Ghost Hunting
Enjoy The Ghost Hunting Experience

The upsurge in popularity for ghost hunting and the paranormal in general has been spurred on by the massive number of reality shows and films that are made based on this same topic. Viewers are invited to witness paranormal goings on in various locations, some of them seemingly innocent and some of them steeped in local lore and carrying paranormal reputations. This popularity has spread out of the living room and away from the TV into the shape of amateur and professionally arranged ghost hunting trips.

The Location

Ghost hunting events tend to take place around historical buildings and locations because these are the ones with the longest history. Dungeons, castles, and even nuclear bunkers are also popular because of the atrocities and incidents that are believed to have occurred in them in the past.

Paranormal Weekends

As well as trips that last a couple of hours, it is also possible to enjoy paranormal weekends that give you a real insight into the paranormal goings on in a particular location. Weekends like this can also include some elements of education and learning the art of ghost hunting making them even more involved and informational.

The Guide

When choosing a ghost hunting event to go on, choosing one with a knowledgeable and skilful guide is also an important factor in ensuring that you get the most from the experience. Proper ghost hunting is an applied science and some of the best proponents have been studying the paranormal for ten, twenty, or even more years.

Corporate Entertainment And Events

As well as individuals and groups that are inquisitive of the paranormal, ghost hunting experiences can prove an excellent way to offer something unusual for a corporate event. Overnight investigations are especially popular and typically take place in some of the most haunted locations in the UK.

Memorable Parties And Occasions

Ghost hunting has become incredibly popular in recent years and not just on TV and in films, but for parties, experiences, and corporate events. Make any party, event, or occasion extra special and more memorable with a ghost hunting experience or a paranormal weekend.

Related Ghosts Articles

Open Minds UFO News

Robin Leach On UFO Hunting And 'Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous' (VIDEO)
Huffington Post (blog)
If you ask celebrity sleuth Robin Leach, he most likely prefers his 50-year pursuit of celebrity stories and gossip to the night he hunted UFOs in the Maine countryside with me some 35 years ago. But maybe not. Leach — who still offers everybody he …
Robin Leach's lifestyle includes a UFO fascinationOpen Minds UFO News

all 2 news articles »

UFO – Google News

Rodney Poteat of was sentenced in federal court in Kentucky last week after pleading guilty to charges of killing the deer and bobcat and transporting them to his home in Salisbury, N.C., in the western part of the state. He didn’t get a permit required of non-residents or report the kills.

The plea deal cost him $ 5,350 and two years’ probation, during which “the defendant shall be prohibited from hunting or accompanying anyone hunting anywhere in the world,” reads the judge’s order, which was first reported by The Salisbury Post.

It’s unclear what led authorities to Poteat. Messages left by The Associated Press for Poteat and his Kentucky lawyer were not immediately returned.

Hunting bans for those who break wildlife laws are not uncommon – violators in some cases have even been banned for life. But typically those punishments happen at the state level, and generally carry over into other states only as long as they’re among the 33 that belong to the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, according to Jeremy Rine, associate director of state services for the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance.

“Essentially, if you get in trouble in one state, you suffer the consequences in any of the other states that participate in the compact,” he said.

Charles Feldmann, a partner at the Colorado law firm Feldmann Nagel & Associates who specializes in wildlife law, said the Poteat’s punishment is a sign of increasingly severe penalties for people convicted of wildlife law violations.

“This area of prosecution, in my opinion, is getting far more aggressive, and so we’re starting to see more outrageous sentences like that,” Feldmann said.

In April, U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Robert Goebel – who handed down Poteat’s sentence – barred two men who were convicted of illegally baiting mourning doves from hunting migratory birds anywhere around the globe for two years.

“The vast majority of my clients come to me thinking they just entered a plea in court to a misdemeanor, and they don’t have any idea that not only do they now have a criminal history, but they also might lose their ability to hunt altogether,” Feldmann said.

Weird News on HuffingtonPost.com

Eerie footage of bigfoot-like creature walking through woods near Choptank Transport in Preston, Maryland.

Ghost Hunting: Pay for my Hobby via Paypal

The majority of ghost hunters and paranormal investigators offer their services free of charge. Many teams will accept donations and state this fact prominently on their Web site, sometimes accompanied by a convenient link to their Paypal account.

Our group will accept donations, however we feel it is pretty tacky to advertise this in a conspicuous place right on one’s home page or have a “Donation” button on a menu somewhere. We definitely feel that groups that charge for their services are total hacks, and are more likely to overestimate their competence level. Sure, people generally put a ton of effort and resources into helping clients to research the various aspects of a location and there is no doubt that conducting an adequate investigation entails a ton of time. But that doesn’t mean someone else should pay for your time, effort, or materials.

The word “donation” implies no obligation, but we still feel it’s tacky to prominently advertise the fact that you accept them. Why you ask?

Why Should I Get Paid for my Hobby?
People don’t generally get donations for their hobbies. If this were the case, I should be able to fund my fishing expeditions through donations. “I am a competent fisherman and travel throughout New England and fish in interesting and historic locations. Please provide a donation so I can continue with this exciting activity.” See what I mean?

Unfortunately, many ghost hunters have become deluded into thinking that they should get paid for a hobby that they choose to engage in. Personally, I don’t care what your hobby is and I’m certainly not going to pay you to engage in it. It’s your choice. Just because you are a ghost hunter doesn’t make your hobby any more special than anything else. I have a cross-stitching group that meets weekly, donate now so we can continue to engage in this valuable activity. See how ridiculous this sounds?

Some teams suggest that providing ghost hunting is a public service! Holy cow! This constitutes an illogical rationalization if I’ve ever heard one. If you were picking up trash from the side of a highway, you are providing a much more valuable service than any ghost hunter and I think soliciting donations for such activities is justified. The highways that I drive every day are cleaner and more picturesque due to your activities, and I can appreciate that. But ghost hunting being a public service? This simply shows that some people will try and justify their behavior in whatever way they can no matter how ridiculous the justification is.

Results Aren’t Guaranteed!
As a paranormal investigator–or ghost hunter–your results aren’t guaranteed. What can you really offer with any surety? What benefits do your services actually bring to a client? Visiting a location, capturing a picture of some strange mist, and giving it to a client doesn’t count as results of anything. In fact, if done right, a paranormal investigation will generally leave more questions than it answers.

We realize that our clients come first and provide a lot of supports specific to education, possible validation and/or debunking, and provide a safe environment in which to discuss strange experiences. We also give people specific ways to live and deal with the activity that gives them control. There is a lot of psychology involved. Given that, I believe that as a team, we do provide a valuable service, but I don’t think we are your typical paranormal investigators. Too many groups treat their clients like they live in a zoo of paranormal activity and swoop in like “paranormal field biologists” capturing–usually debunkable–”evidence” and then moving on to another location. I’ve seen it time and time again. Is this type of investigating providing any type of “service” to the client? No, I don’t think so.

Of course, if you are a client meeting a group of interesting people (the ghost hunters) is a given. Perhaps if you conduct thorough historical research, you can offer something substantial to a client, but other than that, all you can really assure the client is that a group of strangers will show up at a specific location, monopolize a bunch of time, and then go away.

We actually offer some pretty valuable paranormal marketing advice to businesses, all the way up to putting them in contact with several producers/site specialists who produce and/or are developing paranormal television shows. This is a real service that can potentially result in increased profits for a business and WE STILL DO THIS FOR FREE. We do this because we want satisfied clients and want to increase our opportunities to investigate. Simple as that.

Below is a sampling of paraphrased language from several ghost hunting Web sites. I have nothing against anyone that uses similar statements and applaud everyone for increasing the public’s knowledge of paranormal activity. Nor do I believe that a groups willingness to accept donations reflect on its abilities to deliver a quality investigation. However, I do feel some of these statement cross boundaries and hurt the original mission.

I found that when soliciting donations, the statements made by groups generally fall within the following three categories.

We Don’t Require Donations
Does anyone think it’s a little redundant to say you don’t REQUIRE donations.

“Our group do not require donations, however, we will accept donations to help cover expenses.”

“We do accept donations for fuel but it is not required or expected.”

How your Donations will be Used
Want to know what your donations will be used for? Fuel? Equipment? Dinner? Intoxicants to facilitate the paranormal experience? Some groups address this question with amazing detail. Others even advertise that they give a portion of each donation to a specific charity–which I feel is quite honorable and a good example for the rest of us.

“We accept donations to offset travel costs and equipment expenses.”

“Our team will use donations to fund travel expenses including lodging and food, as well as purchase equipment and activities which increase the public’s knowledge of ghosts.”

Guilt and Exaggeration of Expenses
Some groups go too far whether it’s a significant exaggeration of the cost of time and effort or attempt to guilt you into donating to help them reduce the fear that people are experiencing. I feel both of these avenues are misleading and irresponsible. Just because you have a fancy infrared video camera set up doesn’t mean that clients should feel obligated to finance it. And as far as soliciting donations because it will help future clients to live without fear? Come on, if you are going to donate because of this I would suggest making a donation to a real charity that is proven to help people, your local food bank for example.

Consider the statement below that purposes to calculate man-hours. Whats the average man-hour for conducting an investigation? As far as I’m concerned it’s NOTHING. If you want to get paid, do something else.

“Our group graciously takes donations for research and service to our community. When one calculates the man-hours and materials to complete an average investigation, costs can come to over 00.00! “

This paraphrased statement–based on fear–is perhaps the most ridiculous justification I’ve ever encountered for the use of donations by a group. Believe it or not there are several groups out there that use this approach.

“Your donation will be used to help people to not live in fear of what they are experiencing.”

I should note that there are a number of groups out there who specifically say that they DO NOT ACCEPT donations or monetary compensation. I applaud all these teams and I feel they are the most moral and ethically sound considering the nature of the endeavor.

So my final advice? If you want to finance your investigations, sell t-shirts, offer ghost hunting tours, teach classes, write a book, offer consultation services on how to start up a paranormal group, etc. I’m sure there are a host of other options that I’m not thinking of, but I simply don’t believe opening soliciting donations is necessary nor should you expect any client to support your ghost hunting activities via donations or otherwise.

If you are a ghost hunter (or a team of paranormal investigators like us), plan on financing your operations out of your own pocket or using one of the methods mentioned above. Don’t put the cost of your hobby back on the client by soliciting donations. I don’t get paid to garden, fish, play with model trains, etc. Don’t expect to get paid to ghost hunt.

For a real look at a hobby that pays for itself and offers a real service, visit Relic Recovery. I should note that we offer this PAID service for FREE to our paranormal clients. So not only do we not expect to get paid, we offer services to our paranormal clients that we would OTHERWISE get paid for.

So my advice to anyone who considers themself a ghost hunter to be wary in how you present yourself. Asking for money is always a dicey proposition. You can rapidily turn people off and your efforts to finance your hobby could backfire resulting in fewer clients and opportunities to engage in your hobby.

Related Ghosts Articles

Ghost Hunting

Can Ghost Hunting prove there’s an afterlife?

Paranormal investigators believe it can

They regularly run ghost hunt events around the country and many participants have witnessed sights they just can’t explain when they are Ghost Hunting in spooky types of settings.

So what actually happens when people go Ghost Hunting?  Professional Ghost Hunting take place in locations that are considered to be hotspots for paranormal activity and investigations are conducted by some of the most exciting paranormal investigators in the country.   

In a choice of venues you’ll get to know the history of your surroundings and learn more about the ghosts that haunt the location.  Pick a venue, pay your money and prepare to be enlightened about the afterlife.

There’s one question that you’re probably dying to ask about Ghost Hunting at this point.

Is it safe?

Of course it is.  Safety is a prime concern of the event organisers who take people Ghost Hunting.  Remember, their intention is to prove there is an afterlife, not to scare you half to death. All Ghost Hunting events are conducted in a highly scientific manner and you’ll be surprised at just what can be achieved.

Using a wide range of equipment, including camcorders, sound equipment and still cameras, paranormal investigators will try to capture evidence of unusual activity during the Ghost Hunting.  Vigils are performed; you get hands-on experience of paranormal activity, and experience a Ghost Hunting experience unlike any other.

Lift your spirits

Would you like to take part in Ghost Hunting?  Feel ready for the challenge? Find out when the next ghost hunt is due to take place.  You’ll have a right old scream.  Events for Ghost Hunting are run throughout the year with monthly meetings commonplace.

Go on your own, go with a group of friends, meet like-minded people, everyone is welcome to take part in Ghost Hunting activities.

Hosted paranormal events are becoming extremely popular and if you’re a fan of the Most Haunted series on the television, Ghost Hunting will be right up your street.

Find out more about Ghost Hunting and have a look online at the UK’s leading events organisation company, they specialise in things that go bump in the night.

Parapsychology Vs. Ghost Hunting
Examiner.com
Harpers Ferry, WV – A small gathering of parapsychologists wants to ask you question, “If your house was being robbed, would you rather have a cop come to your house or someone who has seen six seasons of the TV series COPS?” This question was inspired …

parapsychology – Google News