Orbs In The Barn, Glenwood, Minnesota, May 2006, photo © 2006-2010 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
It’s Halloween, the time of year when the veil between the worlds is thinnest. Have you ever taken a photograph and were later surprised to find you had captured an orb? Orbs are small, floating, transparent balls of light, most times unexplainable in the context of the photograph. Some claim that orbs are the building bricks from which ghosts are formed.
Do you believe in ghosts? When I was in high school, we would drive around looking for abandoned buildings that might be haunted. We rarely saw anything supernatural and most times managed to scare ourselves silly. But in the years since, I have been visited by two ghosts. One was from my grandmother in Tennessee the night that she died. She came to see me in (what I thought) was a dream, and told me she loved me. The next day I called Mom to ask if Granny had passed away. She said, “Yes, how did you know?”
The second ghostly visit was from my friend Leslea not long after she died from pancreatic cancer. She appeared in my bedroom, pulled on my toe, and knocked a writing book off the shelf at 3am in the morning. It was one of those cover your head with the sheets moments. I didn’t want to see, but could not forget. There are many TV shows that deal with the paranormal these days. Ghost busters and ghost hunters who travel the world documenting the presence of ghosts. What are your ghost experiences?
In his new book Ghost Hunting — A Survivor’s Guide, John Fraser documents a brief history of ghost hunting and explores definitions of poltergeists, doppelgangers, animal ghosts, and crisis apparitions that occur at the point of death or near death of a loved one. Fraser has several chapters on methods of ghost hunting. He divides ghost hunting tools of the trade into scientific and low-tech. Many of the paranormal ghost hunters we hear of today are using high-tech, scientific methods.
High-Tech Ghost Hunting Equipment
- EMF Meters — commonly called ghost detectors and used to measure electromagnetic fields of various frequencies. These devices measure fluctuations in electromagnetic energy in the environment. [Last week I heard a radio interview with a psychic that said many times EMF detectors are not useful because ghosts like to hang out where there is an abundance of electrical currents like airports or malls.]
- Cameras — used in ghost hunting for well over 100 years, commonly to capture orbs or mists
- Thermometers — traditional mainstay of a ghost hunter’s kit used to register changes in air temperature. Digital is the best today. Some use infrared thermometers for target spotting. The theory is that ghosts often suck up the warm energy around them, leaving cold spots where they hover or stand.
- Tape Recorders — Ghosts and poltergeists often make audible sounds or electronic voice phenomena called EVP. You will hear EVP’s recorded with digital recorders in many of the ghost busting TV shows.
- Camcorders — camcorders are placed in paranormal hot spots and later reviewed for images or disturbances
- Night Vision Scopes — for open-air locations where mediums feel more comfortable operating in the darkness
- Barometers & Motion Detectors — compact and digital, to measure changes in air pressure. Like EMF meters, barometers do not detect ghosts but indicate a change in the environment or warning of poltergeist activity.
- Spirit Box — a regular portable AM/FM radio modified to continually scan up and down the dial without stopping. The radio produces small snippets of clearly distinguishable voices as it scans the stations, noises that are clearly not part of any broadcast. Many believe that the spirits, who lack a voice of their own, are able to harness and manipulate radio signals to give voice to their thoughts.
Low-Tech Ghost Hunting Equipment
- Graph Paper — for drawing clear plans of the haunted site
- Rulers or Tape Measures — used to measure distances of objects moved
- Watches — digital and viewable in the dark for timing events, synchronized among investigators
- Voltmeters — used to check electrical power faults and cuts
- Strain Gauges — to measure the force it would take to open a door or drawer, or the weight of an object that has been moved
- Magnifying Glasses — for closer viewing of evidence
- Transparent Envelopes — safe place to store unusual objects collected
- Flour — simple device for sealing off a room, sprinkling a large area, seeing if footprints are left by any intruders
- Black Thread — for sealing rooms to detect and prevent hoaxes
- Torches — to light dark ghost hunting corners, castles, and caves
- Candles — for lighting and to detect air flow changes
- Whistles — to call for help if needed. Can also use a two-way radio.
- Survey Maps –– to document history of what the property may have been used for in the past
- Chalk – to make temporary marks showing the location of objects before and after they have been moved
Many ghost hunters also use human sensitives, intuitives, psychics, or mediums to help detect paranormal activity. If you want to read more about ghost hunting, your local library is a great resource for books on the paranormal, including the newest from John Fraser. Get your ghost hunting kits ready because tonight is Halloween. We’ll have a fire in the fire ring and candy in hand, ready to stave off tricks in favor of treats.
Ghosts make for good Writing Practice too. Whether haunted by figurative ghosts or the real thing, there is juice in ghost writing. Write the word Ghosts at the top of your page — 10 minutes, Go!
-posted on red Ravine, Sunday, October 31st, 2010
I think I would like being a ghost hunter. I wish I had a more refined sixth sense; I’d like to be a ghost hunter and a ghost whisperer.
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Oh….I love seeing the picture from my old barn. The people who went to the barn dances there *loved* the community that happened there. Love and friendship and belonging.
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yb, I know what you mean. When I was working on this post, I was wondering if your ghost was still around. I remember feeling her the time I stayed with you, all those years ago now. Sometimes we watch this show about kids with psychic abilities. It seems like it’s passed down through generations, the gift. I don’t know if I’d be a good ghost whisperer. I am a little skittish when it comes to ghosts. Have seen a few in my time though. Including at Mabel Dodge in Taos.
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Teri, that was a great day. It was beautiful outside and people seemed to really be enjoying themselves. I bet that barn has seen a lot of people pass through her doors. I was looking at the photos from that day. There are some great ones of you and your family. Seems like ages ago. It seems to me like barns are ripe for those in spirit to linger. I remember when we moved from the South to Pennsylvania. My step-grandparents had a huge old barn out back. I usually get a similar feeling in old barns. You can feel the mixture of people, animals, old and new.
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Nice blog. You may also enjoy this:
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Oh I do LOVE this QM. If I had a whistle with me in some of those old houses, I’d be the one blowing it like a ref at a Pee Wee game! If you and yb and I went ghost hunting, I’d call the middle. The thought of being first (or last) in the group scares the crap outta me. I’d probably have an asthma attack, drop on the floor and look up… just in time to see you guys running away like the wind! HA!
BTW…was Leslea a prankster on this side or just the beyond? The toe pulling cracks me up!
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[…] and crisis apparitions that occur at the point of death … … See the article here: Ghost Hunting — Tips & Tools Of The Trade « Share and […]
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Heather, I know what you mean! Okay, I’d give you the middle. ybonesy, will you take the back? I’d rather be in the front than the back for some reason when it comes to ghost hunting. 8)
My friend Leslea had just passed beyond not long before she visited me. It’s kind of a strange situation. I had not seen her in some years. She lived in Portland but had moved back to Iowa after she had gotten ill. I was going to make the journey down to see her and then heard from a friend that she had passed on. I felt kind of guilty for not making it down to Iowa for the last visit. I think she was visiting me to let me know if was okay, that she was okay. And not to worry about it. She always had a sense of humor, so her visit from the beyond was in line with that. Friendly and pranksterish.
BTW, the book she knocked off the shelf after she pulled my toe was a book on writing. I think she was trying to tell me to keep going! That’s how I took it at the time anyway. It’s strange when friends die young. You always wonder if they are around somewhere, looking down. Hope your Halloween went well, Heather. One of these days I’d like to get down to visit you.
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[…] the original post: Ghost Hunting — Tips & Tools Of The Trade « ← Ghost Hunting Theories: Lonely on a Friday […]
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[…] I still remember sitting up with Patrick, and my best friend Denise. I think I might have moved into an apartment with my friend Ellen. It was one of those nights when we all sat on my bed, all of us friends, and made Patrick tell us one scary story after another. We made ourselves so scared that no one left my place that night. We all slept on the bed like a litter of pups. -Related to post Ghost Hunting — Tips & Tools Of The Trade […]
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QM, Very kind of you to let me have the middle. I’ll let you and yb work out the other ends 😉
I absolutely think Leslea was telling you to keep going and that everything was fine! I’ve has so many things like that happen that i know they aren’t coincidence. I can remember not long after my Father passed and my sister and Mom were living together in my parents house. My Mother, bless her heart, loved that house about 120 degrees hot! It was the middle of a summer night and my sister snuck out of her room to turn the heater off. My Mother was always a light sleeper and heard her. She followed her and subsequently they started arguing about the heater. My Sister said they both stopped abruptly because an old music box (purchased years earlier by my Dad at a garage sale) started playing out of the blue. My Sister looked at my Mother and said “That heater’s ok right where it is Mom” and they both went back to bed. That dang old ugly thing had to be hand wound to even play. I never heard it since!
BTW. Halloween was terrific! Thank you kindly for asking! Please come whenever you feel like it. You might enjoy being a candy monitor… hmmm…maybe not! HA!
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Wait a second, I’m not OK with being in the back. I think we’re going to have to recruit a fourth person. Check with Liz, QM, and make sure she can handle the back. 8)
Wow, Heather, quite the message from beyond regarding the heater. Nice of your dad to look out for your mom that way.
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[…] -Related to Topic post: Ghost Hunting — Tips & Tools Of The Trade […]
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[…] In this world they had a combustible marriage. Too many poker games, plus that damned redhead on Coco Street, and gambling away dinner for the next two weeks, which brought about a swing of the broom, or worse, when he came home late at night with his paycheck gone. But they were bigger-than-life-sized characters. I wouldn’t have wanted them to be any less explosive or colorful or real. I’m thinking of them this early November. Realizing how with each passing year I inch a little closer to taking their place in my family chain. Happy Day of the Dead, all you living (for now) folk! -Related to post Ghost Hunting — Tips & Tools Of The Trade […]
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I’m just checking back to see who’s in the back…looks like the decision is still pending… 😉 Maybe we should pull behind us a really angry billy goat. Just to clarify…I don’t want to be in front of the billy goat either!
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Let’s put the billy goat up front, then me, then you, then QM, then Liz. That’s my vote. 🙂
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Great Article. I would suspect the orbs in the picture or the barn are really dust particles. The picture is beautiful but it is evident that the light coming through the window is refracting off particles of dust.
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I think you are right, Ken. After viewing other photos of orbs and dust particles, it does seem like these may be dust. I want to go back and view a few photographs that I took at the Hibbing High auditorium one year. Definitely felt something in there. But was it captured.
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