Halloween

It's been a busy time for me. And with Halloween tomorrow, I expect things to pick up even more.

Let me backup a bit.

I've sort of turned into the Ghost Whisperer, but with cooler hair. Not exactly like Jennifer Love Hewitt's character, of course. I haven't been able to see every ghost wandering the countryside. But in certain situations, I seem to be sensitive to especially strong spirits.

And like the Disney ride, one of them followed me home.

I have no idea who he is, but he's been making things really annoying for me. Rooms get cold. Crap moves around. Nothing dangerous, but like I said, annoying. One morning I woke up and found all my panties tied together in knots. Good thing I rarely use them, ha ha.

It also upsets the spirits at sites we investigate. Although it makes them easier to find, it's harder to communicate with them. The Prof is torn about keeping me while the spirit is still clinging to me. On the one hand, my sensitivity to spooks is helpful. On the other, whatever is attached to me drives the normal ghosts into a frenzy.

I've started to get used to him, whoever he is. I've even begun to call him "Casper." Makes me feel better thinking of him that way, as opposed to something spookier. But on the last investigation we were on, I began to feel that he really wasn't a "Casper."

We were in a home that had once been a civil war hospital. I'm sure the place was filled with restless energy, but we were investigating one in particular. A doctor who had gone crazy from all the war atrocities he had witnessed, and started putting patients "out of their misery" prematurely. He was stopped by a Confederate Captain who parted his hair with a pistol shot. Supposedly the ghost of the doctor was causing problems.

Half the night had passed, and we didn't see any sign of any activity other than an enormous cat that scared Raj half to death. I was taking some downtime, napping on a sofa. I began to wake slowly to the feeling of something moving across my thigh. I was wearing sort of a goth schoolgirl outfit, so my legs were bare, and it felt just like a hand softly moving across my skin. At first I thought I was having a dirty dream, you know how that goes. But the feeling moved up my thigh and around the curve of my butt, under my skirt.

"That better not be you, Raj," I said, and reached back to break a finger.

"You talking to me," shouted Raj from the other room.

Nothing was touching me. I opened my eyes and stared as the feeling squeezed my butt, and flipped my skirt up, exposing my panties (yes, sometimes I do wear them). I started to scream, then choked it back and paid attention, tried to see the spirit. Part of me knew it wasn't going to be the good doctor.

It wasn't. It was like a shadow filmed by a lousy cameraman. The shape flickered and jumped around, but he was there. Two red holes were his eyes, and they were looking right at me as his hand stroked me.

"Halloween," he said in a barely audible voice.

I kicked at the shadow, and just like that it was gone.

We didn't find the doctor. But I saw Casper. And he was looking forward to Halloween.

Party Ghost 2

Ok, where were we..?

Everyone was in my room, I was wrapped around HArry Potter, and the room temperature had dropped cold enough for us to see our breath.

"What the fuck is this?" I asked the Prof.

"I'm not sure," he said, slowly looking around the room as I adjusted my top to cover my boobs a bit better. I was still nippling something horrible, but at least I was now covered. "Some cultures believe that a spirit can attach itself to someone with a stronger energy field than the one to which they had previously been attached, but I've never seen it."

"No way could she be more attarctive to the dead dad than his own daughter," said Raj. "No offense, Liz."

"None taken," I muttered.

Raj's girlfriend stuck her head in the room and looked confused. "What are we doing?" she asked.

And then I screamed.

Although everyone jumped about a foot, and Raj's girlfriend almost pissed her pants (if she ever wore any), it wasn't them. It was a shadow I saw out of the corner of my eye. It darted across the room in a way that shadows really shouldn't. And when it crossed into my direct line of site, it looked at me. Then it was gone.

The room began to warm up immediately.

"It wasn't the waiting father ghost," I said, trying to be heard over the pounding of my heart. "But I don't know what it was."

The Waiting Father Ghost - part 4

To wrap up, all we caught on the camcorder was a phone falling out of its cradle, and the Prof blowing fog (although the fog seems to part around something). The EMF spike was certainly noteworthy, as well as the sudden and marked drop in temperature.

What I think was the most interesting were the vocals we recorded and enhanced. Most of it was indistinguisable whispering sounds. Really hard to tell for sure what Bill was saying. But when he pointed and got angry, the volume and clarity increased. He sounded like he was saying, "Get out of here! Go! Get out of here!"

Mia wondered if that was meant for us. Were we invading his territory and his grief? I don't think that's it, though. When he looked at us, he didn't seem upset. It was when he looked away that he got angry. Something we weren't paying attention to, or couldn't pay attention to, was more of a threat than we were.

Something else was in the room with us.

If anyone has any guesses or ideas, feel free to share them.

The Waiting Father Ghost - part 3

It was cold as balls in the upstairs room. Doug was right, the windows had frosted over. Since it was the middle of August, this was pretty odd. But sometimes the appearance of a spirit is a process that draws a lot of energy, and by doing that it drops the ambient temperature. I'd never seen one drop a room this much, though. And the EMF was through the roof.

Something was in the middle of the room.

It wasn't showing up on the camcorder, not exactly. But when we swept the room with the infrared thermometer, there was a pocket in the middle of the room that was colder than the rest of the room. The Professor leaned in close and blew softly on the pocket, and the fog of his breath seemed to seperate in the middle, forming a vague outline.

"Holy fuck," whispered Raj. The Professor held a finger to his lips, shushing him.

"Is that you, Bill?" he asked.

Something prickled across the back of my scalp. Like I had almost heard something.

Suddenly, I was scared to death. I wasn't entirely sure why, but I was stomach-churning afraid. I felt like something utterly horrible was about to happen, and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.

"Guys, is anyone else scared shitless right now?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"A little amazed, but not really scared," said Raj.

"I'm terrified," I said.

The Professor looked at me. "Are you afraid of the ghost?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think that's it."

"Does it feel like you're about to find out something really bad, like a loved one has died?" he asked.

Then I got it. "Yeah. Is it the ghost projecting?"

The Professor said he thought it might be. So I tried to calm myself down. It wasn't a real emotion, at least not MY real emotion. It was something someone else felt years ago coming back up, like a bad piece of fish. A father worrying himself sick over what he would find out about his daughter. I felt so bad for the man, the ghost, whatever. To go through that, it was horrible. A parent should never have to lose their child.

Then, like someone flicked a switch, I could see him. In the middle of the room, like a smoky shape that kept trying to move in and out of focus. Bill. He was wringing his hands and shaking his head. He was distraught.

Then he turned and looked at me. His mouth moved, and although I didn't hear anything, my skin prickled again.

"I can see him. He's trying to say something," I said.

Then his head snapped back straight ahead. He pointed at something I couldn't see, and his mouth moved again. This time, angrily. He was shouting something and pointing. I couldn't see anything else, but whatever it was had Bill's panties all in a bunch.

Then he was gone.

"EMF dropping," said Mia.

"Temperature coming back up," said Doug. "Looks like it's over."

"Yeah, but just what the hell IS it that's over?" asked Raj.

I knew we had witnessed a true haunting. I don't know what the data will say, but I knew what I knew.

But it also seemed to be something more.

The Waiting Father Ghost - part 1

There were two main locations in the house where the waiting father ghost (we decided not to share any real names at this time. The family of the deceased have had enough of a spotlight for all the wrong reasons). One location is the murdered girl's bedroom, which is now an office used by the husband living in the house now. The other location is the kitchen, where the father was when he received the last phone call of his life.

We set up cameras in both rooms, as well as digital recorders and EMF detectors. The professor and I took the kitchen, and Mia and Raj took the upstairs room. Doug was the runner, who would go between us if we needed anything.

The little girl (Angie) had been half way through her first year of kindergarden. She had been adorable, and in her school photo she was all smiles and pony tails. In those days a parent was required to be waiting at the bus stop, and the girl's house was only a few blocks away, so she always hopped off the bus, waved to the bus driver, and walked the short distance home.

The last time she waved to the bus driver, a car had been parked at the corner. A car no one gave a second glance. But, according to the police report, the driver of that car was somehow able to intercept the little girl, and no one who loved her ever saw her alive again.

The kidnapper was never found. Angela was. Her horribly mutilated body was found tied to a tree in a wooded area only a few miles from her home. Police called her family as soon as they had identified the body. Angie's mother was asleep, having been taking tranquilzers for the last few days. Angie's father, who had been frantically doing everything he could to find his daughter, answered the phone. His heart wasn't up to the news, and it felled him right there in the kitchen.

The mother moved away eventually to try and forget.

It seems the father still hasn't forgotten.

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.

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

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.