Table of Contents
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1 The Basics of Ghost-Hunting 5
Chapter 1 Searching for Spirits: Why Do We Do It? 7
My Approach to Ghost-Hunting 8
The Search for Life After Death 10
Chasing Ghosts 11
Is All the Work Really Worth it? 12
Chapter 2 The Phenomenon of Ghost-Hunting 15
Ghosts in Antiquity 15
Egyptians 16
Arabs 17
Greeks and Romans 17
Scandinavians 18
Indians 19
Chinese 19
Japanese 19
Native Americans 20
Classic Encounters with Ghosts 20
The Drummer of Tedworth 21
Old Jeffrey 23
The Cock Lane Ghost 23
The Bell Witch of Tennessee 27
Spiritualism and the Beginning of Paranormal Research 32
Rapping with the Fox sisters 35
Levitating with Daniel Dunglas Home 41
Investigating the Eddy Brothers 46
The First Ghost-hunters 51
The Society for Psychical Research 52
Harry Price 55
Hans Holzer 64
Ed and Lorraine Warren 66
Chapter 3 Believing in Ghosts and Spirits 71
Incorporating Ghosts into the Christian World 71
Ghost Stories 72
Exploring American Belief in the Supernatural 73
After-Death Communications 73
Arthur Conan Doyle 75
Harry Houdini 76
A personal experience 79
Chapter 4 What's Science Got to Do with It? 81
The Relationship Between Science and the Supernatural 81
Testing for spirits 82
The role of spiritualism 83
Applying the laws of science 84
Science and spiritualism meet up 84
Sir William Crookes and the Paranormal 86
William James and "One White Crow" 94
Thomas Edison and Communicating with the Dead 99
Examining Mysteries with J.B. Rhine 102
Ghosts Don't Always Perform on Command 106
Adapting the Scientific Method 108
Using History as Science 110
Chapter 5 Seeing the Spirit World as Entertainment 113
Having Fun with the Spirit World 114
Writing about the spirits 114
Participating in mediums, séances, and spirit circles 115
Creating magic shows 116
Transforming into spook shows 117
Viewing Ghosts at the Movies 118
Changing Ghost-Hunting with the Internet 120
Watching How Television Changed It Again 121
Chapter 6 Preparing to Look for Ghosts 127
Getting in the Right Frame of Mind 127
Ghost-hunting with an Open Mind 128
Maintaining a healthy balance 128
Fitting into the scientific framework - or not 129
Achieving a balance 130
Things to Know Before You Begin 131
Gathering information 131
Keeping accurate records 131
Analyzing your evidence 132
Affording the research 132
Part 2 Investigating Ghosts and Hauntings 135
Chapter 7 Researching the Spirit World 137
What Are Hauntings? 138
Traditional Hauntings 139
Residual Hauntings 141
Poltergeist-Like Activity 146
Portal Hauntings 147
Demonic Hauntings 151
Common symptoms 152
My approach to demonic hauntings 154
Haunted Objects 155
The Dybbuk Box 155
The Devil's Rocking Chair 158
"The Hands Resist Him" 160
Robert the Doll 162
Annabelle 164
Chapter 8 Where the Ghosts Are 167
Finding Ghosts 168
Homes 168
Cemeteries 170
Theaters 171
Ghost towns 171
Schools and colleges 172
Hotels 173
Battlefields and crime scenes 175
Hospitals and asylums 175
Jails and prisons 176
Chapter 9 The Ghost-Hunter's Toolkit 179
Exploring the Basic Items for Investigations 180
Ghost-Hunting Experiments 182
Working with trigger objects 182
Testing for psychic abilities 184
Ghost-detection Devices: The Basics 187
The compass 187
Dowsing rods 188
Ghost-detection Devices: The Advanced 189
Using an EMF meter 189
Basic EMF meters 190
TriField EMF meter model TF2 191
TriField Natural EM meter 192
Using Other Detection Devices 193
The REM pod 194
Infrared motion detectors 195
Temperature sensing devices 196
Relative humidity gauge 197
Combination devices 197
Final Thought on Ghost-hunting Equipment 198
Chapter 10 The Dangers of Investigating 199
What Not to Do as a Ghost-Hunter 200
Health Hazards from Ghost-Hunting 202
Allergies 202
Dust and mold 202
Histoplasmosis 203
Asbestos 203
Carbon monoxide 204
Part 3 Putting Your Paranormal Research into Action 205
Chapter 11 Ghosts on Film: Using Your Camera to Capture Evidence of Ghosts 207
A Brief History of Photography 208
Capturing the light 208
Developing daguerreotypes 210
Working with wet plates: Ambrotypes and tintypes 211
Photographing movement 212
Taking snapshots: The rise of Kodak 213
Improving overtime: Further developments in photography 215
Advancing to digital cameras 216
Understanding Cameras 217
Using a camera in an investigation 218
Photographing the unseen: The history of spirit photography 220
Capturing ghosts: The strange case of William Mumler 220
Exploiting spirit photography: Novelty photos and widespread fraud 222
Gaining credibility 223
Photographing ghosts 225
Evaluating Anomalies in Photographs 226
Understanding orbs 227
Dealing with mists 228
Photography in Paranormal Investigations 230
Using 35mm cameras for investigations 232
Ghost-hunting with digital cameras 233
Using full spectrum cameras 234
Using Video in Your Investigations 235
Reviewing footage 236
Verifying anomalies 236
Analyzing Your Photographs 237
What to look for in paranormal photographs 238
When it's not a ghost 240
Detecting trickery 241
Chapter 12 Talking to Ghosts 243
Table Tipping 244
Automatic Writing 244
Talking Boards 245
The history of the Ouija board 246
Using a talking board safely 249
Understanding the dangers of talking boards 250
EVP - The Voices of the Dead 251
The history of EVP 252
Classifying ghostly voices 257
Experimenting with EVP 257
Analyzing your EVPs 259
Using Devices to Talk to the Dead 262
Instrumental transcommunication 263
Ghost boxes 267
The Koenig Generator 268
Spiricom 269
Frank's Box and others 274
Using the P-SB7 Spirit Box 276
Using the Ovilus 278
Chapter 13 Putting It All into Practice: The Paranormal Investigation 281
What to Do Before You Get There 281
Tracking Down Leads 283
Guidelines for Your Investigation 286
Setting Up the Nerve Center 289
Starting and Conducting an Investigation 292
Learning Ghost-Watch Skills 294
Chasing the Poltergeist 298
Examining the House 300
Investigating Outdoors 301
Tracking down battlefield haunts 302
Tracking down graveyard history 303
Investigating your outdoor locations 308
Going out in the Dark 310
Chapter 14 Interviewing the Haunted 313
Sample Questions for the Paranormal Witness 315
Interviewing Children 318
Chapter 15 Authenticating the Ghosts 321
Reaching into the Past 322
Land deeds and directories 323
Newspapers 324
Online resources 324
Architectural drawings 324
Maps 325
Biographical encyclopedias 326
Building permits 326
Photographs 326
Bringing the Dead to Life 326
Chapter 16 The Mundane Side of Ghost-Hunting 329
Building Your Case Reports 330
Picking a Case Manager 333
Organizing Your Records and Files 334
Releases and Permission Forms 336
Covering Your Assets 338
Chapter 17 When Things Go Wrong 341
Afraid of Ghosts 341
Equipment Failures 343
Weather and the Paranormal 344
When Spirits Attack 346
Faking the Ghosts 349
Chapter 18 Going Beyond Just a Hobby 353
Making Contact with Other Investigators 353
Building an Online Presence 354
Building a Presence in Your Local Community 354
Attending Lectures and Workshops 356
Starting a Ghost Tour 356
Part 4 The Part of Tens
Chapter 19 America's Ten Most Haunted Cities and Towns 363
Virginia City, Nevada 364
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 364
New Orleans, Louisiana 365
Hollywood, California 366
Salem, Massachusetts 367
Savannah, Georgia 367
San Francisco, California 368
Alton, Illinois 368
Vicksburg, Mississippi 369
Charleston, South Carolina 370
Chapter 20 Ten of America's Most Haunted Places 371
Goldfield Hotel 372
Washoe Club 374
Crescent Hotel 375
Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum 377
Queen Mary 381
Pennhurst State School 384
Bobby Mackey's Music World 386
Winchester Mystery House 389
Waverly Hills Sanitorium 393
The Haunted Museum 396
Chapter 21 Ten Signs Your House Is Haunted - and What to Do Next 401
Unexplained Temperature Drops 402
Electrical Glitches 402
Unusual Smells 402
Movement of Objects 402
Unidentifiable Sounds 403
Odd Behavior from Your Pets 403
Feelings of a Nearby Presence 403
Sensation of Being Touched 403
Seeing Shadows and Movement 404
Feelings of Depression and Sadness 404
Actions You Can Take 404
Keep a log or journal 404
Decide what you want to do 405
Contact a qualified paranormal investigator 405
Index 409
