Ellis - The Everything Ghost Hunting Book: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Exploring the Supernatural World

Avon, Massachusetts

This book is dedicated to the outsiders, seekers, and searchers. Without you, the world would be such a dull place! It is also dedicated with great respect, love, and appreciation to my muse, husband, and fellow writer, Mark Ellis, without whom I never could have done it. His support has given me the time and inspiration necessary to pursue my dreams. I also feel a deep debt of gratitude to the incredibly brilliant British author, the late Colin Wilson, whose work I have been enjoying for over thirty yearshis intellectual approach to investigating the paranormal has been my guiding light.

1. Read all you can about ghosts, psychics, and hauntings.
2. Write down any paranormal experiences that you or your family members have had.
3. Maintain a skeptical but open mind and attitude.
4. Be prepared to enter uncharted waters.
5. Keep a journal of your experiences with any sort of psychic experiments involving pendulums, scrying, sances, or any other means of divination.
6. Sign up for a class to learn from experienced teachers.
7. Ask questions and follow your instincts.
8. Respect the research and work that has gone before.
9. Be prepared to be disappointed sometimes.
10. Be prepared to be totally amazed!

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED if there are ghosts lurking in the twilight, waiting to remind us that they have unfinished business to conduct, scores to settle, or wrongs to right? Or do you think spirits are merely the work of our wild imaginings and superstitions? Perhaps what we call ghosts have messages to impart before they are able to leave this material plane of existence and perhaps they only need for someone to hear those messages before they find peace at last.

No matter who you are or where you live, chances are that at one time or another you will be brushed by the wings of the unearthly. You may feel the sudden chill of goose bumps or the hairs rising on your neck as you hurry from a dark room toward the light. A physical response to fear cannot be controlled once your adrenaline courses through your blood and the heart starts to race. One can either stand or run, and the urge to run is hardwired into our bodies. Even hardened investigators have been quite literally spooked.

The mere thought of an apparition, ghost, or spirit is disturbing, because by definition such an entity is a remnant, a fragment of a soul that is desperately trying to move forward but is trapped eternally in a prison woven from its own dark dreams of violence, pain, and betrayal.

Perhaps some stay on the earthly plane for love, but if paranormal literature tells us anything, it indicates that haunted sites are places where some human drama has occurred, and the revenants that remain have their own agenda.

Ghosts are part of all human cultures, and the questions surrounding them are the same whether they were asked 5,000 years ago or just yesterday. Are ghosts real? Can they hurt us? Why do they seem to linger in some places?

This second edition of The EverythingGhost Hunting Book addresses many of these questions and attempts to answer some of them. Whether any aspect of human consciousness survives beyond the death of the body is one of the most fundamental and universal mysteries.

Do you have questions about the reality of ghosts and hauntings? Have you had experiences too strange and unbelievable to shareeven with your closest friends? If so, this book has been written with you in mind. Or perhaps you have a more skeptical nature. Are you only able to accept what you hear with your own ears or see with your own eyes? This book is written for you, as well.

Armed with a need for answers, todays ghost hunters are committed to stripping away any ambiguity from the supernatural. They are on a mission to discover the hard evidence necessary to proveor, ironically, disprovethe existence of spirits. A small minority of investigators have a specific goalto prove that all this talk of ghosts is sheer hokum, and all things that go bump in the night can be explained naturally. The EverythingGhost Hunting Book, 2nd Edition respects this viewpoint and wherever possible strives to present both sides of the mystery.

Whether you are a true believer or a skeptic looking for proof, ghost hunting can be a fascinating experience that blends spirituality and science. Have you ever wanted to catch a glimpse of the world beyond? Are you interested in the spirit world and its mysteries? Have you ever wondered if the soul continues after death? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have what it takes to be a ghost hunter and you are in good company.

In order to become a paranormal investigator or ghost hunter, you must exhibit some great qualities: objectivity, patience, courage, strength of character, and total honesty. However, both believers and nonbelievers must also have the ability to suspend their judgment long enough to gauge all of the facts objectively. Be sure youre emotionally ready to accept knowledge about the other side should you find evidence to support it. The reverse is also true. You have to keep an open mind.

Todays ghost hunters know all the technological tricks of the trade, including how to stay safe and what to do. Just as important, they know what not to do to ensure a professional investigation. Investigation of paranormal phenomena should be approached seriously, with respect and an abundance of caution. This is not a parlor game or a fun party activity. If you have an open mind and really want to explore the supernatural objectively, youll find the tools you need to do so here.

The current paranormal investigators of the twenty-first century are, luckily, a few steps ahead of those who have pursued answers to supernatural questions in the past. In the upcoming chapters, youll learn a little about ghost hunting throughout history and how the universal belief in spirits exists in numerous cultures.

Over the last decade, ghost hunting fever has gripped the imagination of the world. With the rise of digital technology, there has been an incredible worldwide upsurge of interest in the topic. Many organized groups attempt to pierce the barriers and contact the other side, but unlike their forebears, they do not use mediums or spiritualists as intermediaries. Todays ghost hunters have scientific tools in their arsenal, such as electromagnetic field (EMF) meters, infrared cameras, digital thermometers, tape recorders, and motion detectors.

Although it is true that many people who start out in the ghost hunting field as a hobby eventually find themselves working at it full-time, the transition from amateur to professional isnt easy.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to making a living as a paranormal investigator. However, unless you are independently wealthy and have the free time to conduct your investigations, you must derive income from some aspect of your work. Every individual must strive to find the correct balance; no two people will make the same choices.