Would you go ghost hunting?

[emilyalyse]

I have, and I LOVE it.

As a kid, we would routinely seek out supposedly haunted places/houses/cemeteries and go explore them in the middle of the night.

Growing up in 100+ year old houses, I've had more than my share of creepy things happen. For example, before my family moved out to our farm, we lived in this old house in town that, quite frankly, got creepy at times. Before we re-placed the carpet in the upstairs, we would simply leave all of the doors open, as the high pile made it a genuine huff, puff, and shove to get doors open and closed. Several times, we would come home after a dinner out, and every door upstairs would be shut and latched firmly, and our cat locked into the bathroom. Footsteps were commonplace, as were candles re-lighting themselves, or corner-of-the-eye sightings of "people" walking down the hallway (who weren't actually there). My younger sister would have her bedroom door open (via doorknob) of its own accord on a fairly regular basis, and the feeling of someone standing by her bed all too often. Luckily, my room never had any of that.

When we moved out to the farm, it had only been lived in by one family. And apparently, Rudy (the husband) is still around. Nobody in my family smokes, and yet, you can walk through the house and into a severe patch of fresh cigarette smoke smell at times... mostly when you're there alone. It's also very strange, but not uncommon to glimpse a man "standing by the barn having a cigarette", who happens to not be there when you go to investigate. ((For the record, this farm is 15 miles from civilization. lol... not exactly any possibility of random people popping up on the property without your knowledge.)). Footsteps, doors opening, and the like are all pretty "normal" there as well. It's never been a "scary" feeling at that house though. Just an "Oh, Rudy's around again" kind of thing.

My mother routinely goes to hotels and b&bs that are reportedly haunted. Her most recent stay was at a b&b in Gettysburg (the battlefield), though she said "I tried staying up to go take some pictures, but I just couldn't help falling asleep". So, not much "action" there. But, she loves the "ghost hunts" and even has all the gadgets to go along with it. My sister and her do a haunted vacation every summer (as she attends school only 30 minutes from home). They did the Stanley hotel this year... not sure what's on the docket for next year.

We're a strange family.

 

[doodle]

I would, but not all by myself!!! I used to work at a theater that's notoriously haunted, and I never really believed in it until I saw some of the weird stuff that happened there. You can distinctly see a figure roaming about the third balcony of this theater pretty regularly, and he wasn't a happy camper during renovations! It would also get REALLY cold all the sudden--especially weird in Georgia in the summer! The area I live in is supposedly pretty haunted though, so you hear all kinds of spook stories around here. Some I buy, and some are probably hooey. Keeps things interesting, though!

 

[Cehrabehra]

I would absolutely do it - but maybe not alone lol Mostly I am a believer in energy of all sorts and how that energy is filtered through my being can be positive or negative and I tend to filter positive things. We have a ghost in our old farmhouse and she's a gentle soul, albeit clumsy and absent minded. I know who she is too, the grandmother of a 90 something year old woman who lived there in the 20's. I could go on and on but I fear it's boring. She hid little things, shiny things and tripped on things. Nothing ominous whatsoever.

 

[Imdanny]

Sure, Maisie. Why not? Just be careful where you step in the dark. Seriously, I wouldn't want you to get injured like what happened to me (it was nighttime and the only light was from the computer monitor). And, no. I haven't done it. But I would if I had the chance.

 

[zoebartlett]

I don't really believe in ghosts but I do love hearing stories from others who do believe in them. I wouldn't go ghost hunting because I can't imagine voluntarily going to a creepy house or some other place at night.

 

[JewelFreak]

Sara, tell! It wouldn't be boring at all. Love to hear all your creepy stories.

We had mischievous ghosts in the 150-yr-old house I grew up in, never felt scared. One day, though, my brother brought home a friend from college for the weekend. At breakfast the kid stared at his eggs & his face was kind of pale green. I asked if he felt ok. Mom said, "John's leaving." This was only Saturday; they had arrived the night before. Around 2 a.m. he heard his bedroom door open, thought it was the dog wandering around, but then saw a man in formal clothes, wearing a top hat, walk to the end of his bed & look at him, then turn & continue across the room till he disappeared through a wall. John sure never came back.

Don't want to be too much of a wet blanket, folks, but 99.9999% of the time, orbs are not supernatural. Reflections of the camera light off dust particles, insects -- you can't always see the actual shape of a moth, say, because the camera isn't focusing on it so it's blurry -- but if you watch its path, it flies around like a bug. Dust floats or may move w/air currents, even those caused by people moving. You need to be extra super ultra skeptical of "orbs." They never were an issue before digital cameras, which seem to pick up more minute stuff & make it look different than the old-style cameras. That oughta tell us something right there.

Has anybody ever caught an EVP? When we lived in the old house, nobody had thought of recording yet -- I wish so much i could go back there & do some EVP sessions. I'd love to know who is roaming the place -- it was never anybody threatening, probably former residents who loved the place as much as we did.

--- Laurie

 

[Cehrabehra]

I don't really believe in ghosts but I do love hearing stories from others who do believe in them. I wouldn't go ghost hunting because I can't imagine voluntarily going to a creepy house or some other place at night.

It's funny because even though there's no doubt in my mind that the woman's ghost lives in our house - I do not consider myself a believer in ghosts lol It's way easier to believe what you experience than the stories from others - it sounds way too far fetched unless you've seen it with your own eyes lol

 

[Cehrabehra]

Oh yeah I'm TOTALLY not an "orb" believer... pfft - they're dust on the lens that are out of focus which is why picture after picture will have the same orbs no matter where you point the camera and then magically they go away when you clean the lens.

 

[dragonfly411]

What if they don't go away?

 

[Cehrabehra]

Nothing too exciting with our ghost - little things would go missing and turn up hours, days, weeks, months, even years later somewhere else. Things would get knocked over that had no explanation, usually when no one was around... but the most obvious one was when my husband had a cable stretched from the living room through the kitchen to my office and my husband was sitting at my desk and I was standing across from him and all of a sudden the cable pulled perfectly taught and then fell slack again. Worried that one of our children had tripped, we both ran out to the kitchen and the dog looks up lazily (obviously waking from a deep sleep - dogs can't fake that lol) and so I called to the boys (both downstairs in the basement) and they said they hadn't been upstairs (nor had we heard them on the stairs) and called to my daughter who was upstairs in her room (again, no sounds from the stairs - all the stairs were old and you could hear someone going up and down them) but she didn't know anything. there was no one who could have pulled the cable like that. 95% of the things that happened happened in my office which had been her bedroom. I believe she had senility issues of some sort as the lock on the door was to keep her IN, not to keep others out. Never felt her upstairs, occasionally in the basement but nothing acute or malicious.

But the real kicker.... when we moved back from Ireland I met our new tenants and after talking to her for a while I asked her if she ever felt anything strange and (we were standing outside) she IMMEDIATELY points at my office window and says that room right there I don't know who she is but I don't like to go in there alone. LOL After that we talked a bit and she admitted there was nothing malicious, just scared her anyway lol

 

[Imdanny]

I don't really believe in ghosts but I do love hearing stories from others who do believe in them. I wouldn't go ghost hunting because I can't imagine voluntarily going to a creepy house or some other place at night.

It's funny because even though there's no doubt in my mind that the woman's ghost lives in our house - I do not consider myself a believer in ghosts lol It's way easier to believe what you experience than the stories from others - it sounds way too far fetched unless you've seen it with your own eyes lol

"Do I contradict myself? Very well then. I contradict myself. I am vast. I contain multitudes." - Walt Whitman

 

[chemgirl]

Not exactly ghost hunting, but my sister and I like going to places that are old and have been left alone. For example, our old highschool used to be a boarding school and the old dorm rooms haven't been used since the 60's. My sister snuck in one day during lunch to take pictures. A lot of the furniture was gone and they clearly had a mouse problem, but there was still enough there to give an idea of how the place was set up. Its creepy, but really interesting at the same time. Almost a time capsul.

Years later I was working at a psychiatric hospital doing data entry. The upper floors had been renovated, but the basement hadn't been touched since the 1920's. There was only one room still in use down there and it was the mail room. So there were only 2-4 people down there at any given time. I was ahead on my work so I went down to explore. It was the creepiest thing ever. The lights were old and flickery. Some rooms didn't have working lights at all. There were a series of rooms labeled palliative, a morgue (I think...it had metal compartments that were about body sized...no label on the door though), a huge cold storage room with red lights, a shower room, and loads of rooms full of old beds, wheelchairs, and old style restraints. Seriously...it was like a movie. I was really getting in to it until I somehow managed to disturb one of the wheelchairs (I didn't touch it, but there was a breeze from somewhere). It started to roll down a hallway and it felt too much like Resident Evil at that point so I ran away. I told my boss about it afterwards and he said he'd done the same thing a few months earlier. It reminded him of the horror movie "Session Nine." I rented the movie and pretty much spot on.

 

[dragonfly411]

Chem- interesting note about Session 9.

The asylum in that movie is very real, and very much like the film made it out to be. I don't know if anyone watches Ghost Hunters, but apparently besides Session 9 there hadn't been anyone allowed in to do any type of ghost related research.... until Ghost Hunters. They did the show there! I watched the episode, and in it, the two girls find an old hospital ward and as they are standing (and it shows this) one of the room doors begins to close behind them. They also had a lot of EVP activity there. I thought it was so cool to see them really studying a place that was used for a movie. You can tell very much that it is the same exact place, with the caged stairs, and the lower tunnels... all are the same... even the large open room!

 

[JewelFreak]

Love that program, Dragonfly. Never miss it. I do not believe those 2 guys fake anything -- the only ghost show I feel that way about. And I like how they try to disprove stuff. I read that Grant is tired of it & wants out -- hope not.

--- Laurie

 

[chemgirl]

Chem- interesting note about Session 9.

The asylum in that movie is very real, and very much like the film made it out to be. I don't know if anyone watches Ghost Hunters, but apparently besides Session 9 there hadn't been anyone allowed in to do any type of ghost related research.... until Ghost Hunters. They did the show there! I watched the episode, and in it, the two girls find an old hospital ward and as they are standing (and it shows this) one of the room doors begins to close behind them. They also had a lot of EVP activity there. I thought it was so cool to see them really studying a place that was used for a movie. You can tell very much that it is the same exact place, with the caged stairs, and the lower tunnels... all are the same... even the large open room!

I didn't realize the hospital in that movie was real! I'm going to look that up as soon as I get home.

I don't think there were any wards in the basement of the hospital where I worked (I would hope not at least...there's only one exit/entrance and the building is huge!). There were a lot of large rooms crammed with old furniture and equipment, but I don't think people ever lived there. There weren't any lockdown doors, so that's what I'm basing my assumption on (I might have missed them though, its a big building and I did run away like a little girl before I got very far). The rest of the hospital has distinct units that are always under lock and key. The doors all have different keys so it was really hard to get used to it. There is a central area in the middle for the research offices and this area was not locked. My office was on one of the units so it had more of an institutional feel. It was a creepy place. My boss wouldn't go down to the basement alone after his first trip.

The food storage area with the red lights was just weird.

The only other time I've ever felt that creeped out was on a tour of the old prison in Ottawa. It was closed down in the seventies because of the inhumaine living conditions and it is believed that many prisoners died there. The fourth floor has been kept in its original state and it is really creepy. I went in one of the cells with my friend and it felt like the room was closing in on us. You used to be able to stay in one of the old cells overnight, but they stopped because it was too hard to keep clean/there were too many issues. I know I wouldn't be able to stay in one of those cells. It is so narrow that I could touch both walls, has a low ceiling, no light, and no window. 45 seconds was enough for me! It just felt soooo wrong in there. I can't even explain it.

 

[beaujolais]

What hospital is in Session Nine?

Huge Ghost Hunters fan here !

 

[chemgirl]

What hospital is in Session Nine?

Huge Ghost Hunters fan here !

I got in to research mode this evening and found out that its the Danvers State Hospital. Its been mostly torn down now and the remainder was gutted and turned in to apartments. Here the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danvers_State_Hospital

Without giving too much away, the hospital where I used to work was a newer building on large grounds. The original hospital was built in the 1880's and is still there. Its currently abandoned...and unfortunatly has a great security system (otherwise I would have planned a ghost hunt). The staff did all sorts of treatments that would now be considered barbaric. A janitor told me that there used to be a display of artifacts and it included pieces of brain Totally a good candidate for a haunting. There are local stories about lights turning on at night, but I think workers do go in there from time to time for minor repair work. The owners put a lot of effort in to making sure it doesn't just go to ruin.

If you cant' tell, I think old asylums and prisons are totally creepy. Its a bit of a fascination with me.

 

[beaujolais]

Thanks Chem Girl. Yes, fascinating. Agreed. I've got lots of the Ghost Hunters saved on the DVR. Agreed on the terrible things they used to do to people also. Lobotomies?

 

[dragonfly411]

About Danvers:

Most of the buildings on campus were connected by a confusing labyrinth of underground tunnels

West side was male, east was female.

While the asylum was originally established to provide residential treatment and care to the mentally ill, its functions expanded to include a training program for nurses in 1889 and a pathological research laboratory in 1895

Reports were made that various, and inhumane shock therapies, lobotomies, drugs, and straitjackets were being used to keep the crowded hospital under control.

Due to budget cuts within the mental health system the hospital was closed in June 1992. At this point, the Kirkbride had been largely unused for several years, although the gym, cafeteria, and other parts of the central administration area of the building had just been renovated for reuse with possible plans to renovate the rest of the building.

After abandonment, the wards and buildings were left to decay and rot for many years until the demolition

 

[anitabee]

i love this topic! i'm a total scaredy cat BUT love watching scary movies, etc.

have y'all watched 'paranormal state' on a&e? i think it's on sunday or monday nights. it's about a bunch of ghost hunters from penn state university who investigate hautings. it scares the BEJEZZUS outta me!! what about 'coast to coast', the syndicated late-night radio show? i used to stay up late in bed listening and get seriously spooked by some of the stories.

anyhoo, i don't think i could go ghost hunting. i'd probably pee my pants!

 

[catwalk82]

I would go ghost hunting. I grew up in a house that was haunted (nothing creepy though).

 

[AdiS]

Nope. I don't think it's very polite to tramp about some poor dead people's house with your camera and a group of hysterical friends, ready to scream like banchees at their own shadows. Plus, I wouldn't like it if a ghost decided to go AdiS hunting, so... Seriously, though, I do believe in ghosts but I wouldn't go looking for them. Better to leave them alone and worry about the living.

 

[dragonfly411]

I have to admit that Ghost Hunters to me is the only one that I find fully believable. I don't think you can fake what comes up on some of theirs. One they did this past weekend in a marathon was a house and they set up cameras throughout the house. The two guys started by sitting downstairs and they heard movement... like a dragging. They both went up and found a stroller in the little girl's room and when they tested it was the sound. They then moved the stroller to where it was in view of the camera and both went back down stairs. On the play backs... with nothing touching it... the stroller moves significantly. Again I also agree that I like how they try to disprove and figure out a logical explanation for what it could be. They constantly say, well it could be this, or that, or this.

I'm going to update my really scary last night thread because... something really scary happened last night... friggen again.

I am starting to wonder if I need to burn sage in my g-parents house.

 

[random_thought]

I swear to God our apartment is haunted. I keep finding dishes in weird places and than this morning I heard nice and clear a voice say "random?" and I said "hmm?" back thinking it was dh, but dh had already left for work...so I opened the bedroom door to let the cats in...they did NOT want to be in that room.

I have not been able to sleep since 5am. I have heard that pregnant women can attract spirits...ugh I don't want one! Also our cats keep staring off into blank space at nothing...it's so weird...

 

[Tuckins1]

I absolutely would. In fact, I had an opportunity to go on a haunted tour of Ft. Wayne, Detroit. Unfortunately I couldn't make it, but would jump at the chance if it came up again!