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Who Ya Gonna Call? Ghost Hunters & Hunting

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Ghost Busters

There are quite a few people who have ghosts in their houses, have any of you ever conducted a scientific investigation into the phenomenon? have you called in specialists of the suject or even a religeous person?
If so could you let me know about your experiencies with these people or your own findings I would be greatful.
 
There are already dozens of threads with Ghost or Ghosts in the title - here - and no doubt a search on Haunt* would find many others.

You'll probably find plenty to interest you there.

As for investigations, try searching on ASSAP (I've mentioned them a couple of times at least), or search for them on the web.
 
Putting the 'bus' into 'ghostbusters'

A good website is http://www.ghostwatchuk.org/

If it's the same ghostwatch group I'm thinking of (and I believe it is), it's a group of psychic bus drivers from Sheffield, who have done several exorcisms across the country, by showing spirits the light. They even claim to have dispatched the infamous Stocksbridge Bypass ghost (though, as Martin Jeffreys has said on another thread, it keeps on showing up despite this...)
 
Having had poligist activity in a previous address when I moved into my latest house I had it blessed by my vicar (I reguly attend my local cofe church).
This however did not stop the polterguist activity (although it has now abated) and I have experienced 2 sightings of ghost cats (see "normal looking ghosts" thred) and cold spots.
it wasen't an exocisam he preformed, just a blessing of the house which discorages harmful or malicious spirits from the house and as the polty and cats don't seem to mean any harm I think it worked;)
 
The reason why I asked about ghost investigation was because I am interested in going along on an investigation. I wouldn't be a "tourist" I am sure that I could be genuinely useful to the group. I have read about ghost investigations and also seen some tv progs about them. I have seen and can use very well all of the equipment that goes along on an investigation. I also have access to the equipment too, camera's (semi-proffesional types digital, film and video) thermometers (liquid in glass, digital thermocouple/PT100 and infra red) high fidelity sound recording equipment (tape, cd, md) oscilloscopes (analogue, digital and portable scopemeters) high accuracy frequency counters, magnetometers, hydrometers, amemometers and a lot of other need to have eqipment like accurate watches, good torches and of course a pen and some paper and some fast running shoes in case it all gets a bit too scarey!. Yes with this equipment i could go and make my own investigation, but what i need is an experienced group to show me where to start and how to conduct a detailed scientific investigation, with the least amount of variables possible. without this, the integrity of my research would be nil.
 
Ghost Hunting

Has anyone tried their luck at ghost hunting? By this I mean going to various different places, and collecting quantifiable as opposed to abstract data i.e we saw an apparition float through the wall, rather than, we felt a presence..

I'd be interested to know, as there are lots of spooky places in the E Mids and back home in N Wales, and I was thinking of visiting such places when I get the chance, and need some tips on how to deal with maybe the owners of old derelict buildings that need to be stayed in overnight and other more corporeal matters related to the chase of the ethereal.

I'm detemined to try, as I'm sick of reading reports that say stuff like 'We saw a floating hand at 2am and decided to leave quite quickly'. Pff.. cowards! I want to go somewhere, stay all night, and see spooky things occur, and stay and record them. Being quite fearless, the prospect of staying somewhere where I can experience this fascinates me.

Anyone got any ideas, or maybe want to join in the fun? :)
 
We had a discussion on doing a ghost hunt/vigil thing on the Most Haunted Poo or Boo thread half seriously at one point.


If anyone is still interested perhaps we could use this thread to lay down some concrete plans. I'm still up for it and I'm sure there are others who would be too.

Have car will travel...


Keep me on your list Snowman!
 
Tips for intrepid investigators....

Dear Mr. Snowman,
Are you related to Mister sandman ? Anyway, I'm glad you're made of stronger stuff than the average Shaggy & Scooby and are interested in getting stuck in.
First of all, I'm an investigator with the Scottish SPR, and the SSPR has been going on case investigations and vigils for some 13 years now.
A case investigation is pretty much reacting to an appeal from a member of the public and interviewing them. Rarely will such an interview be accompanied by any paranormal phenomena. If the client wants us to spend time on their property, then jolly good - but they rarely do. From their perspective, they have a problem and they want it fixed ! They don't want us hanging around doing anything as trivial as collecting evidence of paranormal activity. Would you want a plummer to spend the night round at your house ? Exactly.
A vigil is something different. We can hear about locations from the press, by word of mouth, or by being contacted by the owner. To my knowledge we've never conducted a vigil in a private residence - hotels, inns, B&B's, shopping arcades are the usual places - anywhere where the owners will not be enormously inconvenienced. Such locations have a history of alleged paranormal activity, and we try to track down as many source accounts as possible. Such information is gathered without the selected Vigil Participants being made aware of the details. This ensures that any experience they have will not be coloured or inspired by proir knowledge.
The vigil itself is generally a very tiring and tedious experience. The first ten minutes are fraught with nervous tension, the remaining hours with boredom and fatigue.. We operate a rota system, and each investigator is paired off so that anything can be hopefully corroborated. We also take coffee breaks. However all such precautions, and pseudoscientific protocol has yeilded next to no results ( or at least nothing to write to The Fortean Times about ).
I have only experienced one thing while on a vigil - a phantom alright, but a rather odd one - an olfactory hallucination, a nasty taste/smell at the back of my throat. This experience did happen to our source witness ( and I was ignorant of this before and during the vigil ) - so a result of sorts, but nothing to break the special effects budget of the Hollywood Movie - " Vigil - They Came! They Saw ( nothing ) ! They Stayed Awake ! "
The other option rather than joining a paranormal research society ( The SPR, or Ghost Hunters Club are options ) is to nosey about yourself. My fellow investigator and glamorous lady friend, Miss Allan, once stayed at a rather posh hotel in the most haunted city of Bath. Despite paying over the odds for the pleasure of NOT having a restfull night - we did ! We should have asked for a refund !
Good luck Snowman X, and don't take it too seriously - that way lies madness. Or debt, which is worse.
Regards,

Innes Smith
 
You're on the list Tyger Lily!

Thanks for the info Mr Smith :) How you describe the whole process is pretty much how I thought it would be! (Although it would have been nice if you'd regailed us with tales of fiendish spooks!!) Obviously, staying over in a two-up two-down after an ornament fell off a shelf would be a bit daft, and rather pointless for both parties! I was thinking more along the lines of, oh I don't know, camping out on the Borley Rectory ruins (are they still there?) or spending the night in the catacombs beneath a musty old castle in the middle of nowhere, that sort of thing! It's not about getting a sense of the dramatic (we walked hither, up the foreboding 3 mile secluded path to D'Eath Towers.. the door swinged (swang?) open in the wind, yet the house was empty and silent.. save a distant scream.. what it was.. I cannot say (sorry Poe)), but more about being somewhere where -historically-, there is a high chance of something happening. Pretty much what you allude to really :)

Anyway. I'm going to do my E Mids research (I know there are plenty of places within Nottingham to check out) and N Wales for when I pop back on the odd occassion. and keep you updated, and maybe even get some more troops in, like the brave Tyger Lily :)

This is something I've wanted to do for -years-, and now's a good a time as any!
 
i've always wanted to the the old staying in a haunted hotel room thing but i've never found any mates who wanted to do it.
 
Paranormal Tourism

Dear Toffeenose & All,
May I suggest a few books to have a peek at - there are quite a few listing allegedly haunted locations.
Janet & Colin Bord have written a couple of books about The British Isles, and most of the locations are outdoor locations which cost nothing to see ( other than transport costs ).
The problem with hotels & B&B's is cost - Britain is so expensive - However may I recommend a book about Scotland ( ISBN 1899874046 ) by Martin Coventry, which lists a plethora of locations, complete with contact details and a rough guide to the potential cost.
However, you have the Old Tollbooth in Stirling which is supposed to be haunted - is it a pub now ??
Anyway, Good Luck ! You could always try the organisation I belong to - The SSPR - we conduct vigils in 'haunted' locations...although I can't guarantee any experience other than boredom.
Regards,

Innes
 
i didn't know the tollnoth was supposed to be haunted, but i've never drank in their. nicky tams in stirling is also supposed to be haunted, never seen a ghost there but i'd recommend it as a pub.
 
Hi, I aso have pondered the idea of ghost hunting. But it just isn't practical for me. I wouldn't like to go alone...

Besides, does anyone have a natural trifield detector?

Its an electromagnetic field detector which detects energy given off by organic things. Therefore when you're ghost hunting it will ignore things like mobile phones.

It is very handy as it can scan through walls, but the range isn't too high.
 
Tollbooth recording..

I remember BBC Scotland visited the tollbooth some years ago & some inexplicable interference showed up on the DAT tape - the interviews conducted in other parts of the building turned out fine, but ( of course..) in the haunted bit ~ the tape was ruined..
Ooh.
Haunted pubs sound good. Haunted inns are better because there is somewhere to crawl to when it all becomes too ( boring ?) much.
What's meant to happen in Nicky Tams ??
Regards,
Innes

P.S - Phitran, there are relatively cheap hand held monitors, which if you're keen, you could tape them together and stick a starfleet logo on top : a GEM Radioactivity monitor ; a GEM ELF meter ( which sadly doesn't measure elves, but ~ ) measures variation of Magnetic field ; and a digital thermometer..
Go on, you know you want to..
 
i'm not sure whats suppose to happen in nicky tams. i've seen it in the record a few times. there is a part of the pub wall with press cuttings about the ghost but i'm sadly too drunk to read it when i'm in there;)
i think it has something to do with the fellow in the black and white picture behind the bar but that is just me trawling my memory.
i've tried googling for anything about ther nicky tams ghost but can't find anything on the net about it.
 
Bit OT but did anyone see The World's Biggest Ghost hunt last night on Living TV?

Pile o' shite or what?
 
No, i don't have living TV. But those programmes take the utter pi$$ as I've seen them at my friends house, though some of them are ok...



P.S, emf dectectors are really bad when ghosthunting because phone lines can be registered on then from a long way away.

They're just plain useless...
 
Personally, I think they're a waste of money because they either conk out or never work when someone uses them on the telly!

And they never ever go "You're unbelieveable!" Tsk!
 
Its too bad that ghost hunting is an "aquired taste". It would be great if i could meet up with others but it seems I'm theonly one in my area, or city..
 
Ghost Hunters Anonymous..

In regard to meeting interested parties in Bristol, why not join the S.P.R, and ask them if they have any members in the area, or you could always put a small ad in The Fortean Times..? It would be easy to track down a 'psychic', or Spiritualist Church, but such folk are believers and not always the best people to have with you, if objective corroboration is needed..
As far as magnetic field detectors, I would have to agree with the opinion that they are mostly useless. For a start, most are not sensitive enough, but the biggest problem is knowing what we are looking for and why?
Bristol must have its fair share of haunted locations ; and Bath is nearby, which is supposed to be stuffed full of apparitions..
My lady friend & I visited Bath recently, and managed to sniff out a haunted hotel & insist to the bemused staff ( initially bemused, but when they realised we were serious, they too looked serious ! ).. that we stayed in the haunted room..
Needless to say that we had an uneventful night...
Regards to all,

Innes
 
Ghost hunting

Ghost hunting classes offered at IUSB

Published: Saturday, February 11, 2006 -- The Truth, A3
Last updated: 2/10/2006 11:26:01 PMBy Gitte LaasbyTruth Staff


SOUTH BEND -- Ghost hunter Michael Weides has seen his share of moving mists and spiritual interference. He's captured mysterious voices from invisible beings on tape and heard people screaming as they witnessed things move inexplicably.

But students shouldn't expect to encounter anything that scary if they take his ghost-hunting class at Indiana University South Bend this winter.

"I'm not a wild-eyed, gothic kook," Weides said. "I'm not going to open Pandora's Box. I'm not even going to tell scary stories with the lights low. I'm not there to be Stephen King. But I hope to broaden my base of people interested in ghost hunting and people who will bring me in and point out new hauntings to me. I'm not making any wild claims."

A veteran of more than 500 ghost investigations, Weides has more than six years of experience and has worked as a trainer for state ghost-hunting organizations. He regularly investigates local places such as the University of Notre Dame and the 100 Center in Mishawaka, but this is his first university-level class.

"We'll concentrate on being a skeptic, on disproving as much as proving," Weides said. "There's a healthy amount of research that goes into investigating."

Weides said he isn't allowed to take students on field trips because of liability issues, but that he'll teach students the basics of what spirits, ghosts and demons are, how equipment is used to document them and how to discern between natural occurrences, made-up stories and actual ghosts -- the paranormal.

"I've had hundreds of experiences related to me," Weides said. "When you hear a thousand stories, there's a whole lot of similarities. It's if you hear something you've never heard before you know they're pulling your leg or that it's a mental illness. We'll go into the functions of the human brain and how you can actually 'create your own ghost' with mental illness or alcoholism. There are a lot of red flags."

This skeptical approach was appealing to marketing and advertising senior Jedediah Walls, who has signed up for the class.

"I'm hoping to get some factual knowledge about a relatively unexplored field," said Walls, who heard about the class through his job as editor of the IUSB newspaper. "It's being presented intellectually, not as a spook fest. That's what intrigued me the most -- the care (Weides) takes to make sure he's perceived as a credible investigator."

Weides has two or three open investigations at any given time and often goes out to investigate on the anniversary of a tragic event at a specific location and other times of what he refers to as strong energy.

"The spirit being energy itself, it must draw its energy from something. When the environment is charged, there's more energy for them to draw from to strengthen themselves."

It's at those times that a spirit manifests itself visually or moves things around, Weides said.

"Sometimes, it pulls itself together in a tighter mass and there's enough energy to move something or to change channels on radios, et cetera," Weides said. "It all requires an energy. A lot of times when things get moved, when they move your hair or hide your car keys, it's attention-seeking behavior."

Contrary to common belief, the fact that a certain place has a long history of hauntings doesn't mean that ghosts reside there, just that a lot of spirits are passing through, Weides said.

"More than 50 per cent of the time, it's a residual haunting, where the energy of the person has imprinted itself on the location, and it plays over and over like a broken record," he said. "Over time, it fades away."

There are several reasons why ghosts would stick around, Weides said. For instance, if a person's death was sudden and he doesn't realize he's dead. Ghosts also may stay to make sure their loved ones are taken care of and getting through the grieving process. Or they may stay out of guilt if they took their own lives.

"Sometimes, they're senior citizens having retired and dying shortly afterward," Weides said. "They may have been paying for their home, rebuilding the house they were to retire in and enjoy forever, and they're not able to get started on that. Then they go, 'Dead or not dead, I'm going to enjoy this home!'"

Many people report encounters with a ghost who lived in their house for many years and stayed after death because it was upset about renovations to its former home.

As one of about a dozen students signed up for Weides' class so far, Walls looks forward to learning more about the paranormal.

"I'm open to the idea" of ghost hunting, Walls said. "I can admit to being a bit skeptical, but I'm interested in seeing what the scientists have to say about it. I think it's a great idea for IUSB to do and to show how willing they are to explore a field that's so unconventional."

www.etruth.com/News/Content.aspx?ID=366376&page=
 
Ghost Hunter

VINCE WILSON HAS A THEORY ABOUT ghosts: They're a misunderstood part of the natural environment, phenomena that can be discerned and explained through the careful application of science. Which is why he's wheeling several thousand dollars' worth of homemade ghost-detection equipment into the Westminster Presbyterian Church and Cemetery in downtown Baltimore. "Even ghosts would have to obey the fundamental laws of physics," Wilson says. His quarry are like the giant squid, he insists, creatures that scientists once derided as folklore but whose existence has since been proven.

The 32-year-old Wilson is perhaps the foremost expert on the technology of ghost hunting in the US. He has written two books – Ghost Tech: The Essential Guide to Paranormal Investigation Equipment, published last year, and Ghost Science: The Essential Guide for the Scientific Study of Ghosts, Hauntings, and Research in Parapsychology, released earlier this year. Twice a month he and the other members of the Baltimore Society for Paranormal Research head out on a hunt.

"I've never seen a ghost," Wilson says as he passes not far from Edgar Allan Poe's grave. "I've never seen an apparition walk through a wall. But I've seen strange things. I've heard noises." And he has built some cool tools. In his car sits a tank-treaded prototype for a Robo-Cam. A kind of Mars rover for ghost hunting, it's designed to explore spaces too small or too dangerous for a human investigator. Wilson also constructed a Blimp-Cam, a floating, remote-controlled video camera, to film a ghost said to haunt the second story of a local building.

The arsenal of poltergeek gear doesn't end there. Wilson also sets up still cameras, videocams, and tape recorders to capture wispy figures and spooky sounds. He travels with an array of electromagnetic field detectors, ready to gauge the EMF changes that he believes occur when ghosts are nearby. Wilson has strapped a biofeedback device to my wrist; he hopes to determine whether the reported feelings of dread and fright in the presence of ghosts are accompanied by physiological changes.

And please don't call what he does "ghostbusting." Yes, his ringtone is the theme from that movie, but Wilson says his research is genuine, nothing like the facile fantasy of the 1984 blockbuster. "There is no such thing as a PKE meter," he declares, falling into Ghostbusters-speak. "None of these devices can detect ghosts, but we do believe we are detecting the influence of ghosts on the environment."

As we wander through the church's catacombs, my pulse and blood pressure remain normal. None of Wilson's devices pick up any unusual readings. But all is not lost. As we're about to leave, Wilson scoops up some dirt and pours it into a plastic tube that he labels MINERAL SAMPLE, WESTMINSTER CATACOMBS. He's gathering materials for an experiment to find out whether matter is affected by paranormal activity. But before he can analyze the soil, he needs to build a pressurized chamber. "Right now, that's a couple of months off," Wilson says. "All the parts are available at Home Depot. I just have to put it together."

– Chris Suellentrop

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.1 ... .html?pg=4
 
Im also interested in joing the SPR, but, I cannot seem to find the web site. Can anyone point me in right direction please?

I'm from Manchester, but would love to meet up with people in say, the Peak district, and maybe do a vigil at somewhere like Chatsworth or Haddon?

If interested in getting something together, email me at [email protected]
 
The most frightening and thing, and something that does deserves a little investigation concerning some of these ghost hunts is the cost! ;)
 
Personally I always thought that Enderfay made sense. Author of several threads around this one-
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42622


He seems to focus on the West Midlands so probably isn't that far away from where you are on about. Trouble is he hasn't been on for a while, but if you PM him, he's probably got an email alert for private messages.

Good luck anyway.
 
...I've always wondered what stops anyone with a vaguely old building offering "Ghost Hunting" nights....just by saying some odd shxt happened (not that I'm suggesting this in your friends case drbates!).

Maybe I should organise a pro ghost hunt in my 1920s semi in rural Oxfordshire? £1000 a pop? Any takers? I'll whip up a cooked breakfast in the morning. But that's extra.
 
linesmachine said:
...I've always wondered what stops anyone with a vaguely old building offering "Ghost Hunting" nights....just by saying some odd shxt happened (not that I'm suggesting this in your friends case drbates!).

Given the methods used by many ghost hunters, like seances, EVP, use of mediums, EMF meters etc, I think they'd get much the same results as in a building with plenty of well witnessed haunting phenomena. These sort of methods will work equally well anywhere, anytime.
 
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