Ghost Hunting Scale

In aspect that as far as I know there is not a complete scale to regard haunting/hoaxes, I have decided to compose one. I mean after all we can grade the level of an Alien contact with a human (close encounters of the 1^st kind, 2^nd, 3^rd, ETC. ) So, I am calling the scale the Kesler Scale. This scale will incorporate all haunting types from easily explained phenomenon to the cream of the crop high end haunting. This can also be used as a scale of how far a "haunting" can go. I assure you if you follow this checklist, then you will either be able to explain the haunting as a legitimate haunting or just a series of chances that cause a paranoid state in the human mind. (Feelings of being watched, toyed with by another, etc.) If you are willing to look at a situation objectively, then remember you will have a better chance at either proving or disproving a haunting. If you claim a house is haunted with no real proof, then you are making a claim with no facts. So please use the Kesler scale as a way to countdown closer and closer to find facts. When in doubt, use the thinking behind Aucum's Razor, when you shave anything down to the basic facts, whatever is left, is usually the answer. This list is a pure generalization of the typical steps that normally happen in a haunting. If you start from one and end on three, chances are you are not the subject of a haunting. However, even in an actual haunting they can still be applied.

The Kesler Scale

1. Hallow Stepping: Floors creaking like someone or something is walking on them, you look and there is nothing there, or you at least know no one living is there. From older houses, to even newer ones, floors will creak. If there is a change in temperatures and or humidity, then any and all floors can and will creak. And just because you have carpet and or tile, you still pretty much have wood beneath it. There is a wide variable of factors which can cause it, just be patient. It may sound creepy, but bear in mind, it's just creepy. Also, if you happen to live in an apartment, then this can actually be neighbors from way down the other end of the building. What I call as "Hallow Stepping" is just nothing more than creeks that happen to be happening because there is movement from another cause other than an actual paranormal event. Keep this in mind when you are suspecting activity. Do some research as to how the floor is being caused to creak?

2. Midnight Tapping: Banging or noises on walls in the middle of the night. Surprisingly, this can and will happen in the day, however, it is more overlooked due to the typical daytime noises because the rest of the planet is awake. You should honestly sit in the dwelling on a Sunday or even a Holiday for a few hours, get to know the noises you hear and if these are repeated at night, it gives you a better explanation as to what is causing the sounds. One of the best explanations to most of these ghostly tapping noises is by having the plumbing examined by a professional. The older a pipe is it has a higher chance of banging if water is in it. Water pressure can cause a pipe to bang back and forth even if the water is not flowing. Also water pressure can cause a faucet to actually activate and run. And even if you live in a new house, or have newer plumbing, if you are attached by a half mile distance to an older water main that is over 50 years old, then you can have water pressure issues. And as a reminder, temperatures can be a factor as well. And just supposing that it doesn't come down to water piping, in some cases of haunting, there have been animals who have crept into a home's attic. I myself have had an experience due to a heating unit that came on, at the right moment, and the right time. (It was the middle of Halloween night in a darkened museum.)

3. Ghostly Voices: Yes, now is the part we can finally acknowledge the possibility of paranormal activity. However, before we do this, we need to make sure we go over a few possibilities that you should as examine as thoroughly as you can before making this claim. I would start by examining the plumbing in the area. Contrary to belief, even a pipe with water in it will allow sound to travel through it and even in some cases actually amplify it. Next check vents for heating and air conditioning. Voices can travel down those as easily as they travel down pipes. And indecently make sure your vents don't have outside access. A lot of older buildings actually have a venting capability that leads to the outside. Look in your attic, most homes that were built in the years after the housing boom in the 1950's (pre-fabed housing) actually have their attics vented to the outside through the end gables on ranch style homes. And also make sure the windows are well secure, if a window has even a small gap in the insulation, can cause noise to be translated from the outside. Also look at the materials in the area that comprise rooms, an almost empty room can broadcast sound from one end to the other. If rooms do not have a lot of sound absorbing items such as fabric coated furniture, then chances are the sound will bounce off of the walls and when you add a few rooms together, you can have the sound move from one room to another, and to the point that even a whisper, can sound like its right in your ear.

4. Electronic Voice Phenomenon (Or EVP for short.): This is usually good way to help gather evidence or disprove a haunting. In all cases you will be using a recorder. I recommend sticking with a digital one. You can still find the micro-cassettes or even the traditional cassette tape recorders; however remember the problems with those are you will here the "reel to reel" effect. As a tape unwinds to be recorded on, even though it is a small sound, it still makes a sound. Let alone, a second down fall is, in any magnetic cassette situation, if anything was on the tape before you use it, it will still be on the tape. Sure you might not hear it, but when playing back the recording you will no doubt increase the volume, there by allowing the possibility of a sound from the previous recording, to corrupt your current recording. The blessing of the digital age is that there are no more cassettes to reload, let alone locked in by how much time you have on the cassette. Also by using modern digital recorders, you will not be locked down by time, and you can upload your recording to your computer and analyze the audio with a visual element that many sound programs have incorporated into it.

Also make sure you know your environment! I cannot stress this enough. You should take your time and get to know what sounds are commonly present in the area, because even the forced air furnace turning on can sound like a disembodied voice. The objectiveness you provide to your results will no doubt prevail. Too many times in history have previous people who investigate the paranormal and end up turning the situation far into something it was not. (Might I remind you the whole Amityville Hoax provided by Ed and Loraine Warren? Just because one person gets scarred at the sound of a "bump in the night", doesn't mean the place is actually haunted.) You need to check and recheck the recording. Also if you decode to let others listen to any noises you have recorded, please use common sense! If you record a sound that to you sounds like, "Hello, my name is Bob." And then you play it for someone with your interpretation of the sound, you might corrupt their train of thought. And if you don't corrupt them, it might sound like the recorder falling over, or an animal in the area such as a cat rubbing the side of a table which has produced a sound. Also pay attention to outside sounds. As mentioned before, if a sound can be moved from one end of a building to the other and it is from the outside of the structure, then you investigate this as well. Combine this with a super sensitive microphone on the recording device, or even a special attachment of a hyper sensitive microphone, and any forced air furnace coming on with the chance of a dumpster being emptied and your recoding can sound like "the gates of hell opened up".

And if you happen to be recording while in the area, please make sure you keep strict notes as to who is in the area. I have heard countless recordings as to where two males were upstairs with the recorder, and they got an EVP of a woman speaking, but in the end, they realized someone's wife or girlfriend was downstairs, talking on a mobile phone. Remember, when you are investigation, the beginning starts with you, then your environment, then the surrounding environment. Keep a record as to who is where and when. It will save some headaches in the future. And also help you keep your evidence sound!

5. Spirit Photography: Getting a photograph of a spirit has been one of the easiest things to do, because in most cases they are not spirits! Let's start with the camera. Cameras still at present have two options. You are either going digital or film. Now they both have their pros and their cons. The pros with digital is simple, if it has been faked via computer program such as Adobe Photoshop, It can be detected with the most simplest of examination. Sure you can make things look like your head is one someone else's body, or your house looks like a pyramid but no matter what, if you fake a picture, you will always leave a clue. Now the downfall of this is that there is no analog record such as a film negative to the photography. Negatives were usually helpful tool in catching a person trying to portray a hoax (the case of UFO guru Billy Meijer is a good example) when you are setting up pictures, the Negative will always show the photographer setting up the shot. Look at most famous cases of Spirit, UFO and or Bigfoot, TC. Photographs and you will no doubt see the set up shots. It was a sure fire way back before the digital age to spot a hoaxer. After the advent of the Instant Polaroid camera, most people bent on faking a spirit photo switched to that style because it left no record. What these people failed to remember is, the Polaroid cartridges had a numbered amount of film slides, and it would come back to a lot number, which in turn would give an example of the 4^th photograph slide used in the camera would be XXXX-XXXXX-XX-04. Even in the modern Polaroid's camera and film stock, you can find the lot number. So the photographer would take the pictures that resulted from their staging to show to the world. Then when an investigator would begin on the case, he would ask the photographer for the rest of the photos that were taken, which ironically would or could not be supplied. (Usually because the photographer destroyed the photos that just didn't have the same effect as the ones they released.) and when confronted concerning the fact the series numbers of photographs happen to be the 2^nd, 4^th, and 10^th photograph, and would be asked about the missing photos. In some cases, the photographer admitted their hoax, and most pictures are not verified are just cast to the bottom of the evidence pile. So in the end the only reasonable one is a digital camera. Sure there is not photo record to back you up in cases where you did capture something in a picture, But like I said before, if you fake a photo in the digital realm, you will leave clues. And some clues you leave are because you opened it up in a digital image manipulation program.

Now that we have covered cameras, let's get to being able to spot the difference between you capturing paranormal activity and just an optical illusion. And yes just because you may or may not have intentionally tried to fake a picture, you could still inadvertently have gotten a picture, which may look odd and like a possible paranormal event. Cameras have a great capability at making something legitimate to the right person at the right time. But if you use common sense, chances are, the paranormal oddity before the camera lenses will become something in everyday life. Lets take the most common of all these misconception in spirit photography, the infamous "Orb".

The Orbs that you see in a picture are not the paranormal activity you might think they are if you stop and do a few analytical steps while taking pictures, use a partner with video camera aimed at the same time near your camera, why? Because if you do, chances are you will discover the real source of orbs, it is just plain dust. That's right, dust. The most common thing found in old and newer houses, graveyards and old abandoned homes and structures. When a dust particle gets in front of the camera lens, it is almost invisible. However, if you use a flash, the dust particle becomes illuminated and reflects that light back into the camera lens, and usually because the dust is not more then three feet away from the lens, it goes out of focus and appears as a orb. If you want to take a photo of these "Spirit orbs" sit down on your couch or a good cloth covered chair, even if you clean on a daily basis, you will no doubt have dust on it. Put the camera down on a cushion, facing away from the couch. Smack the cushion and then start taking photos, dust will fly by the camera lens and the flash will bring the "spirits to our realm".

There have been some indecently who proclaim to see faces in the orbs as proof. But that is the real trick of the mind. Because, our brains have been formatted over years of evolution to see a face in any random pattern. It is just how our brain operates, see random patterns and we automatically try to re arrange the pattern into a face. We want to see two eyes, and a mouth with a possible nose. It is a way of our mind making comfort out of chaos. And don't just take my word for it, go to your bed room, grab a blanket mix it around and toss it on the bed in a lump. Then stand back and see if there is a random enough pattern you begin to see a face. You might have to turn down the lights a little to give contrast of shadowing on the crevasses that appear, but I assure you that is what happens. The faces you see in random patterns are in no way shape and or form paranormal, they are in fact just a part of human evolution. We like to make things that are chaos based more structured. Indecently after seeing a face, we prefer to see the shape of a human form. We prefer heads, bodies arm and legs. However, when it comes to faces, the mind prefers this above all else.

But, not to leave bodies out of the mix, that is apart of another series of photos. Be careful about your camera strap. You would be amazed at how many camera straps have become a "Mystical being" because it was inadvertently swung in front of the camera. I know I am writing about ghost and haunting and I use terms most commonly used in the realm of UFOs, however there is a reason, because the two subjects do happen to go hand in hand. Why do I mention this? Because there was once a case in which a Finnish gentleman, tried to take a white plastic spoon, draw two black alien eyes on the back of the spoon, and proceeded to pass it in front of his camera lens at a rapid speed and claim his house was swarmed with aliens. You can do this as well. The pictures are rather interesting. However remember, it has already been done, and will no doubt be debunked quicker then the last person who tried it.

Now outside of camera straps, there are loads of items that can fly in front of the camera at that moment you snap your photo, such as a bug, I have many of a moth become an "angel" given the right flash caught at the right moment. So once again I beg of you, consider using a second person with a video camera as a back up. Anything in front of the camera will be recorded and will put an end to something false before it can even come close to being in question as to if it is real or not. Which remember though most of these cases of something moving in front of the lens can not only affect still photography, but video as well. The two people, two type of camera system will help in avoiding falsehoods. And remember there are those who have gotten orbs on video, no need to fear if you do, chance are once again it is dust and or an insect.

6. The Cold Spot: first things first, let us examine what the theories behind the "cold spots" are. A cold spot forms when a ghost or other spirit class entity is trying to break from their realm of existence into ours. In order to pass over to our side, they must draw energy, and that is usually in the form of thermal energy. My personal theory on the matter is that ghost or spirit class entities must have a harder time manifesting themselves in the colder months, providing they are in an open air structure. But at the same time this could lead to the concept as to why they are making themselves known to you and others, due to the fact that as you pass by, in effect you are warming the air. The best ways of dealing with and understanding "the cold spots" you may encounter are by using a thermal imaging camera. Though they are costly, they provide the best results. However please do not invest in a in an infrared thermal thermometer, these devices use a laser or beam to project to a wall. If the wall is attached to an outside wall, and is poorly insulated, there is a chance you will see a temperature drop on your readings. And remember if a ghost and or spirit is trying to manifest it self in a room and you are just taking readings from the wall, then you might not be able to tell. The thermal camera is the most trusted reader to avoid this, you can make a pass visually with the camera, of the room and if you see any cold spots forming you can investigate properly to it. But please, please, please, examine that there are in question, no possibility of a man made situation. Verify there are no drafts that can cause an area to form a cold spot. I have personally seen the combination of an open fireplace flume, a leaky window and oven baking bread in the kitchen of a dwelling almost 40 feet away cause a human shaped thermal cold spot, that I will admit when shown on camera gave a very convincing argument that the dwelling was going to experience an actual manifestation of a ghost or spirit class entity.

7. Manifestations: This is where the haunting goes from just a possibility to probability. Manifestations can be divided in to three separate categories.

• Living shadows: These are shapes that take on a shadow form. You can see larger details such as torsos, heads and limbs. But they will usually be translucent and can see through them. The best way of describing them is if you see a shadow on the wall, then imagine it away from the wall and in the third dimension, such as standing in the middle of a room. You usually will not see details such as faces, because of the absorption of light into the entity, but as the shadow moves you might pick up something such as the shape of a nose, eyes and or a mouth if it is open. There has been some speculation as if these are a spirit entity such as a demon, an angel and or what is known as an extra dimensional being. I must explain when I say angel or demon, I am not referring to the biblical sense even though it very well maybe. All religions have had good and bad spirits that surround them, so why should one religion have all the fun? The theories behind extra dimensional beings are that they are beings that are from another realm of reality. Realities that feature everything from Unicorns to whit ifs such as if Hitler had lived and won the war. Another example as to what some have claimed these beings could be, are aliens who are using a device on their end to make some form of contact. There honestly can be a million reasons as to who or what they are, and with every idea that forms will no doubt provide even more questions on the matter such as, why and how they are attempting to make contact, let alone is there something we can do on our end to assist them in making contact, which post-humorously makes you ask, do we want them to make contact?

• Time Echoes: These can be an interesting concept in the idea of a haunting.

What if there was a situation in which there was a great deal of emotions in play for a human and or other being? What if these emotions were so powerful that it manifested itself into an energy source? (Remember the old idea that energy cannot be destroyed, just transferred.) Well by using this concept, then lets just take a hypothetical situation, say there was a murder, then lets just say the murder was because of a jilted love triangle, ETC. It might not be so much a soul is bound to the scene as it is an "echo" of the person who died there. This could doubly raise the idea behind most haunting situations that happen to take place during a structure renovation. During a lot of construction/ renovations there is usually a higher amount of any haunting. Most can be dismissed as a clumsy construction worker who left a piece of machinery on, or misplaced an item. But the theory behind these echo type of haunting do hold water in the respect that if a higher than average emotion situation took place during death, then these echoes would remain, and combine that with places updating their older look such as adding walls, closing up doorways or just revamping their look, it would seal up the emotional energy in the area. Then flash forward many years down the stream of time, when a place decides to update its look again, or even restore the place to its former look, and by once again opening up a wall or whatever, you have in fact unleashed the energy. Now, I refer to this as a time echo, because sometimes the haunting in question might be a repeat. Imagine a man who just made a Victorian era woman's day by proposing marriage to her, and in turn she made his day by saying yes. They are walking through a room, very happy with themselves and with each other. Now, lets just say these emotions turned into an echoed energy, and then the place goes through changes, renovations, then next thing you know they do the renovations again and then you have a person in fright because they just saw a man and woman, dressed in Victorian era clothing walking through the room, and when the person approaches the couple, they vanish. If you were there, and witnessed this, the first thing you would say is "This place is haunted!" But, if you do some research and or common sense, I am sure the idea of energy echo makes a bit more sense. Now some of these time echoes actually appear as if time for them is in their present not the current present that you are experiencing. An example of this is lets just say, a place burns down, and the owners decide that they are going to rebuild the place in question, brick for brick. But as they are doing so, they realize that the new place has to be up to code, or if it rained too much and it would flood, so they re-grade the ground 2 feet above the old place and then build the new place only two feet higher then the old place. And 100 years after, some person is seen walking with only their upper thigh and torso walking through the place. That's because the time difference to the echo is not applying to the image of the echo, hence they are walking through the appropriate area.

• Ghost: Regardless of if it is translucent and or appears as a solid being, a ghost is a ghost. It is the embodiment of a being that once lived on this planet. Not an echo, not a spirit based being, but a ghost. It is usually an interactive being. It is the soul of a person who has passed over into death. It will react to the surroundings much like you would. Only because I am endeavoring of telling you what a ghost is not, I think it is easier to inform what a true ghost is. It is an apparition of a dead spirit, human or animal, no more, no less.

Now, understanding the three main classes of Apparitions one might see, should give you a better insight as to what is happening if you should ever happen to see one. But more importantly please always document the situation. What was the situation where you saw it? Was it cold? Was it dark? Was the apparition interacting with anything or anyone? You need to be willing to de-bunk the sighting as quick as you are able to claim it. Are there any electrical boxes around such as breaker panels? Are these panels old? Are they new? Was there a recent thunder storm in the area? People would be amazed at how much electricity can actually hinder a situation. Electrical boxes if not well maintained can give off charges ions into the air, and we get around these things and our brains react to them. You must bear in mind that basic biology can tell us if it a hallucination or not. Is anyone in the group susceptible to suggestion? Is there anyone in the group who is under the influence of a drug albeit pharmaceutical and or recreational? Has anyone consumed alcohol? Please do yourself a huge favor and take this serious. Even if you're haunting experience is real enough for your senses, a situation of "We were leaving the bar on Friday night and..." might still be chalked up as a hallucination and disinformation brought on by alcohol. To insure that this is not the case, a check list to avoid what could be critical environment situations will be printed.

8. Poltergeists: I know the direct translation from German to English is "noisy spirit/ ghost" But, If you are using the Kesler scale to grade the haunting, then you will find there are many reasons as to why I am making a poltergeist on its own level. First off, they are very rarely ever seen. And more importantly these are the level of haunting in which we begin to have cases of living humans being terrorized by a spirit. Poltergeist can be described in basic term as a spirit that can move physical objects. When ever you view a video of a haunting and see an object move on what appears on its own, that is a poltergeist. They have a tendency to be the type of haunting in which most people get hurt, albeit because the human interaction might insult the spirit. To challenge one and you might encounter an object such as a rock or plate being thrown at your head. Outside of being obviously capable of violence, they are usually a good source of humor if given the chance. Anything from moving all the plates, on a table, in a different position at a rapid speed. To being the type of spirit which can automatically turn on an electrical object. If you feel your type of haunting has become on the poltergeist level, then please take this with caution. Because It might not be a poltergeist, it could be a phantom.