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Storyteller's Cabin |
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Part Two - Hell Hole |
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Part Three - The Hunt |
Q: What is the mission of the Georgia Haunt Hunt Team? Are you trying to get rid of ghosts, communicate with them, or something else?
A: We're not trying to get rid of them. If a homeowner wants to get rid of them, there are other people who do that type of thing - Feng Shui experts, for example, and various psychics around, although I'd certainly get a reference before I hired anybody. No, what we're doing is documenting and compiling a database of everything we get. We'd like to see after five years time if what we get correlates - so far it does seem to be correlating - with reported hauntings and the symptoms, I'll call them, of a haunting that the people report, and what we find when we go there. And then follow up later on with what's going on in the house. And if they do choose to hire someone to send their ghost on - it could also be someone like a priest or a minister - then we want to know if it's the same phenomenon happening in the house.
This is of course after we've ruled out natural causes, and by that I mean bad wiring or earth tremors, which we do get here in North Georgia. Squirrels in the attic chewing on wires, that kind of thing. Once all that's ruled out, and if they have someone come in to clear the ghost out, we want to know, does it seem to have gone or not?
GHHT member Carol Bishop (arm raised) shows a reporter a drastic temperature change in the Old Athens Cemetery. When this picture was developed, a huge orb appeared where the cold spot was.
Q: What is the biggest misconception about groups like yours?
A: (Laughs) That we're somehow doing something to invoke ghosts, and we don't go there at all. All we do is come in and document and leave. We sometimes give people tips on how to deal with a ghost. All you have to do to deal with a ghost is talk to it. We have a lot of success with people telling an alleged ghost in the house that it's dead, or stop bothering me, you need to go on - that kind of thing. And then they don't have trouble anymore. Whether or not that's a placebo effect in the homeowner's mind, I don't know, but whatever is going on in the home will stop for a while, if not permanently.
Q: How do you choose a haunted location? Do you find them on your own, or do people come to you saying their property is haunted?
A: Usually people come to us. When that kind of dries up - there are times of year like the summertime when we have harder times. I don't know why - maybe people are busy and don't think to report hauntings as much as they do during the winter and fall. Then, if we're really itching to go ghost hunting and need a laboratory, so to speak, we'll either go to a cemetery or a well-known haunted location.
Q: Are there certain kinds of locations that are more haunted than others?
A: There are theories that it has to do, believe it or not, with the ground. That certain parts of the earth hold different charges and are either conducive to a ghost being there or not. A ghost, we think, is some form of energy. There are naturally occurring geomagnetic fields all over the earth - they're everywhere.
When a ghost is moving through an area, it seems to disturb whatever geomagnetic field is there and change it. We measure that on instruments that we use, which are electromagnetic field detectors. Usually, a paranormal event will happen in the 2-10 Milligauss (mG) range. And if that happens at the same time we have a 20 degree temperature drop, and somebody sees something like a shadow, and a dog or cat runs away - you know, there's a whole bunch of symptoms at the same time - then we'll take it pretty seriously. If it's in a house, we'll have to turn off the electricity to make sure it's not just something under the floorboards that the meter is picking up. But if we're out on a battlefield and suddenly we get something like that, we'll take it pretty seriously and start taking pictures.
This picture was taken in a Duluth, Georgia driveway - at the home where the murder of a woman had taken place years before. See the orb hovering in the tree?
Q: What other pieces of equipment do you use to hunt for ghosts?
A: We also use a thermal scanner that measures heat in the infrared range. We have a theory that most paranormal events as far as energy goes take place in the infrared spectrum, which is just below what we can see. Humans usually can't see in infrared. There are cameras that can pick up infrared, there are night scopes that dear hunters use, and you really can see these balls of light flying around with these types of equipment. So the thermal scanner also measures in infrared, and it will measure pretty far away from us. So when we have an abnormal temperature drop and start taking pictures, nine times out of ten there's something in the picture.
Q: How can a layman identify a ghost? What are the signs of ghostly activity?
A: Usually cold spots, which we were just talking about. We think cold spots exist because an entity is actually drawing energy out of the air to be able to manifest and do things physically. They also can draw energy from a person, so if you're fatigued and you go to the doctor and they can't diagnose anything, you may want to consider a haunting. We call this "Human Duracell Theory." You're used as a battery, or your dog, or your plant even. We think that's why we find so many of these balls of light around trees.
Other symptoms are walking through what feels like a prickly electric field where one should not be or is not normally. It really does feel like little needles.
There are also the typical symptoms - light bulbs popping at an abnormal rate, or violently where the whole light bulb is black - and this usually happens a few times in a row, every time you replace it, even if it's in different lamps. And of course, you have to call your electric company to find out if it was a power surge, but ruling that out, you may have something there, especially if several things are going on at the same time.
Things being knocked off shelves. Also, there have been incidents of ghosts getting into bed with people, or jumping on the bed. Pulling the covers off the bed is a big one. For some reason, if ghosts want to get your attention, they like pulling the covers off the bed. Those are the things that really scare people.
Tapping on the shoulders. It's really, really rare for an entity to hurt anybody. I know there are groups out there that have gotten reports of this, but I haven't. So I think we have friendlier ghosts than most states. They do sometimes try to get your attention by physically giving you a shove or a poke. And if they give you a shove, it's just enough to move your shoulder, but that's all. And we think ghosts are doing all these things because they want some answers. They don't understand what's going on with them. Why are you in my house, or, what's wrong with me, I don't seem to be able to snap out of it, or whatever. They'll do what it takes to get your attention, and a lot of people will interpret that as a malevolent being, or as something evil. But all they're saying is, hey, I want some answers.
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