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Features Archive:

2006 Archive:
The Winchester Mystery House - Ghost Chronicles
December 28, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Investigating Jane Doherty - Ghost Chronicles
December 20, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Shadow People - by Lee Prosser
December 16, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Westford Knight - Ghost Chronicles
December 15, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Haunted Real Estate by Richard Senate
December 13, 2006


Traditions Behind Christmas By Vince Wilson
December 8, 2006


The Haunted Dibbuk Box - Ghost Chronicles
December 6, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Have Ghosts? Will Travel: A Ghostgeek's Guide to the RMS Queen Mary By Jen Brown
December 4, 2006


Thanksgiving: A Day of Forgiveness - by Lee Prosser
December 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

America's Stonehenge - Ghost Chronicles
November 29, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) - by Jeff Belanger
November 16, 2006


Ghost Hunt Seminar - Ghost Chronicles
November 15, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Ghost Photography: Orbs by Robbin Van Pelt
November 9, 2006


Pet Ghosts - Ghost Chronicles
November 6, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Ghosts Haunt the Inn by Richard Senate
November 3, 2006


Japanese Woman Artist - by Lee Prosser
November 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Ghosts of the Windham Restaurant - Ghost Chronicles
October 30, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

The Salem Witches - Ghost Chronicles
October 23, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Homan House, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: A Preliminary Report by John Sabol
October 20, 2006


What Does Halloween/Samhain Mean to You? - Compiled by Jeff Belanger
October 16, 2006


That is the Way of It - by Lee Prosser
October 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Fooling the Ghost Hunter by Richard Senate
October 11, 2006


Jack Kerouac - by Lee Prosser
October 2, 2006

Column - regular feature

Civil War Re-enactors and the Ghost Experience - by Jeff Belanger
September 15, 2006


Who Goes There in the Shadows? - by Lee Prosser
September 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Engagement and Data Analysis in Symmetrical Field Investigations by John Sabol
September 11, 2006


Occult Warfare by Richard Senate
September 6, 2006


Cats and Other Critters From Beyond the Grave - by Lee Prosser
September 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

Chicago's Strange Angles and Haunted Architecture by Ursula Bielski
August 25, 2006


I Have a Hunch: A Look at Psychics, Mediums, and Clairvoyants - by Jeff Belanger
August 16, 2006


Geof Gray-Cobb - by Lee Prosser
August 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Orbs: Have They Become that Boring? by Tuesday Miles
August 14, 2006


A Night on Char-Man Bridge by Richard Senate
August 7, 2006


Five Union Soldier Ghosts - by Lee Prosser
August 2, 2006

Column - regular feature

A Visit With Author and Witch Kala Trobe - Interview by Lee Prosser
July 26, 2006


Perceptual Stratigraphy: Making Sense of Ghostly Manifestations by John Sabol
July 24, 2006


The Trouble With Witches - by Lee Prosser
July 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

A Look at Our Haunted Lives - by Jeff Belanger
July 13, 2006


An Active Ghost Hunt at a Haunted Bed and Breakfast by Richard Senate
July 7, 2006


Lee Prosser, 1969 - by Lee Prosser
July 4, 2006

Column - regular feature

My Theory on Spirits by Edward L. Shanahan
June 28, 2006


Ethnoarchaeoghostology: A Humanistic-Scientific Approach to the Study of Haunt Phenomena by John Sabol
June 19, 2006


Christopher Isherwood & Lee Prosser in 1969 - by Lee Prosser
June 16, 2006

Column - regular feature

ESP, M&Ms, and Reality - by Jeff Belanger
June 15, 2006


A Duel on the Airwaves by Richard Senate
June 5, 2006


Marjorie Firestone and Her Dream Predictions - by Lee Prosser
June 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

Until Death Do Us Part? by Rick Hayes
May 31, 2006


Part Four: the Conclusion: Primrose Road - Adams St. Cemetery - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
May 22, 2006

Column - regular feature

Folklore, Folklore, Folklore with Dr. Michael Bell - interview by Jeff Belanger
May 16, 2006


Swami Chetanananda and Lee Prosser - by Lee Prosser
May 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Theatre, Sance, and the Ghost Script: Performances at Haunted Locations by John Sabol
May 5, 2006


Willard David Firestone and the River Ghost - by Lee Prosser
May 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

When the Spirits Held Sway at the White House by Richard Senate
April 25, 2006


Part Three: Investigation: Primrose Road - Adams St. Cemetery - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
April 20, 2006

Column - regular feature

Talking Reincarnation with Dr. John Gilbert - interview by Lee Prosser
April 17, 2006


Billy Bob Firestone and the Ghosts of Pythian Castle - by Lee Prosser
April 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Cryptobotany: the Search for Lost Plants by Richard Senate
April 7, 2006


The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 4 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
April 6, 2006


Vedanta and Durga - by Lee Prosser
April 2, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 3 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
March 30, 2006


Ritual, Resonance, and Ghost Research: The Play in the Fields by John Sabol
March 27, 2006


The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 2 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
March 23, 2006


Celtic This, Druid That, Saint Patrick Hit Me With a Wiffle-Ball Bat - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
March 21, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 1 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
March 16, 2006


Christopher Isherwood, Time Loops, and Ghosts - by Lee Prosser
March 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Druids - by Lee Prosser
March 3, 2006

Column - regular feature

Natural Selection and the Involution of the Gettysburg Ghosts by John Sabol
February 28, 2006


Part Two: Investigation: Primrose Road - Adams St. Cemetery - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
February 20, 2006

Column - regular feature

Lights, Camera... Action! by Brian Leffler
February 16, 2006


Divination and Geomancy - by Lee Prosser
February 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Spirit Messages from a Murderer by Richard Senate
February 8, 2006


The Ghosts of Springfield, Missouri - by Lee Prosser
February 3, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Ghost Storyteller: A Dinosaur Among Lemmings? by Charles J. Adams III
January 23, 2006


The Fools Journey: A Magickal Roadmap to Life - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
January 20, 2006

Column - regular feature

Tarot and Spiritual Alchemy - by Lee Prosser
January 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Demons from the Dark by Chip Coffey
January 9, 2006


Spooky - by Lee Prosser
January 3, 2006

Column - regular feature



February 16, 2006

Lights, Camera... Action!

By Brian Leffler

Brian Leffler - Northern Minnesota Paranormal InvestigatorsWhat is the most important part of a paranormal investigation? Actually, there are two parts to it that are equally important. One is the equipment itself and the other is the integrity of the evidence collected. I am going to explain both points and the methods used by the Northern Minnesota Paranormal Investigators (N.M.P.I.) to collect evidence. After all, the reason we all do paranormal investigations in the first place is to collect evidence of what happens when we dieif anything, of course.

Ok, you have a few friends together and you want to go out and track down a few ghosts. What are you looking for? Most likely some still photographs? Perhaps some Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP), or maybe you are interested in recording some videotape? Perhaps you would like to do it all in a full-scale investigation. This is the way that N.M.P.I. does it. Full scale. All the time. 

What type of equipment do you want to take along with you? Well, for an N.M.P.I. member, it is anything analog. We use 35mm cameras with 400-speed film. We do not allow any digital cameras to come anywhere near our investigation. Digital cameras are not trustworthy for evidence collection. They have problems with their chips inside, they compensate on every shot you take to give you the best shots possible. Basically, from the second that you push the button to take the picture, your evidence is tainted and not worth a hill of beans. They also are great at creating orbs in your picture even if a location is not haunted. During the Christmas of 2005, I used my digital camera (yes I do own one) at two separate Christmas programs at the high school. This school has never had any kind of haunting reports to anyones knowledge. The other place I used this camera was in my home on Christmas. I took a total of 33 pictures. Out of the 33 pictures I took, 26 of them had at least one orb in the shot. Granted film isnt perfect either but I have never come close to anything like that before with a film camera. Another reason to stay away from digital is the fact that it leaves you with no tangible evidence. With film, you have a negative that can be scrutinized by any professional. You can determine if the anomaly in your photo is something that the camera actually saw or if it was an error in processing. If you photograph an object toward one edge of your picture, you can take in the negative and have them move over and capture the entire anomaly that the camera saw. With digital, you have no options. You get a picture that only exists in the camera and on your computer with nothing at all that can be scrutinized. The team from N.M.P.I. has the negative to every paranormal photograph we have ever collected.

View N.M.P.I.'s photo gallery here: www.nmpi-scary.com/Photo_Gallery.html

Now that we are ready to take still photographs, lets get ready to record some EVP. I think that EVP is about the most interesting form of evidence that there is. Ok, I love videotape too but hey, it is in the top two. We use your standard everyday cassette tape recorder with a remote microphone. Nothing fancy, it doesnt have to be. We use each tape only one time and it must be brand new and right out of the wrapper when we start recording. We never flip over a tape and use the second side as that can lead to bleed-through which is just as bad as the archival noise that occurs on digital recorders. Archival noise is something previously recorded that didnt erase completely and is now coming through on your recording. You think that you have an EVP but it was just your conversation with your sister that you recorded. The only way that a digital recorder would be sufficient for paranormal investigations is if you were to replace the memory stick each time you record and use it only one time like we do with our cassette tapes.

Listen to some of N.M.P.I.'s EVP here: www.nmpi-scary.com/EVP.html

Now, we are shooting film and recording the voices of ghostswellhopefully anyway. Its time to set up a camera and perhaps (as N.M.P.I. did in 2003), capture us an apparition on videotape. We at N.M.P.I. use two different methods of achieving this goal. One is through the use of a Sony Handycam that is set on the "nightshots" setting. The other method is a security camera that shoots in infrared and is recorded directly to a standard VCR. This works very well and has captured some really great shots! 

That is the basics. How about a few extras that are not absolutely necessary but everyone loves getting a new toy to play with? My first extra was an infrared thermometer. N.M.P.I. never leaves home without it. This thing is very accurate and can tell you just how much a temperature rises or lowers. We dont consider anything out of the ordinary unless it is a 10 degree difference in either direction. Ok, you might ask What about EMF meters? I see them on every television show. Yes, you do see ghost hunters running around following this little box and yelling out the readings as they track something around. N.M.P.I. has one but seldom uses it. They are great if they are used in an area that is dead (no pun intended) -- meaning that there is not any electrical feed into the building, etc. Then when you get your base line reading, it is pretty much nothing on the meter. When you have live electricity in a house or building, it is too easy to be picking up that electrical source and doesnt give you readings that are for sure accurate. That being said, you can use them as a guide. If you believe that you have a good reading on the meter, take a photograph, or point a video camera in that direction, but as a general rule I do not assume that the results are necessarily paranormal. A regular compass can give you the same results at a much cheaper price.

We are now armed to the teeth for capturing that elusive ghost. What do we do with the evidence that we have collected? We take our photos in to be developed and usually get started right away on the video and audio. For the audio, we go through it about two minutes at a time running it through Cool Edit Pro -- a software program that allows us to study each segment. We are able to listen carefully to it, filter out any static that needs filtering, and save the audio to the computer to share with the world. Keep in mind that we always have the original tape and can play that at any time or have it scrutinized. Videotape is watched by at least two N.M.P.I. investigators at the same time. This helps us to not miss anything at all since paranormal anomalies can happen very quickly. Once we have discovered anything that looks out of the ordinary, we download it into a video program (we use Windows Movie Maker) and then examine the footage frame-by-frame. We will always have the videotape. Once the pictures come back, look at them very closely for any anomaly. Scan them into the computer where you can lighten and zoom to see if you have something explainable or not. Always keep every negative! I cannot stress that enough. It is very important.

That is how the investigators at N.M.P.I. go about routine business and the equipment we use. I certainly hope that all of you get out there and collect some great evidence to advance the field of paranormal study but dont forget to be safe and have some fun while you are at it.


Brian Leffler is the founder of the Northern Minnesota Paranormal Investigators (N.M.P.I.), is a regular contributor to Ghostvillage.com, and a Town Council Moderator in our site's message board community. Visit the N.M.P.I. Web site at: www.nmpi-scary.com.




2014 Haunted New England Wall Calendar by Jeff Belanger photography by Frank Grace
Check out the 2014 Haunted New England wall calendar by Jeff Belanger and photography by Frank Grace!


Paranormal Conferences and Lectures
Don't miss the following events and lectures:

Jeff Belanger and “The Bridgewater Triangle” at Dedham Community Theatre - April 6, 2014 9:00PM

The Spirits of the Mark Twain House - Hartford, Connecticut - April 12, 2014

Paracon Australia - East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia - May 10-12, 2014