Wee Ghosties - A Beginner's Guide to Ghost Hunting

Getting started in ghost hunting

Getting started in ghost hunting is as simple as walking outside with a notepad and pencil. The only real requirements are the ability to do research, a healthy dose of common sense so you're not chasing wild geese and an open mind. There are some in this field that believe anything that seems even half-way plausible has to be spirit activity, please don't confuse a raccoon under a house with a ghost (it's happened before and will happen again)!

You do not need a certificate to start investigating ghosts or buy a bunch of equipment, I still use primarily paper, pen, a watch and a tape recorder. The rest just helps you to pinpoint activity but it's not necessary. Trust your instincts and use them to help you find what you're looking for, you don't need a $100 thermometer to tell you it got colder in one area of the room than another. ;)

Ok, let's get busy.

Signs of a haunting

There are many possible reasons for knocking in walls or disappearing remote controls but below are some signs that you may have more in your house than loose pipes and a remote-eating couch!

Pets. It may not just be the phase of the moon! Some animals react to things that we cannot see by barking at a certain point in a room or refusing to enter areas, others will "watch" activity by tracking it with their eyes.
Unexplained cold spots. Plug up those drafts and then see if you're still walking into a drop in temperature. I find that my face will be cold but my back will be warm when I encounter something. You are usually able to discern a wobbly shape of the cold spot with your hands. Start a journal of when these cold spots occur and where. Try to find a pattern!
Objects in the building vanish and then appear later.
Electrical appliances turn themselves on or off. Most disturbing are the occurrences of objects that work without their required batteries! Forget the messages from beyond on the TV, they usually turn out to be an infomercial for botox'd women. Ewwww, creepy.
Nightmares. Someone could be reaching out and trying to contact you when you're most vulnerable. Keep a log of when these happen; do they occur around special dates?
Feeling of being watched. All right, this gets downright spooky when you think about it. Who needs a peeper?
Strange odors. Of course it could be the Chinese food you've left under the couch for a month but if you're noticing a smell that cannot be explained, such as roses wafting through a room in December, you may have a visitor.
Movement out of the corner of your eye. We've all had it happen, something darts past us that is too quick to be seen. I blame my five year old but perhaps it's something else.
Floating heads. Ok, just wanted to see if you're paying attention but this is a surefire way to tell if you're being haunted. Apparitions vary from full-bodied ghosts to misty clouds.

Please remember to use common sense before jumping to the conclusion that you're being haunted. Most cases are explained by natural causes or overactive imaginations. If you feel you're being visited, write down when and where these occurrences happened. Do some research on the building, not just 20 years ago but 120 years ago. You never know what's buried beneath your begonias.

Types of ghosts

~Intelligent hauntings
These types of ghosts are the ones in the movies. They attempt to interact with those around them, generally making themselves a nuisance by scaring the bananas out of people. Some of the things they seem to be able to do are:
- Whispering
- Slamming doors
- Temperature drops and moving the cold spots around
- Body contact (I've had my hair pulled)
- Smells (roses in January)
- Items turn up missing in the house only to reappear later in a completely different location

I do not believe that there are evil spirits, I do think that the personality of a ghost is set by how they were in life. If they were mean and nasty while living, don't expect that to change to cuddly and endearing after death.

Intelligent hauntings contain the energy of the person, that's why some people are able to gather intense feelings when confronted with a ghost. Sadness, anger and jealousy don't die. Some don't realize they're dead, children are especially unaware and often try to make contact for attention.

~Residual Hauntings
A typical haunted house (if there is such a thing). A residual haunting is a memory of an event that replays itself over and over. Sometimes it seems as if you've walked into a film, they are not aware of you but you are able to see what they're going through. Reports of ghosts walking through walls or missing half of their bodies because of changes in the house are common, you're witnessing a memory and not true spirit activity. Some of the ways to tell a residual haunting from an intelligent haunting are:
- Knockings
- Footfalls
- The aforementioned walking through walls

~Elementals
These are spirits of the earth such as pookas, fairies, banshees, etc.

~Poltergeists
If only it was as easy as that movie...
I think these are the least well understood part of the entire paranormal picture. Instead of nicely fitting into a category, these bad boys create havoc centering around an adolescent child (like they don't have enough to worry about already) or a young emotionally disturbed person. The most recent belief is that they are unknowingly able to move things by psychokinesis (the ability to move things by the energy of the brain). Some of these include:
- Small fires
- Rocks being thrown from nowhere
- Frogs raining from the sky

Finding ghosts

Start by talking to people. I've never met a person yet that didn't have a ghost story or couldn't tell me one about a friend of theirs. Take one that seems the most interesting to you and with permission of the home owner, do a little research on the property. Not every house is going to have a history but you never know what's hiding under the pool.
Newspaper articles. Popular around Halloween, look in back issues of local papers for ghost stories, if possible, contact the person and see if they are willing to speak with you about what happened. Please remember that if they feel uncomfortable or are unwilling to talk, to simply thank them for their time and leave. There is always another case and the respect you pay towards this family is important.
Guidebooks. Check local libraries and historical societies for guides to ghosts in your area. You'd be surprised what they have in their files, I have found some excellent stories dating to 100 years old recorded and placed in historical files, donated by the family.

Some places to check out

Hotels. I feel this is one of the least explored location for ghosts. Many people wander through there, there are bound to be stories attached.
Old cities. New York is teeeeeeeeming with activity, you just need to keep your eyes open.
Anywhere near water. In nearly all my cases, there was a body of water nearby. We're not sure what attracts (or traps) ghosts to water but it's worth looking into.
Forests. Now, I'm not suggesting going into the woods and sitting in the dark all night waiting for ghosts but where do you think all those campfire stories came from... ;)
Theaters. There are many accounts of hauntings, both residual and intelligent, at theaters. Perhaps the energy that embodied the actors just don't know when to give up their 15 minutes of fame.
Schools. Lots of energy here, colleges especially seem to attract ghosts. Check the dorms and older buildings for activity.

You may have noticed that I didn't include cemeteries, there's a great reason for this. THEY'RE ALL DEAD. By the time the body gets there, the spirit has already either attached itself to a location or it's moved on to wherever it's going.

Ghost hunting equipment

I'll say it again. You don't need a thousand dollars worth of stuff to carry around on an investigation, leave that to the TV groupies. If you join an investigative group, they may already have equipment to try out before you buy it so for now you will need:

- Notepad
- Pencil
- Watch
- Good flashlight with extra batteries (keep them in the car in case yours go out)
- Identification
- Cell phone
- Camera (this does not have to be hugely expensive, a cheap disposable works fine)
- Extra film and batteries

Nice to have:
- Walkie-talkies
- Tape recorder with external microphone (it can be difficult to hear the playback if your recorder's inner mechanisms are loud)
- Infra-red video recorders
- Digital camera
- Electromagnetic Field Meters. These are the current favorite toys of many investigators, I find them annoying, unreliable and not easy to get accurate readings from.
- Motion detectors. Fun to have, I have yet to see one actually work with a haunting. It does, however scare the pants off of people trying to use the bathroom with one in there.

Ghost hunting safety

This should be a no-brainer section but let's go over this again with feeling...

Never enter an area without back-up and I don't mean your old dog and a cell phone. It's too easy to get lost, hurt or arrested. Make sure you have visited the area in the daylight and have permission from the owner every time you go there.
Remember, there has never been a documented case of a ghost hurting a person. More likely, they have tripped and turned an ankle due to inexperience or fright. Think of Night of the Living Dead, Barbara would've gotten a lot further if she hadn't fallen with those high heels.
Speaking of heels, wear appropriate clothing. Most of these places are going to be dusty and possibly nasty so leave the lip gloss at home and take this seriously. I'm way more afraid of a mouse getting in my hair than a ghost so be aware of what you're getting into.
Always carry identification. With the popularity of ghost television programs, there are more and more people out there in the middle of the night. The police are aware of this and have no problems busting you for trespassing. Use your one phone call wisely and don't order pizza.

During the investigation

Begin with visiting the area first in the daylight if you are planning a nighttime investigation. Make sure you have the owner's permission to be on the property if you are not doing an in-house hunt and set up your equipment.

If you are with a team, split up into groups. One group to interview the household and one to check for cold spots, reported activity spots, etc.

Some questions to ask:
- When and where did activity start?
- Is there a person more likely to have phenomenon begin when they are present?
- Is it more active during storms, certain times of day, anniversaries of deaths/births/weddings?
- Check to see if the area is close to a large water source; I've found many times this will draw in and keep activity.

Ask the household to keep a log of when and where it kicks up. Ask them to note the time, weather and who is present so they can see if a pattern forms.

Keep a close eye on the time. Write down in your notebook anytime you hear a noise, whisper, loud movement that your members make. These may be misconstrued as phenomena later otherwise. Then wait for floating heads. ;)

After the investigation

Thank your hosts, clean up completely and leave the premises in better shape than you found it. Tell the owners that you will be in touch after analysis but don't make any claims about what you've found. You will need to discuss with your team members later their experiences without bias or jumping to conclusions.

After meeting and comparing notes, determine if you did indeed discovered something worth looking into again. With the owners permission, follow up within a few weeks to see if you can catch the same or similar phenomena.

Ask a Ghost Hunter!

I've been researching and writing about ghosts for the past twenty years and have answered questions from around the globe regarding cases. Some are spooky, some not so spooky. If you have a ghost-related question on what's bumping around in your house or would like to ask more about ghost hunting in general, please email me at info-at-weeghosties.com. Questions and answers will be posted Ask a Ghost Hunter unless requested not to do so in the original email.

http://askaghosthunter.blogspot.com

Great ghostie links

Wee Ghosties : the blog: Please visit me at the larger blog - Wee Ghosties :: A Beginner's Guide to Ghost Hunting for ghost stories, podcasts and more.
Ask a Ghost Hunter: Ask your ghost-related questions and have them answered!
You have been Boo'd!: A fun Halloween tradition to start with your friends and neighbors!
Winchester Entity Experts - WEE Ghosties: Have my team come to your area and see what's keeping you up at night! We service the northern Virginia, southern Maryland, eastern West Virginia area. Please visit us today to learn more.

New Guestbook

Lindsey

hey nice info its going to help me a lot tonight! My friends and i are going to search my basement! does your house have to be really old to be haunted? bye

Posted June 05, 2008

amandaquerque

Great lens. I have lensrolled it into my Goldfield Hotel Lens 5 Stars!

Posted June 04, 2008

marlene

were going to check out some cool haunted places in western washington and oregon.
i believe there are hauntings in grave yards!!
stay safe!!

Posted March 05, 2008

Barkely

I followed your b5media sig to your blog, then saw the link to your Squidoo lens. I sound like a stalker now. So good to see other b5media people here at Squidoo:) Nice lens BTW.

Posted January 06, 2008

hayley

nice guide, what I was looking for. and it was funny

Posted September 11, 2007

Andie

Great lens, Stacey. 5 stars for you *****
Hope I can sleep tonight! OOOOOh.

Posted September 01, 2007