How to Hunt Ghosts like the Experts

A haunted building or location is thought to have the dead souls of those that lived there years ago. They can be benign or malevolent entities.

There is a need to explain the unknown events that don’t always have a logical explanation. Many people in the world want the services of a ghost hunter. Most of us have had an unexplained experience in our life and want to believe that a noise or movement has to be caused by the dearly departed.

Sometimes they are not so dear and cause mayhem and injury to the living, according to eye witnesses. Of course, if the events were not so scary or caused harm, we wouldn’t hear about them.

According to Wikipedia, paranormal is a general term (coined ca. 1915–1920) that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure.

There are a number of terms used for ‘ghosts’ such as paranormal, spirits, souls, apparition, demon, and devil. Ethereal being, phantom, poltergeist, visitor, vampire, spook and shadow.

Paranormal investigations or “ghost-hunters” are becoming very popular today and are having resurgence because people from around the world can report their experiences with those from the beyond.These investigators come in to help give people some relief or reassurance that they are not hearing things or seeing things that don't exist.

We usually think of the scariest places on earth around Halloween but some of these places have been scaring people everyday for centuries!

These scariest places are getting more attention than ever thanks to television programs also because investigators are filming their show there.

There are some locations in the world that have scared people for many years. I’ll name some of the better known places here and you can investigate them more thoroughly on your own. My list includes

• the Paris Catacombs
• the New Orleans French Quarter
• The Coliseum in Rome Italy
• Alcatraz in California
• the underground vaults in Edinburgh, Scotland,
• London, England’s east end neighborhood of White Chapel,
• Auschwitz- Bikenau concentration camp in Poland
• and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

As you can see from this list, these places have a history of violence and death. The usual ingredients needed it seems, for paranormal events.

For more detailed lists and descriptions of the scariest places on earth.

Here are some of the pieces of equipment used by some investigators in the field today.

• Fuji Discovery 90 35mm Camera,

• Illuminator LED wind up flashlight

• IR Thermometer by Radio Shack

• Lutron EMF-822A Digital EMF Tester

• Motion Detector

• Olympus VN-240PC Digital Voice Recorder

• Sony TRV68 Analog Video camera

• Strobe Light

• E.L.F. Zone EMF Detector

• Sony HVL-IRM video IR light

• 20 x 50 mm wide angle binoculars

• 3-Wire Circuit Analyzer

• 35mm disposable camera

• Acu-Rite Digital Thermometer

• Amprobe non-contact AC voltage tester

• Budget Buzz Stick

• Cell Sensor

• Compass

• Digiview TE21W Wireless Weather Station

• Magnetic Field Viewer Card,

• ANT Viper –Gen 1 Night Vision Scope

• Quorum Room Guardian Alarm, Relative Humidity & Temperature Sensor

• Sanyo S701 Microphone

• TRC-225 5-Watt 40-Channel CB Radio,

• Victoreen CD V-715 Model 1A Survey Meter

• Xact 2-Way Communicator

• TVS-700 Radiometric Thermal Video System.

Television exposure has increased interest in the paranormal by producing programs of real life investigators in the field today.

Some of the are popular “ghost-hunters” are: “Ghost Adventures” on the travel channel,

“ Ghost Hunters ” on the Sy-Fi channel, a video from an amateur ghost hunter is shown below.

"Ghost Hunters International”, and ”Most Haunted ” on The Travel Channel, and now "Ghost Brothers." They are on Destination America channel and the video of older shows can be viewed on their website.

There are fiction programs based on real paranormal phenomena such as “Medium ” and “Ghost Whisperer ”, but I prefer reality.

I have been watching “Ghost Adventures" on the Travel Channel lately. It is about three young men, Zak, Nick, and Aaron, who mix history with adventure. Anyone that watches regularly knows that Aaron is the clown, which helps when the other two are serious.

Zak is the lead investigator and whenever the “ghost" actually makes a noise or moved something after Zak taunted it, he would scream and yelled out for the other "dudes”.

“Hey dude, did you hear that? or “Dude, I can’t believe what I just saw!” Well, yeah, if you are going to go into a known haunted place and taunt the ‘ghost” don’t be surprised if they react. Dude!

The video below is an episode that really intrigued me. It shows a brick being thrown on its own Another scene shows a piece of lumber being tossed. Of course, there may be those that believe that the guys rigged these to be thrown to create interest and give them credibility.

Why not watch one Friday evening and judge for yourself. Nick Groff has since left Ghost Adventures to create his own Paranormal Investigations program. It is on another channel during the week.

These programs can be found on Facebook as well with news and updates on their programs.

I don’t think there are any certifications or licensing required to be a “ghost-hunter”, but but have found some “classes’ listed online to teach you how to use the equipment and set up your “business.”

Update* I just found out that Universal Class has a new class in Ghost hunting or paranormal investigations.

You may need to register with your local town as a business if you are getting paid to rid some ghosts.

I have seen an increase in the number of local paranormal investigation groups in my state. Most are amateur and have get-togethers to share ghost stories. Some are becoming more involved in actual investigations and have ventured into local old buildings to practice.

It doesn't seem to be very productive to go and stir up the ghosts in these buildings.

The investigators and sometimes psychics, will 'speak' to the spirits and ask them to leave but I never see any conclusion on these ghost hunter shows.

It may give people some reassurance that there are reasons for noises or strange occurrences in an old building but nothing is ever resolved. Maybe someone could relay their experiences.

I don’t want to go into any dark, old building. Why can’t they go in the day time? All these programs have all the investigations at night. I’m sure the ghosts are all there during the daylight hours.