Body, Mind & Spirit / Paranormal & Psychic Development The New, Comprehensive Guide to Everything About Real Life Ghost Hunting Search no further for the complete, up-to-date, and smart guide for the aspiring ghost hunter—you! Packed with insider knowledge, this handbook covers everything about becoming a real paranormal investigator. This essential manual provides a detailed breakdown of every step on your ghost hunting journey. Explore the fasci- nating work of seminal figures in the history of paranormal investigation. Learn how to build a cohesive team and choose your first supernatural case. Discover crucial advice on the latest ghost hunter gadgets, the ethical way to report your evidence, and how to stay safe in your ghostly encounters. Unlike other ghost hunting books, this indispensable guide explains how to conduct historical research on your case, how to properly document your discoveries, and how popu- lar media and ghost hunting TV shows have impacted the modern paranormal community. So You Want to Hunt Ghosts? is your key to successful investigative adventures. Deonna Kelli Sayed (Greensboro, NC) is a Muslim-American paranormal investigator with Haunted North Carolina (HNC). She lectures on many issues, from women in Islam to the para- normal, and has lived and conducted studies throughout Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. She is also the editor of Ghostvillage.com. $15.99 US ISBN 978-0-7387-3125-4 $18.50 CAN Llewellyn Worldwide www.llewellyn.com www.facebook.com/LlewellynBooks So You Want to HUNT GHOSTS? © Jessica Labbé About the Author Deonna Kelli Sayed (Greensboro, NC) is a Muslim-American paranormal investigator with Haunted North Carolina (HNC). She lectures on many issues, from women in Islam to the paranormal, and has lived and con- ducted studies throughout Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. She is also the editor of Ghostvillage.com, the Internet’s premier paranormal destination. To Write to the Author If you wish to contact the author or would like more information about this book, please write to the author in care of Llewellyn Worldwide, and we will forward your request. Both the author and publisher appreci- ate hearing from you and learning of your enjoyment of this book and how it has helped you. Llewellyn Worldwide cannot guarantee that every letter written to the author can be answered, but all will be forwarded. Please write to: Deonna Kelli Sayed c ⁄o Llewellyn Worldwide 2143 Wooddale Drive Woodbury, MN 55125-2989 Please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply, or $1.00 to cover costs. If outside the USA, enclose an international postal reply coupon. So You Want to HUNT GHOSTS? A Down-to-Earth Guide DEONNA KELLI SAYED Llewellyn Publications Woodbury, Minnesota So You Want to Hunt Ghosts? A Down-to-Earth Guide © 2012 by Deonna Kelli Sayed. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written per- mission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. First Edition First Printing, 2012 Editing by Laura Graves Book design by Bob Gaul Cover art: Background image © iStockphoto.com/ShutterWorx Cover design by Kevin R. Brown Llewellyn is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sayed, Deonna Kelli. So you want to hunt ghosts?: a down-to-earth guide/Deonna Kelli Sayed.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-7387-3125-4 1. Ghosts. 2. Parapsychology—Investigation. I. Title. BF1471.S19 2012 133.1—dc23 2012020797 Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. does not participate in, endorse, or have any author- ity or responsibility concerning private business transactions between our authors and the public. All mail addressed to the author is forwarded, but the publisher cannot, unless specifically instructed by the author, give out an address or phone number. Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific location will continue to be maintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website for links to authors’ websites and other sources. Llewellyn Publications A Division of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. 2143 Wooddale Drive Woodbury, MN 55125-2989 www.llewellyn.com Printed in the United States of America Contents Acknowledgments … ix Introduction … 1 1 Basic Concepts … 7 2 History of Ghosts and Their Hunters … 37 3 Paranormal Investigation— The Good, The Bad, and The Weird … 51 4 Starting a Group … 69 5 Team and Case Structure … 87 6 Residential Cases—Not for Everyone … 99 7 Managing Your Cases … 105 8 Client Interview and Relations … 117 9 Fieldwork … 125 10 When Things Get Bumpy … 135 11 Understanding Evidence … 143 12 Analyzing Data (EVP, ITC, and from Video) … 163 13 Reviewing Photography and Video Data … 171 14 Effective Report Writing … 185 15 Research Design— Thinking Beyond the TV Shows … 203 16 Ethics … 219 Bibliography … 229 Index … 233 viii Contents Acknowledgments There is a long list of people to thank for this book. I am forever grateful for Troy Taylor, Dr. Barry Taff, and Loyd Auerbach’s support and vision. I thank Jim Hall and Steve Barrell from Haunted North Carolina for keeping the way lit with hope and enthusiasm. I am deeply grateful to Marie D. Jones for her girl support. David Rountree and Paul Browning are innovative inspirations. The AdventureMyths crew—I am humbled and awed by your support. I thank Jeff Belanger for putting me in my place and for always insisting that everyone is part of the story. Michelle Belanger (no relation to Jeff) remains the smartest person I know. Mi- chael Robartes, you are kind and wonderful to tolerate my constant emails. I forgive you for walking away from me during that first conver- sation. I also want to thank my editor, Amy Glaser, and my agent, Lisa Hagan, for their continued support. I give a special recognition to Valerie Robbins, Assistant Director of the International Paranormal Reporting Group’s Eastern Oregon Team, for her donation to the Hasbro Children’s Hospital during the 2011 TAPS Family Reunion. ix Finally, I reserve a special shout-out for the Green Bean Coffee House in downtown Greensboro. The staff gifted me sanctuary while writing this book. I am forever grateful for their morning Red Eye and equally sorry that they have no resident ghosts. x Acknowledgments Introduction My start on the ghost-hunting trek was like many others’. If you are like me, you are most likely a product of paranormal reality TV. The shows have become a cultural force opening an unprecedented space to pub- licly discuss hauntings, psychic abilities, and supernatural experiences of all sorts. Television aside, many people who adopt the ghost-hunter moniker discover this to be an amazing journey of personal transformation. Most of us start small and then find this interest becoming an increasingly larger part of our lives. No matter what approach you take—that of a casual observer or a serious researcher—there is no shame in being part of this avocation. And I suspect that many of us move beyond the TV experience at some point to engage with the larger history of psychical research, occult studies, and parapsychology in efforts to better under- stand the phenomena at hand. I was lucky enough to be close to a few good groups, including Haunted North Carolina, which is close to (but not affiliated with) the 1 Rhine Research Center, the former Duke Parapsychology Lab. I met the right people and obtained a diverse yet (hopefully) solid education about the paranormal field. Of course, my knowledge extended beyond the TV screen, which is ultimately very limited in scope and representation. Even paranormal reality TV cast members will tell you that TV provides a very small picture of all that is involved in real investigation! Many may not realize how much research occurred prior to reality TV. What I want readers to come away with is an appreciation for the vast nature of this research and the personalities behind many assump- tions most of us take out on investigation. At some point, I quickly realized there was so much I did not know about paranormal investigation, and most of it I would never learn from a TV show. I began reading wonderful books by longtime researchers such as Troy Taylor, Loyd Auerbach, Joshua Warren, Hans Holzer, Rose- mary Ellen Guiley, and others. These authors have produced amazing works reflecting the long history and multiple approaches to seeking the unknown. Most of these books were written prior to the earth sized shift in the culture of ghost hunting that occurred with paranormal reality TV. An unprecedented number of people have taken up the cause. The shows have altered the way people discuss paranormal activity and have forever changed the landscape of paranormal investigation. A wave of technical innovation has swept the field with experimental equipment (of varying degrees of credibility) and new investigative techniques. Most importantly, a unique ethical reality is emerging as more people than ever are opening up their homes to a growing number of paranormal investigators. There are now potential legal, privacy, and liability issues that did not exist a few years ago. I realized there was no book that really looked at these contem- porary issues (although the authors of the previous books are very involved in current discussions), so I decided to take up the cause. In the past, books about ghost hunting were directed at specific—and 2 Introduction normally discreet—individuals who were into this sort of thing. The books were important how-to manuals.