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Invited on a Ghost Hunt - Tips?

Opus said:
In any event, any suggestions would be very welcome.
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Try not to get spooked and run away - it does your persona as 'hardened sceptic' no good at all.

Few years ago, I managed to forget I didn't believe in ghosts, walking around on a ghost hunt in an old burnt-out house in the middle of the night - the best fun, but trying to explain why I ran away like a big girl was the tricky part. :boggled:
 
LOL Nuc

Reminds me of an army chaplain we had, great guy. Deathly afraid of flying, but went on a helicopter ride with some of our soldiers.

When I asked him about it, he replied:

"Now Huntsman, if you talk to the guys that were on the chopper with me, they may try to tell you I screamed like a little girl. I want you to know that's not true.

I screamed like a grown man."

See, Nuc, don't feel bad. If you were really scared, you'd have run away like a grown man ;)
 
Nucular said:
Try not to get spooked and run away - it does your persona as 'hardened sceptic' no good at all.

Few years ago, I managed to forget I didn't believe in ghosts, walking around on a ghost hunt in an old burnt-out house in the middle of the night - the best fun, but trying to explain why I ran away like a big girl was the tricky part. :boggled:
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cowardlylion.jpg


I do believe in spooks! I do, I do, I do, I do, I DO believe in spooks!
 
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I think I'm going to try and just be a fly on the wall while making my own observations, taking some of my own pictures, etc.
Sadly, I've already considered the fleeing in terror part. I just about jumped out of my socks last night when a possum came lumbering noisily out of the bushes while I was walking up to my own backdoor...
In any event, I'm getting really psyched up for this and I hope it actually happens this weekend as planned.
 
Excuse yourself to go to the washroom, then come back wearing a white sheet and making spooky ghost noises.


edited to add: sorry, this is but a lame rehash of a joke already made by Overman in this thread. My deepest apologies.
 
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Opus said:
Believe it or not, the explanation for orbs is one of the few things that "Ghost Hunters" gets right, so I assume she'll be familiar with that since it seems to be her main source of methodology.
The stuff for which they offer rational explanations on that show versus the stuff that they accept at face value as proof of ghosts is bizarre and smacks of contrivance (obviously). Not that I expect much from the Sci-Fi Channel, but their "findings" on that show seem to follow little internal logic even in the name of suspension of disbelief.
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Sure, they comment on most orbs to be flash, or light reflective related, but still believe orbs are energy globules in the minority of cases. They make the distinction depending on how the orb moves about relative to the lighting or flash present. While they may have toned down the rhetoric on orbs, they are still failing to be scientific.

The 2nd season starts in July. I enjoy debunking some of these off the wall paranormal shows that masquerade as reality. I know people that watch (this one in particular), and buy it. I don’t believe any of it really, more so now that the show is popular. It appears to exaggerate or make up things (physical spirit contacts) to keep interest from waning. I’d also be dubious of the clients who have an interest in maintaining the hauntedness of a place. They get free advertisement out of the deal.
 
Sounds like fun . After the event invite them to visit you ,over Easter , to try and film the Easter Bunny . Try not to be to sceptical about this , thousands of children can't be soooooo wrong .
Now at christmas .....you guessed! You must be physic ..Sic
 
I actually really like the show Ghost Hunters, if only because it's really the only thing on the air right now that even attempts to explore things like that with a skeptical mind. A lot of the time, yeah, they just feel a bit cold and go "Yep, that's a ghost. GOOD THING WE SETTLED THAT!", but usually they'll at least attempt to find some other explanation first. And, okay, I'm gonna have to admit; I'm a huge fan of urban exploration. I check out opacity.us habitually. I stop and stare at abandoned buildings whenever I get the chance. And, no, I don't believe in ghosts or anything like that, I just like the vibe, I guess. I have a couple of friends who are kind of into the whole ghost hunting thing, whom I'm trying to convert to skepticism (with mixed results, but at least they hate Derek Acorah!), and I'm actually looking forward to ghost hunting with them. I mean, one, I get to explore urban ruins, which is something I find more than a little exhilirating, and two, I ge to expose them to rational thinking every time they turn up a piece of "evidence". Bonus.
 
sat556 said:
No ghost hunters that I know, that attempt to follow any kind of scientific medods have a 'rich crop' of it. I have one thing, in all my years. ONE THING. And that's got holes in it you can stick your head through.
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Would it be out of place to ask what the one thing was?
 
TimmyBerry said:
Would it be out of place to ask what the one thing was?
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Don't see why.

It happened in a room that is not normally open for access in a manor house that I had been to before. I had never been in that room and it was fab, with a funky secret room too. We had set a static camera up one end, filming as much room as we could, and in the 'secret' room, another camera filming objects. I decided to change that cam for a smaller one, to liberate the mini dv that was being used. There was another camera on the landing outside the main room, and one at the bottom of the staircase.
As I walked into the room I was fiddling with the setting on the replacement camera when I heard 'somebody' whisper at me from the far end of the room, near where the static cam was. I thought it was somebody up there, hiding, so turned to look, but there was nobody. I then shouted "what the (rule 8) was that?" and screamed for the nearest available man... Pathetic huh? I stayed where I was though :D
Everybody was accounted for, so we then reviewed the tape. The sound is on there, very clearly, although words couldn't be made out. Since then I have made out words from it, but it's taken a long time so I'm not taking that to mean anything.
The main room cam, the one on the landing, and the one downstairs have all picked this up, although the sound is shorter on the ones from outside the room.

It was not trees against the window. We checked that.
It might have been traffic, which was very light due to the location. I don't understand why i wouldn't have recognised that though. Also the fact that the other two cams picked this up makes it unlikely.
It might have been something falling over in the room, it was full of junk. Again, with a noise that quiet, I don't see how the other cams, especially the one downstairs, would have caught it.

I don't believe for one second it was a spook, but it still sits in the unexplained file.
 
I recomend scoffing at everything. Frequently say, "I'm sure there's a perfectly rational explanation", but never offer one. Then, just as fears are highest, walk quickly in the direction of interest and say, "Look, there's nothing her--" and then dissappear without a trace, never to be seen again.

At least, that what skeptics in movies are supposed to do.
 
Nihilanth said:
I actually really like the show Ghost Hunters, if only because it's really the only thing on the air right now that even attempts to explore things like that with a skeptical mind. A lot of the time, yeah, they just feel a bit cold and go "Yep, that's a ghost. GOOD THING WE SETTLED THAT!", but usually they'll at least attempt to find some other explanation first. And, okay, I'm gonna have to admit; I'm a huge fan of urban exploration. I check out opacity.us habitually. I stop and stare at abandoned buildings whenever I get the chance. And, no, I don't believe in ghosts or anything like that, I just like the vibe, I guess. I have a couple of friends who are kind of into the whole ghost hunting thing, whom I'm trying to convert to skepticism (with mixed results, but at least they hate Derek Acorah!), and I'm actually looking forward to ghost hunting with them. I mean, one, I get to explore urban ruins, which is something I find more than a little exhilirating, and two, I ge to expose them to rational thinking every time they turn up a piece of "evidence". Bonus.
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If you overlook the fact that they have a "demonologist" on the team, and one of the tools in their investigative arsenal is a pair of dowsing rods, then yeah, I guess you could sorta say they come at it from a skeptical angle.

btw...

Speaking of "urban exploration", check out this great site here in my neck of the woods:

- Pilgrim State Psychiatric Hospital:

http://www.opacity.us/site23_pilgrim_state_hospital.htm

An old abandoned looney bin... Vaaadee Creee Pee!:eek:

I've been there. You can still see the padded cells, and paintings and murals that the patients drew all over the walls throughout the facility... seriously freaky.
 
Psiload said:
If you overlook the fact that they have a "demonologist" on the team, and one of the tools in their investigative arsenal is a pair of dowsing rods, then yeah, I guess you could sorta say they come at it from a skeptical angle.
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Exactly, Psiload! There isn’t much skeptical about this gang of ghostbusters. I have a fascination with the show on several levels.
  • I like to see how the show evolves from its low budget, simple beginnings.
  • I have an interest in Ghost Hunting (Parapsychology) because I believe a small percentage of the cases could reveal interesting, insightful, phenomena, i.e. infrasonics, that puts people's fears or wild theories to rest or test.
  • I have a working knowledge of much of the equipment used; watching it misapplied is, well… entertaining.
  • I, too, enjoy the Urban exploration and fascination with abandoned buildings described by Nihilanth.
There isn’t much skeptical about the show. Jason seems to be the most skeptical and if he wasn’t there, the show would be unwatchable. Grant (sidekick) buys the whole orb as spirit energy claim; also, I’ve seen him claim to be touched by spirits which tells me: his imagination is running wild; he’s lying for the cameras; or he’s easily duped and jumps to conclusions. The rest of the crew I’d fire and send home with possessed dolls authenticated by the Warren’s.
 
Opus- Watch the watchers. Forget ghosts. There are none,but the behaviour of people in this situation is fascinating.
Watch how one person dominates others into reinterpreting what they saw or heard, to fit the explanation of the dominant member. Do NOT believe any stories about how scary the upstairs corridor is.

If any equipment is in use- motion detectors, video cameras, teperature sensors etc, get to know how it works beforehand. I have seen serious psychical researchers confuse the IR ranging light on their own camera for a mysterious moving light. I have seen people convinced they had photographed a spirit when they had actually photographed their own finger- complete with wedding ring. I've heard people talk about feeling "freezing" temperatures when there was rain running down a window pane and the inside temperature was 60 deg Fahrenheit. Take a thermometer.
If you have a digital camera, photograph all around a room as soon as you enter it. That way, there will be no arguments about whether doors were open or shut.
Take a laptop , so cameras can be plugged in and photos saved and seen full size. This also stops after the event photoshopping.
Take notes.
If you have a tape recorder, keep it on all the time. Take spare tapes and batteries for everything and don't let anyone get their hands on your stuff. People play tricks. Small backpack. Flask of coffee is good about 2am as well.
Have fun and take no nonsense from anyone. You're there as a representative of the James Randi Educational Foundation. Mean it.
 
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Well, my supernatural adventure was put on hiatus for this weekend because my friend got stuck babysitting for her brother. Hopefully we'll be able to arrange something in concrete for the near future, because I'm really interested in at least having the experience.
In a way it might be for the best, since this will give me time to try and muster better equipment than my last 20 shots of polaroid film and a single 1-hour audio cassette. Half of my polaroids come out looking like Sasquatch photos anyway, so I'm going to try and borrow a digital camera from one of my brothers for when the time actually comes.
 
Opus said:
Well, my supernatural adventure was put on hiatus for this weekend because my friend got stuck babysitting for her brother. Hopefully we'll be able to arrange something in concrete for the near future, because I'm really interested in at least having the experience.
In a way it might be for the best, since this will give me time to try and muster better equipment than my last 20 shots of polaroid film and a single 1-hour audio cassette. Half of my polaroids come out looking like Sasquatch photos anyway, so I'm going to try and borrow a digital camera from one of my brothers for when the time actually comes.
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Sorry to hear your trip was cancelled. At one time I, too, wanted to sign up with a local group, but decided against it upon monitoring the group’s activities on a forum. It was all about capturing orbs and EVP’s. I have zero interest in that. I don’t believe that is using today’s technology effectively. The only EVP’s you get are strange sounds that one’s imagination runs wild with, or the result of some wise guy's joke, whispering in the vicinity of the microphone.

Better to bring along a low-light sensitive video camera to capture anything out of the ordinary. Having just one EMF and/thermometer is kind of a joke. Most are limited to a narrow bandwidth. Unless you monitor a wide bandwidth with wide continuously monitored coverage, I don’t believe it’s worth the effort. Electrical house wiring wreaks havoc with readings when electrical devices are turned on/off this is further amplified with faulty wiring, bonding of neutral wires to ground, etc…

DR. BUZZO should post here or just “PM” him. He’s very knowledgeable on this subject from a skeptical and pragmatic standpoint… having discussed this very topic with him.

Without professional equipment, I’d just go to have a great time. Make a note of what Soapy Sam said, consider it more of a sociology experience and have fun getting scared.
 
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