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.