs to be evidence of paranormal activity. They are often confused with dust, bugs, or optical illusions registering on film or video.

  Paranormal: Literally, “beyond normal.” Something paranormal is an event or a phenomenon that is beyond what is normally experienced by humans—or what can be scientifically explained.

  Paranormal Indicator: Evidence that may lead one to believe paranormal activity has taken place.

  Paranormal Investigator: Also called a ghost hunter. A person who gathers information and evidence about paranormal activity.

  Phantom Smell: An odor caused by a spirit attempting to make itself known. Common phantom smells include flowers, tobacco, and perfume. A phantom smell is only considered paranormal if it cannot be traced to a source.

  Poltergeist: A ghost that moves objects to draw attention to itself. Banging sounds often accompany the movements. The phenomenon often revolves around an individual person.

  Residual Haunting: One of the four main hauntings. An entity will replay a moment from the recent or distant past at the exact location where it happened. Usually the entity does not have any recognition of the living people watching it.

  Sensitive: Any person with a sensitivity to the paranormal.

  Thermal Camera: An IR camera that makes cold and heat visible.

  VP (Voice Phenomena): Sounds or voices heard during an investigation that have no natural cause.

  Warm Spot: Similar to a cold spot, a warm spot is an area that is hotter than its surrounding areas. Some investigators believe spirits using energy to show themselves create warmth, almost like a body does.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  We want to thank Jody Hotchkiss at Hotchkiss and Associates for making all these things possible. Without your guidance, none of this could have happened. Our thanks to Cameron Dokey for helping make our stories come to life. Special thanks to Jane Stine from Parachute Publishing; your faith in us has allowed us the chances we have today.

  Thanks to Craig Paligian and Alan David from Pilgrim Films and Television for taking a chance on us in 2004 that allowed us to change the way the paranormal would be looked at from then on.

  And to Rob Katz, who has proven to be a true friend and the best executive producer in the field. And thanks, too, to David Axelrod for his work on the Ghost Hunt Expert Guide and his other valuable contributions to this book.

  And to Little, Brown; you have given us a chance to prove our love for what we do, and for this we are always in your debt.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Front Cover Image

  Welcome

  Dedication

  Introduction

  Cries in the Night

  Play Dead

  The Ghosts of Alcatraz

  Restless Spirit

  Lost in the Lake

  It’s Just a Dream

  Ghost Town

  The Beast in the Dark

  Runaway Ghost

  The Haunted Lighthouse

  The Ghost Hunt Expert Guide

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright

  Copyright

 
; Copyright © 2011 Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson

  GHOST HUNTERS ® is a registered trademark and service mark of Pilgrim Films and Television, Inc., in the United States and other foreign countries. The GHOST HUNTERS logo © 2004 by Pilgrim Films and Television, Inc. All rights reserved.

  THE ATLANTIC PARANORMAL SOCIETY ® and TAPS ® are registered trademarks and service marks of The Atlantic Paranormal Society in the United States.

  Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Little, Brown and Company