6 replies to this topic

[Jeff Belanger]

Dear Ghostvillagers,

There are many reasons why we approach the paranormal table. Some of us had a profound experience that drew us into the unexplained and forced us to keep searching for answers. Others are compelled to investigate what others scoff because we want to find out for ourselves whether this stuff is real or not. Eventually you find yourself deep down the rabbit hole in places you never imagined.

As many of you know, I work for the Ghost Adventures show on the Travel Channel as their researcher and writer. It’s been an amazing job for me! I’m grateful to those involved and those who watch the show. Over the past four years of working on that show, I’ve gained some perspective on myself, on the paranormal, and on Zak, Nick, and Aaron -- you know -- the guys on TV. This month I’m proud to share with you Nick Groff’s story. I helped Nick write his brand-new biography: Chasing Spirits: The Building of the Ghost Adventures Crew. This book traces Nick’s earliest paranormal experience -- his near-death experience -- and shows how one television ghost investigator was formed. Unlike other paranormal shows, these guys weren’t casted. They set out to document the paranormal, they edited their own footage, and through hard work and a lot of determination, they were able to turn their investigations into a documentary and then into a successful television series.

Chasing Spirits is an amazing story and a detailed look behind the scenes of how Ghost Adventures came together. This is a book for fans of the show, but it’s also for people who are fans of the paranormal. The book officially goes on sale October 2nd. Please pre-order it right now! This book has a great chance at becoming a New York Times best-seller with your help!

This month tell us what got you started chasing spirits.

Supernaturally yours,

Jeff Belanger
Mayor of Ghostvillage.com

[White Witch]

I became interested because of seeing my grandmother in my dreams and hearing her foot steps on the back stairs of the house. I have had many encounters over the years. I think until something happens to a person they don't believe. I'm glad to learn that these guys are not just actors. I have been told that Ghost Hunters are only actors. I will be looking out for this book to read for sure.

[TheresaRHPS]

This month tell us what got you started chasing spirits.

I grew up in this field. My grandparents, like many in this area of WV, came from a lineage of Scot-Irish and Cherokee...and held on to many of the stories and superstitions that were passed on to them. They were the first to really cultivate my interests in this field, telling me ghost stories, buying me books on ghosts, and most importantly, actually taking me out in the field, lol.

When I was 10, I moved into a house that was definitely haunted...and it refueled my original love and interest in all things paranormal. I wanted answers for what I was experiencing. I knew that not everything was going on was paranormal, but I wasn't happy with the blanket, skeptical explanations that people kept trying to shove at me. As I got older, it was natural to take my interests, my experience with the unexplained, and of course, my knowledge of the many natural things that mimicked paranormal activity and try to help others who were going through what I went through.

That's the "quick" version about why I got into this field, lol.

[CaveRat2]

I first started investigating back in the 1970s following the large outbreak of UFO sightings at that time. For some time I limited my work to UFO and related areas. By the 1980s I had taken several reports aledging contact with aliens. At that point I began to see a strong similarity between aliens and the claims of those seeing a full bodied apparition. (Floating above the floor, lacking feet, sometimes hooded or wearing a cloak, passing through walls, psychological effects on witnesses, etc.) At that point I bagan to consider whether some claims may be of the same entities with the only difference being interpretation.by the witness. Since then I have been covering both types of cases. (BTW, same consideration for Bigfoot sighting; these seem at times to tie in with some UFO activity.) Thus I research based on the possibility that all areas may be interconnected in some way yet unknown.

And for those who ask, while I have seen the effects and heard evidence of activity I have never seen directly any spirit or ghost.

[Frater Arion]

This month tell us what got you started chasing spirits.

My journey started with religion. I was never really big into Christianity. My parents were, and still are pretty religious. Not insanely so, but enough that as a child, it annoyed me. I was always a very scientific person, and could never come to terms with the idea of someone dying, and then rising from the dead 3 days later, it made no sense to me, and so I stayed far away from religion for quite some time. I used to listen to a lot of heavy metal music, I've since gotten over that, but while I was into it, my father would always say "I don't know how you listen to that stuff, sounds like the devil screaming. I bet they're all Satanic." The concept of Satanism had never really occured to me, I guess I knew it existed, but I didn't knew what they were about. I had no interest in becoming one, but I eventually googled it all just to look into it. I came across LaVeyan Satanism, which had heavy ties to Hedonism, and so I looked into Hedonism and other similar philosophies.
I was also always a curious boy, taking things apart, putting them back together, trying to see how things worked, and so when I got my first taste of philosophy, trying to understand how EVERYTHING worked, I was hooked. I studied everything I could find, on every different philosophy. Many philosophies tied into specific religions, and so I started studying religions as well. All had their myths, and most had some kind of mystery tradition, which is what really interested me. The idea that there was secret knowledge, the idea that following these paths could lead to a realization of how the world worked, and not some presumed realization through a sacred book, REAL realization, through work, through experience, through first hand knowledge. And so I started, mainly with Jewish mysticism, Qabala and such, and then I learned of other paths. Hermeticism, hoodoo, Hindu mysticism, and many others. I've dabbled in many, and decided to stay mainly within the path of western hermetic tradition, I've had many experiences and many realizations, life altering epiphanies.

Obviously all of this ties into the paranormal, chasing spirits, though I suppose in a different context than most ghost hunters. Either way, I'm a very curious person, always interested in the most abstract and interesting ways of viewing the universe. Upper level mathematics, quantum, particle, and astrophysics, evolutionary psychology, and, though many scientists would cringe hearing me say it, the occult. All of these things have helped me develop the world views that I have today, and that includes the belief in spirits, the belief that they can be communicated with, and the desire to go out and communicate with them.

[midnight.moonrise]

I started looking for spirits after I graduated from high school, though what drew me to that is that I have been seeing spirits and entities since I was a little girl. When I was around seven years old is when I first remember seeing someone, it was my great grandfather he had died that night (when I saw him he was sitting on the end of my bed). The next morning I told my mother about it and described him perfectly despite never meeting him or seeing a picture of him. Since then I have seen and spoken with spirits (often I was afraid because I did not understand what was going on). When I graduated from high school I became serious in my search for what I was seeing and why.

[White Witch]

It's interesting to read how we all came to have the interest we share.