by Rich Newman
Another thing worth noting is the issue of dealing with children. First off, don’t say anything to a child without telling the parent what you’re going to say. Again, you don’t want to confuse the child by giving them information that conflicts with household beliefs. Second, the best way to explain anything concerning a ghost to child is to simply relate to them that the spirit was once a person just like them and that they may simply be lonely or lost.
It’s also important to not place any malicious intent where there is none; if something of an infernal nature is taking place, the parents will most likely remove their children from the home until there is a resolution. Nothing should be done beyond this. Causing any psychological damage to a child (or anyone else for that matter), even accidentally, can make a permanent impact on them and should be avoided at all costs. In other words, don’t scare the hell out of them!
The Martin case also solidified my belief that psychics should be avoided when investigating the paranormal. Imagine what would have happened to me on this case if I had taken along a “psychic” who sputtered out incredible information to the Martin family in order to support their claims. Things could have gotten out of hand in a hurry.
Every psychic I have ever met has spat out useless, unsupportable guesses or information I already had gotten from a quick Google search. Fraudulent psychics simply want attention and want to feel special. And until we are able to tell the real deal from the fake, they must be put aside.
Understanding hauntings, ghosts, and other areas of the paranormal means researching and investigating these phenomena using scientific methods and techniques. Understanding a particular haunting means listening carefully to the client and respecting their wishes and beliefs. When we do these two things, we all find resolution.
Well … the client gets resolution. We, as investigators, often get none. We are, more often than not, still as confused about a case leaving it as we were when we found it. But this is reasonable, right?
After all, we are investigating the paranormal …
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Epilogue
As I mentioned in the introduction, this book was never intended to be specifically about the Martin case in Mississippi. I wanted to present a realistic picture of what perspective investigators might encounter while working in the field on private cases.
It would have been easy to dramatize the Martin case and to write a book much like those I read in my youth: scary! But while doing that may have made for an entertaining read, it would have been a grave disservice to everyone who wants to know what it’s really like to investigate a haunting.
Now that you have read Devil in the Delta, I encourage you to visit the website of my group, Paranormal Inc (www
.paranormalincorporated.com). In the right sidebar of the website is a list of many of the investigations we have done over the years—just click on one you want to check out and you can read case details, listen to EVPs captured during our investigation, and sometimes even see photographs and videos from the case.
Many of the cases mentioned in this book (such as those detailed in chapter 4) are on the website, so you can actually check out some of the evidence mentioned here in this book. In addition to this, I have added a link for the Martin case. If you go to that particular link, you will get to see more photographs taken at the location, hear the audio files I reference in this book, and get even more details about the case and my investigation there.
I hope this book serves as a friendly warning to everyone who is contemplating investigating the paranormal—but I also hope it does not scare you off completely from the venture! As I have written in this book, as well as the other books I have written for Llewellyn Publishing, there are lots of great haunted locations open to the public that you can visit and enjoy. Possibly even investigate. So have fun and let me know how your investigations go. Cheers!
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If you think you’ve caught the ghost hunting bug,
here’s an excerpt from Ghost Hunting for Beginners.
Pre-Investigation:
Getting Started
Preparing for an investigation can be a daunting task. Besides making arrangements and getting your gear together, you will also have to mentally prepare for the possibility of encountering the paranormal. Of course, this is exactly what we, as investigators, want. Many believe it’s sort of politically incorrect to admit the desire to meet up with a ghost, but the truth is that nobody would go into this field without wanting to find one!
That said, preparing for a night at a haunted location begins as soon as you have gotten your case. Right now, let’s just say you’ve gotten the case and now it’s your mission to conduct a professional and thorough investigation. It should be mentioned at this point that ANY case you take on should be done WITH PERMISSION. Every place is owned by someone—and that person should give you permission to investigate on their property. But, hey, you’re going to be a responsible investigator, right? So you will have permission.
It’s best to approach a new haunted location in three stages: Pre-Investigation, Investigation, and Post-Investigation.
Pre-Investigation
The first and foremost thought in your mind as a new investigator should be, “How do I approach this case professionally?” In most fields, certain methodologies and techniques lend more to an individual being taken seriously than a certain attitude does. In the realm of the paranormal, though, it has everything to do with approach and results. Now, some of you reading this will ask, “Isn’t that the same thing?” Nope. Let me explain …
In a field where everything is under scrutiny and hotly debated, all methodologies are given equal keel. Scientific groups get just as much business as those that prefer to utilize psychics. It’s a matter of personal taste as to who an individual will contact for assistance. So, chances are, whatever method you prefer for an investigation, there will be people out there who agree with you. But one thing that all potential clients want is a professional approach.
Being Professional
Being professional means actually preparing in advance for an investigation rather than just showing up with some gear and buddies. It means concentrating on gathering evidence vs. giggling/laughing and cutting up with your group members. And it also means assuaging the concerns and fears of the property owners to bring about a resolution to their case. Though it’s almost impossible to prepare in advance for the excitement (or fear) involved with an actual encounter, every other item I just mentioned can be managed. And it all starts with how you treat the client.
Though it should be a no-brainer, the obvious must be stated here: respect your clients and their locations! If you say you’re going to be at their home at 5 p.m., then be there! If they tell you not to touch their antique collection of beer cans, then keep your paws off of them! For people to feel comfortable with strangers roaming about their home or business there has to be a measure of trust—and this can be easily lost, so tread carefully. Though you may not think so, another basic step to being professional is looking professional.
Think about it from the client’s perspective: Let’s say you have been experiencing scary voices and objects moving in your house. And you have a small child as well. You don’t know what’s happening and you’re afraid for your family so you call your local paranormal group. Then they show up unkempt, unorganized, and they’re all wearing black T-shirts emblazoned with a ghost that’s straight out of a horror movie. How much confidence would you have in this organization?
This is an important consideration even if you plan to investigate a park, abandoned building, or cemetery because—somebody always owns the property. Whether it’s the city, the county, or a private entity, ALL locations are governed by someone and you must get permission and respect their wishes.
One last suggestion I have concerning respect is this: if you inform a client exactly what you plan to do, yo
u will be able to do more! Many times over the years I have visited a haunted hotel and been amazed by what they will allow me to do when I tell them what I want to do and ask them for permission. These are the cases that, when I post them in a book or on our website, other paranormal groups send me emails saying, “How did you get into that place? Nobody’s ever gotten to investigate there!” I asked. That’s how.
Now that you have resolved to be a professional investigator, let’s talk about what should be the first step to every investigation: research.
Research Strategies
Of all the things that separate serious paranormal investigators from thrill-seekers, research is probably the greatest. For people who simply want to be “scared” and to “see a ghost,” spending hours in a local library going through old newspaper records is the least appealing trip possible. For those of us that want answers, though, this is often the first step to any investigation.
Though the Internet can often be the first step in your research process, it can’t be the entire process. Some Internet sources pride themselves on getting the facts straight concerning the history and paranormal activity of a location, but the vast majority of them will accept their “facts” from any source with no verification whatsoever. This makes for a lousy investigation and often just perpetuates urban legends.
Often the best Internet source for a location is that specific location’s website (if they have one). Many bed and breakfasts, hotels, restaurants, etc., list their own history right on their sites. Some even include ghost stories and sightings (with the popularity of the paranormal on the rise, many have found marketing their haunting to be a good thing). But, again, this should only be your first stop. Getting out of the house and going to local sources will get you far more useful information.
The local library, historical societies, newspapers, and city hall are great sources of information. Since visiting even one of these places may mean hours of work, you should allow for a at least day of research prior to a night of investigation). Your first stop should be the library.
In addition to archiving local newspaper articles, librarians are skilled at pulling historical documents and often know a lot about local history. They may point you to sources that aren’t listed anywhere (such as people in the community who may remember a specific event or an author who wrote about a certain place). I’ve discovered that a portable flatbed scanner is often invaluable during these trips as you can digitally archive everything you need and save money by not making copies at the library. Once you have all the info you can get at the library, you may consider some of the other mentioned stops.
If a newspaper was around during the heyday of the site you’re investigating, they may have some useful articles in their archives. Historical societies are usually run by historians who specialize in local history and often have an amazing amount of knowledge about any given house, hotel, or local property. And a town’s city hall will have information regarding property transactions (great for seeing who owned a place during a specific time), birth and death records, and even marriage licenses. These sources will help you fill in any gaps that you may have about the history of a family or property.
Often, as you learn more about a specific event, location, or person, you will slowly begin to understand just how much of a ghost story is actually urban legend. Separating the myth from fact is one of the best things you can do prior to your investigation, as it will save you time investigating the wrong thing! For example, local legend may state that “Aunt Martha” haunts the old Miller place. If you discover that Aunt Martha doesn’t exist, you can avoid hours of EVP work asking Martha questions.
Conversely, just because you have the complete history of a family and their property, it shouldn’t affect your investigation to the point that you have tunnel vision. Let’s say a property has always been in the Miller family; it would be easy to assume that a member of the Miller family haunts the house. But what if there was a previous house at that site? Or maybe there was a significant battle when the area was a grassy hill. The history of any location is a long one—and you can bet we only know a small percentage of it.
Lastly, I want to touch on a different type of research—one that’s more about the logistics of performing your investigation. This is usually done directly with the residents of a place. Before prepping for your visit, you will want to know if a place has power and if they have any activity outside, in which case weather may be a factor and you will have to rely on battery power. This will also affect your clothing, gear, etc. Knowing all this will help you have a successful investigation.
Equipment Maintenance
It’s amazing how often this step is overlooked by even seasoned investigators—myself included. Current technology dictates that much of the gear that we use (especially digital cameras, camcorders, and audio recorders) has to be charged up before use. Whether you make it one of the last steps you do after an investigation (plugging in your gear for a fresh charge can be done during your review of the data you’ve collected) or one of the first before heading out, make sure that all of your gear—as well as any additional chargeable batteries—are all good to go.
Of course there’s also plenty of equipment that operates on good ole store-bought, single-use batteries, so stock up on the sizes that your team uses (usually AA, AAA, and 9 volt). There’s a running joke in the paranormal community that batteries are “ghost bait” due to the fact that many devices/batteries end up inexplicably drained during an investigation. I have found this to be completely true, so don’t just take enough batteries to fill your equipment—take enough so that you can power up all your gear several times. There’s nothing worse than having some great activity going on all around you and suddenly having no batteries to put in your audio recorder to capture it all.
In addition to making sure your gear has power, you will also want to perform common-sense maintenance. This means cleaning off the lenses on your cameras (“orbs” captured at haunted locations are often nothing more than dust on the lens) and dusting off and cleaning gear that’s stationed outside.
When you dress for an investigation, dress logically! Besides wearing comfortable clothes, make sure you wear items that will easily identify you to other team members and passersby. If you’re all dressed in black and you’re walking around in the background of a camera, it’s easy to mistake you for a “shadow mass” or entity. Don’t worry about looking cool and dressing all in black. Worry about being safe and conducting a good investigation.
Choosing Your Team
Deciding who to take along with you on your ghost adventures may be one of the most important decisions you make. Besides the fact that you want individuals with the same paranormal belief system (What use is a psychic on your team if nobody else believes in psychics?), you will want to take along people that you trust implicitly. If a member of your team approaches you with an eyewitness account of a full-bodied apparition, there should be no doubt that what he or she is saying is true.
Because most people only have a handful of friends they trust in this capacity, many paranormal groups opt to keep their team small. My group, Paranormal Inc, has only three members—and the other two are my brother and a friend I have known for over twenty years! Another advantage to having a small group is the lower likelihood of contaminating your own audio/video footage. The fewer folk that you have tramping around a house, the less people you have to worry about keeping track of. Ideally, you should know where everyone is at all times by tagging your audio/video (more on this later) and keeping a log book during your investigation, but when you have a large number of people, doing this is almost impossible.
Unfortunately, many paranormal groups go to extreme lengths to get as many “members” as they can. They do membership drives, constantly recruit, and often do open investigations that allow untrained individuals to wander throughout the location. What’s the point of this? Evidence
gathered during such an investigation cannot be taken seriously due to the high probability of contamination. If you are looking for a social club (and there’s nothing wrong with making ghost hunting a social activity) then make your group a social club!
When you make your decisions concerning your team, consider making it as diverse as possible, too. Try to have at least one female member and one male member. Experience has taught me that some entities have an easier time responding to a certain gender than another.
Of course, many paranormal enthusiasts go another route. Since some people do not have any friends interested in the paranormal and don’t want to join an existing group, many opt for investigating by themselves. This is perfectly acceptable, within reason. If you are going to a place with on-site workers and patrons (such as a hotel, B&B, restaurant), you should have no problem investigating on your own. Just watch your step while moving around in the dark and keep your cell phone in your pocket (though turned off so it doesn’t interfere with your equipment).
I certainly do not advise doing an investigation at an outdoor location by yourself—there are simply too many factors beyond your control (wild animals, weather, terrain, etc.). There is also a practical reason to have at least one other investigator with you—if you see/hear a paranormal event, it’s nice to have that corroborating witness!
Interviews
One of the most important things you can do when you arrive at a haunted location is to conduct interviews with the clients/inhabitants. Some choose to do this by phone or email prior to visiting, but for most this is a logical first step when you arrive at the actual haunted place. To this end, try to interview everyone who has experienced anything out of the ordinary—and, if possible, record your interviews using an audio recorder. (Be courteous and ask permission first!) And as you interview them, you will want to concentrate on a few different talking points.
