Ghost-Fu
 Your paranormal is our normal.
The Team:
Alex K
Ben P
Scott C
Scott C
Who is this guy?

Hello, My name is Scott, and I'd like to be a ghost hunter.

Yeah, I know, stupid joke.

Anyway, I am a techie.  I enjoy working with and exploring gadgets.  I like to tinker with software.  By day, I'm a technical trainer. I have to dig into all kinds of topics to understand them in such a way to be able to explain it to my team.  Until recently I was a technical analyst who spent all my time listening to computer problems and trying to fix them with users over the phone.

I also love photography, science fiction, all kinds of movies and other stuff, but you know, I already have a wife, so I'm not looking to write up a personals ad here.  Although I do like a good walk in the park.

Okay, enough with the dumb jokes.

I have a decent internal BS meter.  Often it is set way too high.  Because of this, there is a lot I do NOT believe.  You would be very hard pressed for me to truly believe in psychic powers for example.  Now that doesn't mean I don't believe you can "read" someone.  Studies have shown (and yeah, when I get real references for it I will definitely link them) that body language makes up about 77% of our communication, tone of voice is 16% and 7% is just the words we use.  What that means is that, if you are very good at reading someone's body language, then you can pretty much guarantee you know about them.  Add the abiltiy to play off the tone of their replies and you have a 92% chance of guessing correctly.

I have no first hand experience with the paranormal, so until I do, I have a certain set of beliefs.  I am more than willing to change my beliefs, but you'd have to prove it to me.

Clairaudience and clairvoyance, telekinetics, etc.  I would have to see first hand to believe.  And especially with the "clairs" I'd need to know the people involved to trust the findings.  The human mind is an amazing device.  I'm sure there are flashes of psychic abilities, but there's nothing I've seen or read with an easily repeatable method.

But I digress.  I was trying to tell you that I have an analytical mind.  I like structure.  In college I studied engineering and automated manufacturing.  I took one tiny aspect of those studies and got into computer technical support.

So, for trying to prove something, there is no real shades of grey: everything is black or white or ones and zeroes.  In the realm of paranormal activity, the grey zones are either black or white but we don't have all the data yet.  It either is or it isn't.

I go into this an unbeliever, with the possibility of gathering proof.  Not beliefs, not feelings, but proof. I won't believe without it.
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What's your experience?

Have I ever seen a ghost?  Not in my mind, no.  Have I ever "experienced" a ghost?  Again, no, not in my mind.

I am of the opinion that everyone is just a little bit insane.  It is all about how you manage your insanity.

I've heard voices.  I've felt someone was chasing me.  I've had some really disturbing dreams.  I thought I was just experiencing some of that nuttyness that means I'm human.  I've watched my kid and he makes me think he's a little obsessive/compulsive.  Does this mean we're crazy?  Well, sure why not.  But it is no less crazy than anyone else.

I'm also a card carrying hippocrite. And unfortunately it is my curse to know that I am a hippocrite.  The only difference between me and virtually everyone else there, is that I know I'm a hippocrite.  I don't "believe" in ghosts, yet I want to.  But I want to have my proof.  I'm overweight, and I know it is bad for me, and I know I'd be healthier and happier being in better shape, yet I haven't gotten to the point where I can get my lardbutt to do anything real and long term about it.  I don't believe in a spiritual deity, yet I pray and use his name in vain all the time.  I am a hippocrite and I am proud.

So what possible paranormal experiences have I had?

Here's a rundown of a few of them.  You decide.

Case 1:

A few years ago, I was asleep and dreamed a man in black clothes and essentially in shadow came into my bedroom and just walked back and forth at the foot of the bed.  He was watching me and my wife and he was angry.  I tried to move, to get this intruder out of our bedroom, and I couldn't move, I couldn't talk.  After a couple of minutes the man left the room and I was freed from my paralysis.  I thought I then woke from a dream, but it was hours later, and my wife was trying to wake me up because I was screaming through my closed mouth.

I always considered this a dream.  A damn freaky one, but a dream.  Then I read about similar experiences that were attributed to ghosts.  (And yes, when I find the reference again, I'll link it).  I still think it was a dream, but now curious. This is the closest to a real ghostly experience I have had.

Case 2:

Growing up, my grandparents had a house they built themselves.  It was a lot of fun, and all the grandkids loved the place, me included.  Except for the master bedroom and bath.  I hated to go in there by myself, and with the number of people there for a weekend, I always ended up having to use that bathroom.  On many occasions, I'd start out, and swear there was something or someone following me, even though I knew there was no one there.  Frequently, by the time I hit the hallway, I was at a full run, in a panic.  That panicy feeling stayed with me all through high school.  Up until the house was sold, I always had that paranoia feeling.  While I have had similar feelings elsewhere, that one section of the house always scared me silly.

For a long time, I've thought it was just that bit of crazy in all of us.  Now, I wonder if perhaps there were some faulty electricals around there.  If my grandmother still owned the house, I'd love to take an EMF reader around there. (with a buddy of course!)

Case 3:

A few times in my parents home, I had been alone, reading, playing around, etc. and I would hear a woman's voice in my head shout my name.  That's it.  Nothing else.  Not any kind of warning, or her name, or anything else.  And somehow I knew it was inside my head, not something outside.

For years I was on the fence on whether it was someone or something calling me, or some other kind of crazy episode.

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So why do this ghost hunting thing?

Okay, so back in High School (mumble mumble) years ago, I thought how very exciting it would be to investigate ghosts.  There were a number of stories around town of various haunted locations.

I really don't know why, because as a child, all the childhood fears for me revolved around ghosts.   I had ghost "monsters under the bed" ghost dinosaurs that reflected on the walls, and ghosts that would try to chop my legs off if I raised them in bed.

I had panic attacks at various locations because I "knew" something was following me  (parts of my grandparent's hourse for one).

I have heard someone call my name when I was alone in my room, and there wasn't anyone who could have nearby.  (And for some reason, I "knew" the loud voice was not external but in my head).

All that as a kid.  So why look for the thing that seriously freaked me out as a kid, and often still does? Maybe to work out the fears.  Maybe to prove that it was more than my imagination.  Maybe to prove I was losing it somewhat.  I'm not really sure.  I know I was afraid, yet fascinated.

Now back that many years, the insanely few "Ghost Hunter" groups were generally considered wackos, and without the internet, even those were next to impossible to find.  So I was a geeky high school kid who was probably too smart for his own good.  I mean, seriously, who would believe a junior in high school just wanted to camp out in a retail store or bank or auditorium for the night with a huge video camera to just "catch a ghost."   I didn't believe my own story, so why would anyone else?  So it never got past the "Gee, I'd so like to" phase.

Fast forward many years, and now ghost hunting, while still full of a bunch of wackos, has gained some legitimacy.  There is a whole movement that believes in getting scientific proof of ghost activities.  There were a number of groups who's  main purpose was to look for any reason something was not a ghost.

Suddenly, through the cable channels, ghost hunting shows started popping up. The first few I saw, were annoying.  The flashy reenactments of the "ghost" designed specifically to scare you, a bunch of "investigators" who would think the squirrel shaking the tree, or someone couching in the next room meant there was a ghost.  It was just sad.

Then along came Sci Fi's Ghost Hunters, and the TAPS crew.  Wow. Here were people who were interested in helping people and in looking for rational explanations for what others called ghosts.  Here were people I could relate to.  Well, the lead investigators anyway.  Much of the crew seemed a little to eager to believe.

In spite of all that and the debunking they did do, there were still the cases that were exciting with no explanable reason for things happening.  Were they ghosts?  Not sure, but they definitely were very convincing.

So, because of this "new" breed of Ghost Hunter, I was interested again and got curious again.  So, with the power of the Internet, I went looking fot TAPS.  Took awhile back then because the shows all just said "TAPS" without explaining what TAPS stood for (The Atlantic Paranormal Society, if you didn't know yet).  When I did find them and the multitude of other ghost hunting sites out there, it was a crapshoot on what was good and bad.  The organizations I found online in my area were either a bit out of my driving range, or totally non-responsive.   The questions I wanted answered to start hunting "professionally and scientifically" were hard to get hold of.

So, for that, I'm building this site and starting this group.  Maybe this site will answer some of your questions too.