Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Halloween! I thought to celebrate, I'd post one of my experiences from my ghost investigation last night. My team was investigating an old building that was once an asylum for the criminally insane, among other things. The place is dark and pretty secluded and just walking in is a little unsettling.

At one point we decided to split up. I went to the 2nd floor of the building alone. Usually this doesn't bother me too much. I've seen and heard just about everything on our ghost hunts over the years. This time, I really didn't want to go alone. The 2nd floor just made me uncomfortable. I set up a camera and a recorder and took about three steps before hearing a loud, blood curdling scream. It was a woman's voice. I was the only female in the building. It was so loud and clear, that it was all I could do to stay there alone. I managed to keep investigating, but I refused to go to that floor alone for the rest of the night!

Exciting News

 I just wanted to post today to share some exciting personal news. I've sold my first novel, Nightfire, to Musa Publishing. I don't want to constantly post writing related updates on this blog (I'd like to keep it focused on paranormal stuff.) So, if you want to follow my writing journey, you can read about it here on my writers blog. Right now I'm excited to see what the future will bring and can't wait to finally be published. Thanks to all my writer and blogger friends who have been supporting me!

Weekly News Round-up 10/26/11

Someone in Woodbridge, VA called cops to report a werewolf sighting. WMAL.com has the full story here.

Huffington Post posted an article about a video that claims to be footage of an alien in the Amazon jungle. The article does a pretty good job of explaining why the video is probably a fake.

Gather News posted an article about a UFO appearing on Monday Night Football. You can watch the video here. I actually think it looks more like a rod (I may do an article on rods in the future, but you can be the jduge.)

Halloween Scare

Halloween is almost here! I thought I'd start celebrating a bit early by posting this video of an older couple getting a bit of a scare! Enjoy!

Weekly News Round-up 10/19/11

Monster Tracker posted an article discussing Big Foot witnesses and whether or not their sightings should be considered evidence.

Mother Nature Network has an article about a cyclops-like shark discovered in Mexico that only has one eye. You can see a picture and read about it here.

Huffington Post posted an article about a woman who claimed to be a psychic who stole a large amount of money from her clients.

The Thrill of a Good Scare

It’s that time of year again. Pumpkins are popping up on porches, horror movies have taken over just about every Television station, and teenagers all over the country are spending their weekends walking through haunted houses, hoping to get a good scare.

But why are people so obsessed with being frightened? You’d think we would want to avoid being terrified, but the truth is, sometimes being scared is just plain fun.

Maybe it’s the rush of adrenaline we feel when are minds are telling us we’re in danger. Perhaps people enjoy increasing their heart rates. Or, possibly, it’s just the satisfaction we feel when the ‘danger’ is over. Relief can be a really pleasant emotion to experience.

Whatever it is, it seems to be addictive. People keep returning to things that frighten, startle, or scare them. As long as they know it’s not real. And that bit of terror is part of what makes this time of year so fun, and so popular.

Do you enjoy being scared? What do you do to get a thrill?

Blog Birthday!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of this blog! It's been a great year and I can't wait to see what the next year of blogging brings. Thanks to all my readers and blogging friends for helping to make Paranormal Pursuits a success!

Weekly News Round-up 10/12/11

The Gaurdian posted an article claiming that most monster hunters aren't scientific enough to be taken seriously by the scientific community. You can read it here.

A coffee worker saw the image of a ghost apear in his coffee cup. You can see a picture of it here.

Examiner posted an article about a UFO that was spotted by many people fying over Kansas City.

Ghost Hunting 101: Preparing for an Investigation

Ghost hunts don’t normally just happen. There’s actually a lot of planning involved in most of the hunts my team goes on. I thought I’d share a few of the steps we go through in planning for people who are considering going on a ghost hunt.

1. The first thing that happens is finding a location and making arrangements with the owners and anyone else that may be at the location. Sometimes property owners will notify law enforcement about what we are doing, in case neighbors get worried and call the cops. We also try and build a relationship with the property owner, so they feel comfortable with having roaming the property.
2. After we have a location, we often do research on it. The internet, libraries, and people living in the area are all great resources for finding information.
3. We also try and visit the location during the daytime, if possible, so we can figure out the best way to investigate. Usually during this visit we will try to figure out where the power sources are (if any) for our equipment, look for spots that may be dangerous, and map out some sort of investigation plan.
4. We try and determine how many people we need to cover the location and figure out which investigators will be the best fit for that spot.
5. The day before the investigation we start charging our batteries and preparing our equipment.
6. Usually shortly before an investigation we have a quick briefing with everyone going to the investigation to share research and information about the site.
7. We load up our vehicles and head out!

Weekly News Round-up 10/5/11

Stoughton Patch posted an interesting article on The Jersey Devil this week. You can read it here.

The Spectrum.com posted an article about a Bigfoot hunter who hopes to use aerial cameras to capture proof that Bigfoot exsists.

Researches have discovered how to make a real-life invisibilty cloak using some pretty advanced technology. Ok, I know this isn't exactly paranormal, but it is pretty interesting. You can read about it and see a video here.

Ghost Children

One of the most disturbing things that can happen during a ghost hunt is running into the spirit of a child. It’s hard to imagine what could cause a child to appear in a spirit form. When you encounter one, you can’t help but wonder what is keeping it here. But children spirits hardly appear to be a rare occurrence. Many people claim to have seen ghost children. On several occasions my team has captured EVP’s that sound like the voices of children as well. Many ghost hunters even bring toys with them on investigations to use with the hopes of interacting with children spirits.

Some people theorize that these children apparitions aren’t really children at all, but evil spirits pretending to be kids, with the hope of luring us into darkness. In my experience, the appearance of a ghostly child hasn’t appeared to be negative or evil in any way. They generally behave and interact like any other spirit.

We may never really understand why ghost children are still hanging around. Maybe they experienced a violent death and their energy imprinted on a certain location. Or perhaps they return here with the hopes of seeing a loved one. Or Maybe they just never moved on. Either way, if you go on ghost hunts, it’s best to be prepared to run into them because you never really know who, or what, you are going to meet.