Ghost Hunt 2: MORE Chilling Tales of the Unknown (32 page)
Read Ghost Hunt 2: MORE Chilling Tales of the Unknown Online
Authors: Jason Hawes,Grant Wilson
Tags: #JUV001000
G
hosts, spirits, apparitions, haunts. There are lots of different names for them—and lots of information and
mis
information about them. As ghost hunters, our job is to find out the truth. Finding paranormal evidence is exciting. But so is finding normal reasons for what people think is paranormal. We call this debunking claims.
But you know that. You’ve read our cases, and you’ve seen us on TV. Now it’s time for you to join us and become an expert ghost hunter. You don’t need all the fancy equipment we use. All you need are this guide, a good brain, and an open mind.
Maybe you’ve had an experience with the paranormal yourself. Maybe you have already done some investigations on your own. Or maybe you’re just curious and want to learn more. Either way, we’ll help you start your own investigations. Ghost hunting is a lot of fun. It’s really thrilling to investigate a site that you think is haunted. But it’s also hard work. Trust us. You can’t believe everything you see. Read on to find out what you need to know to have a successful and safe ghost hunt investigation.
For those of you who have already done some ghost hunting, this guide features some special
Expert Tips
. Look for them in every section of this guide.
But first let’s see just what kind of ghost hunter you are. On the next page is your first test case. Answer the questions and see how you would react on a TAPS case. Don’t worry if you get a lot of wrong answers. This test is just for fun—the test that counts is at the end of this guide.
Ready? You’re on the case…
T
he sun is setting over Camp Elk River, and you’ve just finished unpacking your bags. Your counselor calls all the bunk mates together and says that as a way to get to know one another, your cabin will go camping that night. You toss your flashlight and some clothes into a duffel bag and head out into the woods.
After making some s’mores, your counselor begins to tell a ghost story. The tale is about a lost soldier who was injured in a bloody battle many years ago. And now his ghost roams the woods—these very woods you are sitting in—trying to find his way home. Each night, he appears with his lantern, making his way through the forest, warning his fellow soldiers about the advancing army.
“You think that’s a true story?” you ask the camper next to you.
“Nah… probably just trying to scare us. But it would be real cool if it were true.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” you say. But in the back of your mind, you remember that there was a major battle in the Revolutionary War not too far away from the campgrounds.
1. You decide the story could be true because it fits the description of a…
a) Demonic haunting
b) Intelligent haunting
c) Residual haunting
d) Poltergeist
Suddenly in the distance you see a dim orange light flicker. It sways a little bit, like someone holding a lantern. It floats for a second, then disappears. You get a little freaked, but you keep your cool.
Yet there is still something strange in the air. Over the scent of the burning campfire, you can smell something else. It’s a strong odor—almost like kerosene from an old lantern. A gust of wind picks up, blowing the campfire in all directions. After a few moments, the wind dies down. Again, you see a light flicker about a few hundred feet away. The light is moving back and forth. Your counselor is wrapping up his story, but you hear a different noise in the background: a very faint voice.
2. You think whatever is going on out there is probably…
a) Nothing paranormal; it’s probably just another group camping out
b) Swamp gas
c) A ghost with a lantern
d) A lost hiker with a flashlight
Your counselor finishes the story and puts out the campfire. Everyone goes into the tents. You get comfortable in your sleeping bag, but right as you are about to fall asleep, you see something strange through the side of your tent. You know your counselor put the campfire out, but it looks like there’s a different fire now.
3. The dim flicker you saw is now brighter. It looks as if it’s moving toward the campsite, straight to your tent. You decide to…
a) Shine your flashlight back at the light, hoping to scare away whatever spirit is there
b) Look outside the tent to see what’s there
c) Roll over and go to sleep
d) Do research the next day in the camp library about the soldier in your counselor’s story
You unzip the tent flap and look outside. At first you don’t see anything. Then out of the corner of your eye, you see that orange light shining in the total opposite direction from where it was before. You quickly move your head to get a better look, but right when you fix your eyes on it, the light vanishes. You wait a minute or so, but nothing happens. So you zip the tent flap closed, and soon you drift off to sleep.
The next morning you ask your counselor if there were any other cabins camping out last night. He says there weren’t. Then you ask him if he saw anything weird. He mentions that he saw a bright light. But he didn’t think much of it.
A few days later, after dinner in the mess hall, your cabin has some free time. You decide that light you saw was just
too
strange. You want to investigate it.
4. You have enough room in your backpack to bring only four pieces of ghost hunting equipment, so you decide to take all the following pieces:
a) Thermometer, compass, camera, set of extra batteries
b) Compass, camera, flashlight, set of extra batteries
c) Camera, flashlight, walkie-talkies, set of extra batteries
d) Flashlight, thermometer, compass, set of extra batteries
You go out into the woods to the same spot where the campfire was the night before. It isn’t too far from the cabin, only a bit off the trail.
5. By the time you find the spot, the sun is setting. The first thing you do is…
a) Call out to the spirit
b) Look for markers of a burial ground
c) Sit down where your tent was and wait for the spirit to show itself
d) Take a few pictures of the area
Darkness is falling pretty quickly, so you turn on your flashlight. You decide to use your compass as a simple EMF detector. You know that if the compass spins around instead of pointing true north, something odd is happening in the electromagnetic field of the area. That could mean a spirit is present.
Looking at the compass, you see that the needle is spinning all over the place. Quickly you look around. But there’s nothing. The woods are totally quiet. You don’t have much time, since you have to be back to your cabin by the time it gets dark.
6. The next thing you decide to do is…
a) See if you are wearing or carrying something, like a watch or belt, that could be affecting the compass
b) Stay out all night until something shows up
c) Take as many pictures as you can because something must be out there
d) Pack it in and go back to your cabin
Then you call out to the spirit.
“Hello?” you say. “If there is a spirit here, I would like to help you. Show me a sign you are here.”
7. You take a few steps forward and wait a few moments. When you look back down at the compass, it’s stopped spinning. Is that the sign you asked for?
a) Yes, the spirit responded to your asking for a sign by stopping the compass needle
b) No, the compass should spin faster if a spirit is present
c) Maybe, it’s not 100 percent proof one way or the other
d) No, if it was the spirit, the orange light would be back
You snap a few pictures and go back to your cabin. You think it’s best not to tell anyone what you’ve been up to until you have a chance to go over the evidence. So you hang out with your bunk mates until lights-out.
The next morning, you check out the pictures you took during the investigation. Scanning through the images, one image in particular catches your eye. Between two trees, there seems to be a shadowy figure. You zoom in. You can even sort of make out what looks like an old-fashioned gun, a musket, strapped to the figure’s back.
8. This looks like a great piece of evidence! But before you can be sure, you must…
a) Check it against other pictures to see if the figure appears in them
b) Look at the image from different angles to make sure you aren’t matrixing
c) Look for other things in the picture that may indicate the paranormal
d) All of the above