GHOST HUNTERS

I'm going to have to do it. Just buckle down and ask the "Big Man" ( aka Santa ) for anything on my ghost hunting wish list. I'm pleased with my equipment, so I think I'll just focus on where I'd most like to get a hunt done... My top 10 dream ghost hunts (in descending order from 10th most want to do to #1 most desperately want to do): 10. Gettysburg battlefield. I went there a few times as a child, but other than wanting to leave very quickly because I felt unsettled and didn't know why, I'd like to see it again with the keen eye of an investigator. If my theory that trauma can imprint itself is true, than imagine what a mass killing could do to the land. 9. Goldfield Hotel, Virginia City, Nevada. Not to give the bozo's on "Ghost Adventures" too much credit, but if there is even a tiny chance that brick throwing was for real, I want to be in a place where things might be poltergeist-like and active. I have a really strong ability to...

My books on Kindle and Nook (Gina Hana): "Was That a Ghost?" "Abandoned Places: Abandoned Memories (Desert Edition)," "Josiah: Undead Cowboy," "Don't Go There: A Flash Horror Anthology." "Zombie Housewives of the Apocalypse." "Kickin' Up Dust! Getting Lost To Find Ourselves," "Blogging Changed My Life!" and also my horror/dark erotica books under the name Anna Melissa. I like to be Autumnforest. I have an autumn leaf tatt and I have to admit, it is just me, through and through. I was raised in a 250-year-old haunted home in Northern Virginia. It was used as a field hospital during the Civil War by the North and then by the South who wrestled it away again. I grew up digging up relics. The house was considered one of the most haunted in the US. TV crews and reporters and mediums all enjoyed checking out the ghosts. As well, I have a psychic skill called psychometry that made it possible for me to discern the h...

When I think of classic horror movies, I don't necessarily think of "The Mummy" or "Frankenstein," but I think of the era in which I grew up in, the 60s/70s. The one that started my fascination with horror movies was the 1963 "The Haunting" which I first saw on TV as a child. I remember (living a famously haunted house) how scary it was to watch something that was extremely feasible and in which--like all ghost movies should contain--an unseen element that is tormenting you. What's so scary about ghosts is--we don't know where they are or what they'll do next. "The Haunting" totally delivered on that count. The elements that make a great horror movie are universal; mood, atmosphere, suspense, darkness, the unseen, and those who are vulnerable. I don't even like the movie "Darkness Falls," but I like a horror movie to take place in darkness and so I enjoy watching it just for that element. If you want mood, you watch ...

Thank you so much History Channel’s “Universe” show for doing an episode recently on “Parallel Universes.” This is very close to what I believe is occurring when we experience ghost phenomena. In the episode, a scientist sat in a boat and explained how he is riding on a membrane and believes he is part of the entire world, but below him in the water is another world. The two are unaware of each other, as they’re not interacting. If you take this a step further, should a man fall off the boat into the water, he suddenly becomes part of the other world, seen by the fish, and at the same time seen by us in this dimension. Intriguing . It’s the very sporadic nature of the ghost phenomenon, the “defying” the laws of physics, like objects being thrown by unseen hands or full body apparitions walking through walls that can understandably be explained by a less knowledgeable man from the 1700’s or 1800s as a spirit. The only other dimension “known” to him is the spiritual world. But what if ...

There's a real dichotomy within the ghost world of those who rely on their gut feelings and some Victorian-era devices such as ouija boards and seances and automatic writing, and those of us who have moved on to the new millenium. I'll be the first to admit that I've had a lot of amazing things happen to me that I couldn't debunk and that were filed away in my mind as "phenomena," and yet if I tell you these stories, it's only theory and conjecture. It's entertaining and even at times spine-tingling, but it gets nowhere towards proof of phenomenon. If Einstein stopped with his theory of general relativity and never found ways to test it, it would have just been an intriguing idea from a quirky scientist. It wouldn't have changed the very way we handle astronomy and scientific quandaries. It wouldn't have finally let things like time and space be tangible to us. In the ghost hunting world it's much like that. Spiritualists used to rule t...

I grew up in a house that was not only haunted by its horrific history ( a Civil War field hospital ), with repetitive residual haunting, occasional signs of intelligence, but it also had poltergeist activity. In fact, to me the poltergeist activity was the most intelligent activity. The residual was mundane, kind of like hearing the furnace kick on, you don't really pay it any mind. But, something being thrown across a room, crashing down, and disrupting the laws of physics...that's pretty attention-getting . Whether a poltergeist ( or "playful ghost ") is an actual spirit having a tantrum or something manifested by a human in emotional turmoil ( psychokinetic ) or something in the realm of physics in which conditions are right for electromagnetic fields to be disrupted and cause things to defy gravity... has yet to be determined. From my experiences in my childhood home, I've come to a temporary explanation that suits my logical mind, but makes my logical mind r...

I’ve had a theory since I was a kid that lighthouses tend to be more haunted. How can I say that? Do you know any lighthouse that isn’t reported to be haunted? It was no wonder to me at all that TAPS on its first St. Augustine Lighthouse episode ran into some very amazing finds. Here’s how I see the concept of these round buildings being haunted as legitimate: When I was growing up at Aspen Grove, we had nightly walks up the stairs and down the hall by the same unseen booted gentleman. The house was used as a Civil War field hospital. What do you suppose this and a lighthouse have in common? Repetition. A lighthouse keeper is in a position of great importance and his routine is critical. The same stairs, the same light, the same surveying of the water from the tower. Over and over again and again, days on end, months on end, years on end, decades on end. Keeping this in mind, in the right environment and geology, a guard tower walkway, a parapet, or the helm of a ship should al...

The phenomenon of shadow figures or shadow people seems to be increasing. I’m uncertain if this is because people are talking about it so others are admitting to it, or if it’s something new to our world. I’m probably most aligned with the theory that our vision is changing as we live in a world with HD TV, computer screens, and other kinds of electronics that constantly update their screens at a high rate of speed. Things we didn’t see in our peripheral vision are now available to us. A spectrum of things that were there all along may now be seen. Amazingly, this does line up, as peripheral vision (up to 90 images per second) is able to handle faster light waves than the central vision (3-4 high quality telescopic images per second), which is slower. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_perception). If something is moving in a higher speed spectrum, your peripheral vision would be more likely the place to pick it up. I’m most intrigued by the consistent reports that shadow people star...

I've heard a lot of theories about what "ghosts" are. Even I haven't set it down in stone yet. I have theories, just like the next guy. It's time to revisit some of the popular ones: Ghosts are souls of once alive people whose bodies have passed on and who do not know they are dead because of a tragic or untimely death . ( I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm thinking if your soul has been torn from your body, you might notice that your hand can now go through a wall or become part of the wall, clue number one that you might not have a body .) Ghosts are souls of once alive people whose bodies have passed on and who haunt the site of their death awaiting; revenge, a loved one's appearance, for someone to unravel the mystery of their death, or because they simply loved their house so much they refuse to leave it. ( I'd think after the first week or so of trying to get the new homeowners to hear you or your message, you might go a bit daft. By th...

It occurred me to while sitting inside of an abandoned site in the middle of the night waiting for something to happen, what the mind and body go through on a ghost hunt. First of all, the body is prepared with adrenalin for the potential “hunt.” All you know about the site is that anything could happen, at any time. So, you’re poised. Hearing is extremely acute, breathing is brisk, body temperature is trying to remain constant, and muscles are tight and prepared to either jump and startle or race after something. When you get past what the body is doing ( hyped up with nothing for the brain to do yet ), your brain becomes engaged. It’s amazing the thoughts that run through your mind as the evening unfolds. About the first hour or so you’re quite contented to be doing your “task.” You drift from room to room, take measurements, check your equipment, photograph, and begin to ask questions hoping something shows up on the recordings. Eventually, you’re begging and pleading some unknown ...