The Ghost Hunter's Guide

We all love excitement, the chill of the unknown and of course a good ghost story. This is why the paranormal has been a center for entertainment and the occult for hundreds of years. There are many effects and events that we cannot explain, and we would love to be capable of explaining. That is the very reason most people ghost hunt. But in recent years a whole host of television shows of arisen out of the interest of ghost hunters, and has been a great success. TV shows like Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International exhibit the methods of investigation using technology and tools not necessarily available to the amateur. That does not mean they do not make mistakes, or even take advantage of bad investigatory methods to make their shows more exciting. What I hope to do is to show the mistakes the TV shows make and to help the amateur ghost hunter become better at what they do.

Ghost hunting, as much as we would love it to be about our feelings and gut reactions, is really about proving or more than likely disproving the existence of the paranormal activity being investigated which means that as investigators we have to set aside our feelings in order to make accurate measurements of the phenomena. The best way I can explain what I mean here is with an anecdote. When I first started ghost hunting, back when I was sixteen and armed with a flashlight and a two mega-pixel digital camera, I relied more on my feelings than I did on logic. I went to a heavily reported upon haunting in a cemetery and started to take pictures left and right. I was alone around two in the morning excited to be just out among the dead. I was thinking that if I got proof I could boast on the Sci-fi (now Syfy) forums. Long story short I came home a bit rattled, ran ragged about the cemetery, and caught only a few bugs on camera.

There are several problems with ghost hunting, especially with the way the shows do it, and with how local groups work. One of these problems is knowing too much. Ghost hunting should be objective and logically setup, something that the shows will not show, it does not pay as well. If you are looking for a cheap thrill, then find out as much about the haunting as you can. If you want to prove or disprove the existence of a haunting, have someone else do the research for you, tell you areas to look at, without divulging if they are haunted or not and then approach the investigation as though you do not know if the place is haunted or not. Too often investigators experience hauntings just by anticipating and expecting something to happen. So often in fact that the number of personal (and unsubstantiated) experiences is usually four to one to experiences that are provable.

The original Ghost Hunters was centered very much on disproval, figuring out what is causing phenomena and showing that what was thought to be a haunting is in fact a combination of imagination and odd circumstances still provable with science. Leaky faucets, garden hoses deflating, incorrect ventilation and drowsy tired people make up over 90% of haunting reports that exist. Unfortunately for the sake of entertainment both Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International has gone to the "dark side" of ghost hunting. Lacking the scientific integrity that one needs to do a proper investigation and in lacking the complacency to at least explore provable causes of phenomena that is experienced.

As much as ghost hunting is about having an open mind it is also about having a logical one. A great example of this failure is on the GHI (Ghost Hunters International) episode on the Gate to Hell, though they did have several experiences; a ghostly shadow peaking around a corner, a rock being thrown back to them on request, and a camera that wants to take pictures on its own, they did not investigate further the phenomena that could be physically investigated. The best example of this is not examining the full spectrum camera they used which decided to continue taking pictures even though the remote control was not in use.

As amateur ghost hunters the reality is there is any number of things that could cause what appears to be a haunting. Only after ruling all of the possibilities out can we safely say that a place is haunted. Before claiming that a secondary click in an EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) is caused by a ghost, both the remote trigger and the trigger on the camera should have been examined to make sure there was no fault. When doing your own investigations make sure your equipment is working fully and correctly before taking it out into the field. Be aware of who has handled it and that they, if battery powered, are fully charged.
With this minor rant about GHI out of the way there are several key points to cover before you go out and start finding your own ghosts.

Number One: Safety; always ghost hunt with a partner if not a group of people. The more cameras, eyes and ears, and experiences you have with you the more evidence you can gather to back up any experiences, but if you get into trouble the less likely you will have to deal with it alone.
Number Two: Permission; before investigating always get permission to enter a property. Understand the limits of the place you are investigating and try to keep stories about the place to a minimum until after the investigation.

Number Three: Have a Plan; always plan out the order and progress of your investigation. This helps keep the time you spend to a minimum and reduces the chances of outside influences affecting your investigation.
Number Four: Follow Up Investigation; if you experience anything out of the ordinary or paranormal, do a follow up investigation. Try to recreate the circumstances when you experienced the event, try to get it to happen again. Look for logical reasons for the experience. Remember that most hauntings are really related to other things like gas leaks, knocking pipes, things that have a real world explanation. Review your recorded evidence in detail and see what does not have an obvious explanation and then try to find one.

Number Five: Equipment; as stated above, know your equipment. Before you go out make sure that all equipment is reliable and in working order. A good starter list is as follows.

Digital Camera: A high resolution (five mega-pixels or higher) high lux camera is great for ghost hunting. Make sure that the camera has controls for aperture, light gain, flash, and time lapse if at all possible. Ghost hunting in the dark may mean prolonged exposure for images, with and without flash.

Digital Audio Recorder: A DAR can be used for EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena)
Various light emitters: Flash lights, UV lights/pen lights, IR (infrared) filter light are also great tools for the beginner. Most of these can be purchased cheaply. Further a high lux Digital Camera can be used for taking video as well as normal pictures and can pick up both IR and UV light.

Some of the more advanced equipment like a magnometer, Full spectrum imager, and hyperbolic headphone set can also be used, but may be more expensive for a beginner. Where as most of us have a digital camera, if you have an iPod you have an EVP with the right application and most of the light emitters can be purchased at a local hardware store for fewer than twenty dollars.

Lastly, most major cities have a paranormal society. Some maybe related to TAPS, others maybe their own organization. If you want help getting started you can always look into your local paranormal groups. If there is not one consider starting your own. Ghost hunting can be fun, if done safely and with a logical mind. Too often people go out expecting a haunting, expecting some encounter or event, and come away empty handed or feeling let down. Remember that the entire point of investigating paranormal activity is to find what is and is not going on.