Famous Professor Gives Instructions on Scientific Ghost Hunting

I couldn't resist!

Following Real Ghost Hunters

This Friday night I was lucky enough to follow a team of real ghost hunters.  I have played at ghost hunting.  I've done a few EVP sessions and walked around with my little gadgets, but after I spent a night with Southern Ghosts (http://www.southernghosts.com/) I realized that I was just playing.  The team I got to watch was lead by Steve and Angie who are known for their great blog http://www.ghosteyes.com/.  They are the Virginia chapter of Southern Ghosts.  Brett Burchfield from Georgia and Jeremy Morgan were also present during the investigations.

The first thing this team did when they got started at the South Pittsburgh hospital was set up camera's in all the major halls of the hospital with infrared.   They set up the cameras and connected them to the DVRs.  The sheer volume of equipment along made me feel overwhelmed.  Clearly, this was a very serious team.  They then proceeded to explain to all of us non ghost hunter types what we would be doing and we set up a game plan.  The team started in an old waiting room that had been decorated with antique medical equipment and set up for ghost hunters.   Vines crawled in from the outer courtyard through the windows so that nature itself seemed to be reaching into the room and retaking it.   The team started with the first of many EVP sessions in which team members asked questions and waited for several minutes and then asked another question.  This requires a lot of patience, which is something ghost hunters clearly possess in great quantities.

The team then split up and went to the third floor of the hospital.  Trigger objects had been laid around the hospital.  These were balls, boots, or bikes etc.  that had been laid in different locations that had been noted so that if they moved the team could see that something had happened.  They could then check video footage to see what, specifically had happened later.  When we went to the third floor, we noticed one of the trigger objects had moved.   Two members of the group went to the psychiatric ward and continued with what was a very successful EVP session and the rest of us went to surgery to do some psychic experiments.  These were interesting as well and were designed to draw the paranormal energy in the room to one person so they could describe the energy in the room.

The group was very methodical and hours were spent progressing through the hospital doing various EVP sessions.  The most interesting EVP session to me was done in the basement in a room filled with old church pews.   Team leader Steve noticed the ghosts were making the KP meters light up at different times throughout the room as questions were asked and he started asking the ghosts to answer questions by making the meters light up green or red.  This seemed to actually work and a partial dialogue was established using this method.

I was unable to keep up with the ghost hunting team, however, and by 3am I had to leave.  My eyes were drifting shut and I don't drink caffeine so I had to leave, proving once and for all that I don't have the stamina to keep up with the real ghost hunters.  They tell me that after I left they got some very interesting data, however.  I can't wait to hear more, but little Jessica went to her hotel and slept because as interesting as ghosts are,  my PJ's are bed are much more interesting at 3am.   What did I learn from following real ghost hunters?  I learned  that they are some of the most patient people I've ever met.  Not only did they have patience the night of the ghost hunt, but they have to have continued patience as they review hours and hours of video footage and listen to hours upon hours of EVP sessions.   I take my hat off to these ghost hunters, because the reality is,  it isn't the adventure you see on TV.  It is patience and persistence and determination that made this team work.  I'm not sure I have any of those qualities but it sure was nice watching others with it for the night.

You can follow the folks I ghost hunted with on twitter at @GhostEyes_Steve, @GhostEyes_Angie, @RCP_GatorFan .  I know I'll be following them closely waiting for the results from this trip.   I'll also be watching http://www.hauntjaunts.com/ because Courtney Mroch has a sensitive eye and she might have seen a lot I missed on this trip.

Ghost Hunting at South Pittsburgh Hospital in Tennessee

Hiding in the verdant hills of Southern Tennessee, hidden in the rural landscape of the South is a famously haunted hospital  that was once the South Pittsburg hospital.  Situated  at the base of a hill by the housing projects the old hospital decays.   You would expect it to be a silent place, filled with ghosts and old tears, but it is strangely alive, living someplace on the edge of a surreal dream.

The hospital is broken and decaying and filled with random odds and ends that don't always fit the setting.  The smell when you step in the door is so overwhelming I almost turned and headed to the first Holiday Inn available, but I pushed forward because the place was so surreal it felt like it belonged in a Tim Burton film rather that part of the real world.  This hospital isn't dead, despite the decay.   When you pull into the parking lot the front entrance has been taken over by an antique store.   Fountains and water features cover the steps that lead up to what used to be the main entrance to the hospital.   This sound of running water cuts through the loud music blaring out of the projects across the street.   It cuts through the broken, overgrown parking lot and adds a magic to the hospital that looms above it.   Only a small portion of the hospital is taken by the antique shop, and the rest sits empty, glaring out at you with vacant windows.

To enter the ghost hunting section of the hospital you must drive past the housing projects to the back of the hospital, which is pressed right up against a very steep and very large hill.   You enter through the emergency room doors.   The emergency room waiting room has been converted into a large sitting room that seems like a temple to Tim Burton.  Movie posters and art celebrating his movies line the walls.  After you get over the the heat, you move forward into a hall  with an alpha romeo parked in it.  Pressing on is imperative at this point as the oddness of the place only grows with every step forward.  

I was then introduced to the hospital's keepers.   A family lives in an apartment amidst all the rubble and stench with their little boy giving ghost hunting teams access to this strange place.   This little family was interesting and their story I will save for another day.   The ghost hunting team I joined was lead by Steve from Southern Ghosts.   His team were very professional and set up their many infrared cameras, DVRs, EVPs, etc at different points throughout the dark hospital.  Electricity was limited to only a few rooms so flashlights were imperative.   I will discuss the actual ghost hunting in more detail later too.

Exploring the hospital was like walking through a horror movie.  Walls molded and pealed.  Junk sat cluttered in rooms.  The clothes of the dead had never been removed from the hospital and sat piled up in the rooms people had died in.   As we travelled from room to room the KP and EVP meters went off from time to time, indicating some supernatural presence.  The darkness grew and stretched and your eyes played trick on you turning shadows into monsters.   The trigger items left to record paranormal activity moved.   A pair of little girls boots flipped. There was a strange mattress in the basement that lit up the EVP's like a Christmas Tree.   The hospital wrapped around a courtyard with a gazebo and an incomplete fountain that was overgrown and filled with mangy looking dogs that barked at you when your light shone out the window.  At night, when you wonder alone,  the sounds of the water outside fill the dead silence and the whispers you hear could be formed from a collection of your imagination and the ever running water. 

I was lucky enough to go to this hospital with Courtney from Haunt Jaunts!   I just hope I get to ghost hunt with her sometime again soon she was a really joy to meet and work with.  She was even more wonderful in person and I know she will have some very interesting things to say about our journey into darkness.   So,  over the next week I am going to post blogs about the different aspects of our trip to South Pittsburgh.   If you still crave more, visit http://www.hauntjaunts.com/ to hear Courtney's take on the visit.    Also visit http://www.southernghosts.com/ to see the ghost hunting data collected at the site.  Keep an eye on http://www.ghosteyes.com/ for more information too.  Tomorrow I will blog about the ghost hunting itself and then I will blog about the amazing family that calls this bizarre place home!!  

On a side note,,,, Unfortunately,  I never got to sleep here because the sleeping arrangements here were not good.   Most of the team stayed to ghost hunt all night, but I retired to the Comfort Inn at 3am and put my pj's on there.

How to Find Wonderful Ghost Stories

As I have gotten to know other bloggers out there and read their blogs,  I have realized that I do not know the most on the world of the paranormal.  There are many others out there that know more about theories of the paranormal and paranormal research and the world of paranormal study.  Ghost Hunting Theories and Haunt Jaunts are both excellent sites for thought provoking debates over the parnormal world.  I don't have their strengths in these areas, but I have discovered my own strength is in finding new and interesting ghost stories.   Here are some tips for finding undiscovered ghost stories and finding new information about classic ghost stories. 

1.  Sign up for a paranormal meeting on meetup.com.  You'll meet new people and if you sit and listen everyone has some kind of ghost story.  Many of the people at these meetings are there because they've had an encounter of a ghostly nature they would like to share.

2.  Go to haunted location and ask questions.   If you go to a haunted location and ask nicely in a quiet area, most people love to share their ghost stories.  You may even get more than you bargained for.  Many of my favorite stories have come from people who heard me asking questions and have pulled me aside to tell me a story they've never told anyone.  These stories can be the best stories.  While investigating the ghosts of Space Camp,  three employees told me unrelated stories that were little treasures.

3.  Be friendly and open.  People love to talk and, if you are willing to listen, there are always new stories waiting to be discovered.

4. Travel.   The further you go, the more stories you'll find. 

5. Read.   Amazon.com is filled with books on ghost stories.  Many of these books are self published and they are interesting and worth reading.

6.  Browse the internet.  The internet is filled with good stories, great bloggers, and interesting paranormal sites.

7.  Go on ghost walks and talk to the people who run the ghost walks.   One of the best interviews I had was with Jacque Reeves who runs the local Huntsville ghost walk.  She was happy to tell me many ghost stories.

The Bookstore Ghost

The University of North Alabama in Florence has several ghost stories associated with it.  It's old halls are littered with ghosts and phantoms.  One of my favorite ghost stories from this University comes from the off campus bookstore.  This bookstore wasn't always a bookstore.  It was once a house and a family lived there.

It was a typical family.  There was a mother, a father, and a little girl.  They were a happy family, but the little girl was lonely. She spent her days playing alone in her room with her dolls.   The little girl's father was particularly worried about his baby's loneliness, so he went out and purchased an adorable, little puppy for her.  Of course, the girl was delighted.  It was love at first site.  She loved the puppy so much she put it in bed with her that night and the two little ones nestled up next to each other in the soft, evening light.

It wasn't long before the parents heart their little girl scream.  The wail cut through the night awaking both parents and sending them running into their daughter's room.   The puppy had bit the little girl.  Things returned  to normal, but it wasn't long before the dog and the little girl began to show signs of illness.  The parents took the little girl to the doctor and both she and the puppy were diagnosed with rabies.   Both died shortly after.

Time went on and the building was turned into a Fraternity House.  The house was remodeled and the fraternity members reported seeing a phantom girl sitting in the second story window gazing out.  It wasn't just the frat boys that saw her.  People walking by the house reported seeing her as well.   The building is an off campus bookstore now and people still see the little girl looking longingly out the window.  The women that work at the bookstore don't deny her presence.  They say she still makes her appearances, sometimes alone and sometimes with her dog. 

Ghost Hunting Tips

I got my ghost hunting kit together tonight and went out into the darkness for the first time.  I violated most of the tips I am going to list in my eagerness to venture into the night with my night vision camera, electromagnetic field meter, thermometer, and electronic voice phenomena recording device. I went out alone to a lonely cemetery in the woods near my house.  I did bring my dog and I am  fairly sure he is psychic, so that does make me a little bit more professional.  What I learned fumbling around through the bramble in the dark while chasing shadows is that the cemetery by my house is probably not haunted and is definately thick with thorns.  I'll be picking stickers our of my pants and putting neosporin on my wounds for a few days to come.   With all my mistakes in mind,  I thought I would list some tips provided by the Ghost Hunter's Guidebook to help others avoid my silly mistakes.

1.  Never go alone into an investigation  (I don't think I broke this rule since I brought my psychic dog)

2.  Try to make sure that those who own the site you are going to have granted permission for you to investigate.

3.  Keep your perceptions clear prior to the investigation.  Do not drink, smoke, or use drugs before investigating.

4.  Arrive with skepticism.

5.  Make sure you bring along all of the items that you need to properly conduct your investigation.

6.  Avoid publicity and the media when starting a case.

7.  Interview any witnesses in depth.

8.  Become part of the location.  Try to blend into the background as much as possible.

9.  Always respect the location and always be polite.

I will try to follow more of these rules on my next expedition, but for tonight I just enjoyed stumbling around in the bramble, peering through my night vision camera, and hoping my catch a glimpse of something paranormal.