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MAPIT PROFILE
MAPIT SERVICES
MAPIT CODE OF CONDUCT
THE BITC COURSE SYLLABUS
BITC QUALIFIED INDIVIDUALS
SEP
MAPIT CHESHIRE OFFICE - UPIA
PARANORMAL
INVESTIGATION EQUIPMENT
USING EQUIPMENT
SUNLIGHT HOUSE INVESTIGATION
THE LORD ELDON CASE
POLTERGEIST PHENOMENA
ROCHDALE POLTERGEIST CASE
ROCHDALE POLTERGEIST PAGE 2
THE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST CASE
THE SMURL POLTERGEIST CASE
UFO PHENOMENA
THE CARRINGTON UFO
THE MANTELL UFO INCIDENT
MANCHESTER AND LEEDS UFOs
MOD UFO REPORTS
ALIEN ABDUCTION AND HYPNOSIS
AREA 51
MEN IN BLACK
THE WINTER HILL MIB CASE
BLACK HELICOPTERS
MENWITH HILL
THE CITY IN THE SKY
FATA MORGANA
THE INTRUDERS FOUNDATION
INTERGALACTIC COMMUNICATION
PRINCIPLES OF ET DETECTION
PARAPSYCHOLOGY
TELEPATHY
TELEPATHY PART 2
TELEPATHY PART 3
ENHANCE YOUR PSYCHIC ABILITY
SPIRITUALISM INVESTIGATED
THE NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE
SEP CLAIRVOYANCE
SEP CLAIRAUDIENCE
SEP CLAIRGUSCIENCE
SEP CLAIRSENTIENCE
THE RHINE RESEARCH CENTRE
FOLKLORE MYTHS AND LEGENDS
THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT
THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT 2
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
ARK OF THE COVENANT
THE BANSHEE
THE CHRISTMAS STAR
THE BUNNY MAN BRIDGE
THE ENTITY CASE
PYRAMIDS
CRYPTOZOOLOGY
PHANTOM HOUNDS
BIGFOOT
DEMONOLOGY
BOGGART HOLE CLOUGH
THE CANADIAN PHILIP EXPERIMENT
BALL LIGHTNING
THE RENDLESHAM INCIDENT
THE VIRGIN STONES
THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES
WEEPING STATUES
CURSES
LEYS OR LEY LINES
THE EXORCIST A TRUE STORY
JACKIE HERNANDEZ CASE
NARCOLEPSY
PSYCHOMETRY
RUWA UFO INCIDENT
CAA REPORT ON NEAR AIR MISS
KIRLIAN PHOTOGRAPHY
HAUNTED LOCATIONS PAGE 1
HAUNTED LOCATIONS PAGE 2
HAUNTED LOCATIONS PAGE 3
HAUNTED LOCATIONS PAGE 4
HAUNTED LOCATIONS PAGE 5
MOST HAUNTED LOCATIONS
MAPIT TRADING CENTRE 1 AUDIO
MAPIT TRADING CENTRE 2 VIDEO
MAPIT TRADING CENTRE 3 VIDEO
MAPIT TRADING CENTRE 4 VIDEO
OVERSEAS ORGANISATIONS
UK PUBLICATIONS
LOCAL EVENTS
EVENTS
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| PARANORMAL PHENOMENA |
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| SECTIONS FROM : A GHOSTHUNTERS HANDBOOK |
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| Do you believe in ghosts? You probably do or you wouldn't be reading this. This section of the website, along with the others that follow in the Ghost of the Prairie section called "How to Hunt Ghosts", has the simple goal of trying to provide you with some of the basic information that will assist you in ghost hunting. It will hopefully both enlighten and entertain you and perhaps give you some knowledge that you didn't have before. Obviously, I won't have all of the answers about ghosts until I am one myself but I can give you some of the knowledge that I have learned through trial and error and through the experience that I have gained over the last several years. I have been active in paranormal research since about 1992 and by the time you read this, I will have been involved in over 400 investigations of allegedly haunted places. You will notice that I say "allegedly" haunted places, this is what we call the 'Magic Word', because not every place in which I have been called in to investigate is haunted. In fact, far from it! I would say that 90% or more of the cases that I have seen have a perfectly natural explanation behind the reports of phenomena. It is, of course, that other small percentage which keeps us coming back for more. First, let's talk about ghosts... what are they? There are several different types of hauntings that you will probably get involved with as a ghost hunter, but not all of them involve ghosts, or spirits. Two different types of hauntings seem to be the most prominent... the intelligent spirit and the residual haunting. The intelligent spirit is everyone's traditional idea of a ghost. It is a lost personality or spirit that for some reason did not cross over to the other side at the moment of death. It shows intelligence and consciousness and often interacts with people. It is possible to experience this type of ghost and not even know it. Sometimes they manifest themselves as a rush of air, a cold chill or even a strong presence. Their interactions can be a little more startling through sight, sound, physical contact and even smells. The residual haunting is much more common in the lore of haunted houses. These types of hauntings never interact with people and often occur at a specific site or around a specific item. They are simply an imprint that has been left behind on the atmosphere of a place, marking an event that happened in the past, usually a traumatic one, but not always. This type of haunting can be hard to miss and while it is usually visual, occasionally sounds from the past can play a part too. The haunting is like an old video or audio tape playing over and over again and repeating its actions. It can be sensed as the energy replays itself, but it should not be mistaken for an actual ghost because it is simply a piece of time. Just remember, there are ghosts out there, they are just not always easy to find. It's not impossible though because if it were, there would be a lot of ghost hunters around with nothing to do. Just keep searching! Here is an idea of some of the places where I have had luck with ghost hunting. HOMES Many private residences, and not just old ones, have a tainted past that might include murder, suicide or some other tragic event. Many times, these events cause a place to become haunted. The location can become haunted because of a spirit being drawn there by these events or because one has stayed behind because of them. These spirits can be positive or negative and haunted houses boast all kinds of different phenomena. Private homes are also much harder for a ghost hunter to gain access to that public buildings but can be very rewarding if you can get an invitation. CEMETERIES Cemeteries seem to offer the ghost hunter an excellent chance for strange phenomena and spirit photos, perhaps because of the theory involving "spirit portals" and "doorways" in many burial grounds. Cemeteries with unmarked graves, where desecration has taken place or where tragic events have occurred often become haunted. A search through historical records can often point a researcher to a haunted graveyard. THEATERS The entire range of the human emotion is expressed inside of a theater and this seems to attract spirits who use this energy. The theater also stirs a great love from many people who work in them and many have returned after their deaths. The saying goes that "every good theater has a ghost" and many theaters are prime locations for all kinds of spirits. CHURCHES A church also contains a lot of spent human emotion and can attract ghosts. It is also possible that some churches could have been built on the site of a place that many considered "evil". This would drive away the so-called "evil spirits"...although it is possible that the place was simply a haunted one. While churches seem like they would be a great place to conduct investigations, the same type of narrow thinking that labels ghosts as "demons" usually keeps the ghost hunter out of these locations. SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES Many schools have had tragic events that attract ghosts, either from former students or staff members or from all of the energy given off by having so many young people all clustered together. The best way to pursue ghosts at a college is to pass the word to a student or two that you are interested in hearing their stories (they almost always have them) or by talking to someone on the security or maintenance staff. Talk to a teacher or a custodian at the local high school or elementary school....l don't recommend hanging around the playground and asking the students. HOTELS Thousands of people pass through your local hotels and motels each year, so it isn't a far reach to think there might be a ghost or two around. You can do a little investigating into the history of older hotels and even find that a suicide or murder could have taken there. Asking at the front desk about ghosts wouldn't do any good but the maintenance staff or the housekeeping workers might have a good story to tell. Be prepared to spend some money though...you can't investigate a haunted hotel without spending the night there. BATTLEFIELDS AND CRIME SCENES These two types of locations are linked because of the tragedy that has tank place at both of them. These locations deal with a sudden loss of life and this can sometimes cause a spirit to linger behind in confusion. The tragedy and the trauma involved can also lead towards a residual haunting as the terrible events replay themselves over and over again. HOSPITALS AND NURSING HOMES These are places often overlooked by ghost hunters but I will guarantee that these places will be the hardest ones to get into for an investigation. It will even be tough to hear the stories and anecdotes from the people who work there. I personally know of four hospitals and nursing homes that have resident ghosts, from phantom nuns to spectral patients, but it is unlikely if any of these cases will ever be brought to light. The administrators of all of these places have forbidden the workers to talk about the strange events there. The workers that have talked anyway, have done so under the strictest confidence. If you ever plan to have success as a ghost hunter, then you have to first fine-tune your own skills and knowledge before ever attempting to conduct an investigation. One of the most important things for you to possess is an open mind. If you enter a location with a negative attitude, there is little chance that you are going to find anything. You have to be open to whatever phenomena might occur. On the other hand, the ghost hunter has to strike a fine balance... conducting investigations as an open-minded skeptic. This might sound like an impossibility, but it's not. It means that you should come to an investigation believing that anything is possible.... meaning that it is possible that the place is not haunted. In fact, it is probably that it won't be, as the vast majority of cases have entirely natural causes. There is also the chance that the case might be an outright hoax. While instances of this are fairly rare, it does happen and a good ghost hunter is prepared for this by doing research ahead of time and knowing what to look for. I have also encountered individuals who have invented the phenomena in their minds as a desperate plea for attention and a ghost hunter has to be able to handle that also. But let's talk about what to take with you to an investigation: The ghost hunter of today can be more prepared than ever with a wide array of affordable devices that have been adapted for use in paranormal research. The items that we will be discussing here are not the most complex or the most sensitive that exist, but they do fall into the range of devices that are affordable to the average person. The items in this "essential tool kit" can be purchased by anyone but all equipment takes practice and knowledge about how to use them. Never (and I can't stress this enough) go out on an investigation if you do not know how to properly use your equipment! THE TRADITIONAL OR INTELLIGENT HAUNTING : INTERACTIVE PHENOMENA This type of haunting is perhaps the most widely accepted kind of ghostly activity, although not as common as you might think. In this case, the spirit or entity involved is an "intelligent" presence in a haunted location. It is there because of a connection to the site of to the people in the location. This ghost is best (and most simply) described as the personality of a person who once lived and who has stayed behind in our world instead of passing over to the other side. This sometimes happens in the case of a murder, traumatic event or some unfinished business that took place in the person’s life. At the time of death, the spirit refused to pass over because of these events. The spirits often linger because of the emotions that tie them to the earth, from anger to love. It may not have been that the person did not pass because they couldn’t... it may have been because they did not want to. In other cases, there is the chance that the spirit did not yet even realize they were dead. This can occur when the death involved is sudden or unexpected. We have to remember that these spirits are now made up of the energy that once made up the soul of some living person. These Intelligent spirits are not evil or demonic, as some so-called experts would have you believe. I have never encountered an "evil spirit" in the time that I have been involved in this field. I have, however, run across a few "negative" spirits though, and realizing they were the personalities of people who were angry and bitter in life, I could explain the types of behavior they were manifesting in the location. Spirits are simply human personalities, or souls, and if the spirit was a kind and caring person in life, the spirit will most likely hang onto those qualities. On the other hand, those angry and cruel people will also keep those same qualities if they choose to stay behind after death. These negative spirits can be frightening, especially to people not trained in the paranormal, and in very rare cases they have been able to harm the living... but that is generally not the case. It is much more common to hear of an encounter with a benevolent spirit than with a negative one. So, what can you do if you if you get involved in a case like this? The fact that some of these spirits have remained behind because of some unfinished business is a hard obstacle to overcome. There are many spirits remaining in our world who have left behind relatives and love ones, or tasks which they feel cannot be completed by anyone other than themselves. They may not rest because of some injustice done to them or maybe because of something as simple as wanting to see their children grow up. For the most part, the idea of these spirits being still here in our world is actually very sad. In all of our excitement over finding a ghost, we also must keep in mind that many spirits are confused over what has happened to them, sometimes not realizing they are dead. Many of them died suddenly. Others cling to life, afraid to let go of something they no longer have. Because of this, they are drawn back to places where they experienced joy, peace and happiness during their lifetimes. Many of these spirits just felt they had too much life in them and have refused to pass over. These ghosts often need help to be convinced that they don’t belong here anymore. They don’t need to be exorcised (they aren’t demons), they just need to be shown the right way to go and introduced to the fact that there is now more for them in the next world than in this one. There are many different ways to accomplish this, ranging from simple explanations to perhaps a prayer from a clergyman of the spirit’s former faith. SIGNS OF AN INTELLIGENT HAUNTING The spirit will usually manifest itself in physical ways like slamming, opening and unlocking doors and windows; strange sounds; voices; cold chills and a strong presence. It may make itself seen and it will most likely look as it did when alive. The witness should be sure however, that the visible spirit seems to interact and is not just an imprinted image. The annoyance factor with this type of haunting will be very high as the spirit seeks to get the attention of the living occupants at or in the location. These spirits are known for hiding objects; moving things about; turning things off and on and other nuisances that would be similar to a child seeking attention. In this sort of case, the spirit may be looking for assistance to pass over or to accomplish a certain task. It has also been documented that the spirit may just be seeking company from the residents, or even from the investigators themselves. RESIDUAL & STONE WALL THEORY The easiest way to explain this haunting is to compare it to an old film loop, meaning that it is a scene or image that is played over and over again through the years. Many of these locations, where these hauntings take place, experience an event or a series of events, which imprints itself on the atmosphere of a place. This event can suddenly discharge and play itself at various times. The events are not always visual either, they are often replayed as sounds and noises that have no explanation. The famous "phantom footsteps" reported in many haunted places are a perfect example of this. Often the sounds and images recorded are related to traumatic events which took place at the location and caused some sort of disturbance, which we might call "psychic impression", to happen there. This is the reason why so many battlefields have become famous for their hauntings over the years. In other situations, the images have been created by events or actions that were repeated over and over again and cause an impression. Researchers have suggested that there exist so many haunted staircases because of the number of times people go up and down them and the amount of energy that is expended in doing so. These locations act as giant storage batteries, saving up the impressions of sights and sounds from the past. Then, as the years go by, these impressions appear again as if a film projector has started to run. How is this possible? No one really knows for sure but there have been lots of suggestions. Some believe that the building materials of the structure may absorb the energy. In England and Europe, some have suggested that the porous stones of the castle walls may soak up that energy and that may explain why there are so many haunted old buildings there. This might be the case.... even though it would not explain why we have residual haunts in America without the castles. Still, we should remember that many of these residual hauntings do occur in older structures, so there might be something to this idea. Personally, I think it is more likely that the number of people passing through old homes, and the tapestry of history played out in them, are the main reasons why these "hauntings" come into existence. I have another suggestion though, in which residual hauntings might be related to underground water sources. I have not done an extensive survey of such sites, but I do know of several residually haunted locations which are located above underground sources of water. One site, where I have conducted a number of investigations, is the old gymnasium at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. Over the years, there have been numerous reports of strange sights and sounds in the old gym and I have found it to be one of the most active residual sites in the area. As it happens, the gym was built directly on top of an underground water source. Around 1900, when the university was being built, the future site of the gym was a small lake. The lake was drained and forced underground, where it remains today. SIGNS OF A RESIDUAL HAUNTING Sometimes, this type of activity can make itself known in similar ways to an "Intelligent" haunting, but the most important signs will be different. A spirit, or an image in this case, will not interact with any of the living occupants of the location. The activity, and the sightings, will be random. There will be no missing items. While doors and windows may open and close by themselves, it will be because of energy expending itself and not because of spirit activity. Commonly reported in these cases are sounds of footsteps, walking and breathing and odd, usually repetitive sounds. Apparitions are commonly reported but they will not notice the living persons around them and will usually repeat the same actions over and over again. It is much more common to visibly spot an image in this type of haunting but remember, there will be no consciousness behind it. POLTERGEIST INFESTATIONS Poltergeist activity is probably the most misunderstood form of paranormal activity, at least in conjunction with haunted houses. The word poltergeist actually means "noisy ghost" when translated from German and for many years, researchers believed that noisy ghosts were causing the phenomena reported in these cases. It was assumed that the things which occurred in a house that was "haunted" by a poltergeist were caused by an outside force... but today, most investigators don’t think so. In a poltergeist case, there can be a variety of phenomena connected to it. The are reports of knocking and tapping sounds; noises with no visible cause; disturbance of stationary objects like household items and furniture; doors slamming; lights turning on and off; fires breaking out and much more. To early researchers, this type of phenomena represented tangible evidence of ghosts or even "demonic" activity. Today, it is realized that, while the activity is certainly paranormal, it really has nothing to do with ghosts. The current and widely accepted theory behind poltergeist phenomena is that the activity is usually caused by a person in the household. This person is usually an adolescent girl, and normally one who is troubled emotionally, who is unconsciously manipulating the items in the house by psychokinesis, the power to move things by energy generated in the brain. This kinetic energy remains unexplained, but even mainstream scientists are starting to admit that it does seem to exist. It is unknown why this energy seems to appear in females around the age of puberty, but it has been documented to occur. It seems that when the activity begins to manifest, the girl is usually in the midst of some emotional or sexual turmoil. It is also possible for young boys, and even adults, to be able to manifest this unknowing ability. The vast majority of people have no idea they are causing the activity and are usually surprised to find that there is even a possibility that they could be making the strange things to happen. SPECIAL THANKS TO TROY TAYLOR : CHECK OUT THE GHOSTHUNTERS HANDBOOK AT : http://www.prairieghosts.com/ |
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