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Ghost Hunters Guide DIY Ghost Hunting And Hauntings
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Ghost Hunters
Ghost hunters are typical people with typical jobs hunting for ghosts in their spare time. Ghost hunting shows have become quite popular in the last few years and have brought this hobby to the publics attention the most recent being TAPS Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State. There are many types of hauntings that ghost hunters investigate.
Free Ghost Hunting Guide
Hunting for Ghosts
How to Hunt for Ghosts
Hunting for ghosts is not that difficult. If your hunting real life ghosts many cities have groups of people who do just that and go out weekly or monthly with their tools and electronic gear to hunt or detect ghosts, orbs or paranormal activity. Equipment usually consists of EMF meters, film or digital cameras, cassette or digital voice recorders, video cameras and sometimes more exotic equipment such as a thermal imaging camera or Faraday box. Usually just doing a search for a local ghost hunting group for your area will bring one up.
Consider this page as a very basic beginners ghost hunting guide or a free ghost hunters guide. If you need more detail please consider the ghost hunting books available further down. You may also want to consider searching ghost hunting forums for the latest information on hauntings and equipment.
Ghosts are more likely found in older buildings and cemeteries but this is not always the case. The reason is that the older the location the more likely it is to have "history" a place where more people have passed through.
Consider this page as a very basic beginners ghost hunting guide or a free ghost hunters guide. If you need more detail please consider the ghost hunting books available further down. You may also want to consider searching ghost hunting forums for the latest information on hauntings and equipment.
Ghosts are more likely found in older buildings and cemeteries but this is not always the case. The reason is that the older the location the more likely it is to have "history" a place where more people have passed through.
Ghost Hunters Guide
A Ghost Hunters Guide to Hauntings, Paranormal Activity
If your looking for the perfect companion to your ghost hunting kit or ghost hunters group check this book out.This book talks about ghosts, doppelgangers, spirits, entities, poltergeists, malevolent entities , ghostly parasites, orbs, mist, warps, OBE's and vertices's. It covers mediums, psychics, past life regressions and so much more.
It also covers the pros and cons of cameras and talks about photography.
If you want to know about what the basic ghost hunter kit includes and how to set your equipment up and do a paranormal investigation this guide is it. This guide also includes the forms you need to do a proper paranormal investigation.
A Ghost in Every House - A Guide to Ghost Hunting, Hauntings, and the Paranormal is available for download.
What is a Ghost?
Do Ghosts Exist and What do They Look Like?
There are possibly many reasons why ghosts may exist. It is suggested that a ghost is a spirit that never moved on. Often during a very tragic or violent event the spirit may not realize it is no longer here or is stuck in time. Sometimes ghosts exhibit themselves as a movie always playing the same script and other times they may seem to interact with people and the environment such as turning on/off lights, cold spots or a phenomenon know as EVP better know as Electronic Voice Phenominon. This is another great reason to have a good digital voice recorder with an external microphone.
Ghosts can appear as transparent forms or people, mists, shadows, plasmas or orbs. I believe that most orb photos can be explained as dust or as a photographer that has been in the hobby of photograph for over 25 years an orb can just be a lens defect especially if your camera is using any sort of zoom lens.
Ghosts can also be felt as cold spots or touch or even tingling like static electricity this is where the EMF meter comes in handy.
There are several types of hauntings that ghost hunters investigate. There are residual hauntings, one that are like an event played over and over without any interaction with the observer.
The next type is an intelligent haunting. This is a type of haunting where the ghost or apparition interacts or responds to the observer.
Ghosts can appear as transparent forms or people, mists, shadows, plasmas or orbs. I believe that most orb photos can be explained as dust or as a photographer that has been in the hobby of photograph for over 25 years an orb can just be a lens defect especially if your camera is using any sort of zoom lens.
Ghosts can also be felt as cold spots or touch or even tingling like static electricity this is where the EMF meter comes in handy.
There are several types of hauntings that ghost hunters investigate. There are residual hauntings, one that are like an event played over and over without any interaction with the observer.
The next type is an intelligent haunting. This is a type of haunting where the ghost or apparition interacts or responds to the observer.
Ghost Hunting Books
The Ghost Hunter's Guidebook
The one book to have on ghost hunting and investigating hauntings. Troy Taylor is the founder of The American Ghost.
Hauntings and Poltergeists: A Ghost Hunter's Guide
Hauntings and Poltergeists: A Ghost Hunter's Guide by Loyd Auerbach is one of the best guides in the field. Loyd is currently using biometric sensing instruments to help improve his research.
Ghost Hunting Equipment
What Ghost Hunters Need To Find Ghosts
Most people have the minimum equipment they need to get started.
- A pen and pencil
- Small notebook or pad
- Flashlight and extra batteries.
- Digital camera or film camera.
Extra equipment that is nice to have is a digital video infra red camera, digital audio recorder and an external microphone and a EMF meter or better known as a Electro Magnetic Field meter. An EMF meter can detect changes in minute magnetic fields that we are surrounded by. Portable motion sensors are nice to secure an area and location. Often a group of club will share these to help with costs.
Other pieces of equipment worth having but are often too expensive for the weekend ghost hunter are remote wireless microphones and a thermal imaging camera.
Some people are also having some good results with ghost hunting equipment such as white noise generators or a faraday box. A faraday box is just a smaller version of a faraday cage read further down to find out more.
Now if you have to ask what are the best two pieces of electronic equipment I would have to save a digital camera. Then the next would be a TriField Electromagnetic Field Meter or an EMF meter sometime it is referred to as a TriField Electromagnetic Frequency Meter but the first reference is correct.
The next would be a digital recorder.
- A pen and pencil
- Small notebook or pad
- Flashlight and extra batteries.
- Digital camera or film camera.
Extra equipment that is nice to have is a digital video infra red camera, digital audio recorder and an external microphone and a EMF meter or better known as a Electro Magnetic Field meter. An EMF meter can detect changes in minute magnetic fields that we are surrounded by. Portable motion sensors are nice to secure an area and location. Often a group of club will share these to help with costs.
Other pieces of equipment worth having but are often too expensive for the weekend ghost hunter are remote wireless microphones and a thermal imaging camera.
Some people are also having some good results with ghost hunting equipment such as white noise generators or a faraday box. A faraday box is just a smaller version of a faraday cage read further down to find out more.
Now if you have to ask what are the best two pieces of electronic equipment I would have to save a digital camera. Then the next would be a TriField Electromagnetic Field Meter or an EMF meter sometime it is referred to as a TriField Electromagnetic Frequency Meter but the first reference is correct.
The next would be a digital recorder.
EMF Meters - Electro Magnetic Field Meters
TriField Electromagnetic Field Meter
This EMF meter is by far my favorite. I have also located microwave leaks and electrical wires in walls. This meter is very sensitive and locates Electromagnetic Fields. I like digital displays but this analog meter is so sensitive it is my personal favorite!
Extech 480823 Electromagnetic Field and Extremely Low Frequency Meter
This looks like the meter seen on TAPs Ghost Hunters. I have hear reference to it in several books as another good meter.
How To Use An EMF Meter
I think the analog meter is the best EMF meter. The best way to use an EMF meter is to hold it at the base. It should be cupped in your hand this way it does not obstruct the sensitive sensors towards the top of the meter. For the best readings it is highly recommended that you remove all jewelry such as rings, bracelets and watches that sometimes can interfere with the meter.
To get use to your meter I highly suggest that you use it around your home to measure electrical wiring, outlets, and yes even light fixtures. While your at it get use to measuring other electronic equipment such as stereos, clocks and microwave ovens when in operation. This gives you a good idea of the background levels of Electromagnetic pollution these devices generate. Even measure stray electromagnetic fields that can be induced into copper or iron pipes that carry water will give you the a good idea of how sensitive these meters can be.
Why do you want to do this? Well so when your out ghost hunting you can deduce or decide whether you have a false positive reading!
Yes older buildings buildings tend to collect more ghosts but older buildings also have older electrical systems that sometimes have bad wiring, unshielded wiring or ungrounded wiring thus leading to more false positive. Using an EMF meter is just a tool. Once you get use to the meter it is more of an art that a science when drawing conclusions on a ghost hunt.
To get use to your meter I highly suggest that you use it around your home to measure electrical wiring, outlets, and yes even light fixtures. While your at it get use to measuring other electronic equipment such as stereos, clocks and microwave ovens when in operation. This gives you a good idea of the background levels of Electromagnetic pollution these devices generate. Even measure stray electromagnetic fields that can be induced into copper or iron pipes that carry water will give you the a good idea of how sensitive these meters can be.
Why do you want to do this? Well so when your out ghost hunting you can deduce or decide whether you have a false positive reading!
Yes older buildings buildings tend to collect more ghosts but older buildings also have older electrical systems that sometimes have bad wiring, unshielded wiring or ungrounded wiring thus leading to more false positive. Using an EMF meter is just a tool. Once you get use to the meter it is more of an art that a science when drawing conclusions on a ghost hunt.
Digital Voice Recorders
Digital voice recorders are a great way to take notes when you are on a hunt. They can also be used for EVP's so it is a great piece of equipement to have in you ghost hunting kit. An external microphone is highly recommended.
How To Use A Digital Voice Recorder On A Ghost Hunt
How To analyze EVP's With Your Digital Voice Recorder
Electronic voice phenomena is another method to help detect ghosts. What you are trying to capture is whispering, disembodied voices, laughter or other sounds that you may have not noticed during the investigation. A digital voice recorder is more commonly becoming the tool of choice to record EVP's. The reason for using a digital voice recorder over a cassette recorder is that a digital recorder has no moving parts. A cassette recorder is one that has moving parts and is likely to produce noise that can be mis interpreted as an EVP!
Digital voice recorders are relatively inexpensive and it is a good idea to have several of these on a ghost hunting expedition. You may want to use one for taking notes and a few others for to place in suspected remote locations so you can later evaluate those recordings.
One investigator I know is using a faraday box and is hearing some interesting results when combined with a voice recorder and a faraday box is relatively inexpensive and he makes them himself and sells them cheap!
One tip or secret I can give the new ghost hunter is to buy a digital voice recorder that has a USB cable that allow you to download the recordings on to your computer for later analysis.
Another tip I can give you is that if your looking for free software to analyze the EVP recording Audacity is the software of choice. It can filter out background noise and help you better analyze your EVP's, its free and the options it has it too many to list here. Just visit the site.
Once you have your digital voice recording file downloaded to your computer you can analyze the EVP with Audacity.
Digital voice recorders are relatively inexpensive and it is a good idea to have several of these on a ghost hunting expedition. You may want to use one for taking notes and a few others for to place in suspected remote locations so you can later evaluate those recordings.
One investigator I know is using a faraday box and is hearing some interesting results when combined with a voice recorder and a faraday box is relatively inexpensive and he makes them himself and sells them cheap!
One tip or secret I can give the new ghost hunter is to buy a digital voice recorder that has a USB cable that allow you to download the recordings on to your computer for later analysis.
Another tip I can give you is that if your looking for free software to analyze the EVP recording Audacity is the software of choice. It can filter out background noise and help you better analyze your EVP's, its free and the options it has it too many to list here. Just visit the site.
Once you have your digital voice recording file downloaded to your computer you can analyze the EVP with Audacity.
How To Get A EVP
Provoking An EVP
In residual hauntings an EVP may be easy to get. In an interactive haunting that may involve a malevolent spirit or poltergeist you may need to provoke the spirit to get and EVP. This may include asking for proof that they are actually there to suggesting that they do not exist to going as far as a little name calling to provoke the spirit. Use your imagination to provoking an EVP.
WhiteNoise Generators and Electronic Voice Phenomena
Capture Spirit Voices With White Noise
White noise generators create noise similar to the noise you hear at the ocean the hissing or the waves after they have crashed. It is similar to a static noise. Many paranormal investigators will take these along and place a recorder near them in a room or even use them when trying to communicate with the dead. They are also great for a sleep aid and in some cases putting a baby or child to sleep in a noisy environment.
Ghost Hunting Kit
If your looking to start out with a ghost hunters kit check these out.
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Infrared Thermometers
IR infrared thermometers are great for detecting cold spots or drafts. A nice item to have along for a paranormal investigation or ghost hunting.
Signs of a Haunting
What to Look for with a Haunting
There are many signs that a place or location may be haunted. Here are just a few tips that a haunting may exist.
- Doors slamming or furniture moving.
- Footsteps or knocking especially at certain times.
- Objects move or dissapear to show up somewhere else such as keys or personal items.
- Phantom odors or sweet or putrid odors with no obvious or natural cause.
- Objects moving out of the corner of your eye or dark shadows or mists.
- Feeling of being watched or followed.
- Feeling of being touched or pushed.
- Unexplained cold spots where there are no drafts.
- Pets acting strange such as your dog watching an activity in a room or barking into the dark.
- Whispering or your name called out and your dog notices when no one else is around.
- Devices or lights randomly come on or turn off with no explanation.
- Batteries drain quickly on camcorders or voice recorders. Spirits sometimes need energy to manifest.
Build Ghost Hunting Equipment
Build Paranormal Equipment To Hunt Ghosts
You may have your motion detectors, EMF detectors, cameras and voice recorders. You may also want to experiment a little and build some rather unique detectors to help find paranormal phenomenon.
If your a hobbyist or have some electronic knowledge this book is great for the ghost hunter or paranormal investigator. It is well worth reading and adding to your library.
If your a hobbyist or have some electronic knowledge this book is great for the ghost hunter or paranormal investigator. It is well worth reading and adding to your library.
Ghost Hunting Links
- Southern Spirit Seeker Society
- A dedicated group of paranormal investigators investigating, hauntings ghosts and paranormal phenomenon and events. A diverse group of investigators with many talents and abilities from around the United States.
- The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS)
- The ones responsible for the Ghost Hunter series.
- Ghost Vigil Investigations of Kansas City
- Paranormal Investigators in Kansas City looking into hauntings and ghosts
- Ghost Village
- Paranormal research for ghosts includes links, chat and forums on research and personal experiences.
Ghost Busters Gone Modern
Ghost Hunting
We all remember the movie Ghost Busters. Well modern day ghost hunting is much more serious. The ideas are the same you go check out a haunting with your electronic gear. This is serious stuff though. With the correct ghost hunting gear one is hoping to find orbs and mists or something indicating that a place or object is indeed haunted or has activity. An active haunting where objects move are considered the most serious and are a sign of poltergeist activity. A very good ghost hunting group will try to disprove or dispel a haunting and will try to explain the activity as normal events.
Digital Recorders Versus Analog Cassette Type Recorders.
Why Digital Audio Recorders Are Better On Ghost Hunts
One could argue that both types of recorders create archival noise. The current sampling rate of digital recorders is good enough to make this not such an issue.
The problem with analog magnetic cassette type of recorder is the noises the motor can produce. The other issue is the recording head. Is it clean? A dirty recording head can create noise and hiss. A misaligned head can also create a garbled effect due to bleed over from the other track and this can sometime sound like talk.
The die hard analog type will say well I use a new tape on every hunt. Still even with a new tape there are too many issues not to want to use the digital audio recorder. With a digital you also are less likely to need a remote mike to isolate the microphone from the cassettes motor noise.
Any recording system or media can create archival noises. The suggestions here are to minimize those noises.
When you do find and EVP on a recording on that has been transfered to a computer you may want to save the original recording on the recorder until it can be verified.
Some computers can introduce some noise and this way if you do find and EVP you can again download the audio off of the recorder to another computer to verify the EVP.
The problem with analog magnetic cassette type of recorder is the noises the motor can produce. The other issue is the recording head. Is it clean? A dirty recording head can create noise and hiss. A misaligned head can also create a garbled effect due to bleed over from the other track and this can sometime sound like talk.
The die hard analog type will say well I use a new tape on every hunt. Still even with a new tape there are too many issues not to want to use the digital audio recorder. With a digital you also are less likely to need a remote mike to isolate the microphone from the cassettes motor noise.
Any recording system or media can create archival noises. The suggestions here are to minimize those noises.
When you do find and EVP on a recording on that has been transfered to a computer you may want to save the original recording on the recorder until it can be verified.
Some computers can introduce some noise and this way if you do find and EVP you can again download the audio off of the recorder to another computer to verify the EVP.
Faraday Box
Buy a Faraday Box for Recording EVP's
A Faraday box is a new piece of ghost hunting equipment that is being used to help capture or for recording EVP's that are clean.
What is a faraday box? It is a smaller version of a faraday cage. Read the definition of a faraday cage. Its is a larger version of a faraday box that will shield any object placed in it from stray electromagnetic fields or energy. For example if you were to put a radio or cell phone in one it would be useless and would not transmit or receive any radio waves or electromagnetic radiation.
How would this apply to ghost hunting? For one if your were to place a voice recorder in a faraday cage or faraday box one it would not be subject to stray radiation or false man made signals so it would possibly reduce the chance of interference from stray radio waves or electromagnetic energy thus providing a possibly clean recording regarding electromagnetic interference. If you looking to buy a faraday box check here >>> Faraday Box
What is a faraday box? It is a smaller version of a faraday cage. Read the definition of a faraday cage. Its is a larger version of a faraday box that will shield any object placed in it from stray electromagnetic fields or energy. For example if you were to put a radio or cell phone in one it would be useless and would not transmit or receive any radio waves or electromagnetic radiation.
How would this apply to ghost hunting? For one if your were to place a voice recorder in a faraday cage or faraday box one it would not be subject to stray radiation or false man made signals so it would possibly reduce the chance of interference from stray radio waves or electromagnetic energy thus providing a possibly clean recording regarding electromagnetic interference. If you looking to buy a faraday box check here >>> Faraday Box
Buy a Faraday Cage or Faraday Box
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byGhost Hunting Stories and Hauntings
Do you ghost hunt? Do you have a story? Add your story here is its a long story email me and I may post it as a featured story here.
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ghost_guide
Nice lens! You've got some great information here. I've got a lens on my adventures as a ghost guide and would love for you to stop by and say hello. Posted August 14, 2008 |
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amandaquerque
Great lens. I have lensrolled it into my Goldfield Hotel Lens 5 Stars! Posted June 04, 2008 |
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GhostMan
Great lens and info! Posted May 06, 2008 |
Ghost Hunting Equipment and Paranormal Supplies
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byGhost Hunters DVD's
Download Your Favorite Shows and Episodes.
Ghost Hunting Blog Posts
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- Description: In ?The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure?, join ghost-hunters Nigel Danvers and Lucy Reubans as they unravel an ancient mystery and search for hidden treasures on England's fog-shrouded coastline, famed for its legends ...
- Erie Pagan Moot: Ghost Hunting Discussion
- Start: Oct 6 2008 - 7:30pm. Timezone: Etc/GMT-5. A gathering of Pagans in the Erie area for thoughtful discussion, fellowship & fun. The Moot is open to Pagans of any path- Wiccan, Druid, Asatru, Eclectic, etc. ...
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queenofbling
Fantastic lens! Now if only I could find someone who would ghost hunt with me!! :) Giving you 5 stars. Posted March 04, 2008 |
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MuddyLaBoue
Really interesting... we humans keep learning things we didn't know before. Things exist that we haven't imagined... so why not something we *have* imagined? Posted January 11, 2008 |
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tdove
I don't think I'm going to be hunting down any ghosts but I like this lens anyway. 5* Posted January 05, 2008 |
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Shar
Great Lens... Ghost Hunters is one of my favorite shows. 5 stars for you! Shar Posted January 01, 2008 |
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MMAResource
Great lens, glad to see it :) Posted October 25, 2007 |
Ghost Hunting and Paranormal Stuff
- Ghost Hunting Gear
- Once you have decided that ghost hunting is for you. Then start a group and have everyone pitch in a start adding equipment to your ghost hunting gear. David Price Jr is founder of the Ghostly True Paranormal Research Society that is ...
- The Post tries to land evidence of ghosts (Sept. 5, 2008)
- The team came with an arsenal of ?standard ghost hunting equipment? ? video, digital and night vision cameras, an EMF (electro magnetic field) device, voice recorders and a device to measure electronic voice phenomena (EVP). ...
- The Lost Crown A Ghost-hunting Adventure DVD-GOW
- Description: In ?The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure?, join ghost-hunters Nigel Danvers and Lucy Reubans as they unravel an ancient mystery and search for hidden treasures on England's fog-shrouded coastline, famed for its legends ...
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Ghost Hunters. Hunting ghosts buy the right ghost hunting equipment guides, books for your paranormal investigations
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