Cold Spots

When I woke up this morning I was cold. I wrapped up in my blanket and realized that I’ve never really talked about cold spots on my blog.

Cold spots (in the paranormal community) is basically the idea that a ghost, or spirit can drop the temperature of a room or space. (I blame The Sixth Sense.) Often ghost hunters take note of strange temperature fluctuations and document them to see if there is any correlation between temp changes and other paranormal occurrences.

 The general belief is also that ghosts tend to run cold, and will usually make the space around them colder. It’s also fairly natural to feel chilled when something unusual happens. (Any science people out there have an explanation for this one?)

As much as I would like to believe spirits are trying to communicate this way, I haven’t seen any evidence to support this theory. The truth is, most old buildings are cold. They weren’t insulated the way modern buildings are. You can walk into a very old building when it’s eighty degrees out and it’s almost always going to around sixty inside, unless the whole building has undergone major renovations. Old buildings are also drafty. It’s not unusual to walk into a room and have a thirty degrees temp change. It’s just the way things are.

My ghost hunting team still monitors the temperature on many of out ghost hunts, mostly out of curiosity. But it’s going to take a lot more hard evidence for me to believe that ghosts are responsible for temperature changes.

Do you think ghosts can/do manipulate the temp of a room/building?

Weekly News Round-up 4/25/12

This week every one seemed to be talking about monsters!

ScientificAmerican.com posted an interesting debate about sea monster sightings. You can read it here.

Mail Online posted a picture of a sonar image that some believe may be of Nessy. I'm not totally convinced but you can judge for yourself.

A researcher is trying to raise money for an expedition to the Congo to look for a dinosaur, as well as other unidentified animals. You can read about it here.

Should Ghost Hunting be Regulated?

There are a lot of people out there calling themselves ghost hunters. Some of them are people looking for answers to questions about the afterlife. Others are trying to study paranormal phenomenon. Some are even just people trying to help other people. But there are always a few bad individuals in any group, and some ghost hunters are simply people looking for a fun time, people looking to get famous, or worse people looking to take advantage of others.

Right now, anyone can be a ghost hunter. In a way, that’s great. It means everyone has the opportunity to do it. But not everyone should do it.

Personally, I think ghost hunters should have the option of getting some sort of certification or formal training. People could feel more comfortable knowing the groups coming into their homes would be following some sort of ethical standard.

But, right now, there’s no universally accepted ghost hunting training. Most of us learn by experience and the classes that are offered are usually put together by small ghost hunting teams. Because ghost hunting is hardly a science, very few legitimate schools would consider hosting a course on the subject. Also, there are so many different schools of thought, how would they choose which techniques and approaches are the correct ones?

I would love to see a standardized course developed in the future, but right now ghost hunters have to rely on nothing more than the experience of being in the trade.

Do you think schools should offer ghost hunting classes? Do you think there should be an ethical code of conduct for ghost hunting?

Weekly News Round-up 4/18/12

Wcax.com posted an article about Bigfoot sightings in Vermont. You can check it out here.

A ghost has gotten a reputation for groping women at a pub. You can read The Sun article here.

A police officer and another witness claim that a glowing green object the size of a whale fell into a lake in Connecticut. You can read the full article here.

Danerous Ways of Talking to Spirits?

I came across an interesting debate between several paranormal investigators a few days ago. A lot of ghost hunters won’t use Ouija boards (myself included) because people think it’s possible to invite something bad or dangerous into the room in an attempt to communicate. They are also usually associated with witchcraft, and that makes some people uneasy. If you aren’t familiar with Ouija boards, they are basically a board game with letters, numbers, and words printed on them. You place your hands on something called a planchette that sites on the board and it’s supposed to move in response to whatever questions you ask.

There’s also a fairly new piece of ghost hunting equipment called a ghost box, or spirit box. The box is preprogrammed with words and phonetic sounds with the idea that a ghost can choose to manipulate the box as a way to communicate.

The debate basically was centered around whether or not the ghost box could be considered a dangerous way of communicating with spirits. Basically, was it just a high-tech Ouija board?

While everyone’s opinion was a little different, the most popular belief was that the ghost box wasn’t dangerous because you didn’t use your body to use it the way you do a Ouija board. People pretty much agreed that you were asking spirits to use your body to operate the Ouija board, and that’s what makes it dangerous.

So what do you think? Do you think Ouija boards are dangerous? What about ghost boxes?

Weekly News Round-up 4/11/12

BBC News posted an article on Bigfoot hunters. You can read about it here.

Gather News posted a video of a UFO flying over Monument Valley. It's moving pretty fast but hard to see any details.

Paranormal Daily News posted a video of a UFO taken out the window of an airplane. I'm a little skeptical of this one, but you can judge for yourself.

Interview with a Ghost Hunter-Marcus Haug

Today I’m interviewing fellow ghost hunter Marcus Haug. Marcus is the lead investigator of North Ohio Paranormal and has been investigating the paranormal for more than 5 years. I put together all the great question you guys asked and added a couple of my own. 

Do you believe in ghosts? Why?

Yes. I believe because of my experiences when I was a child.

How old were you when  you became interested in the paranormal?

5 years old. I saw a ghost in my bedroom. It was standing over my bed.

What drives you to go out in the night in search of ghosts?

To prove to myself they are there and to see what happens when you die.

Do you believe ghosts can only be human?

They can be anything. Animals..people..whatever.

Why do you think ghosts have not passed on to the afterlife?

Different reasons. To get a message out or because of a quick brutal death.

What kind of equipment do you use? Is it expensive? Can anyone procure it?

Yes, it is expensive. Anyone with the ability to purchase it can get it. We use night vision cameras, digital recorders, motion sensors, lasers.

What’s the most haunted place you have heard of? Would you go there?

There are so many… Mansfield reformatory, Waverly Hills, Prospect Place. Yes, I would go there.

Is there a place you really don’t want to investigate.

No, I’d investigate anything.

What’s the most boring part of ghost hunting?

Looking over evidence.

Has any ghost hunter ever been killed or injured by a ghost? How did it happen?

Injured…definitely. There’s speculation about people being killed. Some investigators have been scratched or had things thrown at them.

Has anyone ever brought you out to investigate on false pretenses? How did you handle it?

Yes. Someone called me out that was trying to fake evidence. Once I caught on I left.

Has anything ever shaken your conviction in the paranormal?

Only when people fake evidence but I’ve seen ghosts and I know they’re real.

Weekly News Round-up 4/4/12

The taxi driver who witnessed a shadowy figure crossing the road has come forward to say he doesn't feel the incident was paranormal. You can read about it here.

A possible Bigfoot sighting was filmed in Idaho. You can see the video here and decide for yourself if it's real or fake.

A strange image has appeared on Google Sky. People have been speculating about it being a UFO. What do you think it is?

The 5 Best Paranormal Sites on the Web

I’ve compiled a list of a few helpful and interesting sites about all things paranormal. Narrowing it down was hard because there are so many out there, but if you are looking to learn more about ghosts, strange creatures, or UFO’s, these sites are a great place to start.

(In no particular order)

1.Cryptozoology.com

This site has lots of articles on creature sightings as well as an active forum for discussion and debate.

2. Mostly Ghosts.

      This site is all about ghostly sightings and urban legends. It features a lot of fun photos and videos    as well as interesting articles.

3. MonsterTracker.com

     A collection of articles about cryptids. 

4. Phantoms and Monsters.

    This blog features mostly ghost, UFO, and monster sightings that have been submitted, as well as a few articles about the latest paranormal news. Great if you are looking for first hand accounts.

5. Real UFOs’

     A Collection of UFO News, videos, and photos.