GHOST HUNTERS

( me building a snowman outside the front veranda at Aspen Grove ) It's funny how one thought leads to another until you're not sure what started the snowball? I was thinking one day about how my father, mother, brother, sister, and family friend all vowed to haunt my childhood home. I was thinking about the family promise to haunt Aspen Grove, and wondered--would I want to haunt the house as it is now? Since a contractor tore down the outbuildings and built condo's around it? No, I'd rather haunt the house as it was when we lived there, everything intact; stables, barn, two cottages, boxwood mazes, arbors, orchards, thicket, creek... That got me thinking the next thought; what if I could go back and haunt myself when I lived there? I've always said that should souls exist, we're two linear in our thinking. Many family members can see the spirit of a passed loved one upon their passing at the same time. If we are no longer limited by our body's physical for...

I had a good time this Sunday being the character of Anna Alsap, the wife of the first mayor of Phoenix, who passed on in 1902. I gave many speeches about her husband's contributions to the Arizona Territory and luckily we have lots of interested visitors. We hope to redo the event in October, with perhaps a more ominous and spooky edge. A lot of the stories of Phoenix are gritty and raw, so they might lend themselves to a more Halloween-oriented tour.

Hey all my regular followers, don't forget the contest ends at the end of April 1st on Wednesday (DVD contest below). Just leave your entry at the end of that contest article that explains the rules.

When I was growing up, we had a summer home, a pretty crisp-looking Victorian on little stilts near a quiet inlet on Mobjack Bay in the Chesapeake, a town called Newpoint Comfort. It was rather idyllic. We would go in the springtime and plant a vegetable garden in the sandy soil near the house and then go back to the D.C. area and come back in the summer to find a full-grown garden. There was a dock on "Doctor's Creek" where we kept our cabin cruiser. The house was sold to us filled with antiques and the library room had only books from the 1800s. As a kid it was a musty scary place after being locked up all winter long. Sometimes we'd find dead birds that came down the chimney during the year. We'd air the place out and with no TV or radio to distract us and only old books to read, all of us five kids would take off on a rampage through the beautiful setting. The house sat directly across from a graveyard that was filled with tall grasses. I didn't even know ...

I usually talk about ghosts, but I was having an epiphany the other day. I was considering ghost hunting theories and something I was considering happened to also be able to be applied to UFOs as I have experienced them. Rattling around in my head were the typical concepts of ghosts; a soul that doesn't know he is departed or has unfinished business, a residual event that replays like a recording with no active intelligence involved, interdimensional beings, time travelers, explainable phenomenon, string theory correlations... My mind stopped on one idea; that seeing a full-body apparition without hearing it is much like an encounter with a shadowperson where we catch a glimpse and once the black solid-looking figure realizes it's being seen, it startles and rushes away. Why one sense? Why do we sometimes just see something but not smell or hear it? Why do we sometimes hear it but don't see it? Is it possible that if there is some crossover between dimensions or time that i...

Every year or two I clean out my horror collection on DVD. Sometimes folks give me a movie as a gift that I already have and I don’t have the heart to tell them, so I share the wealth with others. Sometimes, my moods change and things I once liked I’m just not so into anymore. Others, I only need to see once. (I know I’m weird, but I actually only saw “Sixth Sense” once! It was one of those movies for me ). I’m a Virgo and highly organized, so dead weight goes quickly. If I bring a new movie in, another must leave. I have so many horror movies that I keep them in a CD album alphabetized and it barely takes up any space. I’ve gone through the collection this year and am left with 10 DVDs that I’ve placed into jewel cases. The last few years I used my give-away DVDs for our local “Cemetery Crawl” event as prizes, but I decided this year I’d treat my regular readers to an opportunity to broaden their collections. Requirements: You have to be already one of my 14 followers as of the tim...

I’ve had this conversation a hundred times with different people, each one adding something new to the array of reactions folks have about ghosts, ghost hunting, and the paranormal. When I first started ghost hunting, I was so excited I was finally doing something active about the questions rattling in my head about things I’ve witnessed in my lifetime, that I entered the "eager to tell people I’m a ghost hunter" phase . The reactions were always quite similar ( this was pre-“Ghost Hunters” show era ). They would stare blankly, blink a few times, mouth usually open, and then make that little humming sound in their throats as they tried to think of a polite way to say “ did I hear you right?" Disheartened by initial reactions, I tucked that bit of myself away and didn’t share it with anyone but my closest friends and family. I continued my search and then hit the "outrage/rebellion" phase . I’ve supported all of these people on paths that I thought were complete...

I have to give Grant and Jason from TAPS big kudos for bringing “residual hauntings” out into the open. It’s intrigued me to no end since my upbringing, where I would say residual accounted for about 85% of the occurrences in the house (the other 15% were more poltergeist-related in characteristics ). I started actively working in the field because I never found answers to the kind of hauntings I experienced growing up. Residual hauntings weren’t something often talked about in the industry until the 2000s. Most folks were under an assumption that if something unexplained happened it was automatically a ghost trying to contact us--always an active and never a passive process. The fact is, easily the majority of all “hauntings” can be attributed to what I like to call “event retention.” It’s the simple process of ( for some as of yet unexplained reason within the realm of quantam physics ) an event is recorded into a place to be replayed again and again at what seems like random times ...

In my recent article about the efficacy of the KII meter, it resulted in more conversations and thoughts on the matter. It's impossible to know how much the equipment Jason and Grant are wearing in "Ghost Hunters" is interfering with the use of their own test equipment. I'd be curious to find out if, before the film crew and microphones and use of walkies, their EMF meter went off on house calls ( other than electrical sources in the home) . I asked my hubby, whose job involves testing sound equipment for any possible bleed through from other sources, and he said that unless Jason and Grant remove all their equipment, get rid of the crew, and go into a cave with nothing more than a flashlight and EMF/KII meter, it will be impossible to say that the source of it going off is of a paranormal nature. The KII meter has a very broad spectrum it can pick up and the signals that are in the air around us are so extensive, that just about any burst of activity could set it off...

Okay, so the Buddhist, Christian, and Celtic sections are done in the garden. I began the section for magical religions. There's a bamboo star for Pagans, a rose quartz crystal inside my pot growing ginger for New Agers, a dreamcatcher hanging overhead for Native American cultures, and a Totem pole with bigfoot, a wolf, and an owl on it. If anyone can think of any other interesting magic-based spiritualities to add, let me know. I will probably try to do something Viking, as well, maybe a Thor's hammer used somewhere... The spiritually mixed garden continues. Don't know if it's the gardening or the spiritual symbols everywhere, but I feel great every time I'm puttering around out there fussing over the plants.

Just to keep you in the ghostie mood on St. Patty's day, here's a great link: http://">http://www.irelandseye.com/IRELAND/irish/ghosts/leprechauns

Recent talk about the use of the KII meter in ghost hunting has made me pull my meter back out for a little bit of testing. Many people have remarked on how often Jason and Grant from TAPS and the SciFi show "Ghost Hunters" have hits with the KII. I've owned my about six months without one false hit. I have to admit, I'm skeptical by nature and the fact that only Jason and Grant use the meter and it works for them often had me wondering. I know they use a penny to hold down the lever to keep the meter on, which is what I also do. That gave me a theory that if the penny wasn't holding it down adequately, the meter could turn off and off which would make it go through the lineup of lights. I took the meter out and tested it as I've done many times in the past. To get it to go off near the computer screen, I need to be within five inches. For other items it won't even light up. It's rather sensitive electrically, so you better be right on a source. When I...

Since my mother was a very proud Highlander Fraser, I did a nod to my Celtic heritage in the garden. I had a lot of beautiful limbs from the dead mulberry, so I curved them and tied them off to make an arbor up against the ugly shed. I planted a bower vine and ground cover and ferns surrounded by a ring of rocks (all of them free--relocated from around the garden). I hung two Green Man faces in the arbor and one statue of Him on the ground and a large celtic cross (all free, already had them). I painted the cross to age it and make it look moss covered. I also painted the Green Man images with iron paint so they rusted out. I think over time, this will age nicely. The bower vine is extremely crazy growing, so I expect it to weave around and in and out of the Green Man faces. I turned the triangular garden into the Christian garden with an angel, cherubs, and lots of thorns (blackberry and rose bushes). I hope to get lots of little vignettes around the garden and then take flagstones an...

I wanted to let locals know about an event MVD Ghostchasers is putting on in conjunction with the Pioneer Cemetery Association to help raise funds for the Association. It's a walking tour of the Pioneer Cemetery in downtown Phoenix. Us members of the MVD Ghostchasers will be in costume speaking as the deceased characters of Phoenix's founding families. Standing at our own graves, we will tell you about our lives and contributions to The Valley. I'm playing the part Phoenix's first mayor's wife, Anna Alsap. This will be Sunday the 31st. I'll be sure and give you a reminder just before then too. (info below) A Historical Walk in Phoenix’s Early Cemeteries “Where Phoenix’s Past Comes Alive” Sunday March 29, 2009 11:30 am to 2:30 pm Pioneer & Military Memorial Park 14th Ave. and Jefferson St.Phoenix, AZ 85007 602-534-1262 For more information contact: www.azhistcemeteries.org Sponsored by the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association. Thank you for joining us! $1...

A friend was telling me I should share this online and get ideas. I've been doing a total renovation of my backyard to make it a place I want to live in since nature if extremely important to me. Over the years, I've collected a lot of statues and things that are very gothic/cemetery feeling and I thought of doing a fake graveyard in one portion of the yard, but then as I started working on issues--like this ugly wall, I came up with an idea. A gothic garden. Different areas for different spiritual belief systems. I have this one I just installed for the Buddhist belief system. I was cutting down a dying tree and used the limbs to make a giant 6' tall windchime. I took old windchimes around the yard that were rusted and used their bells to make this chime. Put some sand and river rock below, a Buddhist statue, and a bamboo shade to hide my garden tools. I'm very pleased with that area. This weekend, I hope to finish my "darker side" of spirituality garden. It...

Since folks are seeing this all over the world, I thought I'd put it out there. We saw this (my husband, son and myself) in August 31, 2008 in Phoenix heading south to north on a very directed path in daylight. It moved very slowly, whic makes me think it might have been quite high in the sky. I thought I'd mention it. My husband, an extreme skeptic, announced "it's a UFO." My first thought was wayward balloons, but it was not only going against the wind, but it was moving very purposefully and not getting smaller and smaller as balloons do when they lift. Let me know if you've seen it too.

I visited this hotel when I very first started ghost hunting in the early 2000s. We walked up to the 5-story hotel cut into the hillside and we all stepped back. The façade almost looked gothic in the setting sun and the bats were beginning to go nuts, flying spastically back and forth in front of the structure. I felt a chill as we stepped inside and lost sight of its mass and our eyes became accustomed to the lobby. T The old-fashioned elevator caught my eye right away. I arrived at The Jerome Grand knowing nothing about it, except that it used to be a hospital. I didn’t want to be colored by anything anyone had experienced and even chose a room at random. I bought a few postcards as I always do and stepped into the old elevator for the ride up one floor. Not a big leap, but I just had to know what riding it was like. Our room was atop of the lobby. It a nice long room with two beds and a bath. It had a very clinical feel to it because the obvious architecture of the prior hospital w...

HauntedCon is coming to Jerome in September: http://www.hauntedcon.com/ Debe Branning from the local MVD Ghostchasers will be there, as will Chip Coffey of Paranormal State and Psychic Kids, John Zaffis the demonologist, Christopher Moon of Haunted Times, Michelle Belanger (psychic used on Paranormal State), and loads more. Check out the site. The location is awesome. In fact, I was just now writing my article about my time at the Jerome Grand when Debe sent me this link. Deja vu!

Hey, anyone who's a big "Ghost Hunters" show fan and bought DVDs episodes, do you have any idea where the DVD is for the 2005 Halloween special that included the Moon River Brewery where the shadow person went in and out of the wall behind the pool table? I have the complete season 2 on DVD, but didn't see it listed. I can't find it sold separately either. Let me know, I'd like to complete my collection.

Boy, I wish I had a picture of this--but someone stole my camera during a Halloween party and didn't leave the film behind (which would have been kinda nice--but they were party crashers in costumes). Anyways, this is one of my favorites. I used this for my son's school parties as well, but it's fun for an adult Halloween party. It's a favorite and we usually use the camcorder to "film the autopsy," giving the cutter rubber gloves and a mask. Bake a Red Velvet cake (basically, a bottle of red dye in a chocolate cake mix). You bake this in two pans: one round 8 or 9" pan and a large sheet cake pan. When they're done, cool and invert. I usually do this onto flour dusted tin foil on the counter. Take a knife and cut the sheet cake into thirds. One third will be the body rectangle. One third will be cut into two long strips for arms, one third will be cut into two long strips for legs. The round will be cut to an alien head shape--with a pointed chin and ...

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm obsessed with Sasquatch. I was thrilled to discover that Vancouver is hosting the 2010 Olympics and one of their mascots is Sasquatch or "Quatchi" as they call him. His profile says his favorite color is "chill blue." ( Personally, I think his favorite color is berry purple or salmon pink ): http://www.vancouver2010.com/mascot/en/meet.php

Taphopile: One who loves tombstones. I’ve seen a great many of the cemeteries in Arizona. I love cemeteries and think of them as peaceful parks. Having lost a great deal of my family members, I find it comforting to know that others suffer losses and come and visit and “update” their family members regularly. My family members are back east, but in Arizona I enjoy visiting the local cemeteries. I love photographing them, painting them, and also being inspired in my horror novel writing by the stillness and the epitaphs left behind. There’s something contemplative about being near the cycle of life and feeling at peace with it. NOTE: I don’t have any cemeteries on my top fav’s list that don’t allow headstones. The more modern cemeteries that like to make mowing easier for them by limiting headstones to plaques in the grass and don’t allow people to leave offerings, I won’t even visit. They feel very sterile and are not beautiful. I can’t imagine having to visit a relative here and l...

( Thanks Devin for this idea serendipitously ) Anyone can contribute to the ghost hunting field and you don’t have to be tromping around abandoned buildings with a team and equipment to do it. My sister is a good example of ways you can help ghost hunting without having to be a field person. My sister isn’t willing to buy any ghost hunting equipment and absolutely refuses to use a new-fangled computer, but she lives in an amazingly rich area of abandoned buildings and dramatic history in West Virginia. There are no local ghost hunting teams, so no one has scared off local businesses who have historic buildings. She would have a great pick for any place to hunt, but she’s going to forgo that avenue. So, here’s some alternative options she ( or you ) could consider that in the end could even make her money: A. If she loves cemeteries, should volunteer to the cemetery association. They could give her a list of cemeteries that haven’t been documented yet. She could go to the cemeteries, wr...

I started out getting all the books I could on ghost hunting, then I began to weed out the “dead weight” (pun intended). It's probably something akin to that pet hoarding issue, I just passed by a book on ghost hunting and "had to make room for it." Unfortunately, I have a book addiction and limited space, so some just had to go to new homes. I ended up with only a choice few that satisfy different needs: “Confessions of a Feng Shui Ghost-Buster” by Anna Maria Prezio. I really enjoyed this book because it could be applied to ghost hunting, as well as your own home planning. In ghost hunting, I’ve found some real correlations between clutter and darkness and haunting issues. I’m working to develop my knowledge in this area and experimenting to see how a change in environment can kick things up (like hauntings go wild during renovations) and how they can settle things down (like people cleaning and settling into a place). When you add new occupants or take them away, haunt...

I started ghost hunting when it wasn't on TV yet. I didn't really know what folks in the field might be using, other than a digital camera, so I set forth with that first. I borrowed my hubby's old one the first year, then squirreled away a little cash for a $150 model the next year that was my own. I cut the strap off right away--realized I don't ever want to wonder what ended up in the picture. For that matter, I tie my hair back too and fan my fingers our when I take the shot. These are things you learn in the field, but there's no reason you should be fumbling in the dark like I did. I think the digital camera is the number one tool. A 35 mm is good too. I just prefer being able to come back from the hunt and review shots right away. Even if you get no phenomenon, keep the shots. Some day you might want to reference that place again. I've heard that choosing a digital camera with the flash further from the lens is better to keep from getting tons of orbs, bu...