August:
Ghost Adventures
By: EVP Debbie
Filmmakers Zak Bagans and Nick Groff have brought forward some of the most amazing video capture of paranormal evidence so far.
Touted as a 3-week tour of ghost hunting, these two gentlemen have been able to capture what other, more formal, ghost hunting teams have yet to “unearth” (excuse the pun, please)
This viewer found it incredible that with the 7-years of active investigations by the SPIRITS of St Petersburg and by other aged teams like TAPS, these two individuals embark on a 3-week ghost hunting trip and manage to capture apparitions not once but twice, convincing spirit orbs that will have us all reviewing our previously discarded orb photos as dust or bugs and they still weren’t finished. Zak and Nick had complete footage of a brick being hurled thru the air. It was impressive footage!
In an old mining town in Navada they met with a sweet elderly lady who has had a life long relationship with the Gold Miner Hotel. Barbara moved us from room to room reciting unsettling historic tales and retelling her first hand experiences from the spirited homesteaders of the old hotel. She is very efficient in setting the stage for what was to come.
This new Ghost Adventure show will certainly capture huge ratings if this type of evidence continues to be produced and unless or until some credible source comes thru to debunk this evidence, it looks like a hit.
Just please, put a disclaimer on the show that no one without experience should try this at home…….or anyone else’s home or property! Did no one tell Zak and Nick to NEVER run out and leave a fellow ghost hunter all alone in the dark, especially when there is a brick-hurling ghost in proximity? And, it’s a good rule to “walk” NOT “dude, run!”
If you are going to hunt ghosts you had better prepare yourself to actually find one some day. Set a course of safety first. Provide for a plan. Practice the plan, (like a fire drill) until every member of the group can switch automatically into the plan for a safe and secure exist.
September:
Truth or Scare?
By Mary Noell
The DiscoveryKids channel has entered the realm of the paranormal with a wonderful show, Truth or Scare. Hosted and narrated by Michelle Tractenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, hauntings and other supernatural stories from around the world are presented in well-told tales sure to fascinate younger viewers. Recent episodes have included the Castles of Scotland, the Castles of England, and the "Night Visitors" which included segments on the Bell Witch, Mercy (the last known American "vampire"), Emily's bridge, and Hammond Castle in New England.
Airing late at night, the show's spooky settings, classic horror movie music and Ms Trachtenberg's excellent narration combine to make these stories of restless spirits truly eerie. Although not recommended for children under 7, this show is an excellent source of paranormal happenings that one can easily imagine being told around a campfire in the dark of night or at a slumber party with all the lights out! Children are challenged to make up their own minds...indeed, are the ghostly stories really the TRUTH or only meant to SCARE?
Feb. Review:
Vernier – Software & Sensors www.vernier.com
Preliminary Review: 01-21-08. By: Jesse N.
In this review I will be looking at two pieces of software and sensors as it pertains to paranormal research.
Logger Pro 3.6 for Windows or Mac $179
This is the software that interfaces with the sensors, along with capturing and saving the results. Most of the options are self explanatory. The default dataset does not seem to track time and day by default. There are options to turn this one. Syncing up events in the paranormal realm by real time is very important.
I do not have any sensors to test with. The software does state that the user can activate multiple sensors at the same time for collecting and syncing data, i.e., activating recordings for temperature (or monitoring real time temperatures of multiple areas), barometric pressure, and relative humidity for tracking the environment. Another example could be to track heart rate, EKG, respiratory rate, and record video if a subject was claiming to experience physical paranormal activity to the body. There are many different combination of option to explore that relate to the paranormal.
There are many other sensors, software, and devices I did not include in this report, visit the Vernier website for a full list.
Graphical Analysis 3.4 $80
This software converts the data from Logger Pro in to charts and presentations. This software would be used for presenting investigation findings to other in the paranormal or non-paranormal realms. This software is not required to use the sensors.
When investigating some locations, some report the feeling that the air gets thicker and “heavy.” A barometer can be used to see if there is a difference in environment pressure for that area, ruling out natural phenomena as an explanation for the sensation. It is also useful to note if reported activity picks up when pressure rises and falls. Note, however, that this sensor may need to sit in the area for awhile before active use in order to produce a baseline pressure reading.
Relative Humidity Sensor $69 http://www.vernier.com/probes/rh-bta.html
Low humidity levels can create a lot of static electricity in the environment. This can produce the effects of having hairs stand on end, light shocks or tingling, and, depending on the clothes worn, this could create static cling, which can be interpreted as a “otherworldly contact” (i.e., that mysterious feeling that someone touching you). High humidity may produce dampness, and produce musky smells, as well as bring out the smell of urine of animals that have long passed. This device, in allowing for investigators to note the humidity, can also serve as a reminder to check for molds and mildews.
It is also important to note that humidity can produce the sensation of a “cold spot” without registering a temperature drop on equipment. Therefore, it is important to know the humidity levels within a given area to rule out this potential false positive.
There are different temperature probes, including infra red (IR) non-contact, contact, and outdoor. Temperature probes are useful to be able to chart out drops and raises of multiple areas.
This is just one more environmental tool as some people feel some paranormal activities my produce radiation. There are different models available.
According to the device description, “It can also be used to study the field around permanent magnets, coils, and electrical devices.” I do not know if this could be used as a simple/cheap EMF detector to monitor and record spikes. The way it reads it seems as if it picks up all Magnetic Fields, but it does not state EMF.
This provides another way to try syncing EVPs up with data from other sensors.
This allows investigators to track motion in a given area. Instead of having a light go on, this may provide more data when there is motion that is not detected by the naked eye. If this is used with other sensors it could prove some interesting data.
Use this or other video recorders to sync recorded data and video. This allows investigators to see what is happening when data events happen.
The following sensors can be used to monitor a subject from a scientific viewpoint. Add these along with video capture, and this can create some very strong data in dealing with human participants
who experience the paranormal.
Here are a few other devices to consider for the perfect ghost hunter’s grab bag:
Conclusion: With equipment choices like these, ghost hunting can easily become a very expensive hobby. It is not for everyone. It is very intriguing all the things that can be documented in real time on an investigation.
A personal limitation to the review of this list is that much of it is compiled from advice from other ghost hunters and research on equipment. I currently do not have all of these sensors to experiment with, so I have to believe they will work as advertised. Vernier does offer free training in a lot of places along with some paid training, so investigators may get a chance to try this equipment before buying it. For more information, please go to: http://www.vernier.com/workshop/events.html
Credit: I wanted to thank Patrick Burns for pointing out this product in a conference.
Andersonville P.O.W Georgia
01.28.2008
Carrie and Jesse
Conditions: 60 Degrees, Winds 5-15mph, Clear Sky, Bright and Sunny. 3:00pm-5:00pm
After Carrie and I drove an hour through the small towns, peach trees, and pecan groves we ended up at Andersonville Prison and Cemetery site. This is a pretty large place, after winding around a few roads we found ourselves at the North Gate and Spring House. As soon as I stepped out of the truck I was very light headed and dizzy. I was even stumbling around trying to get items out of my bag. Prior to arriving there I was fine. Carrie was also feeling the same way. While digging through my bags, I had a cold chill up my neck, and the left side of my face went numb/tight. Even though it was 60, the sun was very warm. I felt like I was in a magnet field, and my skin was bring pulled and pushed in different directions.
We explored the Spring House, and the North Gate. We did a little EVP work inside the North Gate, but got nothing, Carrie did say she felt sad and wanted to cry. There is an odd thing, when you enter the spring house, right between the two pillars you can hear people talking, but can’t make out what they are saying. This could just be the echoing of the water.
We got about half way through the Stockade, Carrie said she felt fine now. I was still feeling the same, and had a pressure between my eyes. I felt like I didn’t want to be there and wanted to leave. Even though I really did want to be there, and wanted to explore.
As we got to the expanded Stockade area, we captured a strange multi colored aura near the post. This just happens to be a trick of the sun, since Mary and Evie were able to duplicate it. Right before leaving this area, an older couple stopped and was walking around. I went over and asked them if they were feeling anything or feeling dizzy, they said they felt fine. We went to the next spot, and they followed shortly after, but seemed to stay far away from us. I seem to have that affect on some people.
From there we continue to the Museum, we didn’t have time to look around there. We talked to Linda A. for a few minutes. I asked her if anyone ever reported feeling dizzy or odd, and she said no one had ever said anything to her. She told us about the Dove in the Cemetery story, I looked all over for this Dove, but we ran out of time, so I never got to find it, I think the dang thing flew away. The story was something like this, in 1904, this stone dove was found on top of a tomb stone. No one knows how it got there. No one could move it either. Back in 1904, there was no concrete to attach the dove to the tombstone. So they don’t know how it is stuck there.
We finished up driving and walking around the Cemetery, and started our drive back to Florida. About 20 minutes after leaving the place I was feeling normal again.
Andersonville POW is a very interesting place. Carrie and I enjoyed it greatly, We wish we could of stayed longer.
“Footprints in the Snow: Tales of Haunted Russia”
By: James L. Choron, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-9415-06-8
The topic of ghostly lore never ceases to amaze me. From east to west, spirits manifest in similar manners and for similar needs. One area of untapped spectral potential is found in Russia, a vast land of diverse geographic features, which has been actively inhabited with civilizations for several millennia. It has been home to Greek traders, Gallic nomads, and Russian royalty. It has been swallowed up in conflict, from the aggressions of Napoleon to hosting a frontline for both World Wars to the inner turmoil of the Communist Revolution. These factors prove beneficial in Choron’s “Footprints in the Snow” which gives an outlet to the neglected ghost stories of Eastern Europe.
One favored story includes that of Nadia Kozlova, the spirit of an over-achieving school girl. As Russia evolved into a communistic country in the 1920s children were encouraged, in the spirit of Marx, to go for an education. Nadia was an overachiever, striving to get the gold medal for academic excellence and hoping to go to university. She never missed a day of school, she turned in all of her assignments, and she came early to study in the library. This high standard proved to be her undoing. One morning, as she studied in the library, the coal bunker underneath the school ignited in a freak furnace accident. The entire building blew up, killing Nadia and the few staff and faculty there that early in the day. However, Nadia’s insistence at finishing her education, and maintaining her standards, has not stopped. Every day teachers report finding her school work turned in, tucked neatly in a manila envelope that magically manifests. No one sees Nadia, but her presence is certainly felt. Her current GPA: a 4.9957.
Other stories contain mysterious World War I and II soldiers, lost to time but still trapped in this reality. Some are tied to old armaments that are re-discovered buried long forgotten under buildings and wedged in ravines. Some veteran ghosts give marital advice, while others appear hesitant to reveal their purpose to the living at all. There are remnants of tattered communist resistance movements that forever trudge their way out of the motherland, and dead children who still manifest while waiting for their parents to join them on the other side.
Choron, himself an investigator, includes some cases of anomalous imagery and extensive photo analysis. One case involves a reluctant soldier, who the author speculates is a deserter, who refuses to manifest for film. Only a fluke last minute shot, taken as Choron and his group leave the area, captures the outline of this sad figure, shading his eyes and watching the visitors in distrust.
Even the cover is intricately tied to the book. A skeletal figure dressed in the ornate military uniform of old Russia sits slumped in front of its casket. The story to this image can be found within the pages of the text – no spoilers here. You’ll simply have to read the book for yourselves to find it.
Overall, it is a wonderful read. It is not so heavy that it becomes oppressive and negative, yet, unlike certain unmentionable television shows, it is not sensationalized. The reader’s mind can create the circumstances of the manifestation while learning a little of what life is like in Eastern Europe in one of the most transformative times in modern history.
GHOSTLY ENCOUNTERS
By: Debra Shapiro
Finally!! A paranormal TV show worth watching and a must-see TV for anyone that investigate ghost hauntings.
Each Sunday evening, starting around 7:00 p.m. BIO TV (channel 104 for Brighthouse subscribers) a show titled Encounters focuses on Ghostly Encounters is aired. This very special and well thought out show contains the simplest of formats. The series recounts first-hand ghost tales from the people who experienced them. Gone are the overtly dramatic music scores, cliff hanger style editing and bad actors portraying the every day Joe who bumps into a spirit during the night.
Center stage in this production is a single person or persons who is able to tell their experience just as it happened, why they think it happened to them and what they learned from the experience/s. You will receive so much information about not only the haunting being relayed but also about the person. Who they are, what was their belief about paranormal before and after the experience. Were they born into a more superstitious culture, such as the Jamaican woman who, as a child, had a very frightening encounter but as it turned out to be a very kind spirit? What about those who tend to be more belief resent individuals where ghosts are to be simply waved off as someone’s silliness? What made them become believers and why? There was a story of a man who still occupies the home he lived in as a child that is still today active with the same American Indian spirit that his father literally bumping into every night and was photographed on a friend’s brand new Polaroid camera back in the 70s. This spirit Indian also seemed to look out for him and his sister for one day when the two kids were playing with a butter knife. Both of them were trying to get the knife away from the other in the kitchen but this spirit was not pleased with them tussling over a knife of any kind. The boy watched as a large can of flour was lifted off the kitchen shelf, moved thru the air behind his sister and then was thrown with a great deal of force against the refrigerator spewing flour everywhere. This boy, now grown to manhood, knew through out his life that this spirit took action to stop the children from playing with knives.
From Ghostly Encounters you will learn histories, research, and psychology of those haunted. You’ll understand what events were taking place in their lives at the time of the manifestations to what lifestyles they lived and so much to grow your paranormal knowledge base.
Please tune in and enjoy Ghostly Encounters
For the Florida Ghost Gathering, we are doing a presentation and a group discussion/review on "The Orb Project" book and the sister video, "Orbs: The Veil is Lifting". This is the general power point to this review which will help to stand in for this month's review. Note: Original powerpoint was created in 2007 but for this program it had to be saved in 97- 03, slighlty altering the quality.
General thoughts on both: When I was first told of both the book and the video, I was fairly excited. I thought that these sounded like reasonable, well thought out examples of how orbs could be researched both scientifically and spiritually, and the entire set sounded as though they were a synthesis of the two. Even customer reviews indicated that these resources were extremely valuable and, indeed, that they were a scientific basis for paranormal investigators to work with spiritual ideals.
I was disappointed upon reading and viewing both. The book, itself, starts out strong. It seems to utilize strong physics-oriented jargon that the author appears to go through great lengths to "laymanize" for the non-scientist. However, even in my capacity as a religious studies educator, the terminology did not seem to ring true to my eye. To me, it seemed as if the rules of empirical scientific law were a bit too convenient to the orb phenomena. The basic premise appears to be that orbs show up for digital cameras because digital cameras are a) faster (spirit energy is faster) and b) they need the energy/light from the flash to manifest. These are also the biggest deterrents to digital photography because of the flash field, which is hyper-illuminated for many point-and-shoot cameras (they do advise certain brands, but still....) and because digital cameras are so fast they can capture images in front of the lens -- including fast moving air pollution.
The book completely lost me when I read into the religion of Ramtha. This seems to be another offshoot of spiritualism that is attempting to find proof with science, or at least attempting to twist science in order to find proof. Ramtha, itself, reminds me of the old Seth series from the 1960s and 1970s where spiritualists channeled a higher level entity that guided its followers and gave clues into the afterlife.
Please do understand that I, personally, am a believer that eventually religion and science will fold back in on each other. Even today, neuroscientists are starting to acknowledge that thre may be some form of energy that underlies bio-energy, though that is as close as they may come to admitting a soul for the next 20 years (New York Times editorial, citation needed). However, even with this bias, I found the book and the video hard to believe and ultimately I believe that both are simply being used to further the Ramtha agenda.
Many of the orbs, I believe, can be explained. Though the authors attempt to explain false positives (dust, humidity, etc.) these explanations seem to cover the majority of the orbs as shown in the book. Many are outdoor images produced by a large group of people moving about (singing and dancing, which the authors claim "attract entities". That may be so, but it also kicks up a heck of a lot of pollutants in the air). There are some speckled orbs which could be pollen (I do not know enough about the flora and fauna of the area where the images were taken). Even the husband of on of our investigators who watched the movie suggested that one of the anomalies that had me stumped, the "vortex phenomena", might be produced with odd wind currents (note: we still need to experiment with a mister, a hand held fan, and digital cameras to see if we can produce similar images). There are a couple of images that I cannot explain (even hard core skeptics say that there is a "2% category" where orbs do not fall under any known explanation) but perhaps given time...
I think that the final ax for me with this book was this history of the writers. In doing additional research on them, I am impressed by their credentials. Both are highly educated men who have held a variety of important academic positions. However, both appear to have personal agendas to pursue, as based on outside observation from others, their own writings, and other publications. One of the two men appears to be possibly embroiled in some sort of scandal which casts further doubt upon his teachings, though his involvement remains unproven and controversial figures have been attacked with such things in the past.
Overall, however, I WOULD recommend the book and video to paranormal investigators if only to test out the ability to critically think for oneself. It also shows another viewpoint on orbs and it may give some insight to those who follow the more spiritual path and who do believe that orbs are definite proof of the afterlife.
