by Alex Matsuo
Even if you can only take thirty minutes or an hour to research your location's history, you can discover vital information to enrich your experience as you ghost hunt. As mentioned earlier, go beyond the first page of Google. Use the newspaper and grave archives. Don't take the location's history page at face value. We use them as a starting point with my team, and then we start verifying whether the stories are true. For example, we research the names that are mentioned and verify whether that person existed. If we have time, we will even try to see if the people involved in their situation are still around depending on the year the incident occurred.
For example, the mystery of Gina Hall's murder still plagues St. Albans Sanatorium today. One of my historians managed to find other pages discussing Gina's death and happened to see a comment from a former investigator on the case. They found out that this investigator believes that Gina's body is in the concrete foundation of the new building, the psychiatric expansion, right next to St. Albans. At the time of Gina's murder, it is believed that the new building was in the process of being built, and they were pouring concrete down at the time she died. This provided us some leading questions in the event we believed that we were talking to Gina. This same historian also found out that the killer, Stephen Epperly, worked for the construction company that was in charge of the new building construction. There are some questions in terms of the timeline of the building opening and when Gina disappeared, so this is merely a theory. Others believe that Epperly disposed of Gina's body in the incinerator at St. Albans since he was familiar with the building.
This is a good example of doing research well beyond the front pages and digging deeper. This will not only give you more context in terms of what may have happened to the person that you're communicating with, but it will give you conversation starters. Of course, that ghost may not feel like talking about their death, and that is okay.
Beyond the Books
Another thing to look at is not only the incidents that happened at your location of interest but also the historical context. For example, if you're investigating a location that is haunted by Civil War soldiers, then knowing 19th-century practices, politics, and other social rules of the time may be effective in establishing productive communication. While I'm not sure if ghosts from the past understand our slang and language of today, I'm going to default to presenting something from their time for context. When we investigated the USS North Carolina, we found that the sailors and marines on board weren't interested in talking about World War II. Instead, they wanted to flirt with the women. It probably helped that we were dressed in clothes from the 1940s. We also brought photos of pin-up girls, cigarettes (didn't smoke them of course), and even a little bit of booze. We wanted to use contextual objects and activities that would get the ghosts on board talking. It turned out to be productive, as someone's skirt got lifted up while she was flirting, and we were getting all sorts of activity throughout the evening. What was truly interesting was that the activity stopped around 11pm and it resumed around 5am. Ironically, this would have been the time that the sailors were all sleeping, so it would make sense that there wasn't much activity around this time.
Reading Historical Documents
This next part can be tricky. Let's say you are able to go through the archives of your local library or historical society. Or, you've gotten that online membership that gives you access to records that you thought were long gone. If you have dabbled in this before, you might notice that sometimes reading these historical artifacts is like reading another language. Because context changes so much over time, you might end up misinterpreting documents if you only go by what you know in terms of the present.
If you have a love of history, and you want to integrate it into the paranormal, the two fields truly go hand in hand. Reading primary sources is certainly preferred instead of second-hand information. We also need to revisit purpose, context, and credibility, and let's add "argument" to the list of things to keep in mind when studying historical documents.
To get the most out of your research, you will want to read documents with an open mind and not see any single version as complete truth. Of course, you'll want to keep primary-source information close by as you are studying the available resources for historical context. But keep in mind that historical documents are ultimately created by a human capable of flaw and error. Even just going back half a century resulted in flawed historical documents. In this situation, I found myself having to play detective and create my own conclusion as to why certain events happened.
You will also want to find multiple documents of the same event to see how all of these pieces fit in with each other.
I will say that if you can go into genealogy, or make friends with a genealogist, your world of historical research will open up to wondrous possibilities. Genealogists are able to piece together information about families and how the family dynamic was related to historical events. I find this information incredibly useful for ghost hunting. For one, I want to know as much as I can about the history of the location, including the people who inhabited it. Genealogical information also reminds me that the ghosts were once real people with families of their own. It's a good reminder that we are still talking about someone's relative, which is a fact that is often lost with modern ghost stories.
When you're reading historical documents, you'll notice that the dates are often written out as day - month - year. If you're from anywhere outside of the United States, this won't be new information. You'll also want to find a wife's maiden name before trying to search for her under her married name. Multiple people with the same name were common, and you might find the wrong spouse and accidentally link them with their cousin. When it comes to research what state the family or the haunted location is in, you'll want to write out the entire state name or the abbreviations. You do not want to use the two-letter state code.
Types of Records
You will find a wide variety of records that can be helpful in collecting historical documentation. Below are a few of the common sources for finding the context of a story. In some cases, you will be able to skip some steps of your research if you know what kind of information you're looking for.
Newspapers - Typically the first place I look for information, newspapers typically publish engagements, weddings, births, and deaths. They may even have information on events like dates, locations, and other tidbits. Expanding your reading into the headlines of the editions you find will also let you know what was happening in the community around the events you find, giving you needed insight into the context of events.
Census - Census records can provide a lot of information including who is living in a household. But it's important to note that from 1790 until 1850, the census only listed the head of the household and tabulated the rest of the family by age. After 1850, the census gave us much more useful information like names, gender, occupation, and more. This is a great resource when you want to know where someone lived during specific periods, their age at the time, and who was living with the family. Census records, which are gathered every ten years, become available to the public after 72 years.
Cemeteries - The information gathered in cemeteries can be quite nuanced and can add layers to the context of your story. Even in the most straight-forward cemetery research, you will be able to find birth and death dates, as well as full names. Websites like FindaGrave.com has saved me a tremendous amount of time looking for burial records. Most entries will have photos of the grave itself so you can read the headstone. However, in addition to this basic data, you can also see evidence of family relationships from the placement of the graves, find information about infant and child deaths that may not have been accurately recorded in official documents, and gain insight into the person’s wealth and social standing from how grand their plot is. If the cemetery is on holy ground, you can also learn about their religious affiliation and sometimes the circumstances of their death. I find family plots incredibly helpful in ma
king sure I've tracked down the right people. You will want to make note of the headstones located near your person of interest or notice if the grave is in a family plot. This can help you gather additional names of family members in case you want to cross-reference in the future.
Sometimes cemeteries and grave markers give you insight into the person’s preferences late in life. In one of my investigations, I found the grave of an elderly woman I had been researching, who had been widowed at a young age. Her headstone engraving let me know she maintained her married name for many decades after her husband’s death, never remarrying, even though she was quite young when he died. I gained a better understanding of their emotional bond as well as realizing she would have had considerable financial resources to be able to support herself for so long.
Vital Records - There are two types of vital records: government and religious. Government records will have the name, date, place, and the mother's name (along with her maiden name). In some cases, the father’s name, and the parents’ places of birth may be included as well. Religious vital records will have the same information but may also have additional information, such as the names of witnesses to an event like a wedding. Vital records can also link together, providing basic info like name, birth date, death date, parents’ names.
Bibles - Yes, the family Bible will have a wealth of information about families. Usually, they will list the birth and death of a family member, and many have family trees written on the cover pages. As the center of household records, family Bibles often have photos and prayer cards tucked in them as well.
Land Records - These records will usually list the head of household, name of wife, and the name of family members. Some states even gave names to these parcels of land and named them after the purchaser. If you're trying to track when someone owned a building or piece of land, this will be useful information.
Immigration & Emigration Records - This information will include name, gender, date, place of birth, last residence, and country of origin. From 1820-1893, only the country of origin, name, and gender was listed. Unsurprisingly, there aren't many records from before 1820.
Naturalization & Citizenship Records - Similar to the immigration records, the rules of becoming a citizen in the United States have changed over the years. In 1790, the naturalization record had two steps. After 2 years, a person could file a declaration of intent to become a citizen, and then a petition for naturalization three years later. These records include the place of birth, date of birth, name, spouses, children, etc.
Military - If you know that your person of interest served in the military, then you can find things like draft cards, registration cards, transportation papers, all of which can tell you names, health conditions, what the person looked like, their emergency contact, occupation, and any health ailments they may have had at the time.
What to Look For
Sometimes, we already know what we need to look for when it comes to historical research and the paranormal. Obviously, anything regarding land deeds and ownership is important to know so we can trace who is tied into the location. Usually, the ghosts who are tied to a location either owned the property or lived in it. But if you're researching a hospital, this information can be hard to track down.
Many newspapers from the past reported when someone was injured and where they were treated. It's not uncommon to read newspaper articles where a person's passing is reported, and it will let you know which hospital they were staying in.
Death certificates are usually available as well. If the death is old enough, you won't have to order a death certificate and instead, can look it up online. This can be important so you can know the cause of death. You can use this information to start a conversation with the ghost or to verify a reported story on the person.
Historical research is a crucial aspect of ghost hunting. You want to make sure that you're looking up primary sources and not trust the stories that you read on the internet right off the bat. As mentioned previously, many websites, especially if they are advertising the haunted location itself, are trying to sell you a ghost story. The very purpose of the site is to convince you to pay money to visit their location over another one. This isn't bad per se but know when you're being sold something over accurate historical research.
CHAPTER SEVEN:
STAYING SAFE
Serious accidents and injuries are rare in paranormal investigations but taking some simple precautions can go a long way to ensuring safety. You will want to take these suggestions seriously since we have indeed seen serious injuries, and even death, in the field. For this section, we will look first at basic safety, and then we’ll get into specifics.
If I had to pick the most important safety rule for every ghost hunt, I would say “always wear closed-toed shoes.” If you’re going with sandals, make sure you have at least a strap on the heel to keep your shoes securely on your feet. Ghost hunting occurs in all sorts of environments, and wearing good shoes is an easy first step. Many older buildings have uneven floors, and some have screws and nails on the floor. Given that you may not be able to control lighting, or you may be looking at your tech, stubbed toes and trip hazards are commonplace. And, although also rare, you might even see something that startles or scares you. Dare I say it? Running away is best done in closed-toed shoes.
You'll need to think about where you are going. Is this site outdoors or indoors? If outdoors, what will the weather be like? If it's going to be cold, you'll need to make sure that your clothing is warm enough for the event. That might mean you'll need to wear long underwear and layers. I've heard of some of the most dedicated ghost hunters attaching disposable heating pads to their bodies for warmth if they are going to investigate in freezing temperatures.
When it comes to summer weather and outdoor investigations, you don't want to have to cut your ghost hunt short because you're overheated, dehydrated, or too uncomfortable. For hot weather in the woods, you might find yourself in a bit of a conundrum. You'll need enough coverage to avoid ticks and mosquitos, minimize contact with sharp and poisonous plants, and protect yourself from wildlife. But you also don't want to overheat. That means you'll have to drink a decent amount of water to avoid dehydration. For any outdoor ghost hunts in the summer, I often feel like I'm prepping for a hike. I'll be packing light and making sure that water is a priority. I'm the person who isn't a fan of bugs, and I tend to attract mosquitoes. This means that insect repellent is part of my ghost hunting arsenal. Just because you're not actively engaging with nature, it doesn't mean that the elements still aren't going to come after you.
However, if you think that investigating indoors will be a completely different experience, you might need to think again. Sure, being indoors will protect you from the elements, but a lot of haunted locations won't have central climate control. This means that during the winter, you'll still be cold, and you'll be hot (if not sweating) in the summer. I find that fall is the most comfortable time of year for me to investigate. But living in North Carolina means that fall usually starts in late October, and I only have a small window before the weather gets too cold to do anything. You don't want to investigate in temperature extremes as it will create a barrier between yourself and the ability to be completely relaxed during your investigation. Some people might find themselves more focused on getting warm or cooling off rather than creating a welcoming environment for the other side to communicate. Communication with ghosts can take a considerable amount of focus and concentration, especially if you have psychic or mediumship abilities. Distractions such as temperature and environmental elements can redirect the focus to the wrong place, all the while the ghost is standing there waiting for you to acknowledge them!
If you're going to ghost hunt with a company or some sort of organization, ask if they will have a first aid kit on site. If not, then you might want to think about bringing your own, regardless of whether it's indoors or outdoors. As said before, you never know what is waiting for you during a ghos
t hunt. You might fall and scrape something, you might step on something, or get something snagged on a nail, you can fall through the floorboards, and the list goes on.
It helps to be familiar with your location so that you can plan ahead of time. If you're going with a group, ask the leader if they have an investigation plan and how they plan on having investigators disperse. Or will the group stay together for the whole time? Is there flexibility to explore other areas?
Most large-scale locations like St. Albans and Waverly Hills will do some sort of guided tour before you get started. When I investigated the USS Hornet, our guide told us that if we got lost on the ship, to stay in one place and someone will find us. This goes back to basic survival skills where you should stay in one spot should you ever get lost. Places like the Battleship North Carolina are the same way. I was floored watching the battleship volunteers move throughout the ship like it was second nature. It didn't take long for us to get lost when we first started but following those "exit" signs was a tremendous help. Unfortunately, not every location will have an "exit" sign.
Keep in mind that these large ships, hospitals, and prisons can be like one massive maze. It's easy to get lost. If you're in a building that is huge, or even outdoors on a large property, having walkie-talkies and a designated area as a "basecamp" helps keep things organized. Communication with the leader and other groups is important for safety reasons. Headcounts are especially crucial, so you know that you haven't left anyone behind.
