We The Haunted

Honestly, the posting will pick up soon. I’ve been on vacation, and spent a lot of time on my personal tumblr.

Please note that I received this along with last week’s post from ghosthuntingsecrets.com. They are emailed to me.

EVP is speech (or speech-like sounds) heard on electronic devices, but not heard in the environment at the time they are recorded. In EVP recordings, human-sounding voices will actually respond to questions posed by investigators, comment on situations, and will sometimes address paranormal investigators by name. These voices have been recorded on a variety of electronic devices such as tape recorders, digital voice recorders, and video recorders. Strangely, the voices are not heard at the time of the recording—-it is only when the recording is played back that the voices are heard. There are hundreds of these voices documented - maybe even thousands. Researchers all over the world are capturing EVP’s, and many of these voices have accents, and show strong emotion. These voices can respond to you, answer questions, and even ask questions of their own. So, what does an EVP recording sound like? Here are a few examples…

EVP AUDIO RECORDINGS:

1. South Jersey Ghost Research recorded this EVP at Fort Mifflin, an old army fort. The voice seems to be that of a sentry in Fort Mifflin. There is a loud thump, like a boot or rifle butt slapping the floor and then a man’s voice says “Who goes there?”

2. Here is another audio from the investigation at Fort Mifflin (recorded by South Jersey Ghost Research). On this EVP, you can hear a female voice saying “Come my children.”

3. A new paranormal investigator sent me this pretty clear EVP recording that he captured at a local cemetery. In this EVP, a voice says “I Will” when asked if anyone wants to talk.

4. The Allegheny Mountain Ghosthunters have captured some pretty clear (and diverse) EVP’s. Want to capture EVP recordings of your own? Click here for 6 Tips to Capture EVP Audio Recordings…

TODAY’S HAUNTED LOCATION 

The Ohio State Reformatory (located in Ohio, just outside Mansfield) is well-known for its paranormal activity. According to reports, many ghosts haunt the prison—-too many to properly catalog. The most common occurrence seems to be voices around the old superintendent’s quarters, possibly remnants from past deaths or the questionable suicide of the superintendent’s wife. The Chapel is also an area of high paranormal activity. Orbs, mists, equipment failures, and mysterious shadows are just some of the strange events that occur here. The basement of the prison is a dark series of hallways where the ghost of a young man is often seen running away from visitors. Chris Woodyard reports a sad, whiny ghost and a big, burly one, as well as two ghostly men fighting beside the pond out front, and numerous apparitions in the old chapel. Nearby, keep an eye out for the ghost of Reformatory Road, which runs beside the prison pond. The building is no longer a prison, and is currently owned by The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society. The Society offers summer ghost tours and seeks donations to preserve the site. Visitors report a wide variety of phenomena. The most common report is the sensation of being touched by invisible hands.

(Source: ghosthuntingsecrets.com)

1.  Patience.  Ghost hunting is a lot like fishing - you need patience because you won’t always see results immediately.  On some investigations, you’ll find paranormal activity. On others, you won’t. Sometimes what you thought was paranormal can be explained by natural causes. Be patient and understand that you may need to visit a haunted location several times before you experience anything unusual.    2.  Plenty of flashlights.  Always bring plenty of flashlights, along with extra batteries.  You do not want your light source dying on you, in the middle of an investigation!

3.  Audio Recorder (Digital, preferably). This is a tool that I always take with me.  If you plan to capture EVP’s or record sounds, a digital audio recorder is a must-have tool.

4. Your ID. Always carry ID in case you are stopped by the police or local law enforcement.    

5.  A Log book.  Always log every event that seems out of the ordinary, (doors that lock, electrical problems, swaying chandeliers, strange lights). Videotape everything for proof. Assign someone in your group to be the “secretary” to record all the details of the investigation.

Details to record include who is participating, changes in temperature, weather, location, and date and time of any happenings that may take place - including who witnessed them. Be sure to walk through the site beforehand to record your thoughts and feelings that you (or any of your team members) may be getting from that particular site. I find it is often easier to keep an audio “logbook” instead of a written log.  Although, the two can be used together.     

6. EMF Meter (Electromagnetic Field Meter). An EMF meter measures electromagnetic radiation, and can be a very useful tool. Usually, areas of paranormal activity produce strong electromagnetic fields, and have high EMF readings. Be careful, though. EMF meters can produce false positives. Man-made electrical sources such as power lines, appliances, cell phones, and fuseboxes, can give off strong EMF readings. Before assuming paranormal activity, check to see if the cause could be a man-made electrical source.

One strong indication of paranormal activity is EMF’s that move. (The background needs to remain constant in order to locate such fields.) Usually, these EMF’s will either move away from you, or follow you. In one case, I was able to follow a moving EMF through three floors of a building.  
7.  A camera - Bring either a digital camera or a 35 mm camera. If
you use a 35 mm camera, bring several fresh rolls of high-speed
film. For best results, use 400 speed film or higher. If you use a
digital camera, use the highest resolution and make sure the memory
stick is empty (or has enough storage capacity).  

8.  Video camera.  Always use clean, new discs for your camcorder.
If you are filming a designated room/area, place the video camera on a tripod for stability and ease of use. 

9. Food, snacks, and drinks.  Make sure you pack plenty of food and drinks. This may seem trivial, but many a ghost hunt has ended because of lack of food. Sometimes it’s difficult to predict how long an investigation will take. So, come prepared! 

10.  An open mind.  Investigate each location with a positive attitude, an open mind and a healthy dose of skepticism. Try to recreate all reported paranormal events and eliminate any natural causes before drawing a final conclusion.   A couple of other tips…   Arrive early with your necessary ghost hunting equipment, and give yourself plenty of time to set everything up. Wear sneakers and warm, comfortable clothing with extra pockets. If you need extra pockets, you can buy a fisherman’s vest (available at WalMart for about $15.00). These vests are lightweight, fit over a bulky sweatshirt, and provide lots of pockets to store batteries, discs, audio recorders, cameras, etc. There’s even a clip to attach a flashlight to.   Have fun!    

Try checking old photo albums for anomalies or orbs. You honestly never know what you can find.

I’m making notes to do it for myself.

Also, so for so little updating. We’ve had little chances for serious endeavors since my car has been out of commission.

HOPEFULLY next week on my vacation I will rounding up the various far-flung members for We the Haunted and will make several trips farther away, including Bankhead if we can find a car with 4-wheel drive.

Any locals interested in joining are more than welcome. You can text me or send me a message here or to my email.

Remember to bring:

• a notebook
• a jacket
• a camera if you can
• a sound recorder would be MORE than welcome
• sturdy and comfortable shoes
• ID
• phone

Our next adventure went to Ada Hannah, which we know is not haunted, but we were going to just go out and about anyway for some kicks. Nobody was really feeling it because we had all expected to go to Bankhead.

We get there and there is a car parked there.

Now, this has never happened to me. I’ve never just happened upon someone in my ghost hunting adventures.

We’re pretty sure it was a group of high school football players.

Hehehehe.

And of course, being the terrible kids we are, we rolled down the windows and honked the horn, screamed and acted very stupid.

(I promise we are serious about our research; this was just too good of an opportunity to pass up!)

We roll past them and the school at least five times, then crawl down the road and waited.

Sure enough they come flying out of the road, and we fly away too.

So here we are, three women under 20 are zooming away from our pursuers in an older model mini van, doing at least 90 mph and scared out of our wits.

We might be fantastic.

We visited a new cemetery in a rural town about 20 miles away from our home. It had a lot of old graves, some dated as early as 1819. It was very well taken care of, and actually had a lot of interesting things I’d like to go look at during the day.

One such thing as a woman’s headstone with a Free Mason symbol engraved above her name. There were also several older graves with the reasons the people had died; I would like to go back sometime soon and photograph them to show you all.

The creepiest thing was a grave that had a small white shelter built around it; it was only a roof and some fencing but it gave me a very creepy feeling. I wanted away from it.

There were no truly good pictures to be had, not even an orb.

This, however, intrigues me. Graveyards themselves are not usually haunted; ghosts usually go for the places they died, or ones that were important to them. I mean, who would want to hang around a field full of dead folks?

But usually there is something, an orb, a smell, a feeling, even if it’s only residual energy from mourners or whatnot. However, this place was almost … a dead zone. Save for the one little building. I would very much like to investigate further.

cuppickaesex asked: when i was a kid i could hiccup in the middle of the night and my mom would wake up instantly and come check on me. (<--keep in mind). the house we had lived in for a few months wasnt what you would call haunted but it was old. the house was built in the 1920's. well an old family member died in the house back in the day and the funeral was held in the room that i slept in every night. one night i woke up and needed a drink of water...so i got out of bed and took bun bun (my fav syuffed animal/puppet) with me. i sat her on the kitchen table and i opened the fridge to quench my thirst. i felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck as i slowly turned my head to see what was makeing me feel so uneasy. and i have never seen a pic of my great great uncle floyd...but i instantly knew it was him. he verbaly asked for the pair of glasses on the kitchen table and i screamed bloody murder...left bun bun on the table and ran into the bedroom and locked the door....my mom never herd me...nor did my father....it still messes with me to this day.

That is very frightening. I’ve never personally saw any spirits of my family, but after my Aunt Tina died, I could hear her talking to me for months afterward.

shortfusesonfire asked: As promised, Tana. :)

This was at the peak of my insomnia and nightmares.

My family and I were driving somewhere in the country and I remember screaming "WE NEED TO STOP, IT'S INSIDE ME, STOP NOW!!!" My mom's boyfriend stopped and there was a field of what looked to be like wheat, really tall wheat. At the top of a hill in the field was a decrepit house. He said we'd go in there to take it out. We go inside and he said once it's out you have to burn it. There were other people around. All of sudden someone walks up to me and screams "THE POWER OF THE LORD COMPELS YOU!" I start writhing in pain and out comes a small piece of clear plastic shaped like a circle covered in black goo. It's not easy to incinerate it either. This "demon" then starts jumping from person to person and I'm running around exorcising all these people and setting what they spit out on fire. Then it come to this one little girl, maybe about 5 or 6 in age with long, beautiful blonde hair that's pulled in a tight ponytail. [Reminded me of a horses tail]. I know it's in her and I go to her and scream "THE POWER OF THE LORD COMPELS YOU!" and nothing. I then scream, "I COMMAND YOU TO SET HER FREE!" The little girl looks at me and speaks to me in man's voice, "Oh, is that so?" As she turns to walk away I catch glimpse of her hair and see the devil's face in the thickest part of her ponytail smiling at me.

That’s some serious shit, darlin.