Ghost Hunt 2: MORE Chilling Tales of the Unknown (35 page)

Let’s quickly review the steps, the way we always do with our team.

Getting a new case is the best part of our job. When someone calls us with a story about seeing a ghost, we’re ready to pull an all-nighter to catch a glimpse of it. But you know there’s work to do first. You need to get the story. That’s what we call the interview. A good interview can tell you what to look for and where to look for it. The point is to get as many details as possible. Remember, we always ask specific questions to get the best results. You don’t say “So what happened?” You need to ask questions that will give you exact answers, like these:

• When was the first time you heard or saw the paranormal activity?
  

• Where exactly were you when it happened?
  

• What did you see or hear?
  

• Did the spirit move at all?
  

• Was there anyone else with you?
  

• Did you both experience the same thing?
  

• Were objects moved, or did the spirit try to communicate?
  

• Does this activity happen only in one spot or throughout the house?
  

Once in a while we come across someone who is trying to trick us. Maybe that’s happened to you… It’s best to find out if someone is just messing around early on so you don’t waste time that could be spent investigating a real claim.

We do most of our investigations at night, but we always start with a daytime tour of the site. We call this part the sweep because we spend this time looking for what we call false positives. Remember, that’s our term for things that seem paranormal but are, in reality, just normal.

Use this handy checklist to help you when you walk through your site.

Be sure to look closely for these things:

• Old pipes, radiators, and air ducts
  can make scary noises.
  

• Water leaks
  can cause noises and creepy dampness.
  

• A house settling
  can make creaky sounds and can make floors uneven, which can result in falls or weird feelings.
  

• Mice, rats, raccoons, and other critters
  —even termites in the walls—cause noise and scratching, and they can move in the dark.
  

• Cracks in the windows
  create drafts and drops in temperature.
  

• Blinds or shades that blow in the wind
  can make banging noises.
  

• Bad insulation
  can create a cold spot on a wall.
  

Before we go dark, we need to get organized. You know that we don’t just walk through a house without knowing where to meet up afterward or deciding who goes where. We set up the Command Center so the team knows where to meet and regroup during the night. On a TAPS investigation, we set up monitors so the team members can check out the action in the whole house at the same time. We can also see where the other team members are.

When it comes to setting up equipment, make sure to have all the hot spots covered by a team member or two and from all angles, if possible. When you set up, look for conditions that could cause false positives. (Look at the sweep checklist for help.)

Between the hours of 11
PM
and 4
AM
is when most spirits appear, so that is when you should investigate. It takes a lot of energy for a spirit to appear, and it is easiest during these hours. Think of it like this: If you were to turn on a flashlight during the daytime, you would hardly notice the light. But if you were to turn it on in the dead of night, the light would shine brightly. Before starting an investigation, remember to get permission from your parents and the owners of a site first. And always investigate with a partner. You see more and you enjoy it more—and it’s safer.

When you come across activity that you think might be evidence of a spirit—like a strange noise or a cold spot—you need to walk
toward
it. It’s natural that your first instinct might be to back away. But instead, you should walk slowly but steadily into the area. What you’re trying to see is if the activity gets more intense as you get closer. If you walk toward it and the activity just goes away a second later, it might be nothing.

As a ghost hunter, what you need most of all are your eyes, your ears, and your brain. There are some things that no gadget can capture. There are things going on in a room that just cannot be recorded with any piece of equipment. But there are some basic inexpensive tools that we always like to use.

Audio recorder:
TAPS prefers one with an external microphone, so you won’t pick up the sounds of the recorder itself.

Video recorder:
We set up cameras in hot spots where activity has been reported, and we also carry handheld cameras to record what we experience.

Compass:
A compass can be used as a basic EMF detector. The needle will spin around if the electromagnetic field of an area changes. This could mean a spirit is near, but it can also mean it’s close to a magnet or metal. Wave the compass very slowly in a circle to see if there are minor changes in the electromagnetic field. Don’t move too quickly, to avoid a false positive.

Flashlight and lots of batteries:
The flashlight is a no-brainer. But why the batteries? This might not seem very important, but believe us, it is. Spirits will use any available energy source to manifest—including draining your camera or flashlight batteries.

Digital thermometer:
(Note: Use an ambient thermometer—one that measures the temperature of the whole room, not just the spot where it’s pointed.) A digital thermometer is a very common tool in ghost hunts. Use it to look for warm spots or cold spots. A cold spot might mean a spirit is drawing energy from the room, using the warmth from the air to manifest. Of course, once you find a cold spot, the next thing you should look for is a natural cause.
Don’t forget to use your checklist from the sweep.

Walkie-talkies:
Use these to keep in touch with the rest of your team.