We've got a new one. We've been invited to take a look at a home that has a spirit in need of help. At least that's how we look at it. The ghost is the father of a young girl who died under difficult circumstances, and seems to be having trouble moving on. The home's current owners aren't bothered by the ghost, or whatever it turns out to be, but wondered if we could produce any evidence of the haunting. They probably want to use it as a second income. You know, "See the real ghost house for $5" or something like that. You'd be surprised how many people get greedy over the dead (or maybe you wouldn't).
According to our research, the young girl was abducted from her bus stop. The father was distraught, as would be expected. When they notified him that they had found her body, he had a massive heart attack and died before help could arrive. Supposedly he still waits for his daughter to come home.
7.27.2009
Bleck
I'm sick as a dog with some horrible tummy bug. Since late Saturday I've been in the bathroom doing things that are so unladylike that I'm even grossing myself out. With luck, I'll either be better by tomorrow, or dead.
Just so no one gets bored, I'll throw in a little something I read about as an undergrad that is often confused with a ghostly visit (or, much farther back, a visit from a demon like a Succubus. Although a Succubus visit was also often explained away by wet dreams). It's a type of sleep paralysis that feels like someone is on top of you, holding you down. I had this happen to me once when I was in high school, and let me tell you, it scared the shit out of me. It really felt like
Just so no one gets bored, I'll throw in a little something I read about as an undergrad that is often confused with a ghostly visit (or, much farther back, a visit from a demon like a Succubus. Although a Succubus visit was also often explained away by wet dreams). It's a type of sleep paralysis that feels like someone is on top of you, holding you down. I had this happen to me once when I was in high school, and let me tell you, it scared the shit out of me. It really felt like
someone was on top of me.
It usually happens when you're just coming out of sleep, and it's your body's muscles "turned off". As they turn back on, it feels like someone getting off of you. It's also called Hag Phenomenon. About.com has a good description:
It usually happens when you're just coming out of sleep, and it's your body's muscles "turned off". As they turn back on, it feels like someone getting off of you. It's also called Hag Phenomenon. About.com has a good description:
So what causes it? Dr. Max Hirshkowitz, director of the Sleep Disorders Center
at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Houston, says that sleep
paralysis occurs when the brain is in the transition state between deep,
dreaming sleep (known as REM sleep for its rapid eye movement) and waking up.
During REM dreaming sleep, the brain has turned off most of the body's muscle
function so we cannot act out our dreams - we are temporarily
paralyzed.
"Sometimes your brain doesn't fully switch off those
dreams - or the paralysis - when you wake up," Hirshkowitz told ABC News. "That
would explain the 'frozen' feeling and hallucinations associated with sleep
paralysis." According to his research, the effect only really lasts from a few
seconds to as long as a minute, but in this half-dream half-awake state, to the
victim it can seem much longer.
7.24.2009
7.23.2009
Residuals
The professor gave me some reading material on residual energies. Sometimes, when an event or an emotion is so powerful, it leaves a shadow of itself behind. This residual will usually repeat itself at a certain time and seem more or less unaware of anyone or anything around it. It's like watching a movie.
Except for one thing, the music box ghost was a textbook residual haunting. It goes off at a little after two in the morning, the same time the cousin died from her cancer. I don't know if she ever actually played the music box, or if it was something she strongly craved as she lay dying. The old lady who owns the house told us that she frequently played it for her cousin, who was way too sick to get out of bed. The prefessor says a lot of hauntings are probably just residuals. Especially in older buildings, which often are made from iron, quartz, and slate, which are supposedly good conductors of energy.
The one thing that was strange about the music box ghost, is the way I saw it while half asleep, assuming I really did. The woman seemed to smile at me. That shows interaction.
The Professor thinks I just dreamed her. Maybe I did. But then again, maybe real ghosts don't show up on film. Maybe they can only be seen when you're in some kind of altered state. That would certainly explain why there are so few ghost recordings, and so many freaking fakes. I'll have to do some research on that.
7.22.2009
The Music Box Ghost Wrap-up
From a scientific perspective, we didn't get anything useful. No EMF changes, nothing on the camera or infrared, other than us bounding around like bulls in a china shop. We do have a recording of the music box playing, but that on its own doesn't really say much. It could have a sensitive trigger, or any of several other possible explanations. No one else saw any ghostly woman, or dreamed it, as the case may be.
So is the house haunted? The Team couldn't say "yes," as we had nothing empirical to base that sort of statement. Did it freak us out? Hell yeah it did.
We debriefed the old lady, and she answered our vagueness with another shrug. "I guess if she needed something from us, she would have said so," she said.
The Professor says it may not be a ghost, per se (he talks like that a lot). It could just be some sort of remnant, or residual energy. Like the smell of chocolate after you've finished eating cookies. Something left in passing through. He told me not to worry too much about my dream. People are very suggestible, and we were in a tense situation. But to let him know if it happens again.
But it certainly felt like something happened. There's nothing to base that on other than a purely irrational feeling, but it's there all the same.
We'll see how the next one goes.
So is the house haunted? The Team couldn't say "yes," as we had nothing empirical to base that sort of statement. Did it freak us out? Hell yeah it did.
We debriefed the old lady, and she answered our vagueness with another shrug. "I guess if she needed something from us, she would have said so," she said.
The Professor says it may not be a ghost, per se (he talks like that a lot). It could just be some sort of remnant, or residual energy. Like the smell of chocolate after you've finished eating cookies. Something left in passing through. He told me not to worry too much about my dream. People are very suggestible, and we were in a tense situation. But to let him know if it happens again.
But it certainly felt like something happened. There's nothing to base that on other than a purely irrational feeling, but it's there all the same.
We'll see how the next one goes.
FUBAR
As scientific endeavors go, this one was a bust. But I think we found us a ghost.
Let me back up a bit.
After we set up the camera and the mics and stuff, we had a twenty minute debate on whether or not we should wind up the music box, so it would be easier to play, wind it down so playing would be more impressive, or leave it the hell alone. We asked the old lady what she normally did, and she shrugged. "If I listen to it I wind it up," she said. So we gave it a couple winds, listened to make sure it worked, and put it back on the table.
We took shifts watching the box. I had the first shift, which was pretty uneventful, other than Doug having some mighty nasty gas which could scare even a dead lady away. A little after midnight Raj and Mia were on deck. Doug went upstairs to check his email, and I streatched out on the sofa. I didn't think I was sleepy yet, so I just watched Raj and Mia do their thing (you know, trying to coax the ghost out, talking reassuringly, and trying not to giggle). A little after 1am I dozed off.
And then it got a little freaky.
I was just sleeping lightly, sort of the way when you have time between classes but not enough to call it a day. I wouldn't have thought I was in REM sleep yet, but I dreamed. I dreamed I saw a twisted old woman in a hospital gown stand up in the middle of the room. She smiled at me and went over to the music box. She sort of glided, as her legs were too bent to walk. When she opened the music box she transformed into a young, healthy looking woman.
I woke up to music.
Then a crash as Raj knocked the camera over and cursed. The music box was playing something I'd heard before, I think it was Moonlight Sonata. I think it took Raj by surprise as he kicked the camera over. Mia was watching the EMF and the recorder with an equal look of surprise on her face. The light was dim, but not completely dark due to the kitchen light upstairs and the light from equipment and a downstairs clock, but there was no ghost that we could see, bent woman or young woman.
Raj leveled the camera again and said, "Not getting anything. Liz, if you're awake can you check out the music box?"
I went over to the music box. I didn't feel any chills or weird disturbances, and nothing seemed to be around the box. I waved my hand around the air a few times; nothing. "Ok to pick up the box?" I asked. Raj and Mia gave me the all clear. I picked up thebox. It played a few more notes then was silent.
"That was strange," said Mia.
Right now, sitting in the dark typing away, I think it was a ghost. In the morning I may feel differently. We'll review what we have around lunchtime with the Professor. I need to get some sleep.
Let me back up a bit.
After we set up the camera and the mics and stuff, we had a twenty minute debate on whether or not we should wind up the music box, so it would be easier to play, wind it down so playing would be more impressive, or leave it the hell alone. We asked the old lady what she normally did, and she shrugged. "If I listen to it I wind it up," she said. So we gave it a couple winds, listened to make sure it worked, and put it back on the table.
We took shifts watching the box. I had the first shift, which was pretty uneventful, other than Doug having some mighty nasty gas which could scare even a dead lady away. A little after midnight Raj and Mia were on deck. Doug went upstairs to check his email, and I streatched out on the sofa. I didn't think I was sleepy yet, so I just watched Raj and Mia do their thing (you know, trying to coax the ghost out, talking reassuringly, and trying not to giggle). A little after 1am I dozed off.
And then it got a little freaky.
I was just sleeping lightly, sort of the way when you have time between classes but not enough to call it a day. I wouldn't have thought I was in REM sleep yet, but I dreamed. I dreamed I saw a twisted old woman in a hospital gown stand up in the middle of the room. She smiled at me and went over to the music box. She sort of glided, as her legs were too bent to walk. When she opened the music box she transformed into a young, healthy looking woman.
I woke up to music.
Then a crash as Raj knocked the camera over and cursed. The music box was playing something I'd heard before, I think it was Moonlight Sonata. I think it took Raj by surprise as he kicked the camera over. Mia was watching the EMF and the recorder with an equal look of surprise on her face. The light was dim, but not completely dark due to the kitchen light upstairs and the light from equipment and a downstairs clock, but there was no ghost that we could see, bent woman or young woman.
Raj leveled the camera again and said, "Not getting anything. Liz, if you're awake can you check out the music box?"
I went over to the music box. I didn't feel any chills or weird disturbances, and nothing seemed to be around the box. I waved my hand around the air a few times; nothing. "Ok to pick up the box?" I asked. Raj and Mia gave me the all clear. I picked up thebox. It played a few more notes then was silent.
"That was strange," said Mia.
Right now, sitting in the dark typing away, I think it was a ghost. In the morning I may feel differently. We'll review what we have around lunchtime with the Professor. I need to get some sleep.
7.21.2009
We're Here
We've just arrived and I'm testing the hardware by making sure my laptop is working. Obviously, it is.
I was a little nervous about what to wear. I wanted to be comfortable, as I was going to be at the lady's house for a while, but I didn't want to scare her or look unprofessional. I could have gone all Matrix, but that was a little too theatrical for me. I ended up just wearing some black tights, my pink Supergirl tee, and a dressy looking jacket over it. I wore some neutral Target brand sandals instead of my traditional combat boots.
The old lady is nice, if a bit scatter brained. She's not worried about whether or not she has a ghost, just whether or not the ghost is stuck here. She was with the maybe ghost when she died, and wants her to move on.
We'll be taking shifts in the room the music box is in. It's a moderate sized den with a comfy sofa, afireplace, and a wall of old books. The TV is probably about fifty years old. The middle of the room is clear except for carpeting, but that's where the hospital bed used to be. The old lady's cousin died from bone cancer here.
She just brought me pepsi and some lemon squares. :)
I was a little nervous about what to wear. I wanted to be comfortable, as I was going to be at the lady's house for a while, but I didn't want to scare her or look unprofessional. I could have gone all Matrix, but that was a little too theatrical for me. I ended up just wearing some black tights, my pink Supergirl tee, and a dressy looking jacket over it. I wore some neutral Target brand sandals instead of my traditional combat boots.
The old lady is nice, if a bit scatter brained. She's not worried about whether or not she has a ghost, just whether or not the ghost is stuck here. She was with the maybe ghost when she died, and wants her to move on.
We'll be taking shifts in the room the music box is in. It's a moderate sized den with a comfy sofa, afireplace, and a wall of old books. The TV is probably about fifty years old. The middle of the room is clear except for carpeting, but that's where the hospital bed used to be. The old lady's cousin died from bone cancer here.
She just brought me pepsi and some lemon squares. :)
A Haunting We Will Go
Tonight we're visiting an old lady with a maybe ghost. We don't think it's very likely, but we figure it will be a good trial run for everyone, as it's our first time working together. The lady lives alone; her husband is in assisted living with Alzheimer's. She keeps hearing a downstairs music box playing at night. Her guess is that it's a relative who died from cancer in the room with the music box.
So we'll be checking it out tonight.
So we'll be checking it out tonight.
7.20.2009
Typical Grad Night
Ok, so we got truly messed up last night. It was a Sunday night, none of us had a regular job in the morning we had to go to, and we don't have to seriously study for a while. So the Team (minus the Professor) and Raj's girlfriend (she wants us to call her "Starfire," I shit you not) and a friend of Doug's came over to watch a movie, play the Wii, and get high.
Doug's friend, who I pegged for gay early on, looked like a buff Harry Potter. He was undergrad, so I guess that's in or something, at least among the geek chic. His name was Pete, or Peter, or something like that.
The funniest thing was well past the wine phase of the evening and solidly into the joint phase. We were passing around something like the second (or eighth) joint, and Starfie was laughing at something. I still have no idea what it was, and she couldn't seem to get the idea across to anyone. But she was laughing pretty robustly. Starfire, being a "dancer" with the best "augmentation" you could buy with a pile of ones, was dressed pretty slutty. Don't get me wrong, I've been known to dress pretty whorish if the mood hits me, but I at least like to make sure everything is structurally sound. Starfire wasn't so careful.
Have you seen that movie, the 40 year old virgin? It has a scene it it where the main character is doing speed dating, and this bubbly woman with big boobs kept bouncing out of her top without noticing. Starfire kept doing that all night. Which made me and Mia giggle, which made her laugh even more. I swear it was like watching two puppies fighting over a biscuit.
Raj and Doug were enjoying the hell out of the show as well. Both of them had turned from setters to pointers. Raj, always one to show off, just sat back without a care in the world, as if he were smuggling a nightstick out in his jeans. Doug was embarassed and kept trying to hide it, which would start us all giggling again. Harry Potter didn't seem to know what was going on. But he was pretty wasted. He thought every sound that came out of Mia's mouth was comedy gold. When she started hiccuping I thought he would wet his pants.
Anyway, around two in the morning we all started dropping. Raj and Starfire vanished into a bathroom, and God only knows what they were doing (although I have a pretty good idea), but an hour later they were both snoring. I peeked under the door and saw either a boob or an ass cheek squished against tile. Luckily we have two bathrooms, so we let them sleep it off until morning when they stumbled out wearing each other's clothes.
Doug fell asleep on the sofa, a Wii controller somehow in his pants.
Mia passed out on the floor next to the sofa, but just for laughs Harry Potter and I arranged her with her face in Doug's lap. Seemed hilarious at the time.
Harry Potter, it turns out, wasn't gay. And that's all I'll say about that.
Doug's friend, who I pegged for gay early on, looked like a buff Harry Potter. He was undergrad, so I guess that's in or something, at least among the geek chic. His name was Pete, or Peter, or something like that.
The funniest thing was well past the wine phase of the evening and solidly into the joint phase. We were passing around something like the second (or eighth) joint, and Starfie was laughing at something. I still have no idea what it was, and she couldn't seem to get the idea across to anyone. But she was laughing pretty robustly. Starfire, being a "dancer" with the best "augmentation" you could buy with a pile of ones, was dressed pretty slutty. Don't get me wrong, I've been known to dress pretty whorish if the mood hits me, but I at least like to make sure everything is structurally sound. Starfire wasn't so careful.
Have you seen that movie, the 40 year old virgin? It has a scene it it where the main character is doing speed dating, and this bubbly woman with big boobs kept bouncing out of her top without noticing. Starfire kept doing that all night. Which made me and Mia giggle, which made her laugh even more. I swear it was like watching two puppies fighting over a biscuit.
Raj and Doug were enjoying the hell out of the show as well. Both of them had turned from setters to pointers. Raj, always one to show off, just sat back without a care in the world, as if he were smuggling a nightstick out in his jeans. Doug was embarassed and kept trying to hide it, which would start us all giggling again. Harry Potter didn't seem to know what was going on. But he was pretty wasted. He thought every sound that came out of Mia's mouth was comedy gold. When she started hiccuping I thought he would wet his pants.
Anyway, around two in the morning we all started dropping. Raj and Starfire vanished into a bathroom, and God only knows what they were doing (although I have a pretty good idea), but an hour later they were both snoring. I peeked under the door and saw either a boob or an ass cheek squished against tile. Luckily we have two bathrooms, so we let them sleep it off until morning when they stumbled out wearing each other's clothes.
Doug fell asleep on the sofa, a Wii controller somehow in his pants.
Mia passed out on the floor next to the sofa, but just for laughs Harry Potter and I arranged her with her face in Doug's lap. Seemed hilarious at the time.
Harry Potter, it turns out, wasn't gay. And that's all I'll say about that.
7.19.2009
The Team
The team isn't a for-profit group, like Ghostbusters, or anything. We're a bunch of academics hoping to make our scientific careers. We should probably come up with a name for ourselves, just in case someone wants to make a movie about us. Although considering this motley crew, it would probably be a porn movie.
There's me, Ghost Girl (and that's the closest you're going to get to my real name). I was born in Hawaii and was raised more or less like everyone else. I've been going through an "artsy" phase, which my brother calls my "Wendy O phase," but I've been thinking it may be time to go a little more conservative. Not sure yet, but I'd hate to scare the clients more than the ghosts. Anyway, I handle the computer hardware and a little bit of this and that. I'm not really an IT person, but I'm more of one than anyone else.
There's my roommate and partner in crime, Mia. She's a hottie, but then I've seen her naked. She's in charge of acoustics and sound recording.
Raj is the team horn-dog. He'll bang anything that moves, so he's our motion sensor guy. He's currently seeing some stripper (sorry, "dancer") who, swear to God, looks like that porn star who ran for Governor in Las Vegas, Mimi Miyagi. I'm not jealous. Raj and I dated briefly (I moved, so - bang!), and I learned two very important things about him. One: He's hung like a whale. Like the movie line goes, "What do they call telephone poles in France?""I dunno." "They call them Raj's penis."
And the other thing I learned was that, once you get over the package parameters, he's a one-trick pony. Granted, that trick made it hard for me to walk for a couple days, but after that, eh. It's over and done. But he's a good guy.
There's the Professor. He's our Phd (Piled Higher and Deeper), advisor, mentor, and boss. He's in his forties, but doesn't really look as old as that. Some grey on the side, like Mr. Fantastic, but otherwise ok. I haven't had to sleep with him for an A, but I wouldn't mind if it came to that. Just saying.
Doug carries all the heavy stuff, at least that's what I kid him. He looks a lot like Jack Black, although he's got almost no sense of humor.
There's me, Ghost Girl (and that's the closest you're going to get to my real name). I was born in Hawaii and was raised more or less like everyone else. I've been going through an "artsy" phase, which my brother calls my "Wendy O phase," but I've been thinking it may be time to go a little more conservative. Not sure yet, but I'd hate to scare the clients more than the ghosts. Anyway, I handle the computer hardware and a little bit of this and that. I'm not really an IT person, but I'm more of one than anyone else.
There's my roommate and partner in crime, Mia. She's a hottie, but then I've seen her naked. She's in charge of acoustics and sound recording.
Raj is the team horn-dog. He'll bang anything that moves, so he's our motion sensor guy. He's currently seeing some stripper (sorry, "dancer") who, swear to God, looks like that porn star who ran for Governor in Las Vegas, Mimi Miyagi. I'm not jealous. Raj and I dated briefly (I moved, so - bang!), and I learned two very important things about him. One: He's hung like a whale. Like the movie line goes, "What do they call telephone poles in France?""I dunno." "They call them Raj's penis."
And the other thing I learned was that, once you get over the package parameters, he's a one-trick pony. Granted, that trick made it hard for me to walk for a couple days, but after that, eh. It's over and done. But he's a good guy.
There's the Professor. He's our Phd (Piled Higher and Deeper), advisor, mentor, and boss. He's in his forties, but doesn't really look as old as that. Some grey on the side, like Mr. Fantastic, but otherwise ok. I haven't had to sleep with him for an A, but I wouldn't mind if it came to that. Just saying.
Doug carries all the heavy stuff, at least that's what I kid him. He looks a lot like Jack Black, although he's got almost no sense of humor.
Introductions are in order
To start with, I suppose I should tell you a little about myself. I'm 22 years old and a grad student at a fairly large, urban university. I have a B.S. in Psychology, focusing on social psychology. I have recently started working on my Masters in psychology, with Parapsychology and Dealing with Grief my two main focuses (parapsychology a tad more important to me). Some fellow students and I are part of a paranormal investigation team, headed by my professor. Think "Ghost Hunters" except with real science and no playing to the camera ("Did you hear that barely audible tink? It sounded like an 18th century flute cobbler dragging a chain across the body of his victims." "Yeah!").
I'm blogging about the coming year as we get into some - hopefully - cool investigations. I still need to talk to the others to see if I can use their names, or if I should stick with clever nicknames.
I'm blogging about the coming year as we get into some - hopefully - cool investigations. I still need to talk to the others to see if I can use their names, or if I should stick with clever nicknames.
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