Ghost Wars

What ever happened to the ghost hunters creed of doing it to "HELP PEOPLE"?

In the 10 years that I have been involved in ghost hunting I have seen a lot of changes-technology, techniques, and most importantly the attitude of those who say they are serving their clients needs.

I have owned a printing and advertising business, a freelancing business, dog breeding business and I have also managed up to 15 employees in my careers as a journalist/editor and working as a manager in a couple of big bulk mail centers. During that time, I saw a lot of changes in how businesses run.

What I don't understand is how something like ghost hunting suddenly became an extreme sport in that it seems that everyone is grappling to be the top dog no matter what. And while they are doing it, they have no problem stepping on the toes of those groups that worked hard to build up their reputation.

Perhaps it is that dream of being on national TV that drives some groups and individuals to disregard and otherwise act in ways that are-without going into detail, the things that I have seen and heard that are going on are appalling.

Why is that people don't want to work for what they achieve? My group fell victim some time ago to another group that thought they could take our clients away from us. I found out because the client informed me of this and I knew that one of the particular group members had attended a meeting.

I have heard similar stories from other older groups. And the other stuff-the badmouthing..why?

Another thing that is interesting, is that a few years ago, paranormal groups were popping up everywhere. If you check some link pages from current groups, you will see this, but I bet you that half of those links now go nowhere. Why? Because ghost hunting, real ghost hunting isn't what appears on TV. It is hard work that takes days of your time. And in a lot of instances it can be really boring. Once the reality sets in for some groups, the group disbands.

All I can say is..GROW UP! We all had to work hard to build up our groups. The only people you hurt is the clients. If you go out and do a half-assed job then you hurt the clients.

Again, are we not here to help people? This isn't a race to be on TV or to see how many investigations you can do in a month. It's a service that is intended to educate and help people who may be experiencing a paranormal event.

So let's all try and remember what we do this for. I just hope that those few who are out there causing the issues don't ruin it for everyone else because that would be sad for the clients and those ghost hunters who are doing an honest job.

Lessons Learned

First off ghost hunting does have its risks.

I could trip or stub a toe while wandering around some allegedly haunted location in the dark carrying an EMF meter in one hand and a flashlight in another or I could choke on a strawberry poptart as I sit at the monitoring station. But something that sticks in the back of most ghost hunters minds is the chance that an unwelcome guest may decide to make the trip home with him or her.

My Pop Tart cravings are well known

Let's remember that I am journalist by trade and I am trained to look at things objectively. I also pride myself on knowing when things at my home are as they should be and when they are not...

For me, doing this for as long as I have, it is part of the territory although you never really seem to get used to it. And don't get me wrong, it is not something that I encourage...sometimes it just happens.

When I first started doing this with another group, I was simply filming in a well-documented haunted location. At one point, one of the sensitives on their team turned towards me and with a deep voice, told me that photographs were not allowed. Funny, I thought. I have a video camera.

Filming on location

I went home and began the editing process on the video and the computer had nothing but problems. Data would get lost, the machine would refuse to recognize the video camera, it was one problem after another. I attributed it to the computer having issues. This went on for at least two weeks. What got my attention was when I stood up to go and get a drink of water. I had a few small video tapes stacked on the computer desk. As I made the turn out of my office, the tapes suddenly toppled from the desktop like they were pushed. And I watched as the dog sat staring at the area for some time afterwards. Perhaps I should have listened when the angry voice ordered me to stop taking photographs.

Sometime later, as part of a newspaper article, I went along to a prelim at a restaurant in the Gold Country. When I got home that night I watched a couple hours of TV. When I turned the TV off, I heard male voices faintly having a conversation in my house. I ignored them and went about my business. That night as I dressed for bed, I felt a finger run down my back. That did it. I opened my front door and ordered whoever it was out. Needless to say I did not have another problem.

After those instances I started wearing protection in the form of a bag of protective rocks in my pocket and a Native American medicine bag. And for many years, I did not bring home any unwanted visitors.

My medicine bag

The last year and a half seemed more active than others for me. A friend who happens to be psychic and I went out to lunch on day and she mentioned a ghost who hung around the back of the dining area. She said he was attracted to me. Nice. That night when I got home, I was working in my office and I watched as a hair brush lifted off of the desk right in front of me and then hit the floor. Again I opened my front door and banished whatever it was.

About a year ago, following an investigation in the Gold Country a male ghost that I had encountered at a hotel decided to pay a visit. I knew because things started moving around the house and I saw a basketball lift off the floor and fly into a wall. The clincher came when I was sleeping and I could feel a weight on top of me. I reached up half asleep and felt an arm and I pushed back. Again the front door flew open. See ya!

The point of this blog is not to scare those interested in ghosts and ghost hunting. The point is to make those who want to do this understand that occasionally unwelcome visitors may make an appearance. As ghost hunters whether you are a scientific type or a believer, always make sure you wear some type protection or make sure that before you leave a location to tell those ghosts that may be there that they need to stay there and are not welcome in your house or vehicle.

I just did a residential investigation where the ghost, according to a team psychic, liked harassing the homeowner and wouldn't leave. I openly challenged it and much to the chagrin of the psychic, in my infinite wisdom, told it to follow me. This was an effort to get it away from the client. It worked, but, for the past week and a half, guess what? And although now things are tapering down, it has been interesting.

The moral of all this is learn your lessons well. I have. And every psychic on the staff of California Haunts is enjoying telling me, “I told you so.”

Most of the time if a ghost hunter is followed home, it only lasts a week or so but it can unnerving.

So again make sure you protect yourselves and learn from the experiences of others as to what not to do during an investigation.

Orbs Make My Head Spin

Orbs.

It's not that I don't believe that “orbs” exist, it's just that there is so much misinformation about them that my head tends to spin when I have someone randomly email me pictures of so-called “orbs”.

Since my last blog, I have been concentrating on evidence review and booking investigations in addition to hosting my weekly radio show. I have also spent the week answering emails from people about orb activity in and around their homes.

Don't get me wrong. When I was a young investigator, I too got excited every time I saw an “orb” show up on my then, three megapixel digital camera. After all, it was the same camera ghost investigators on TV were using. Have I dated myself yet? Believe it or not I have been a paranormal investigator for a long time-long before I joined any group and quite a while before I created California Haunts.

I remember snapping the pictures and showing them to anyone who would pay attention. For what it's worth, the majority of investigators were all into the “orb” thing. Now, I don't wanna ruffle the feathers of some of my good friends who have had investigation groups for years. You know who you are and I have the utmost respect for you and you are the ones who nursemaided me into looking at “orbs” more critically.

So returning back to my reason for writing this blog. To this day there are still investigators out there who swear that every spec of dust or pollen is a ghost “orb”. Some of those investigators have very popular TV shows.

Recently I received an email from a potential client asking me to send out one of my team mediums because she and her husband had been taking pictures in their home that contained “orbs.” The client was so concerned about this that she wanted the reassurance of a medium that there was nothing to fear.

First off, I respect each and everyone who sends me requests for help. That is why I do this. My goal is to help inform people about the paranormal and to find explanations for what is happening through meticulous investigation Like a police detective, I take reports, look at photos, listen to audio, look at video, take EMF readings, temperature readings and try to find the most plausible answers for clients. In most cases, the occurrences are caused by something electrical or something within the house or business. In those rare cases, where I can't explain what is causing the disturbances, then I and my team look at other possibilities.

When it comes to “orbs” I find it interesting that there are still groups out there who are misinforming the public in such a way that people see what they think is a legitimate “orb” and they automatically think it is of paranormal nature. 

A picture of pollen from Ghostweb.com

A good case in point is during one of my team's investigations, we were at home where I had set up the infrared DVR cameras in a couple of bedrooms. As the client stood over my shoulder watching, several objects shot across the screen. Upon seeing this, the client became excited and exclaimed, that the “orbs” confirmed the presence of ghosts in her home. Delicately I explained that dust particles can show up on monitoring systems and look pretty solid at times depending on their distance from the camera. The client then proceeded to assure me that her home was dust free. At that, I got up and went into the bedroom and proceeded to walk around dragging my feet from time to time. From my location I could her the client gasp as suddenly there was a snow storm of “orbs” flying through the air.

A picture oif dust "orbs" from Ghostweb.com

I have also been out with other groups in very dusty buildings and have witnessed those people taking digital pictures and then excitedly tell me about the “orbs” that were caught. For those of you out there who know me, you know it takes everything I have to not roll my eyes when I am presented with evidence like that.

Another dust "orb" from Ghostweb.com

For starters, you have to take your surroundings into consideration. Carpets do hold dust and I don't care how many times you vacuume, the dust is always there. If you are in an old building, there will always be dust in one form or another present. When taking pictures outside, you have to factor in things like dirt and pollen. Oh yes! Pollen creates the most colorful “orbs.”

Now the question is..what are legitimate “orbs”? That one is tough! You will get differing answers depending on who you talk to. From my perspective and my experience as a photo journalist, most “orbs” are simply caused by light hitting the camera lens at a certain angle. In cases where a flash is used, “orbs” are simply dust and other particles which reflect the light from the flash and depending on how far the particle is from the lens, its shape and intensity can vary. The same goes for video cameras whether they have IR capabilities or not.

So what in my opinion would constitute a legitimate “orb”? I agree with Troy Taylor in that with all the evidence we gather as ghost hunters, “orbs” should be treated no differently. Always be sure to note any temperature changes or increase in EMF while taking pictures or video. Also look for what lighting or reflective sources are nearby. A camera flash hitting a shiny object with the camera lens at a certain angle can also create an “orb” effect. If an “orb” appears on film or camera and you are able to correspond its appearance with temperature of EMF changes, then you might have something. Just be careful and don't jump to conclusions.

For “orbs” that appear in motion, always think of the possibility of bugs and look fer every possible explanation including direction of flight and what lighting or reflective sources are nearby before declaring them paranormal.

Now, as for the client inquiry, I suggested she email me the pictures so I could look at them and I also asked if she had noticed any temperature changes or anything like that when she took the pictures. As of now, two days later, I have received no response.

I just wish that those groups out there who are misinforming the public would get with the program. It bothers me to hear a potential client feel as if they have something to fear because their camera picked up a spec of dust or a bug. It also bothers me when I meet with a client who will insist that a spec of dust, pollen or bug is paranormal because they have seen something similar on TV or have attended a conference or lecture where a ghost hunt group has claimed they are real as well.

Get with the program and do your job. Be scientists and look at every possibility before going public with your findings. It will save a lot of people from fear and misinformation.

Much Work Lies Ahead

In between all of the celebrations that my family and I have, I still must find time focus on what this blog is about…running a large ghost hunting group.

It’s true that in November, the group as a whole, underwent some personnel and strategy changes. As I sit here listening to Christmas music and writng this blog installment, I can’t help but reflect on all the changes and all the work.

We had a busy year. The last three months found us conducting three restaurant investigations, three residential investigations and a movie theater investigation. Busy indeed. And now, I am in evidence review mode.

Everyday in between taking care of ma, the house and my freelance writing work, I sit down in front of my monitor to watch footage streaming from the DVR in the hope that maybe the team may have actually caught something via camera during an investigation.

What always makes me laugh is the TV shows that depict investigators sitting around looking at video footage and listening to EVP recordings in what seems like a fairly short time. If only reality was like that.

Our team has a nine channel DVR system and on most investigations, we run at least five cameras at a minimum. That means that if we have a six hour investigation, it takes 30 hours to review the footage. Nope. We don’t look at all five cameras at once. We look at the footage for each camera-that’s six hours per camera per location in the building.

Add to that, there is the EVP work which, depending on what recorder was used, can be very time consuming. Why? There is a debate between investigators as to which technique works the best. I prefer using voice activation and a Sony recorder. It cuts down on recorder space and I have gotten excellent results but some investigators prefer letting their recorders run.  When you go through the recordings, it can take hours depending on how it was recorded.

Also you need a quiet area to do the review and a good set of sound canceling headphones. That always makes me laugh as I have friends who buy the really expensive headphones. Me? I have a set of RCA headphones purchased at Walmart for $19.99. I have had the same headphones for more than six years and they are great. I also have the gift of good hearing so I tend to pick up stuff no one else can thus finding those hard to hear EVPS.

Then there are the wireless mics that are recorded directly into the computer during the investigation and the hand held video cameras.

Did I mention the paperwork? In addition to all the evidence review there are also the reports that investigators turn in. Each report must be gone over and compared with other reports from the investigation in the hope of finding similarities in readings or impressions. As the team monitor, I also have my own reports to fill out and those include  weather temperature records taken every half hour, watching the indoor weather monitoring equipment and making notes on any changes, watching all the cameras, and constant note taking when I see what may be something of interest in one of the rooms.

In addition, as I do the evidence review here at home, I have forms to fill out whether I am watching video or listening to EVPs. I am a scientist after all and that means a lot of record keeping, classifying EVPs, looking at still pictures of the site, and looking closely at every anomaly that shows up on the video.

I also break away and do some investigating myself.

For those of you who see investigators on TV review their evidence in under six hours, it is very different in the real world. To do the evidence review for one investigation can take a week or more depending on how much equipment was used in the field.

And once the evidence has been reviewed there is yet another form called the Final Investigation Form and behind that is the Client Report.

Yes. Investigating the paranormal is fun but like any job, there is a lot of work involved and if we, as a group can help some person or family along the way then that makes it all worthwhile.

Holidays and Happenings

Merry Christmas!

It always fascinates me how the radio stations will stop playing Christmas music at midnight on the 26th. The reason being is that among most of the United States and the world, that is when the holiday ends.

When looking back over history it is interesting to note that the exact date of the birth of the Baby Jesus is unknown however, for years it has been celebrated on December 25.

As I was growing up, we had Turkish neighbors who celebrated on different days than we did and that is when I started doing research into Christmas and the days it is held throughout the world.

According to some sects of the Catholic religion, mainly in Eastern Europe, the holiday begins on the 25th and lasts until January 6. If you crunch the numbers, that totals up to 12 days. Sound familiar? That’s right. “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…’ and so on.

The days also mark certain feasting and religious occurrences that are celebrated as well.

The theory behind it is that although the recognized birth date is the 25th, the Magii and Shepherds did not arrive bearing their gifts until 12 days following the birth, which falls on January 6.

It is true that not everybody celebrates Christmas the same way and it is also true that not everybody celebrates Christmas so it obviously is not a one size fits all holiday but it is interesting to see how different cultures celebrate.

In our house, we always have an extended holiday. I think it stems back to the last few years when my father was sick. He always seemed to get pneumonia in December and was always getting out of the hospital after Christmas. One year, after buying a real tree, he got out in mid January. We had already taken our tree down but decided to buy an artificial tree on sale just so he would have a Christmas at home. We used the tree for years after as he always seemed to be sick during the holidays.

A couple of years ago both he and I got sick with pneumonia. He got well faster than I did as I had triple pneumonia. I slept through Christmas and New Year’s. We didn’t celebrate Christmas until February.

Last year marked the first year in a long time that my father was home and we made sure that he had a good one.

Anyway, as I return back to where I started with this blog, I have friends who think I amm strange because I tend to believe in the 12 days of Christmas thing. My friends and some family members feel it is all over on the 26th. I don’t but that is what I believe in and in a lot of ways it saddens me that people don’t embrace the old ways and thoughts.

This year, I received nice gifts from friends and family. My mother and I didn’t have a lot to spend for gifts but we are having a great holiday so far. We have good food, are enjoying the lights and other stuff. And, yes, church plays a big role in that as well. But for us, it’s all about being together for another year.

So as your Christmas celebrations wind down, mine are still continuing and my mother and I plan to have our official celebration with gifts next weekend. Nothing big but at least we will present each other with a gift from our hearts.

So if you happen to run into us shopping and playing our Christmas songs, don’t ridicule us or look upon us disapprovingly, we are simply following the old ways. Why not? What’s wrong with enjoying things a bit longer?

It Has Been A Long Journey

Amazing!

It is hard to believe that I last posted here in March of 2010. Saying that time flies is a cliché but to be honest it does go so fast. Sine the last blog, my father got sicker and required a lot of care. My mother and my focus was mainly on his well-being. Without going into a lot of detail, let’s just say it was very time consuming and at times could be frustrating.

The year 2011 brought changes that I did not expect. Some were for the better and others are still working themselves out. For example, I did do some traveling outside of ghost hunting to Hawaii, Arizona, New York, Los Angeles and other places. I also was able to increase my freelance writing clientele to three steady clients per month.

As all this was going on, my father grew sicker and my focus was more on him. If you have never taken care of anyone who is elderly and sick then you have no idea what a 24-hour job it is. I spent many months balancing his needs with my own and found out something I had never realized before. I am only human.

When I was younger and up until the time my father got really sick, I had built my life around multi-tasking and living as if there wearen’t enough hours in the day for me to complete my tasks. A typical day consisted of interviewing for my newspaper stories, making it to various doctors appointment, booking investigations  for California Haunts, making sure my father was changed, fed and taken care of and, writing late at night. It was also late at night that I would update the California Haunts Website and do whatever I could not fit in during the day. Most of the time I found myself sleeping four hours….five if I was lucky. And then I was filling the gaps with ghost hunting and the occasional trips.

At some point during all of this I did something that I had not done since starting California Haunts more than six years ago. I began to delegate leadership tasks. Looking back, I should have just shut things down until my father’s health either improved or….didn’t. Anyhow, without going into detail, things changed within my group very rapidly as I could not attend to a lot of the functions needed for running the team.

As the months flashed by, I neglected to keep a close eye on things and as my father’s life drew to a close,  I was blinded to all things except him.

In June, he died at age 85 and while I received a lot of support from team members and friends, the frist month or to after his death brought eye opening events that changed m outlook on the way things in my life and within my group were going.

Suffice to say, the group underwent some changes in personnel that I felt were necessary. Although it hurt as some of the people involved were people I considered friends and some had been with me since the beginning of the team, we had reached an impasse and they departed.

When I look back on it all, I am saddened that the events had to happen but I know my team is better off and I know my team members are better off as well. I have new members who are ready to hit the floor running and am excited.

New beginnings and continuing adventures.
Pictured are from rear left to front, Ma, Ruth, Karen, Sandy, Chuck, Tom, Charlotte, Linda, Kat. Not pictured: Veldena, Becca, Randy, Fred, Julie, Jerry, Lorna, Jose, Laura, Patrick, Kelley, Stefani, Trish, Dana, Susan, Susan, Richard, Wytnei, Janelle, Tammy, La Shia, Nancy, Irene, Rachel, Mia and James.

As I write this, it is December 23,  2011. Hard to believe that I am nearing 2012. California Haunts is continuing with a team of 35 and a future that is bright. We are booking investigations and are booked solid until April. I have brought aboard new members who will bring a lot to the group and I have restructured things a bit. Funny thing is….the restructuring consists of putting things back the way they were when this group started and the way the group has run for the five years leading up to 2011. (If it aint broke…)

Although my life is still busy, it has slowed down somewhat. I now take care of my mother, 80, but is nowhere as difficult as it was with my dad and she is our oldest ghost hunter. Yes. She does go out and investigates with us.

So. Looking forward, I am thankful for the friends and group members that have stuck with me. I am thankful for those who have offered to help my group better itself and look forward to working with them.

To all those who have supported me through this change, I thank you and appreciate your friendship. Now, I move forward and as things transpire, I will take you, the reader on the journey so you can see what it is like to run and maintain a paranormal group. I will be sharing results and investigative techniques. Hopefully you will see something that interests you.

Wow time does fly when you're having fun...not!

Sitting down to blog this past week has been hard. As you can tell, I didn't but that doesn't mean that I didn't think about it.

All week I was so busy, I hardly had time to eat let alone blog. Between writing stories and taking my ma and pa to the hospital for doctor and dental appointments, things were crazy.

Monday: Spent most of the day running errands and then headed to Placerville on assignment for the evening. Got home at about 11 p.m. and wrote the story. Went to bed at about 2 a.m. I sleep about four hours thinking I can nap in the afternoon-WRONG!

Tuesday: Got up extra early to put finishing touches on the story and then headed off to Kaiser with ma and pop  for one of his two weekly appointments. while he was in the office, I stayed in teh van with my mini HP and proofed and emailed the story off. Then my brother called and needed a ride to his own doctor. I was a little upset because I had scheduled another writing assignment for the afternoon and had to put that off until Thursday.So I take my brother to the doctor and then had a bout an hour to eat something. I was then off for an evening assignment in Placerville-my mother came along.

Here's where it gets interesting. So i finish my assignment and get into the pickup to head home and...nice...we have a flat tire. Problem No.1, the spare is already on the truck. Problem No.2,  am out of AAA tows. Problem No.3, now what? So I put air in the tire thinking that i may be lucky enough to make the 40 mile drive home...not. As soon as the air went in, it came out. OK so I call AAA and of course they said no tow so I had a service call come out for $65-the driver confirms that the truck is not driveable. Now, in order to get it home, it will cost me $235. YIKES! So I call my dad who has a card.the phone is busy-he tends to leave it off the hook...wonderful. By now it is 9:30 p.m. and starting to rain. I decided to have the truck towed and put in some more calls in the hope that someone will be able to assist us. Out of nowhere, someone did. about halfway home, the tow truck driver receives a call that says my AAA card has no restrictions. The tow is covered. WOW!

So we get home, it's now after 10 p.m. and I thank the driver profusely. I collapse from exhaustion.

Wednesday: I get up at 9 a.m. and write the story. I check my email and find out that the town we are doing our ghostwalk in would like me to do a presentation on powerpoint about what we do. Ummmm. I have no presentation. I have the projector but nothing prepared....so of course I tell the client , no problem. So that adds another factor to my already overfilld schedule. I begin gathering info for the presntation and then my sister wants to SKYPE-that's fine except I am horribly busy with writing, the presentation, towing the truck over )with pops card)  to have it worked on. The SKYPE lats about an hour and I know my mother has a dental appt. She said it wa ta 1 p.m. so I call to verify. WRONG! The appointment was a half hour ago so we rush off and spend a couple of hours there. We then head to the Tshirt place to pick up some shirts for the ghost team. When we return home I call a tow truck and have the truck towed to the tire store.We no sooner drop the tuck off then we find out a car we had in for reapirs is ready so off we go to pick that up. Finally I get home for about an hour break. While I wait, I call AAA about the tow the night before. They have no record of it. Bless whoever towed us. may good things come your way.

We pick the truck up at 5 p.m. and I get home and put the finishing touches on the story and prepare the photos and captions for emailing. At 7:30 p.m., I do my Blogtalk show. By 8:30 p.m., I email the story and spend the rest of the night working on the presentation. I finally get to bed at 2 a.m.

Thursday: I have an 11 a.m. in Placerville for the story I didn't run earlier in the week. I take my mini HP because now I will be writing on deadline and need to turn it in ASAP. My mom and dad decide to come along and I drive to the stop, interview and then the client suggests I see his pother store to add to the story. OKM fine, no pressure. we stop for lunch at a pizza place where I can write the bul of the story. At about 1:00 p.m., we head to the other store. I do the interviews and then rush back to the to finish writing the story. It is now 2:30 p.m.and finally I am done. we head back to Sacramento and I spend the rest of teh evening working on the presentation and preparing for a meetup meeting on Sunday.

Friday: Easy, simple morning. Looked like the day was going to be nice....wrong. we make a trip to Safeway for some shopping and then take the ruck to the tire store to put on a matching tire as I can feel vibrations. We head back to the house and then I decide to call Kaiser to see when pop's appointment is...here we go again...we had 20 minutes to get to Kaiser. woo hoo. Off we go.

By now, it's 3 p.m. and I need to get to the library to pick up a key for the meeting room so i drop ma and pa off at Kaiser and go to the library. I grab some lunch on the way back and then get a small 30 minute break until they are done. It is now pouring rain when they get into the van so we head out and buy them some dinner. we go home and they eat and then ma and I are off again to pick up the truck. I decide to go to Office Max to test the tires on the road and Ma comes along. I drop her off and head to Davis to finally relax. I get home around 11 p.m. and boy do I sleep.

Saturday: Another slow, easy morning. I sleep until 10 a.m. and then head to Davis for lunch/dinner. when I return, I do an equipment check and take ma out to get take-out at Applebees. I return home and do teh final preparation for the meetup meeting and answer emails and work on the presentation.I finally sleep at about 3 a.m.

Sunday: Up at 8 a.m. to do have my hair cut and other personal things. Out the door at 9:30 to load the equipment in tHe van..I head to the library and grab breakfast along the way. at 10:30 I arrive and with help from team members unload. The meeting begins at 11 a.m. we finish at 2 p.m. and I go home, iunload an pick up ma and pa for a trip to Walmart. we eat our dinner at woody's and go shopping. we get home about 5:30 p.m. and my neice stops by. O leave at about 6:30 to visit a friend in Davis. I get home at about 11:30 p.m. and waytch the closing cermonies of teh Olympice.

Whew. I am really tired now.