del.icio.usGuide to ghost hunting
If you want to do some serious ghost hunting then you will need some basic equipment. Plus you need to know a few basic facts about paranormal activity. If you would like Ghostmap to organise a paranormal investigation (ghost hunt!) then click here for information.
Firstly, ghosts do not appear "on demand" therefore on any organised ghost hunting event you may not experience anything paranormal at all. There are 2 basic types of "ghost". Residual energy, and spirit energy. There may also be "poltergeist" activity, but it is widely believed that poltergeists are simply manifestations of the spiritual energy created by the persons experiencing or being affected by it.
Residual energy is simply an event in the past which is repeated over and over, like a broken record, and may manifest in the form of a ghost, a sound, or simply a "feeling". Residual energy is not spirit and cannot be communicated with.
Spirit energy is the actual presence of a spirit which has not yet passed over to "the light". Different beliefs will have differing understandings of "spirit" and "the light". A spirit energy may possibly be communicated with intelligently. For example, asking "knock twice for yes" might actually produce 2 knocks. It may also be possible to communicate with spirit energy via the use of a seance or ouija board, however the use of such methods should be strictly controlled by a well trained medium or other spiritually aware person who is able to offer suitable "protection" and be able to stop malicious spirits from entering or remaining.
If you wish to do a serious paranormal investigation then you should arrange it with a Paranormal Investigation Group, who will be able to provide the experience and equipment to be able to investigate and record their findings using suitable equipment. They will then be able to analyse their findings based on the recordings taken and provide a reasonable summary of whether or not there is any paranormal activity at the time of the investigation.
For a list of the equipment often used by Paranormal Investigation Groups please visit our Paranormal Investigation Equipment page.
If you think you caught an "orb" then please read our guide to orbs.