20 replies to this topic

[Roger phillips]

ih my name is Roger Phillips and me and a few of my firends would like to start ghoust hunting and i would like to know any thing and everything to start like what tools do we need and where to get theses thing i an located in central iowa

Edited by earth_spirit, 24 February 2010 - 05:42 PM.

[CaveRat2]

After 35 years in the field, the same thing I tell all new start-ups.

1. Orbs are usually dust, not spirits
2. Digital voice recorders are for witness interviews, not EVPs.
3. Get experience.
Connect with other investigators locally before trying to start out on your own. They have had experience and can pass along what would otherwise take you years to learn on your won or just by reading books. Besides all investigtors no matter how experienced also use outside contacts and cosultants. This group you learn from is simply your first of many outside contacts you will need as you go on. And the three most important things you need just starting out:

1. A notepad
2. A pencil
3. Good observation skills and common sense.

[Roger phillips]

thanks for the info i have been reading a lot and trying to go out i hve been learning of of the goust hunting show i wach and i wach all of them to learn all that i can but its the money facter that is mostly stoping me frome doing most of this stuff

[Gabby]

thanks for the info i have been reading a lot and trying to go out i hve been learning of of the goust hunting show i wach and i wach all of them to learn all that i can but its the money facter that is mostly stoping me frome doing most of this stuff

Hi Roger...well you don't need a ton of money to do a good ghost hunt. Like CaveRat says, good observation skills should be all that's needed plus a record of what happens.
Try exploring haunted locations and keeping a "Ghost Hunter's" Journal. In a certain area note the difference between somewhere else. What do you smell feel or sense? Do you get the chills in certain areas more than others? Do you sense a presence? Simple observations should get you off to a good start.

[CaveRat2]

Exactly. Real investigations are not like you see on TV. They generally consist of a lot of simply studying the situation and observing results. Witness interview sessions and analyzing their responses. While a nice kit of equipment is nice, most results come from your observations and deductions. And that doesn't cost anything. I can say as an investigator I have thousands of $$ worth of equipment and many times on a case most of that equipment never leaves my truck.

Forget the TV shows, they are mostly just entertainment. If they actually did a show as an investigation is conducted most viewers would turn it off out of sheer boredom!

[Roger phillips]

ok i understand all that the whole money thing was related more tordes gas lol but thanks

[MoonChild]

[EarthMommy]

Also keep in mind, the TV shows are showing 8-12 hours of investigation, in an hour format, minus commercials. Lots of the boring stuff gets cut in the edit process.

[Laurie Ann]

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Roger, pay no mind to this response.........just another spammer trying to get attention.

Iam also getting ready to start my own paranormal investigation team...but right now it's just the 2 of us. I met a gal here at GV that also happens to live in my small town, so we're getting things ready so we can get to investigating. Right now what we're doing is...getting notebooks to write down areas that we're researching on both the internet and from our local museum. My hubby just bought us a couple of nice flashlights...and we have pens & pencils. I have a digital camera & video recorder that has night vision while she has the voice recorder and a few other things. No matter what, you don't need anything with bright lights and nothing huge....these spirits will show up to you regardless of what you have. I wish you the best of luck and keep us posted on anything you find!!

[Blair Jett]

I`ve read a couple posts by Caverat now stating that Digital Voice Recorders are worthless, but he doesnt say why? I`m curious why?

[Blair Jett]

I`ve read a couple posts by Caverat now stating that Digital Voice Recorders are worthless, but he doesnt say why? I`m curious why?

Nevermind. I read some of Caverat`s posts in other threads about them. I think I figured his points out.

[DeadTrish]

I`ve read a couple posts by Caverat now stating that Digital Voice Recorders are worthless, but he doesnt say why? I`m curious why?

Oh if he sees this he will be sure to tell you everything you need to know. He is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met in this field. He has helped me with so much.

As far as the recorders go he probably would say something like there is too much room for outside interference. EMF, RF and other things can all cause false positives. Wires that are shielded, gain too low... hope I'm on the right track lol His explanation will sound much more technical though lol

[DeadTrish]

To Roger-

Just remember to keep it simple. I've been doing this for a while and I have seen so many people just jump into things with out knowing much at all. It is def not like you see on tv. I think the one piece of advice I can offer besides what was already said is RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH! Knowledge never hurt anyone. When I first started that is all I did. Everything from history to investigating techniques. Equipment to different groups. Operations to different cases of paranormal activity. You name it...I researched it. I basically printed everything I could, read it and then filed it for reference. I have a pretty big library because of it. This field is always changing...no harm in keeping up with it.

[CaveRat2]

I`ve read a couple posts by Caverat now stating that Digital Voice Recorders are worthless, but he doesnt say why? I`m curious why?

Oh if he sees this he will be sure to tell you everything you need to know. He is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met in this field. He has helped me with so much.

As far as the recorders go he probably would say something like there is too much room for outside interference. EMF, RF and other things can all cause false positives. Wires that are shielded, gain too low... hope I'm on the right track lol His explanation will sound much more technical though lol

That pretty much sums up the reasoning behind it. If someone wants all the technical explanations, I have that on my website. (Click my sig for that). Like anything, voice recorders do have their place. Logging information about an investigation, witness interviews, and note taking they are fine. Just not when it comes to actually gathering evidence as needed for EVP work.

Otherwise, it's not that you can't get EVPs on voice recorders, it's that with all their shortcomings you can't be sure what you did get was an EVP and not something either leaking in from some external source, or something created by a less than optimum A to D conversion precess.

[AnythingButNormal]

I also think it's not a bad idea to study up on your basic sciences. Understanding the basic principles of how the world around you works, is probably the easiest way to ensure that you know and recognize something that doesn't belong.

For example...

Your friend acting the fool--->
Completely normal

Full bodied specter walking through walls--->
Completely paranormal