DIY Paranormal Investigating with James Paradie: Patience is a Virtue

You know that old saying, "patience is a virtue," well it definitely is in paranormal investigating. The one mistake you don't want to make is that investigating any residence is going to be quick. Like tonight (9/20/14 - I'm only putting the date, because I know I will most likely not post this tonight) Anthony and I were joking about rookie investigators. One of the things I said was, "Yeah, investigating only takes an hour like the TV shows." In reality it should have been, it takes 45 minutes, because of commercials. It struck me that I hope people actually don't think that investigating is quick. It's not. Sorry to break it to you.

I'm going to unveil a magic trick, though I'm sure by now it's common knowledge. What you see on TV of one investigation is actually a week's worth of material. The production company tells them to wear the same clothes every day (I'm sure they actually shower and own multiple pairs of the same clothes, or at least I hope) to give the illusion that it's the same investigation. In my five years of doing investigating we have not gotten that much evidence in one place. Well, there is the ...

By the way, the fog was not added in post-production. That is what it was like that night. 

The Sugar Hill Inn, if I can take a moment to talk about it, IS Spook Central. I'm not sure if my NEPI cohorts are sick of me referring to it as such, but it is definitely THE most haunted place I've been to in my life. I've been on two investigations there and I don't care if I'm in a wheelchair, I will still go. The place has a certain ambiance that echoes throughout the entire Inn. It's funny, both times I've been we've had guests - Ron Kolek (an author of various paranormal books) and Chris Loveday (host of Shadows of the Night) and Greg Dumont (owner of KillerReviews.com) never experienced what we have. It's like the spirits like us, because they know us. With Ron, he felt that the place was haunted, but barely anything happened. Same with Chris and Greg. They felt there was something there, but nothing extravagant happened. It was after they left that something happened. Something so concrete. With Ron it was the crazy Glass Swirling session we did and with Chris and Greg it was Michelle being possessed. If there is one place that you can get a weeks worth of evidence in one investigation it is the Sugar Hill Inn. But you can't go! That's NEPI's yard! (Tries to look intimidating. Looks constipated.)

But if you're not the patient type, investigating is not for you. You will sit in a room, with an audio recorder, K-2, whatever for either 45 minutes to an hour and a half and you will get nothing. Maybe one thing will happen to keep you in that place for so long, but most of the time, nope. You're just waiting. 

If you think the waiting game is fishing, then you have never been paranormal investigating. It's the ultimate test of patience in a scary setting. I used to not be patient, but I had to become patient fast in order to do this. But don't be fooled that it isn't fun. It's still fun. Actually some of my funnest experiences during paranormal investigating has been when we were waiting! Just us being the lovable, dysfunctional investigators we are! 

I know it's boring to say sit and wait it out, but that's how you get something. You will not get anything if you just walk around everywhere without stopping. I learned that in my first investigation in West Danville, Vermont when Anthony and Nicole told me to stop moving around so damn much and sit the frig down. Ugh. I mean, I'm not the best investigator, in fact I make the joke that I'm the Chumlee of NEPI, but that night was just BAD. 

Point I'm trying to make is don't let TV fool you. You will go to investigations where you will get absolutely nothing. Be patient. Wait it out.

D.I.Y. Ghost Hunting-The Investigation Part 2: X Marks the Haunts

Do It Yourself Ghost Hunting Vol. 4
The Investigation Part 2 - X Marks the Haunts

Location, location, location. It is important to know the residence inside and out, up and down. Why's that, you may ask? Because if, say for example, a disembodied voice was heard in the bedroom, you don't want to be in the hallway where nothing has happened. Your first bet is to start inside the rooms where all the action has occurred.

Does this work all the time? No. I recall this one time when we were at a residence in one of the back roads in Bethlehem, the client said that they always saw this little girl in the kitchen. Granted, we had stuff happening around that area, but not in the kitchen itself. It just goes to show you that investigations can be unpredictable when you think there's loads of action happening in this room and then nothing happens at all.

Like with NEPI, we have DVR surveillance equipment where we can have four infrared cameras capturing what's happening at all times, even if we're not in that room. This is a good investment for those serious investigators who want to cover all basis. But to put them in just some random room isn't ideal. The best you can do is to put them in rooms where activity has happened. This is why asking the client for a tour of the house and the rooms where the activity happens is the way to go.
DVR equipment can run you into the $400-thousands of dollars in price range, so they are very expensive. But not to worry, there's always ways around this. Not having the best equipment doesn't mean you're hopeless and you're not going to get anything. You just need to improvise. You can do this by having your video recorder, putting it on a tripod and leave it there to record. Another idea is if you're a hunter or you have a friend who hunts, some have these cameras that they set out in the woods that takes pictures as something is going by with motion sensors. They take both daytime and night vision shots, so they seem perfect for ghost hunting. These are actually a new fad in the paranormal now ever since Zak Bagans used one in a few episodes of Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel. You can buy these on Amazon, but they can also get pricey. Word of advice though, always bring extra memory cards (can be found at your local Staples) and batteries, because spirits are said to drain these fast for energy.

That does it for another Do It Yourself Ghost Hunting on Scared Sheetless. Thanks for reading and until next time, keep it scary.

D.I.Y. Ghost Hunting-Volume 3: The Investigation-Part 1: The Technique Behind EVP

Do It Yourself Ghost Hunting-Volume 3: The Investigation-Part 1The Technique Behind E.V.P.

Last time we talked about how to go about getting your first investigation going. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s something to try. Now, you’re at your first investigation and the sun is going down, there is a full moon, and a wolf just howled outside…Okay, I’m setting up something for a horror movie, but the anticipation is just as close to it. Don’t fear, because ghost hunting is an exercise to face fear and find the reality within that supposed fear.

Your first investigation is about to take place, you’ve taken out the equipment; you got your digital camera, your digital audio recorder (if you bought the analog…you poor thing), and maybe you bought some other equipment like a K-II or something, but let’s just say you got the camera and the audio recorder just for the sake of this article (Within the next few weeks I‘ll make sure to do more articles on the equipment we use and how to use it). What to do now?

Lights out.

If you’re afraid of the dark, then well, you probably got to get over it real quick for an investigation. I’ll be real with you, when I got into this I wasn’t too fond of the dark myself. Not that I need a night light, because of the fear some boogie man is going to come out and get me, it’s just I’ve never been fond of the dark. I had to get over it real quick if I wanted to be in NEPI. Is there some sort of rule that ghosts are going to only come out if the lights are off? Let me put it the way Anthony Ardolino, the co-founder of NEPI, said on our last investigation, “We do it, because that’s what they do on TV.” So, is there some sort of rule to have the lights out? No. But we’ll have the lights out for this tutorial.

Flashlights, remember them, they are your friends, your eyes in the night. Cherish them, keep them close, keep your finger ready to turn them on, but also keep your finger ready to start what we call an E.V.P. session. I did an article about E.V.P.’s a little while ago, so here’s a brief description of what E.V.P.’s are intended for in ghost hunting from that article:

“EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena and it’s probably the most important tool to ghost hunting. How does EVPs work you may ask? The basics of this question is that whichever proposed haunted location you are at, you ask the spirit questions. Simple questions: “What’s your name?”, “Why are you here?”, “What’s your favorite color?”, “Are you trapped here?”, “Do you need help to cross over?” All these questions, some may seem ridiculous yes, but any question may get a possible answer.”

Now, one thing I didn’t touch base on in that article (which you can view, cheap plug I know, on my website: scaredsheetlessncn.blogspot.com) is that ghosts are said to talk in a different frequency than us. Spirits, according to experts, talk in what is known as the white noise frequency. Humans can’t hear it, but audio equipment seems to pick it up very well. Are the questions above the ones you should ask? Yes, but not right away.

You see, I’m starting to sense that maybe one of the reasons why we are not getting great answers from these spirits is because that some investigators forget this one important detail: they are spirits, yes, but what makes a spirit? A former citizen of the living. At one time they were alive, they had working organs, they could think, they could talk to another living person, their hearts beat, their lungs inhaled and exhaled. They were one of us. Now, they are passed on as denizens of the afterlife and one of the poor mistakes that some investigators make is that they seem to treat them like side-show acts at a circus.

You want to try to approach them like they are one of us, because if you go in there like some people, “How’d you die? Were you murdered?” These are sensitive questions that you should not start out with. You should try to form a bond with the spirit. Try to talk to them like they are one of you. Start off with introducing yourself and maybe asking what the spirits name is. On one of my previous articles I said that me, my cousin, and a friend of his did an EVP session in the upstairs of our garage and he asked what the spirit’s name was and we got an answer(“Michael or Mikayla.” We‘re still debating on that one). That’s because my cousin formed a bond with this spirit. It’s like my two cousins from down state New Hampshire who have their own ghost hunting quests in a cemetery in Concord and they’ve formed a bond with this spirit child.

Forming a bond with a spirit may sound crazy, but it does get results, and I’ve always gone by the old saying, “Treat others the way you want to be treated…unless they are demons, then you call a priest.” But you won’t bump into them on your first ghost hunt? Or will you? Well, good luck! There will be more Do Your Own Ghost Hunt’s tutorials as time progresses, but take these hints, clues, and guidelines as a way to get started. Thanks for reading. This has been another Scared Sheetless, happy haunting and keep it scary!

James Paradie is a paranormal columnist as well as a paranormal investigator who has been seen in such newspapers as the Northcountry News, Littleton Record, the White Mountain Shopper, and the Trendy Times. His stories can also been seen on paranormalnews.com and mostlyghosts.com where he is a regular contributor.

Do It Yourself Ghost Hunting: Volume 2-Setting Up an Investigation

Do It Yourself Ghost Hunting: Volume 2-Setting Up an Investigation

Last time we talked about getting set to get ready to go on your first ghost investigation. Whether with yourself and some friends or with a professional group, you’re set and ready to journey into the darkness. But how can we go about getting an investigation all ready and set? And what about some steps to go through before you do your first ghost hunt? Well, here’s some hints:

1. It doesn’t hurt to ask around. Maybe you have a friend or a relative or a coworker that has a haunted residence. Those are the easiest to get, so try that first. I said last time you could try a cemetery, but if the person in charge says no, don’t be discouraged. There’s lots of cruel people out there who disrespect the sites. You may not do a thing like that, but they have to take precautions just incase. This may seem crazy to some, but I believe that just because someone is deceased doesn’t mean that they don’t have feelings, so if someone trashes their grave site, of course their feelings may become hurt. If not, then their families feelings will be hurt.

2. Set up a date and a time. Usually when NEPI goes, we set up to go there between 7 or 8 p.m. This isn’t required by any ghost hunting law (I don’t even think those exist), but set a time that’s convenient for everyone (client and team together.) We all have lives, so sometimes we need to collaborate on when’s the best time for everyone. The bigger the residence, the bigger the need for more people. The smaller the residence, the less need for more people. Make sure to tell those interested though, because something may come up.

3. History is THE most important information piece to gather before entering a residence. Get names of past owners, if there’s been any kind of death, and remember this one important lesson: History repeats itself even in death.

4. Before you leave, make sure you have all your equipment. Like I said last time, you don’t need to go all out and buy the most expensive equipment. You can start out simple: audio recorder, digital camera, and flashlights are basically all you need. Flashlights are always important, because most of the investigating takes place in the dark.

5. When you get there, have the client take you through a tour of the residence and have them tell you what goes on there. Have your audio recorders handy, because when going over evidence later, this will be key, because what if someone says, “The old owner who died here is name (so and so)”, then you hear someone saying that name on your EVP, then you will know you got something. I have a terrible memory, so that’s what I do.

Some questions may come up like “How much do I charge?” It’s great to get money from doing an investigation, but most respectable ghost hunters do not charge for their services. Remember, most people do this as a hobby and not to get money from it. Charging for services is actually frowned upon in the ghost hunting community. Donations are acceptable though. We’ve even gotten a gourmet (well, almost) meal out of an investigation or two.

Okay, so you’ve gone through the whole details of what happens in the house, now it’s time for the fun part…investigating! But we’ll talk about that on the next edition, so make sure to bring some flashlights with you, because things are going to go pitch black! Until next time, this has been Scared Sheetless, happy haunting and keep it scary!

James Paradie is a paranormal columnist as well as a paranormal investigator who has been seen in such newspapers as the Northcountry News, Littleton Record, the White Mountain Shopper, and the Trendy Times. His stories can also been seen on paranormalnews.com and mostlyghosts.com where he is a regular contributor.

Do It Yourself Ghost Hunting: Volume 1-Getting Started

Do It Yourself Ghost Hunting: Volume 1-Getting Started

Ghost hunting is generally not something hard to get into, and can be relatively cheap. Beginners basically need a few items to get under way and you can find them anywhere, including your home. The most important item would be a standard digital camera. Now, you don’t need to go all out and buy an expensive camera like a Canon PowerShot, most pictures that have evidence are from cameras that you can buy at any department store for a relatively cheap price.

The second important item would be an audio recorder. I started out with a basic analog recorder that took cassette tapes. It was alright at first, I got no solid evidence from it, but it got the job done…until it got very annoying. Changing cassettes happened about every half an hour and just got to be a pain in the butt. I now have a Olympus digital recorder which cost about forty dollars at Staples. Most pricier than an analog, but not as much of a pain. Just leave it on and see if you can catch some voices from the grave!

You don’t need to go online and buy stuff like dowsing rods or pendulums or anything like that, but what you need is a few people to go along with you. Sure, you can do ghost hunting by yourself, but if you catch real evidence and you try telling people, they are going to think you’re making this up. But if you bring more than just yourself and more than one person saw or heard something you did, then your story has more credibility. But who to bring though? Obviously you want to bring others who have some sort of belief in ghosts. Because if something does happen then you have witnesses, and also they can bring their own equipment as well. There’s been some cases where we’ll have two audio recorders going on at once and they’ll catch two completely different results or one will catch something and another, running right next to it, will catch nothing at all. Cameras are the same way. When we were doing the investigation in Bethlehem where Nicole caught the picture of the blue mist behind Nancy on the stairs, I was taking photos as well, but where she caught something, I caught nothing on my camera. It’s very tricky, so this is where more people are better than one.

Okay, you got your people, you got your camera, you got your audio recorder, what’s next? The ghosts! Now, you just need a haunted location. Graveyards a good way to start and get practice, but you just don’t want to waltz into a graveyard at night ghost hunting. Most likely the police won’t like that. The best thing to do is to check with whoever takes care of the cemetery and then go and check with the local authorities and let them know when you’re doing the investigation and how long you will be. Most of the time, they are very understanding. This is of course due to today, everyone and their brother is a ghost hunter of some sorts, and there’s groups everywhere across America now, but back say twenty years ago, they’d look at you like you were insane. It’s probably even safe to say that twenty years ago I wouldn’t even be able to write for the newspapers that I do! (Course that would make me three years old though.)

What I’d like to do is get some amateur ghost hunting stories from my fellow readers and post a few of these stories on some future editions of Scared Sheetless. Have you ever gone ghost hunting or have ghost stories of your own? Just email me at scaredsheetlessncn@hotmail.com and let me know if you have and your story could be right on here! Within the next few weeks I’ll be doing more Do It Yourself Ghost Hunting tips for those who would like to get into it. (You’re crazy, but I like that).

Until next time, this has been another Scared Sheetless. Happy haunting and keep it scary!

James Paradie is a paranormal columnist as well as a paranormal investigator who has been seen in such newspapers as the Northcountry News, Littleton Record, the White Mountain Shopper, and the Trendy Times. His stories can also been seen on paranormalnews.com and mostlyghosts.com where he is a regular contributor.