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| THE BOOK THAT STARTED IT FOR ME |
Don't be fooled into thinking Ghost Hunting or as the self-styled experts like to call it, investigating the paranormal, is hard - BECAUSE IT'S NOT! Contrary to popular opinion, there is no rule book, no manifesting manifesto (see what I did there?) and certainly no degree or certificate on your wall is compulsory.
Don't get me wrong, you acquire skills and improved judgement over time, but that's common sense and eventually it will fall into place. You don't need to be a believer either, some ghost hunters / paranormal investigators are sceptics or sit on the fence types and even if they saw a whole Roman Legion cross they're path they'd find some reason to dismiss it. They should really be called: creaking floorboard investigators, or banging pipes hunters, they are insistent on disproving the paranormal, spending their hard earned cash in doing so. I would say WHY, but this is the paranormal and everything is fair game in this world.
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| CELEBRITY GHOST HUNTER LEE ROBERTS |
Whilst there are no rules, there are some snippets of knowledge that you can learn from others. There are not that many full-time ghost hunters, which we found out when we asked celebrity ghost hunter Lee Roberts.
"there are not many full-time ghost hunters", he said
However, If you are interested in the paranormal or supernatural, you may be thinking about expanding your interest into a hobby, or even becoming a ghost hunter, it is important to walk before you can run, remember it's normally dark at night, and if you run, you'll do yourself a nasty injury. Read on to learn some basic steps and tips, along with what & why you need it. It's sure to help you explore this highly controversial hobby.
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| HER ON THE LEFT MAKES GREAT COFFEE |
The first thing we would suggest is to try to find people to join you. Ghost hunting on your own is fine but who is there to laugh at you being scared by a cobweb or a tree? NOBODY and what bloody good is that. It's also good to be part of a team so that someone else brings the coffee and orders the kebab wraps from the local take-away. All essential pointers as to why a team of people is an advantage. Oh, god I nearly forgot, and you have extra eyewitness account(s) if anything supernatural occurs, how stupid of me!!
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| A DRAWING OF SOME GADGETS |
Equipment is neither important or necessary to every ghost hunter, but to some it is important AND necessary, we asked Celebrity Ghost Hunter Lee Roberts about equipment and he said,
"Equipment is neither important or necessary to some ghost hunters, but to some it is important AND necessary"
So, what equipment do I need, I can hear you shouting in your tens, remember you don't need to be a technical genius to ghost hunt, you need to have a credit / debit card, access to the internet and money to burn baby...
Obtain basic ghost hunting equipment such as:
- A camera is a piece of equipment that most ghost hunters start. A 5 megapixel camera is a good one to have. The better the resolution you have, the more detail you'll be able to see in your images and the better the resolution the more people can dis your photo when you share it on social media, with cries of "fake" and "it's obviously photoshopped" or they type "pareidolia" after checking how to spell it.
- A good digital recorder is needed to record electronic voice phenomena (EVP). Digital recorders from such manufacturers as Olympus, SONY, and RCA range in price from about £20 into the hundreds of pounds. Again, get the best one you can afford because the higher the price, the better the quality as you'll want a model that can record high-quality sound and the better the quality the more people can tell you how you've wasted your money before saying I didn't hear the words "Jack's hit", I heard "Jack Shit", before they dab you and walk out of the room.
- Not everything in the ghost hunter's arsenal is high-tech or requires batteries. A simple pen and paper are just as important on any investigation. Keep notes about the readings of your other equipment, your experiences, and even your feelings and better still during a break you can play consequences or make paper plains or something.
- Get a small but powerful flashlight, one that easily slips into a pocket. These days you can get a small 5 or 6-inch LED flashlight that emits a very good beam of light and if you are part of team it won't be long before someone says "hey is that a 5 or 6 inch LED flashlight in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?"
- If some equipment, such as your camera, have rechargeable batteries, make sure they are fully charged before the ghost hunt. You might even consider getting extra batteries and charging them as well. Many ghost hunters have noted (on the paper and with the pen that they've brought along (and have been frustrated by the fact)) that haunted places tend to drain batteries; even fresh batteries seem to go dead quickly. A ghost hunter would say it's the ghosts utilising and grabbing as much energy as possible from a varied range of electrical products. A paranormal investigator would say that you forgot to charge them up and completely ignore your screams as you see a whole Roman Legion passing by as they waffle on about Wi-Fi affecting this, that and the other.
- Meters for detecting electromagnetic fields (EMF) are also popular with ghost hunters on the theory that the presence or movement of ghosts might disrupt or otherwise affect this field. Imagine the conversation, ghost A: mate, what you gonna do, don't too much, you'll give us away. Ghost B: OK, i'll just move over to that gadget and i'll breath on it and make it go into the red. Ghost A: you sure mate? I mean, can't you just flick it onto the amber colour for a few seconds. We don't want to send them into full on excitement mote.
- Paranormal investigators use thermal scanners to detect "cold spots" on the theory that the presence of ghosts drains the ambient air of energy or warmth whilst others just prefer a red hula hoop from a sports shop or your kid's bedroom rest assured any pix taken this way mean it's a SUREFIRE GHOST, don't need no expert to tell me otherwise
- You can try to detect a ghost's movement with a motion detector. These gadgets are often used for home security, but the ghost hunter can set them up to possibly detect the movement of something that the eye cannot see. Particularly good if some members of your team are sleight of hand magicians, imagine going ghost hunting with Paul Daniels, Ali Bongo, Dynamo and David Blaine, I wouldn't know what to believe.
- Always have a first aider on hand. You never know when these types of things could happen. There's nothing better than when you've stung yourself on a nettle in the woods and the calming hand of a qualified first aider is applying a dot leaf to your legs or you've managed to "paper cut" your thumb and the selfless first aider rushes to you and before you can say "actually it's not that bad", you have a plaster over your cut
Gadgets are gadgets are gadgets and you either like them or don't like them, there's loads of them out there, we've not even talked about the Alice Box thingy, the PSB-11 thingy or the laser thingy, we will save those for another day.
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| DEAR GOOGLE, IS MY PARENT'S BEDROOM HAUNTED |
Find a haunted location is actually very important if you are planning on ghost hunting, although it shouldn't be too difficult to find a haunted location as anywhere has the potential to be haunted. Just listen celebrity Ghost Hunter Lee Roberts had to say about it,
"anywhere has the potential to be haunted"
be sure to obtain permission if you're going somewhere you wouldn't normally go. It's not very nice barging into your Mum & Dad's bedroom at 2am with your mates and your gadgets, because you've heard strange noises coming from there most weekends. Enough said. It would be beneficial to do some research on the internet, just remember to wipe your history before your friends use your laptop.
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| CAN YOU FETCH LISA, I'VE GOT A PAPER CUT! |
Visit the location and investigate. The most important thing about ghost hunting is ghost hunting, if you can talk the talk but cant walk the walk to the haunted location you might as well give up the ghost (see what I did there?). Remember this is your time, now. You've formed a team, you've spent too much money on gadgets and you've found a location, don't just sit around in silence afraid to say anything. Listen to what celebrity ghost hunter Lee Roberts has to say,
"remember this is your time now. You've formed a team, you've spent too much money on gadgets and you've found a location, don't just sit around in silence afraid to say anything".
Take pictures, record things, take notes, do what you want, when you want and how you want. Don't be scared by future social media premonitions like "FAKE" or "photoshop" or "pareidolia" or (get this) "auditory pareidolia", this is your ghost hunt, this is your paranormal investigation, enjoy, laugh, fart, burp and eat kebabs.
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| HMM, IT'S MY TEAM & HER PEN'S BIGGER THAN MINE |
Compare notes about your experiences with your team, online or with other ghost hunters & see if they can relate. YES, be different, actually share your stuff with other teams, what's the point of keeping it in house to be never spoken of again. Don't be afraid to be ridiculed because you will be ridiculed, don't be afraid to stand your ground, because you will be ridiculed, oh sorry, I've already said that, ah well it's worth saying again. Don't respond to any negativity, you will learn that through time is that silence speaks volumes, learn from the ghosts that are silent for 95% of your investigation.
I lied about there being no rules, there is one, just one that everyone should adhere too:
#dontbenormal BE PARANORMAL
Thanks to Wiki for letting us share and expand on this, we love you all, just some more than others.. Paul, Haunted Magazine
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