There are 73 posts filed in Paranormal and the Unexplained (this is page 5 of 8).
<div id="txtd_20661900">Tis the season for spookiness, creepiness and just plain ordinary hauntedness. So, I started looking for Haunted Canada. Who better to find haunted sites and locations than a Canadian urban explorer? Sure, there probably is someone better, but I’m here.
You might want to try exploring and ghost hunting yourself. But, how do you become an instant expert on the topic of hauntings? Here are some guidelines to get you started.
Take these tips with a grain of salt. Most noises, lights and atmosphere can be explained once you start looking for a logical answer. I think this is why it is so hard to prove the existence of ghosts. There are so many logical answers. Logic is so nice, firm and solid. Meanwhile, everything else is just a feeling, something you could have imagined or something you want to believe in spite of the logical explanation.
I don’t know if anyone will ever find concrete proof of ghosts. But, they keep on trying.
Don’t go alone. It’s safer with an exploring buddy who can call for help if one of you has an accident, like falling through rotten floor boards.
Gather the gear you need: flashlights digital (or film) camera, tripod to set the camera on, extra lights for better photos in a dark house, sound recording device, temperature gauge, notebook and pen. Bring supplies for first aid and cleaning up after the exploring. Consider a back up for your camera and flashlight this isn’t the time you want a mechanical problem to keep you from exploring.
Don’t impede your own investigation with alcohol, smoking or long hair. Not drinking alcohol should be common sense. But you should consider the photos you will be using as evidence and make sure you get the cleanest, clearest photos you can. Don’t let stray cigarette smoke or long hair wind up being a ‘ghost’.
Find a place to explore. Get some historical background, talk to others who have explored there and get permission from the property owner. (If you are carrying a bunch of equipment into the house this might be the smarter way to go rather than risk having the police charge you with trespassing).
If you can, make copies of floor plans from the location. This will let you plan the route you will explore so you can make sure you don’t miss a room while you are there. You can also use your floor plan to note the exact area you found any paranormal activity.
Visit the location before you plan to explore it. Make sure you will be able to get in. You may need to contact the owner again for a key. You may find your information is out of date and the house has already been demolished, etc.
Don’t start out expecting to find something haunted, spooky, etc. Try to be unbiased when you explore. Don’t get into scaring each other for fun. If you are serious about detecting paranormal activity, approach the location like a detective or a scientist.
<img class="size-full wp-image-612 alignleft" src="http://unexplainedontario.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/paranormalcanada.jpg" alt="Paranormal Canada" width="260" height="137" />There are paranormal explorers all across Canada. Paranormal gets mixed in with everything ghosts. But, paranormal is a lot more than ghosts and haunted houses. In Canada we have a lot more paranormal, unexplained mysteries and mysterious monsters than you may think.I tried sorting paranormal and ghost hunter links but it became a judgement call based on very little for some groups, researchers and societies. For the links here I read through some of the site’s pages, recent work and blog posts (if there were any). Then I decided whether or not they were truly paranormal in nature. Most were focused on ghosts. I guess that’s where the money is for a lot of them. My heart is with the real paranormal researchers – those who have an interest in the weird, more than just the haunted.
One nice thing about a digital camera for paranormal exploring is also a reason I really like the digital camera for exploring in general. – you don’t need to get your film developed. This means you don’t need to spend money on film and developing film. You also don’t need to wait. You can take your camera home, plug it up and see your photos right the same day or evening.
Once you add extra memory to your digital camera you can take all the photos you would ever need from one location. I’ve just bought a new memory card which stores up to 2 gigabytes. I’ve got an older memory card on my back up camera, it only stores 512 MB. Still funny to think of that as only 512 MB. It was a lot of memory at the time I bought that card. (If you want extra memory pick up another memory card and keep it stored safely in your camera bag to switch it out).
Some digital cameras will have a feature which lets you shoot in infrared light, or even low light will help get you something. Flash is not a good option because it washes out everything with bright light for that one instant. To find out if you have infrared on your camera, read the instructions or check the camera manufacturers site for a list of features and how to use them. Most camera manufacturers will have a downloadable instruction guide on their website for each of the cameras they sell/ make.
The new cameras, with more zoom, are becoming bulkier. I bought one for the extra range when I am photographing buildings from a distance. Or, even when I am close to the building itself but want to get close to a feature which is high up or very small. So, for my outdoor work, the bulkier camera with the added zoom is good. You won’t need extra zoom for indoor photos, looking for paranormal activity. You may want to find a camera with a lot of shutter speed. A fast shutter speed means there is very little time between you pushing the button and the camera actually getting the photo. This means you can use a smaller, slimmer camera – which means it is fairly easy to be portable and slip into a pocket or purse. Nice for leaving your hands free when you aren’t actually using the camera.
Ghost walks (or ghost tours) are guided tours where guests are shown the haunted history of an area or a location. Ghost tours cater to tourists and are not meant to be as frightening or taken as seriously as an actual ghost hunting would be.If you want the reality of a ghost hunt you will need to talk to the ghost hunting or paranormal research group and ask to be included next time they go out on something other than a tour. However, you would have to be someone with more knowledge and commitment to investigating the paranormal than at the tourist level.
If you are already online the easiest way to find a local ghost hunting tour group is to try an online search. Open your search site of choice: Yahoo, Google, DuckDuckGo (a new search which I’ve been trying and liking), etc. Type in the search terms – "ghost tour", "haunted walk", "haunted tour", "ghost exploring", and then your local area which could be the town or city or the county you live in. Don’t restrict your search to a small area, unless you live in a very large city and want to find something right in your neighbourhood.
Don’t forget to check social sites like Flickr, YouTube and Pinterest for people who are giving ghost tours or have been on a ghost tour and given a review of their experience.
Also, search for paranormal seekers and ghost hunters in the larger area around you. Often they will have links to smaller groups in the area on their websites or blogs. This is a great help, of course, for people looking for local ghost tours.
You can also contact the larger groups and ask for information, links or phone numbers to contact any local ghost hunters who would give tours if asked or may already run scheduled tours.
Another way to find your local ghost hunters is to watch where local groups list their upcoming events. I found my local group listed in the local newspaper and a website giving free space to local groups to list their upcoming events. The ghost tours are a tourist service, a small business, so they won’t be trying to be too secretive, they want customers to find them. Ask around town, talk to other local business people and see what they know.
Here in my area, Barrie, Ontario, Canada, we have Doors Open, which is a tour of historical homes and places. The doors to private homes and businesses open once a year for people to have a look.
Look for tours of historical places in your area and ask the people who give the tour if any of the places are known or suspected to be haunted.
Talk to people in your local historical society too. Anyone with an interest in history of the local area is likely to know other people who share the same interests.
Try to find a group or individual who explores old places, not for ghost hunting, necessarily. Urban explorers like old places. They don’t focus on finding ghosts or any thing paranormal but they are usually interested and have stories of their own to share.
Is there a local group of Pagans, Wiccans or Witches? These are another group of people who tend to be involved in the local paranormal community. Chances are great someone in the Pagan community will also know about the paranormal researchers in your area. (Actually, they are very likely to be part of both groups).
If your town or local area has a Pagan supplies store, ask there about ghost tours. They will likely have a business card, brochure or something they can hand out to tourists looking for a local ghost walk.
Don’t forget a ghost tour is a business, like any other kind of tourism service. Don’t pay for the tour without checking to make sure you are getting what you want. Just what does the tour include? Will you need your own transportation between locations, if there are more than one included in the tour? Does the tour guide have a plan for handling things if someone gets too spooked out and needs a break? Will you get to see data taken from the tour and discuss it afterwards, like a paranormal investigator rather than being just a tourist sent on your way right afterwards?
Also, find out what you need to bring. Should you dress warmly, bring your own water or coffee? Find out what you are allowed to bring as well. Can you bring your own ghost hunting gear, if you have any?
<img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-53707" src="http://unexplainedontario.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ghosthouse.jpg" alt="ghost house" width="260" height="225" />How do you explore your own home when you think you might have paranormal, ghostly activity? What really works to find ghosts and protect yourself from them, before or after they have been found?So much of the paranormal ghost behaviour can be explained as something else. I don’t know how paranormal investigators who ghost hunt ever hope to find something that will be final and definitive proof of ghosts. It’s an uphill battle. Sceptics will bring out a list of very practical sounding explanations for any noise, shadow or movement in a building. Finding a possible unparanormal explanation is much simpler than proving there actually is something unexplained, something paranormal.
Don’t spend a lot of money on people who claim to know ghosts, spirits or all about hauntings. It’s too easy for someone to be conning home owners with something like this. There is far too much unknown for anyone to guarantee or promise any kind of service when it comes to the paranormal. People may offer to help you, but be extra cynical if the start talking about money.
There are real ghost hunters, there are real psychics but (in my opinion) there are no experts. We are all amateurs when it comes to dealing with the paranormal and the unexplained.
One traditional Pagan element you can buy fairly cheap and have a large quantity of is salt. Pagans use salt to purify their tools Salt heals wounds by drying them out and pulling the edges together. Salt is still used to preserve food by drying it out and preventing it from rotting.
If you are concerned about paranormal activity in your home begin by sprinkling salt around the perimeter. A circle of salt around the edges of your property or the outside of your apartment door, depending on where and what you live in. (Salt is not going to be a good thing for your lawn and garden – try to stick to pavement as much as you can).
Use dried sage and clear your home or room of negative energies. Burn the sage in a dish, something which will allow it to burn and smoke but prevent the fire from catching in your home. The smell may bother you, so crack a few windows.
Talk to your ghost(s). Speak politely, calmly and yet be firm. Ask the ghost to leave your home. Remind the ghost that they are no longer alive in the current world. You could carry on a monologue explaining your reasons for asking them to leave, apologizing for not letting them stay, and so on. Be respectful and don’t get upset or excited.
Write down the time, date and local weather conditions. Take time to observe the area for anything routine which could cause shadows or flickers of light.
Explain your plan to any ghost you hope will co-operate for a photo. Ask them to be available.
Keep a running journal as you take your photos. Make a note of which room you were in, where you were standing, the time and the temperature of the room or anything unusual like sounds or light/ shadows. Make a note about any feelings you had as you took the photo.
Check your photos carefully when you load them onto your computer. Something small could be in the background, reflected in a mirror or window or camouflaged by the surroundings.
<span class="removed_link" title="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatgrrl/8187622664/"></span>There are haunted house attractions around Halloween. There are old houses which people claim to be haunted and run tours in them. But, how do you find a real haunted house?Start by just searching online for local ghost hunters, paranormal researchers, paranormal societies, and anyone offering tours of your city or town. You might find a local ghost walk or haunted tour, if your town or city is big enough to have some tourist businesses.
The local museum and library will also know about houses in your area which have a history of ghosts and hauntings.
Look for online networks with people who photograph old houses, haunted houses or historical places. You can find a haunted house by networking with other people who are exploring, looking for the same things you are. (Urban exploration is a good way to find abandoned and/ or real haunted houses).
First, decide if you really do want to do this. If you tend to easily freak yourself out, this probably isn’t a good idea for you. It’s too easy to convince yourself there is a ghost, either because you want there to be ghost or you just enjoy scaring yourself in some way.
Don’t go alone. For one thing, you will appreciate having a witness if you do find ghosts or something haunted. It’s also great to have a second opinion about everything you see. Not everything is a ghost just because you don’t know how to explain it.
Bring all the gear you need to navigate around. If you go at night, traditional but less sensible, bring a flash light.
Don’t forget to enjoy yourself.
You may get a spooky feeling, but isn’t that what you were looking for? Don’t forget the objective. If you’re frightened, calm down. Become more analytical than emotional. Think of yourself as a scientist.
Keep notes about what you see, feel and hear. Take along a digital camera.
Make plans for doing something afterwards. Get a coffee along the way home. Give yourself a time and place to wind down.
There are places you would expect to draw ghosts, or keep them. Places like hotels, hospitals and prisons, where tragedies, dramas and big, life changing events and crowds of people hustling and bustling through – those are the places you would think to find a few ghosts haunting the building and the grounds.
Yet, some common, every day and random places can be haunted, or have people who have seen something, felt something or reacted to something.
People leave an impact on a place, even long after they are gone and no one quite remembers what happened or who it happened to any more. That energy sticks to a place. Like walking into a room when people have been arguing, you can feel the charged atmosphere and the sudden drop when things go silent.
I think this is what haunts a place, the charge of energy and the sudden drop. It’s as if all that energies charged up, was never grounded or allowed to ease off and dissipate Instead it was frozen in place, as it waiting for something else to happen to let it release the charge.
Each place has it’s own story and it’s own mood. Just as no two people are the same, no two haunted places will be quite the same either. If you find a place you think is haunted find out what you can of the history of the place and it’s people. Don’t let what you discover bias you as you explore, however. You might only find just what you expect to find that way and completely miss something really unexpected and unusual.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-10732" src="http://unexplainedontario.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/lochness.png" alt="loch ness monster" width="546" height="284" />via – Video: Has Google found the Loch Ness Monster? – Telegraph.
People think of haunted houses because they want to think every abandoned house is haunted. But, really, I think the real danger of an abandoned house is the actual house itself. Has anyone ever thought to make a game where the house is falling apart and you are exploring in the wreckage? With the addition of possibly meeting other people (living, not ghosts) who would not be happy to see you. Then, lets not for get the animals: insects, rodents and birds in particular.Having written all that… I’d love to play something like Ravenloft if I could play without needing a group of others and all that extra set up (dice, character sheets, kit, etc). Best of all would be seeing the map, with the layout of the house and then exploring to see each room in all the architectural details. You can skip the ghosts and monsters for me. I’d just like to see the house, even a fictional house.
Source: Haunted Half-Dozen: Six Unforgettable Haunted House Scenarios for Tabletop RPGs – Geekcentricity
I applied for the Paranormal topic at About.com today. But, I tried 3 times over the afternoon, the site keeps giving me a 404 error when I send the application. So, for personal posterity, here is what I sent.
Somewhere in Scotland. What an interesting little place. Likely the tales of ghosts and witches were based on suspicion/ fear and just trying to keep people from getting hurt in there. Now it’s locked. What a sad, and yet sensible, ending.
There must have been (or still are) other places like this. Is it even a well? Seems an odd structure to use for water, wouldn’t it get stagnant without some sunlight and air flow?
Below is the Red Well, said to date from Roman times, also said to be haunted by an old lady ghost and to be aligned for sunrise sunbeams on the summer solstice. I lived in Whitehills for a short time as a child and remember the beehive shaped building being called ‘the witch’s hoosie’ and kids shutting each other in there for ‘fun’. It’s now locked.
Source: going coastal – Ailish Sinclair
The following is cut and pasted from an abandoned site, on Tripod. I would have reposted more newsletters, but I only found two.
Welcome, to The STRANGE TRAVELER
Hi. I’m Fred, the Robin Leach of haunted castles, alien landing fields, mystical monoliths and really cool bars. You have just stumbled into the only travel Website on the Internet that takes a “Twilight Zone” approach to vacation planning.
This is how it works: First, dim the lights.
Stare deeply into your computer screen.
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Suddenly, you realize that the terse, thin-lipped agent marking up your TripTik is actually Rod Serling, host of “The Twilight Zone” and one of modern society’s first supernatural tour guides.
In your head, you hear his clipped, dramatically inflected words offering guidance in your search for vacation ideas that don’t center on theme parks, relatives or all-inclusive resorts:
“You’re traveling through another dimension – a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead. Your next stop …Alton, Illinois.”
Or Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Or Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Paris, Roswell, Loch Ness, the Nazca Plain, Stonehenge, Area 51, The Queen Mary or that spooky old house everyone whispered about in the neighborhood you grew up in.
The Strange Traveler thinks vacations should be more than sunscreen and lengthy discussions about where to eat dinner. Your travel tales should make jaws drop around the office water cooler, and widen the eyes of fellow parents on the T-ball sidelines.
You see, the world is filled with Strange Travel possibilities: destinations reputed to be haunted, cursed, charmed, visited by aliens, inhabited by monsters, worshiped by strange cults, or infested by vampires, faeries and zombies. Some of these places are the doorways to true mysteries. Others are heavily hyped tourist traps. Most have overnight accommodations, lots of local color, and at least one decent bar.
That’s where The Strange Traveler comes in.
This Website and its newsletter are your tour guides to bizarre, out-of-the-way destinations. This e-zine both guides readers to strange places they can visit, and advises them of the supernatural undercurrents flowing beneath traditional getaways.