The Brave Mortal's Guide to Ghost Hunting

by Alex Matsuo

  Elizabethan England

  To get an idea of the beliefs about ghosts and the afterlife during Elizabethan England, you don’t have to look any further than the works of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson. Given that the era was going through religious turbulence with Catholicism and Protestantism going at each other's throats, people were often thinking spiritually. This was also a time when lifespans were considerably shorter and concerns about threats like the plague were constantly on people's minds.

  Let us not forget that in 1597, James VI (also known as James I in Ireland) published the book, "Demonology," catering to a very real fear of witchcraft and the devil in those times. Bless James' heart, but he really believed what he wrote, and the book played a part in the murder of hundreds of people as a result of accusations of witchcraft. Anything spooky was considered to be of the devil since good Christians went to heaven after they died.

  Shakespeare features ghosts several times in his plays like "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Macbeth," "The Tempest," and "Hamlet." With "Hamlet," I found it particularly interesting that the "Ghost of Hamlet's Father" is only known by that name. Why not the ghost's actual name? When I die, does my identity become the "Ghost of Alex"? It's an interesting question about identity after one passes on. In "Macbeth,” the ghost of Banquo was used as a reminder of the heinous things Macbeth was doing in pursuit of gaining power as king and ensuring that a prophecy by three witches was fulfilled.

  European Inspiration

  We start to find more modern ghost stories in 17th- and 18th-century Europe. The field of paranormal research may not have been known by that name, but as I mentioned before, we have been looking for answers since we developed the awareness of a potential afterlife. Two gentlemen often credited as people actively seeking proof of the afterlife in their time were Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer.

  Swedenborg was a well-known mystic, and in 1758, he published a book on his findings called, "Heaven and Hell." Not only that, but he was a scientist and an inventor. Essentially, he was a man of science who was seeking proof of the afterlife and believed he found it. He also believed that he was appointed by Jesus Christ to reform Christianity and that the Lord had "opened his spiritual eyes." Swedenborg was very much a Christian during his lifetime and managed to also be a mystic. Today, if someone claims to have psychic abilities, they are often either not associated in the Christian church, or even unwelcome.

  What is fascinating about Swedenborg's work is that he restructured the way people thought about heaven and hell. Instead of the idea of one heaven and one hell, he suggested different levels of heaven and hell exist, with that variation from lower to higher levels. He also believed that spirits were the mediums between God and man. Ironically, Swedenborg advised against contacting spirits, and yet, he has inspired thousands, if not millions, of people to do the same thing.

  One of the most famous stories associated with Swedenborg is the Great Stockholm Fire of 1759. He was all the way in Gothenburg having dinner with his friend, William Castel, and he claimed that he could "see" the fire. These two cities were about 290 miles apart from each other. It would take a few days to travel by foot and would have taken a considerable amount of time for the news to travel of the fire. However, Swedenborg's biographer believes that the prediction occurred about ten days after the fire started, and a messenger would have had plenty of time to deliver the news. So, even the most interesting legends have their mysteries solved.

  Mesmer is someone who is still cited and credited for his work in hypnotism. Mesmerism is one of the most famous concepts in paranormal and anomalous research that is still used today. He was a German doctor and also a man of science. Often compared to spiritism, he believed in the natural transference of energy between both animate and inanimate objects. This became known as "animal magnetism." These days, it seems that animal magnetism, hypnotism, and "mesmerism" are often interchangeable. Mesmer believed that hypnosis could induce trances and, therefore, enable and establish contact with supernatural beings. These beliefs and practices remain in our society and some psychic mediums who use this technique.

  The Spiritualism Movement

  Ghost hunting as we know it today originates from the Spiritualism movement of the 1800s. In all honesty, Spiritualism's roots date back to the 1700s and hit its peak during and after the Civil War. Because young men and boys were being shipped off to war, these families often didn't even have a body to bury when their loved ones were lost in battle. The concept of the "good death" was lost. Before the Civil War, people died at home and they were buried in the family plot. The Civil War took that away. Confederate bodies were often buried in mass graves or in ditches, and families were never able to locate them. Considering the number of unmarked graves from the Civil War, it's no surprise that there are many hauntings from that particular time period.

  Since these families were being plagued with a lack of closure, the Spiritualism movement helped mend those wounds. Even the most elite would host seances in their homes as people would try to communicate with lost loved ones. Even Mary Todd Lincoln held seances at the White House with Abraham participating. Spiritualism was such a popular movement that people were becoming overnight celebrities. The most popular Spiritualists were young women who overcame some sort of illness or near-death experience and came back to life with abilities. During public showings and demonstrations, these young women would speak in different voices, including the deep bass voices of men. Given that I know voice actors can be quite diverse and talented, this was an unknown phenomenon during that time. Of course, not all Spiritualists were mediums, and not all mediums were Spiritualists. I'm not denying the likelihood of hoaxes during this time...especially the ones that were regurgitating cheesecloth. Yet, we have been able to use some of their communication techniques in the world of modern ghost hunting.

  Stepping into the Mainstream

  Mainstream ghost hunting as we know it started back in the 19th century with groups like The Ghost Club and the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). The Ghost Club started in 1862 and members included Charles Dickens, famous for his paranormal-themed holiday book, "A Christmas Carol." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the famed Sherlock Holmes series, was also a member. He was also a die-hard believer in fairies, and it nearly ruined his career. The Ghost Club found its roots in 1855 at Trinity College, where students and other academics would get together and talk about ghosts and other weird anomalies of the time. The Ghost Club still exists today. When Dickens died in 1870, they did experience a bit of dead period, no pun intended. SPR came around in 1882, and there was some definite overlap there between them and The Ghost Club.

  When the Spiritualism movement reached its height of popularity, SPR took an interest in testing different mediums and spiritualists for the purpose of debunking and validating their claims. They did all sorts of things like poking mediums while they were in trances, fact-checking, even burning their skin to see if the medium would have a reaction. Needless to say, a few participants got some injuries from partaking in these experiments. Unfortunately, these experiments did not result in any sort of substantial proof of the afterlife, let alone that people can engage in communication with the dead.

  As mentioned before, spiritualists were making a lot of money from traveling and doing shows, plus doing seances in the privacy of people's homes. Some of the most popular shticks of ghosts, like ectoplasm, became a phenomenon. Most of the time, mediums were regurgitating cheesecloth from their mouths. You could argue that interests in the afterlife peaked in the Victorian era, which includes our recovery from the Revolutionary War and the Civil War itself. Naturally, interest in trying to communicate with the afterlife grew out of people’s sense of loss and grief. Even popular special effects for ghosts, like Pepper's Ghost, came about during that time. Pepper's Ghost included using a mirror and a glass front to create the illusion that a ghost was present. The best modern example of this would be the Haunted Mansion
ride at Disneyland.

  When it comes to the psychic-paranormal investigator dynamic, I will venture to say that Hans Holzer was one of the first to use this practice.

  Hans Holzer (1920-2009)

  I will always credit Hans Holzer as the "father" of the paranormal. He wrote well over 100 books on the subject, and his concepts laid the foundation for modern ghost hunting. He was also one of the first people to use a psychic medium on paranormal investigations. This ground-breaking practice -- unknown before Holzer started doing it -- was well-received on not only the client-end but also in the world of research. Holzer was able to communicate with his psychic in real-time and enrich his investigation of the haunting. One of his most famous cases was the Amityville Horror case, where he brought medium Ethel Myers with him as he investigated the amazing claims made by George and Kathy Lutz. He believed that ghosts were residual, or "imprints" left behind that could be picked up by people sensitive to the environment, while spirits were intelligent and could talk and communicate with the living. Between his multiple books, his TV show, and famous cases, Holzer not only opened himself up to bring awareness to the paranormal community but also to be criticized.

  I find Holzer particularly interesting because some of his practices and concepts are those I follow today. He was heavily criticized because he believed in spirit photography. But in Holzer’s time, debunking wasn't what it is today.

  Also, we need to keep in mind that even the most brilliant of minds can be fooled by trickery. Take Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for example. The brilliant author behind "The Sherlock Holmes" series believed in fairies and was tricked into believing that a set of photos of fairies was legit. Look up the Cottingley Fairies case, and you will see what I mean.

  Popularity

  In the early 2000s, "Ghost Hunters" premiered on television. From then on, the paranormal became more accepted and mainstream in the general public. What is really interesting is how people became more comfortable about sharing their own paranormal beliefs as a result. Before “Ghost Hunters,” networks had broadcast several television specials and short-term programming that included icons like Holzer and even the Warrens. But to admit that you believe in ghosts was like admitting that there was something wrong with you. People described being perceived as not as intelligent, ridiculous, or consorting with the devil. "Ghost Hunters" brought a taboo topic to light and showed the world just how the world of ghost hunting works. What made "Ghost Hunters" stand out so much, especially in earlier seasons, was how they would debunk their own cases, giving the audience a sense that ghost hunters had the ability to be objective and to think critically.

  As so often happens, the entertainment industry saw an opportunity in the show’s popularity and launched several shows of the same type. In the intervening years, many new paranormal shows debuted, sometimes as frequently as once a year. Some of the shows have maintained a steady audience and provide a dependable level of entertainment, while others enjoyed a fairly brief stint. Documentary-style shows became incredibly popular, as they featured stories from real, relatable people and not paid actors. Viewers saw the opportunities to also get their own 15-minutes of fame. I tip my hat to the people who were brave enough to share their stories with such a wide audience. To go public with your name and face about a scary time in your life is incredibly brave. As we have all learned through the struggles on social media, going public about something so personal can expose a person to brutal scrutiny.

  Overall, I think paranormal reality television has been beneficial to the paranormal field. The topic is now more accepted and exploring the paranormal doesn't seem to be so weird anymore. However, like with all things, the widespread exposure came with a downside.

  The Downside

  Sometimes, paranormal entertainment and beliefs can go a bit too far in the pursuit of ratings and create chaos and terror for people. Considering the profitability that has burst from the paranormal entertainment world, the industry has also roped in people who will blindly believe anything they see on television. This can be a negative thing, especially when a person gets to the point where they become fearful of the dust in their own home. Because television shows depend on something spooky happening with every episode, producers must work to create suspense on a deadline and in extreme cases, producers are stuck having to create their own ghosts. This is why dust orbs and moisture-based orbs suddenly became proof of ghosts almost overnight. When people started taking photos with their phones and digital cameras, they were seeing ghosts in every photo. Most of the time, these photos were taken in conditions that were favorable for these orbs to appear, and I don't mean from a spiritual sense.

  I often ask myself if something is acceptable as long as it does no harm. Should we allow people to believe that they caught some sort of paranormal anomaly when it is something easily explained? Or do we continue the hoax just so people can feel a sense of validation that there could be an afterlife? I'm on the side of pure honesty as much as possible, even if the truth hurts.

  It helps that I believe the proof of an afterlife is actually waiting for us if we are patient enough to find it. So, for me, claiming dust orbs are ghosts isn’t necessary to feel “better” about things.

  Story Time: This is a true story. One of my first investigations at the Trivette Clinic had us wondering if a small child was walking up and down the hallway on the second floor. We were trying to contact a child spirit by the name of Emily that may have been connected to a piece of furniture that was brought into the location. As we were asking questions, singing songs, and trying to play games, we hear this little sound. It sounded exactly like the patter of feet. Also, the sound moved as if someone was walking down and across the hallway in short trips, making sure that we really were safe to talk to. But I've learned that if something is too good to be true, it normally is. I started looking around the area to see if there was anything that could be making that sound. For a moment, I couldn't find anything, and I got really excited that maybe "this is it" and we were interacting with something extraordinary.

  Unfortunately, I noticed there was a moth flying around and bouncing off the lighting fixture. That was the source of the sound. As disappointed as I was, I'm glad this was noticed because if someone figured it out after I did, especially after I made a public declaration that I had proof of a ghost child walking the halls, I would have been roasted alive.

  CHAPTER SIX:

  HISTORICAL RESEARCH

  Historical research is one of those things that is often overlooked. We are living in an age where we are satisfied with a simple Google search and think that we have the information we need to go do a ghost hunt. But I've found that a lot of the ghost stories online aren't true. One of the biggest perpetrators is the haunted locations themselves. I have frequently visited sites where staff caught an EVP or some other “proof” from tech, and then try to create a story from there. Little historical research is done, and the history is more focusing on entertainment to build up that tension and fear before entering the building. We've often found that names were incorrect along with ages and nature of death. I have to wonder sometimes if that is infuriating to the ghosts themselves. To have their life story changed and skewed for the purposes of entertainment has got to be insulting to some of them. And yet, we wonder why we don't get any responses sometimes.

  Don't get me wrong, Google and sites like Wikipedia are a good place to start if you want to know the legend of the location you're about to visit. You can find leads to stories and then you can start digging deeper in order to verify whether that story is true or not. I find that looking at websites like FindaGrave.com is extremely helpful in confirming whether someone died in the time frame and circumstances that a legend claims. We've found that legends may combine two people and make it into one ghost, and the nature of their deaths is exaggerated. We have also discovered that an incident might have happened differently, or the perspective was off.

  Do Your Research

  The fir
st thing you should do is study paranormal phenomenon on three different levels; context, purpose, and credibility.

  In terms of context, you will want to understand why the ghost story exists and where it came from. Think about the time period the story is based on and see if you can trace back the story's original sources. Even knowing which time period that the story came from is useful and can help find out why the story exists in the first place.

  Sometimes a ghost story or even a reported ghostly experience can have ulterior motives -- for entertainment, to drive ticket sales, or simply to garner attention.

  Then we have credibility. When studying a ghost story, or a reported ghost sighting, think about who the person is that is telling the story. Are they employed by a company? Do they have experience in the field? Are they open-minded to possibly being debunked?

  For example, if someone is sharing a photo of a ghostly image, the first thing you'll want to look into is credibility. Does the person have a background in photography? Do they understand the mechanisms of a camera? Do they know how the camera tries to create an image? If you find that they are using the image to sell services, or for advertisement, then you know the purpose of the story.

  Regardless of whether you're taking a ghost tour, going on a full paranormal investigation, or even taking a guided tour of a historical location, do your research! I can't tell you how many times I was on a ghost walk or even a historical tour, and the guide was giving false information. This can happen often with ghost tours because they want to make the stories sound scarier and more interesting to the patrons. I found this happening often in Colonial Williamsburg with companies that weren't affiliated with the Colonial Williamsburg brand. There were a lot of holes in the stories, and when I asked my guide for clarifying questions, she didn't seem to know. I realize that tour guides are typically are working off a script and are supposed to say certain things in order to make people more scared. I'll go into this deeper in the Ghost Tourism section of the book.