Archive for the ‘Guest Blog’ Category
April 23rd, 2010 | 
Author: By Rick E. Hale
Paranormal Underground writer/Paranormal Investigator
Let me tell you a story, dear reader. A few years ago, a good friend and I felt that it would be a good idea to go to the parlor of a local psychic/medium and pull a Harry Houdini. We were going to take this lady down.
When we arrived at the small nondescript house on the out skirts of town (Why are they always on the outskirts?), we sat in my buddy’s truck and got our story straight. We decided that we would pose as a gay couple who were madly in love and desired to adopt a child to complete our little family unit.
We entered the paint-cracked door and discovered a small women dressed in outlandish clothing sitting at a table. We also discovered that it looked as if a ginormous cliche had descended upon the place and took a big old dump. Try to imagine if you will every preconceived notion of what a psychic’s parlor should look like. Got it? Good, because that is exactly what this place looked like.
Madame what’s-her-name, finally seemed to snap herself out of a trance and greeted us with a smile — sorry guys no cheesy accent. At this time, Russ and I launched into our spiel, and the psychic was extremely open-minded to our plight and offered us a ton of encouragement — not to mention a lot of great advice from her spirit guides.
After listening to her for about, oh 30 minutes, my buddy and I declared that we were not gay and that she was busted. “Madame so and so” became instantly flustered and made a failed attempt to back peddle her story. At which time, being the smart ass that I am, I said, “Betcha ya didn’t see that coming, Nostradamus.”
In the paranormal field there appears to be two schools of thought, and each one is just as equally passionate about their position. In this corner we have the scientifically minded ghost hunting group that feels that science, not mysticism, will eventually solve the life after death question, and they have absolutely no interest in using the abilities of a psychic medium. And in this corner we have the group that feels they can not solve the supernatural without a little supernatural assistance — the help of a psychic medium.
Fight!
No, just kidding. But both corners do make some striking arguments, and both positions, believe it or not, are right. Surprised? You should be, because this is coming from a former skeptic of psychics.
The scientific ghost hunting group seeks the best evidence and seeks to accomplish this task as objectively as possible. This group feels that the impressions of a psychic/medium are way too subjective, and this evidence can not be shown to the client. I have to defend this position. That terrified family who feels they are under siege by some evil, unseen force doesn’t want impressions, they want hard proof so they know and can prove to the world they are not “nucking futs” after all. However ghost, spirits, and demons don’t always play along and will sometimes hide from the EMF meters of a ghost group, and this is why a psychic/ medium is so important.
A psychic/medium, depending on their ability, can actually draw the spirits out and toward them — not to mention they can communicate with the entity and give the scientifically minded ghost hunter a good starting point. In the group that I work with, the two mediums that we have are both spectacular, and I have come to trust their impressions and admire their gifts.
When investigating claims of the paranormal, we can have our cake and eat it to. Psychics are an important and integral part of ghost hunting. It would stand to reason that if there are supernatural forces out there haunting people, then there must be folks who have the uncanny ability to speak with said forces.
Oh yeah, I was remiss in mentioning that my buddy and I had to hightail it out of the medium’s place of business when a ginormagantuan biker named Earl came out of a back room and chased us out threatening to feed us our testes.
It’s not the dead you gotta fear but bikers named Earl!
By Rick E. Hale
Paranormal Underground Magazine Writer/Paranormal Investigator
The investigation is finally over. You and your colleagues have spent several hours in the home of a mystified family who seriously want to know what in the hell is going on their home and why is this happening to them. You’ve spent hours taking a zillion pictures while traipsing around the house asking thin air, “Who are you and what do you want?”
The easy part is over; now comes the hard, and not too tedious, part of going over evidence.
You find yourself sitting at your kitchen table carefully analyzing picture after picture. You get a few unexplained light anomalies and a few orby-looking things that may or not be dust. Chances are neither you nor anyone in your crew captured that most prized of all photos: a full-bodied apparition.
And now it is time to turn to your trusty digital voice recorder, and when you least expect it, you hear it . . . that still, small voice that does not belong to you or anyone else in your crew. You listen time and time again — perhaps a dozen — times trying to make out what message the whispering voice is trying to convey. After all this you still can’t make out what the whisper is saying, and you throw your hands to the sky and let out an agonized shout, “Dammit, why do they have to whisper?”
If you’re anything like me, and I know you are, you have found yourself listening to that insufferable whisper. Why the whisper? Why can’t the apparition just speak loud enough so you can make out what it is saying because, after all, your client came to you seeking answers, and all you have is some mumbling spirit?
In the paranormal community, everyone has a theory why spirit voices are so difficult to understand, and hear for that matter. The most commonly held theory is that spirits, by their very “nature,” are parasitic and require the life force of a living breathing person to manifest. And that is, of course, including their voice.
Without us feeding them, they can’t show themselves or speak. It is the old saying, “If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?” That used to bug the shit out of me in philosophy class and still does to this day. While I accept this theory due to it holding water, I have a different theory that may just be the explanation for that insufferable whisper.
Imagine you and your buddy are standing on two opposing cliffs looking at each other across a vast chasm. Your buddy lets out a shout, and you can barely him. He knows that he is yelling, “After this ridiculous exercise, let’s go grab a beer.” However, what you hear is nothing more than a whisper and maybe, just maybe, you can make out a few words, hopefully the most appropriate ones . . . the grabbing of the beer.
I think this is why when we do EVPs, all we get on our Dictaphones is a small whisper — and maybe a few unintelligible words. The spirit or spirits are speaking across a great chasm of space and time or consciousness. They may be yelling at you to get the “f” out of their house or I’m going to kill you, asshole. As strange as this may sound I actually had a spirit tell me to get out of his house and called me an asshole on a recent investigation. They are yelling it, but we just hear a whisper due to this vast unbridgeable chasm.
For me, EVP is where it’s at. Sure, so many people love to pour over their photos and their video hoping they caught a full-bodied apparition or a zillion orbs swooping through the air. But when I hear that insufferable whisper, I just know that it will get my blood pumping and make my desire that much stronger to listen over and over again, even if I can barely understand it.
By Rick E. Hale
Paranormal Investigator
As paranormal researchers and investigators, sometimes we need to examine why we do what we do and ask ourselves a simple but fundamental question: Why do we hunt? Seriously have you ever really asked yourself that question before?
What are we really trying to accomplish when a person calls you and your team begging for your help because they feel that some unseen force is causing havoc and chaos in their lives? Why the hunt?
The organization that I investigate for, The McHenry County Paranormal Research Group, has a very simple philosophy on why we hunt, to help those who are not only living but those who are dead as well. We watch the television shows, read the books, and view video after video on YouTube, and the method of investigation all seems to be the same: The team is called by a terrified family, the team rushes in, takes EMF readings, does EVP, and after a long process of reviewing evidence makes the determination that yes there is some lost soul in the house that is crying out for attention.
And when all is said and done, the team leaves, never really bringing any resolution to the problem and not really helping anybody living or otherwise. I don’t know about you, but to me that seems to be a little fucked up.
If so much more is involved with an investigation, what exactly is that so much more? I used to be extremely skeptical of mediums and others who claim to have psychic abilities for two reasons 1. I’ve seen many a quack in my day and 2. I struggle with my own sensitivity.
You have to realize a ghost was once a person too, and they have carried their baggage beyond this mortal coil into the other world. They do have a story to tell, and sometimes being unable to tell that story is the reason they stick around.
After an investigation this weekend, I saw just how necessary mediums are when this particular entity was able to tell his story, and it would appear that by telling his story he was able to rest. We helped the family, who reports they have had no further incidents, and we helped that poor lost soul find peace. Mission accomplished.
However, sometimes it’s not quite that easy. Sometimes, a spirit or a group of spirits don’t want to go, and they have been causing Hell for the poor family that is forced to suffer their spiritual depredations. If these spirits don’t want to leave, how do you make them? I know that in the paranormal community some do not believe in the more mystical side of things and that’s OK. But trust me when I say that smudging or burning sage does work. Allow me to give you another example from one of our cases. A family claimed that their home was besieged by a number of spirits that were being downright douchebags. Scratching people, slapping people, stomping around, and causing a general ruckus. Of course, us techies did our job and gathered some fantastic evidence. But then it was time for the mediums, or Jedis as I like to call them, to go to work and the full story came out.
The main spirit who was causing the problems claimed that he wouldn’t leave because he liked what he was doing. This was not a demon or inhuman; this was just a dude, who in life, enjoyed being a complete and total asshole in life and still enjoyed being that way in death. So we break out the sage and sweetgrass and smudged the Hell out of that place. That was two months ago, and the family has had no problems since. Again mission accomplished.
Ghosthunting (I hate that term) is not just a pastime, and it’s not just a hobby. It is serious business when a family seeks you out and asks for your help. They are scared and desperately need assistance, but it’s not just them: It may be the spirit as well.
I guess you could say that this is the complete approach and should not be taken lightly because ghosts were once people to.
by Kim Kowalczyk, GhostBreakers
www.ghostbreakers.com
I already feel the tension brewing, the teeth grinding and smell the fear by those who really don’t understand what it means. In fact with the tens of thousands of ghost hunters out there these days there is an extremely small number of people who do. This is not the first time nor site this topic has reared its ugly head and each time it is met with the same reactions. People seem to think that standardizing the field of paranormal investigation means that they will be controlled and monitored and somehow stripped of their right to do as they please. There is nothing farther from the truth. Standardization is not for everyone and no one wants to force it on anyone. It is only for those who want it and be part of a group that can share and compare information by all being on the same page. Besides, people could do both. Be part of the standard and do their own thing separately.
Regardless of what people would like to believe, to date there is no official recognized field of Paranormal study except in the eyes of some in the “paranormal community” and I use that term loosely also. Oh, and no offense but institutions like “Flamel College” and people who throw out certifications for profit and other paper mills don’t make it an official field of study.
Right now we see thousands of people and groups labeling themselves as whatever they choose. Everyone, you and I included, are lumped into that group that was coined “The Paranormal Community.” Regardless of people’s experience, interest, etc., the general public still sees us as all in the same boat. A bunch of unorganized people and groups trying to get noticed. Standardization, would for the first time, steer Paranormal Investigation and splinter fields, towards being recognized fields of study and make it much easier for those serious about what they are doing to have their information, ideas, methods and findings, scrutinized and recognized as legitimate work in the field.
The next point that so many have heartburn with is who would make up this entity that would set down the standards and protocols. Well, the general comment you will always see from people is, “There are no experts of the Paranormal.” A very safe statement to protect us all in our personal endeavors but not completely accurate. Maybe not many paranormal experts but there are experts in what all people and groups say they do. There are experts in photography, audio/visual, lighting, educators, psychology, investigating, the collection of evidence and I could go on and on. These type people would be needed to form that entity. People not necessarily even interested in the paranormal but experts in their respective fields to separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak. Standardization is nothing more than organizing people and groups who want to be part of it and educating them in a standard way of collecting information so it all can be officially documented for all to use. Only if the field is seriously recognized by the main stream can it become a recognized field of study.
There are really more pros than cons for those serious about what they do. The real problem is getting people on board and getting someone to champion the cause. There is a lot more to it than this, and I am sure it will take a long time to hash out. It also seems that not only those in the general paranormal community but even those who profess to be experts in the field do not want this to ever happen. I can only wonder why…
Now, for those who have and will voice an opinion. Please remember the rules of testing arguments and one important one. You should attack the argument, not the arguer.
Enjoy reading Karen’s blog? Her new book, Avalanche of Spirits: The Ghosts of Wellington> is now available. Click here to buy.
By Rick E. Hale
www.paranormalunderground.net
The folks that I work with know what I do on the side, and many of them find my adventures in the world of the paranormal to be interesting. However, the other night when I walked into work and met a new staff member, I was introduced as “Rick, our overnight staff and an expert of all things that go bump in the night.”
I have to admit, this introduction made me feel a little uncomfortable. Please allow me to explain.
I have always thought that an expert was a person who had reached the highest levels of knowledge concerning a field of research or study. I have to be honest, and I hate to piss on a few parades, but when it comes to the paranormal there really is no such thing as an expert.
I love watching these paranormal shows when John Q Public is introduced as a parapsychologist and expert on ghosts and hauntings, or Joey Bagadonuts is introduced as an author and expert on poltergeists. With all these experts running around, we must really have this whole question of whether or not man possesses a soul, and whether or not that soul survives when we shuffle off this bag of meat and bones, sewed up good and air tight. Allow me to break this news ever so gently . . . we don’t.
Anybody who knows me knows that I am not a religious person; however, I do believe in a spiritual dimension. It would stand to reason, not to mention common sense, that some supermind lives and somehow rules that spiritual dimension. This supermind, whether it be a god or the collective unconscious, is the true expert in matters of life, death, and finally afterlife.
We, as finite beings, cannot fully grasp the pure mystery of the infinite because, unfortunately, we are not designed to do so. It is almost egotistical to call ourselves an expert in the infinite. I always tell people I am nothing more than a tourist trying to figure out, as Douglas Adams author of The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy put it, life, the universe, and everything.
Perhaps those supposed “experts” need to be a little more honest with not only the public, but themselves as well, and join the tour . . . because it is fascinating.
By Rick E. Hale (www.paranormalunderground.net)
When it comes to Paranormal TV, I am really not much of a fan, probably because I feel that these shows do not properly represent what a paranormal researcher does. However, every once and awhile I will catch myself (despite my better judgment) popping open a beer and sitting down to get myself lost in some para-reality television show that follows a brave group of intrepid ghost hunters as they wonder around some godforsaken building looking to find some elusive spirit that may or may not actually be there.
I watch as they whip out their trusty EMF detectors and digital tape recorders and begin the quest. Now it is true to say that every paranormal investigator is not made the same and we have our own methods to detect whether or not Casper and his pedophile uncles actually call the place home. After a few minutes of asking whether or not something is there and about a hundred “What the hell was thats,” the claws come out and sometimes nasty questions are being asked. At this point, what we are witnessing is provoking spirits, and this is not always a good idea.
Provoking a ghost has suddenly become the hot thing to do on these TV shows, and those who do it are actually pretty good at it. I used to do it until I was knocked on my ass by an inhuman entity; I can still feel the rug burn 17 years later. Provoking or demanding the spirit to perform like a circus chimp is really not the wisest thing to do only because, as per my experience, you really have no idea what you are getting nasty with, not to mention it kind of makes you look like a gigantic douchebag.
I have actually seen shows where investigators go into dilapidated Victorian Era homes and become demanding with a female entity that was said to haunt said building, and this is where being a supersized douche came into play. First off, women from the Victorian Era are not going to respond to course language and demands. If you know anything about ladies from that time period, they were just that, Ladies. Women from that time period were demure and had proper manners, and chances are that kind of behavior followed them into death. Be nice and be respectful and chances are you will get better results from such an entity.
On the other side of the coin, one other program showed how a group of macho dudes walked into the infamously haunted, Bobby Mackey’s Music World in Wilder, Kentucky, where the ghosts of former satan worshippers are said to haunt and may have at one time invited inhuman entities into the building. This is where provoking turns into a really bad idea. The investigators, after a long night of using course language, left with scratches, bruises, and probably a black stain on their souls. I don’t know about you, but I’m all about getting to the bottom of a mystery not obtaining painful reminders of the experience.
The founder of the group I investigate with said it the best: “There’s a man behind a curtain over there, why don’t we take a stick and poke him with it. He could be a man that is 5 foot 2 inches, weighing only 90 pounds, or he could be a gigantic behemoth of a son of a bitch that will appear and fuck your shit up.” I would have to agree with him. If provoking is a bad idea, there are other methods, such as drawing the ghost out, and this is where the difference between being a ghost hunter and being a paranormal researcher come into play.
A researcher will take the time to research a property and attempt to discover a name of the entity that may be haunting the place. With private reseidences, paying a visit to the local historical society is the way to go, and you can use this useful information to address the entity by name. Another useful method for example is trigger objects. Say you and the crew go into a house that is said to be haunted by children. Taking along balls or other toys is a great idea to draw them out. Or, you happen to be investigating a home that is said to be haunted by a veteran of WWI. Having a little bit of knowledge about the war and the places he may have served will definitely endear him to you.
When it boils down to it, don’t be an asshole to the alleged entity that is said to still be at a home. Just remember they once lived there and still may view the home as theirs. Our jobs as paranormal researchers is to get to the bottom of a mystery and perhaps even help someone, living or dead, out. Our job is not to go in like Dirty Harry, asking some ghost if they’re feeling lucky. My dear grandmother used to say, “You can catch more bees with honey than you can with dog shit.”
And yes, she did say this to a five year old. Lighten up!
by Patrick H.T. Doyle
Haunted Hoax
© Haunted Hoax, October 31, 2009 – Reprinted with permission
This has been a week of reflection – reflection about this field we’re in. I named my radio show Outlier because I’m stepping outside our universe and looking back in. I’m standing on the edge of the paranormal crater and surveying all that is happening and not happening. And for an hour every two weeks I’m sharing my observations with you. I believe that everyone should take on the role of an Outlier from time-to-time and ask yourself – Why? Why am I doing this? And why are others doing what their doing?
The main problem I’m seeing out there from my vantage on the edge is that this paranormal thing we have going on now is open to anyone and everyone. This isn’t a “field,” it’s a hobby. A recreation. It’s something cool to post to your friends online. It’s an amusement park open to the public and all the rides are free. There’s no order, no guidelines, no standards, and NO experts. It is the definition of chaos and it has been swelling for years now. Teams from one town are attacking other teams. Believers of one theory are bad mouthing to no end the names of another with a different opinion. There are no conversations. Just battles being waged behind the walls of computer screens and user names. Amateurs are learning their ways from television and the pursuit of fame and fortune has replaced the need and desire to find answers and uncover the unexplained mysteries of this world we live in.
Right now, with where we are in paranormal research, everything can be dated BGH and AGH: Before Ghost Hunters and After Ghost Hunters. BGH is when I used to study the paranormal during my free time because of my own personal curiosities. AGH is Haunted Hoax – where I have to help hold together something that I love. I am glue, duct tape, reenforced concrete because more and more people are jumping this run away train. And once it becomes overloaded with passengers it’s going to go flying off the tracks.
To be chonest, there are days in every week when I feel like dropping out of the scene. Then I can just sit back and wait for the titlewave of popularity to retreat back into the ocean. It would make my life so much easier and I’m sure there are more than a few people that would welcome my absence, but I’m too vested in this now. I’ve created something I believe needs to be out there for people to see.
I was watching the movie Hellboy the other night and in it the characters work for the governments, “Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.” Now that’s something I would be all in for. An organized, national group who are bound by rules, properly trained, and working as a tight knit group dedicated to a job. But oh to dream. We are what we have created in more ways than one and a big part of me hopes the ceiling drops out of this thing sooner than later. That the entertainment value of ghosts and hauntings will die and the stars will fall from peoples eyes.
Lets return to what we were – researchers, not reality show stars and special guests. No more heroes and gods. Lets lose the glamour so that the want-to-be’s will be disillusioned and lose interest. Go. Run. Return to your normal lives. There’s nothing to see here. Move along and let only those of us who truly, deeply and passionately love the paranormal remain to do what we first set out to do. Maybe then we will find the answers to the questions we are all looking for.
We can call this event the paranormal rapture and it will be glorious.
Enjoy reading Karen’s blog? Her new book, Avalanche of Spirits: The Ghosts of Wellington> is now available. Click here to buy.
by Regan Vacknitz
A.P.A.R.T. of WA
I posted a few comments on PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and was promptly asked by email, “How does this have to do with the paranormal?” The answer is within the first paragraph;
“Explanations of PTSD focus primarily on the way that the mind is affected by traumatic experiences. Theorists speculate upon facing overwhelming trauma, the mind is unable to process information and feelings in a normal way. It is as if the thoughts and feelings at the time of the traumatic event take on a life of their own, later intruding into consciousness and causing distress.”
When a client calls a team into their home, more often then not we are the last resort this family faces. Having an entity in the house is a form of trauma. Every sound, every shadow, every unexpected event becomes a hostile anticipation; whether or not the entity is “real”, the family believe it is.
After living either weeks, months or years with their entity they eventually become unable to process information and feelings rationally. As a paranormal investigator it is exigent that we look at the possibility that the clients are suffering from PTSD. Do not, under any circumstance, go into an investigation with the ideas put forth by the paranormal television programs; prove or disprove the existence.
Whether or not we believe there is a haunting, the client does! (Hence their calling you into their home to help them.)
Notice that in the article it discusses hormonal systems, and normal stress reactions causing a false alarm:
( http://www.bigorb.com/orb/article/view.php?id=543&article_id=1889 )
“For example, there is evidence that a hormonal system known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis becomes disrupted in people with PTSD. This system is involved in normal stress reactions, and its disruption in people with PTSD can again be conceptualized as a kind of “false alarm”.
Think about a family scenario that has an already hyper-hormonal teenager? How much of their hormones are escalating the situation; thus causing the family to be on edge creating a more false alarm situation?
Here are some signs of PTSD; ask yourself and your team, do you consider these when doing an intake?
Re-experiencing the traumatic event
* Intrusive, upsetting memories of the event
* Flashbacks (acting or feeling like the event is happening again)
* Nightmares (either of the event or of other frightening things)
* Feelings of intense distress when reminded of the trauma
* Intense physical reactions to reminders of the event (e.g. pounding heart, rapid breathing, nausea, muscle tension, sweating)
PTSD symptoms of avoidance and emotional numbing
* Avoiding activities, places, thoughts, or feelings that remind you of the trauma
* Inability to remember important aspects of the trauma
* Loss of interest in activities and life in general
* Feeling detached from others and emotionally numb
* Sense of a limited future (you don’t expect to live a normal life span, get married, have a career)
PTSD symptoms of increased arousal
* Difficulty falling or staying asleep
* Irritability or outbursts of anger
* Difficulty concentrating
* Hypervigilance (on constant “red alert”)
* Feeling jumpy and easily startled
Other common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
* Anger and irritability
* Guilt, shame, or self-blame
* Substance abuse
* Depression and hopelessness
* Suicidal thoughts and feelings
* Feeling alienated and alone
* Feelings of mistrust and betrayal
* Headaches, stomach problems, chest pain
Posted in Blog, Guest Blog | 
Tags: APART of WA, haunting, paranormal, paranormal investigation, post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, PTSD and the paranormal | 
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