GHOST HUNTERS

Most Halloweens at our scary mansion on the hill were very stark. I believe a few times we had mediums come to do seances. To me, they were just a fun time to dress up and hit the neighborhood until midnight--yes, we used to use pillowcases for our loot and in those days (60s/70s) you could go all night and no one thought it was odd. The nights were very dark with no streetlights on our estate, and never had anyone once braved the extremely long driveway, over the bridge, and up the hillside to the huge columned front veranda with a swinging light overhead. Mom bought candy every year, but I think it was just for her secret stash. One year, the Toole family braved the driveway. I believe there were perhaps six or seven lumberjack-looking Irish sons who were strong enough (and plenty old enough) to come to the door. What a shock that was! I still think of those boys who lived on Glenmere and know they were quite brave indeed. My first Halloween trick-or-treating, my older brother ...

When you think of the ghost hunting offerings on TV, the big three come to mind; “Ghost Hunters,” “Paranormal State,” and “Ghost Adventures.” Please, keep them coming! My friends and I often squabble over which show is best and what they do right and wrong on each show. I've come to some conclusions about the teams and about the people who produce the shows. “Ghost Hunters” Pro’s: These guys go in to prove the place is not haunted ( bless you ). They use technology. They entered the field long ago for personal reasons and not because it might some day make a TV show. It was the last thing on their mind. They wanted answers. They go over the evidence with the client in the end. They’re skeptical about any evidence that could be explained other ways. “Ghost Hunters” Cons: Production! That’s the number one awful thing. It’s dry. It’s dull. I don’t care to see them Roto Rooter ( which I doubt they do any longer other than to produce a commercial and no wonder plumbing is expensiv...

I’ve always wanted to go back to my childhood home and revisit the haunting there from the Civil War soldiers who were injured and died in its walls when it was a field hospital. The home was haunted very actively, but what intrigues me even more is who has joined the cast since that time. My father died when I was 16. He swore he would meet us at “Aspen Grove.” Soon after he died, the people living in the house told us they saw my father in his gray suit and pink striped tie (his traveling suit that we buried him in). My father had been dead for several days when they saw him. My mother died nearly 20 years later and vowed she would be there. After all, she was the historian who made certain the history of the house was revealed and it was placed on the historical register. She loved that place like nothing else in the world, even us children. We kind of knew that about her. The estate was very enchanting and surreal. It lured everyone in. We siblings talked about our parents wan...

As far as the condition of synesthesia is concerned, the online dictionary states, “A sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain color.” My form of synesthesia is in relation to time/days/months/years. I see it in a 3-dimensional model that is outside of my body. I didn’t know others thought of time and days and such like calendars until I was well into adulthood and read an article about people with a “disorder” for seeing time such as mine. I was shocked to learn others didn’t see time that way. For me, January juts out of my right cheek. If you say, “let’s go to North Carolina in January,” I’m seeing the calendar jutting from my right cheek outside of my body aiming slightly to the right and level with my cheek as that time period. Yeah, I guess that is weird. My ability to read objects began when I was very young and we would dig up artifacts at my manor home ...

I’ve had a theory for years about the way a home is laid out in relation to the degree with which its haunted. I was thrilled to come across a book that handles the concept of Feng Shui and ghost hunting called “Confessions of a Feng Shui for Ghost-Buster” by Anna Maria Prezio. The book really reiterated for me the common sense of a home’s layout and its activity. It isn’t surprising to most why attics and basements seem more haunted. Just look at the way most of them are laid out. I don’t recall a single “Ghost Hunters” episode where they didn’t enter a home and explore to find musty messy catch-all basements and rickety box-filled attics. The more chatchkeys, the more hauntings. The more antiques, the more hauntings. Messy, dark, and cram-packed rooms are the worst offenders. According to the book (above), darkness attracts spirits and cluttered dark rooms are just asking for action. Here’s an example of how this works. I was called to a house in Casa Grande, Arizona where the own...

I've been living in Arizona for a long time now. I still think of myself as a Virginian, but I've made-do with the history of the west. I've noticed something different about the hauntings here compared to the East. In the East, it seemed that buildings were haunted more often than not or perhaps they stole the spotlight, but much of the West feels as if its very land is haunted. It's hard not to stand in the middle of the Sonoran Desert and not feeling a sense of old wagon trains and Native Americans on horseback. In studying hauntings in the Greater Phoenix area, the Mesa area seems to be particularly haunted. Why? I often look at train tracks because for some bizarre reason, when there's a good haunting, there's a nearby train track. I don't know if it's the metal rails or that it's a pathway frequently used. I noticed too in cemeteries and other sites, hallways and roadways are often haunted as if there's a natural propensity for energ...

Poltergeist phenomenon fascinates me. The closest I've come to understanding it is to look at the context in my life in which I've witnessed it. There were three girls in my family; my two sisters were in a love/hate relationship and 11 months apart, then six years later, I arrived. During the adolescence and teenhood and my own, the poltergeist activity in our home appeared. I've heard it said many times that "hormonal" girls and activity go hand in hand. My friends had no troubles in their houses, but then, they didn't live on a ton of quartz rock with a spring running under their home in a building that was used as a Civil War field hospital. So, perhaps it's a combination of conditions. A sort of paranormal stew. I've seen things be flung by unseen forces which happened when I was younger and didn't seem strange to me. I thought it was the same thing as seeing a bird fly or a person jump. I didn't know at the time it wasn't normal...

Shadow people are a phenomenon only talked about recently, although I'm not certain they haven't been around longer, they've only been recognized openly the past decade or so. People who witness them often describe seeing something out of the corner of their eye, turning their head and watching it disappear. Others describe a situation in which they witness more often than not a 3-4' tall dark human-shaped being that appears to be trying to be incognito. When it realizes you see it, it dashes away or disappears as if startled. They often also describe a sense of doom coming over them when they encounter one. It's a long jump from shadowy phenomenon to evil, but you know there's going to be those with a spiritual explanation for phenomenon who are going to jump on that explanation. Why else is it black? Why else is it small and demon-like? Why else does it come with a sense of dread? My son had an amazing experience with a shadowperson that I believe personifies ...

Here's the likely candidates, their strengths and weaknesses on a team. THE SEARCHER: This is someone who's had an experience of the supernatural nature and wants answers. This person is likely to be skeptical, enthusiastic, driven, and obedient. They want to learn. They're ideal to train. They wish to find as many ways to test things as possible. You'll find almost 90% of your team will end up being searchers because more often than not, those hunting ghosts had an experience that launched them. You start with a "Searcher" and later you find out what category they belong in. These folks usually comprise the leaders of the team like Jason and Grant on TAPS. There's also one other type of searcher and they're usually folks who lost loved ones and want to verify an afterlife. They usually become discouraged after a time and move on to other ways to answer the bigger questions. You'll find them questioning other folks about their beliefs and experien...

I can't help as an investigator to watch what others are doing out there. I recently saw the new show "Ghost Adventures" on the Travel Channel based on a team that assembled to do a documentary. I won't make a big commentary on what I think of overnight ghost hunters, but I do have a few things I like about their approach. Yeah, Zak is a bit of a dick. You kind of hope he gets knocked around when he's hunting because he's like that schoolyard bully that beefs up his muscles to make up for a lack somewhere else and is constantly insecure, but I have to give him kudos for his taunting techniques. These guys might have woke up one morning and decided to become ghost hunters, but they figured out something other teams are missing out on. Taunting. I have to brave the world of ghost hunters with those who are of a spiritual bend with very old-fashioned ideas of hauntings. They're terrified of possession and provoking and being hurt by the unseen. When I'm...