Ghost Hunting (22 page)

Next they reviewed the tape of my experience in room 401. Though everything that happened initially was off-camera, you could clearly hear the door open and then the glass shattering. It was a good thing I moved the camera at that point to train it on the closet door, because we got the door moving and latching on tape.

We weren’t so fortunate when it came to our digital video recorder or the wireless audio we had set up outside Brian’s room. The moving table had eluded us as well. All we could see on the tape was the tabletop.

But Brian got something when he went to visit the Stanley Museum. The guy who runs it gave him some interesting geological information. Armed with that and the data we had recorded, we went to see hotel management with our findings.

At the meeting, Grant and I met Nancy Baker, the hotel’s controller, who was interested to hear what we had to say. Billy Ward was there as well, as congenial as ever. We started out by telling them that we had been able to explain a few of the hotel’s claims without resorting to the paranormal.

First, we talked about the Concert Hall. We found that if the door is open just right and the wind is blowing, it sounds like a woman screeching. Given those circumstances, we didn’t believe there was any ghostly activity in the hall.

In room 412, the headboard was loose. When the window was open, the headboard could catch the wind and shiver violently enough to make the bed shake. Despite what Brian and Steve had seen, we couldn’t say there was anything out of the ordinary in that room either.

The same went for the banging on the fourth floor. When we looked into it, we found that the heating pipes made a dink, dink, dink, BANG sound whenever they expanded. As plumbers, we run into that a lot. In any case, the banging wasn’t attributable to any paranormal entities.

We had also raised questions about the stolen-wedding-ring claim. Though we had left some jewelry on the nightstand beside the bed in 401 for two nights running, nothing had happened to it. (But then, so much else had gone on there, the resident spirit might have been too busy to worry about a few baubles.)

An interesting footnote was Brian’s discovery that the hotel was built on a mountain full of quartz, a situation that is believed to facilitate residual hauntings. The energy captured by the quartz gets released when the conditions are right, allowing spirits to manifest themselves.

Then there were our personal experiences. In the hallway by the Billiard Room, Brian and Steve had seen the shadowy figure that slunk back as they approached it. And in room 1302, the table and chair had moved. We didn’t have video evidence of these occurrences, but we did have audio.

The most convincing proof we had that the hotel was haunted was the video footage from the room I had slept in. After the glass broke and I repositioned the camera, we could see the closet door close and latch. Afterward, I attempted to shut the door without turning its knob. But no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t close that way.

It was unexplainable. Add to that all the other stuff and I couldn’t help pronouncing the place haunted. Grant agreed without reservation.

All in all, the Stanley Hotel was an awesome place, a once-in-a-lifetime investigation. We were glad we had made the trip. Now we were looking forward to going home to our families in Rhode Island.

BY GRANT WILSON

S
o now what? Where do the Ghost Hunters go from here?

Our third television season is going to see us exploring a haunted castle in Ireland. You
know
we’re jazzed about that. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be? Afterward…it’s hard to say. We’re exploring all kinds of possibilities back at our headquarters in quaint little Warwick, Rhode Island.

It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come since our humble beginnings in the depths of Jason’s basement, when it was pretty much just the two of us going everywhere and doing everything. We never expected it to be any different—and in some ways, I guess it’s not. We’re still staying up late at night, crawling around in dark places full of dust and cobwebs. We’re making sacrifices for the things we believe in. And we’re still dedicated to our mission of putting paranormal investigation on a scientific footing, so it can finally get the respect it deserves.

Some people look back on their lives and wish they had been different in some ways. Not me, and not my friend Jason. We wouldn’t have left out a thing, because without all those painful, funny, terrifying, gratifying, and occasionally awe-inspiring moments, we wouldn’t be the people we are today. We would be something less, I think.

I’m not sure I thought that when we were risking our lives soldering a banging pipe in a crawl space under an old house, or when we found out that the ghost in the wall was really a tape recorder, or when we faced that inhuman entity in a supposedly empty barn. I wasn’t so happy when we all got food poisoning in North Carolina, or when we had to part company—if only temporarily—with a long-standing member of our team.

But when I look back, I see how important everything was, the good times as well as the bad, and how it all fits together. I know that sounds a little touchy-feely, but hey…that’s the kind of guy I am.

APPARITION

A disembodied spirit visible to human beings.

ASTRAL PLANE

A level of existence separate from, and in some sense higher than, the physical world, according to certain philosophies and religious teachings.

COLD SPOT

A place that is cooler than the surrounding area. It is thought by some to be an indication of a supernatural presence drawing energy from its environment in order to manifest.

DIGITAL INFRARED CAMERA

A device used to capture images invisible to the human eye at the “hot” end of the light spectrum. It is capable of feeding information to a computer, where its infrared images may be stored on a hard drive.

DIGITAL THERMOMETER

A device used to record the presence of cold spots and hot spots, sometimes during an apparent paranormal event. Some digital thermometers record temperatures second-by-second for PC storage and graphical charting.

ECTOPLASM

A filmy, quasi-solid substance that supposedly issues from the bodies of mediums while they are in trance states. Ectoplasm may issue from the mouth, the nostrils, the eyes, the ears, the navel, or the nipples. In photographs, ectoplasm resembles muslin fabric soaked in water.

ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD RECORDER

A device used to record data on electromagnetic fields

(EMFs). Its use is controversial among ghost hunters in that EMFs from power lines, television sets, kitchen applicances, etc. surround us constantly, as well as the fact that it has yet to be categorically proven that ghosts emit EM energy. On the other hand, some researchers say ghosts disrupt EMFs.

EVP

Electronic voice phenomena. Audio devices may record disembodied voices and other supernatural sounds that are inaudible to the human ear without mechanical intervention.

EXORCISM

Ritual expulsion of invading spiritual or demonic entities from a person or dwelling. The term was brought into the common vernacular by the 1973 movie
The Exorcist.

FLOATING ORB

A spherical image, usually a translucent white though sometimes a reddish or bluish hue, which inexplicably registers on film or videotape. Its presence is thought by some to be an indicator of supernatural activity.

GHOST

The soul or spirit of a dead person, reflecting the appearance of his or her living body but less substantial. Ghosts may exist in a state of semi-awareness or be completely cognizant of their living observers.

GHOST HUNTER/INVESTIGATOR

A person who attempts to gather evidence of ghosts or other paranormal activity. This may be accomplished by means of still photography, video, audio, EMF recordings, EVP recordings, or other media.

HAUNTING

The manifestation of a ghostly presence attached to a specific person or location.

INHUMAN ENTITY

A demon or other spirit intent on causing harm to living beings. Also known as a
negative entity.

INTELLIGENT HAUNTING

A supernatural entity that is aware of its surroundings and/ or observers and is capable of interaction with them.

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.

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.

Then 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.