At Home With The Ghosts
by Bryer Wharton [bryer@slugmag.com]
Issue 236 / August 2008 More from this Issue
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Do you believe in ghosts? The Midwest Paranormal Conference,taking place at Ogden's notoriously haunted UnionStation on August 16th, may answer this and otherquestions such as "where could you go whenyou pass on?" The science of discoveringspirits, ghosts or the paranormal isactively becoming exact and precisein its methods. Although paranormalresearch is not funded byuniversities or backed by deep pocketedcorporations, it'staking place all over theglobe. Ghost hunters areout gathering evidence,developing and testingtheories, using moneyfrom their own pocketsand spending countlessnights in dark andmysterious places.Then they closelyexamine their evidence,which takes more timethan that actually spentgathering it.
Utah is home to alarge community ofinvestigators who areuniting to share theirevidence and ideas. Thiscollaboration is an ideathat Tom Carr, chair of theconference, is hoping will catchon. Carr, who has investigated theparanormal for over 20 years, is alsothe founder of Wasatch Paranormal,an investigating team that focuseson teaching the science of paranormalinvestigation to others. Carr co-founded www.ParanormalUSA.org, a forum where investigators in theUS and elsewhere can come to share information and swaptheories or ideas. The site is also one of the main sponsors of theconference. Carr also hosts an Internet radio show/podcast with Russ Larsen ofParanormal Utah, called Residual Hauntings Live.
The word paranormal literally means beyond normal or beyond the usual. Thereare many different methods to capture scientific evidence of ghosts and otherparanormal activity. One of the most common types of evidence captured is theEVP (electronic voice phenomenon), when an audio recorder captures a voicethat isn't heard until review of the audio. The other forms of scientific evidenceare thermal photographs and video, which can pick up hot or cold signaturesthat cannot be see by the naked eye. These types of evidence are a bit harder tocapture, but the results can be astounding. It's impressive to catch an entity onfilm because you can analyze and repeatedly view the ghostly apparitions.
Carr says that there are three classes of people who areinterested in the paranormal: "There are the thrillseekers, who typically wind up screaming andrunning the other way when they encountersomething. A ghost hunter will go andexperience something but not studyit. A paranormal investigator, onthe other hand, goes in and says"Wow, what was that?" and triesto figure out every possible waythat could have happened- a loud noise, a doorclosing - then they tryto recreate it and figureout logically how it couldhappen. When they getto the point when thereis no logical conclusionwe say, okay, that'sparanormal."
A more altruisticmotivation forparanormalinvestigating is also tohelp people in need.Carr's team and othersstatewide provide freeservices for people whohave strange activity intheir homes and are eitherin distress as a result or arejust seeking answers. Carrcites an example from a recentinvestigation at a family home wherethe children were distressed. He saysthat Wasatch Paranormal works to teachtechniques to regain control of the space inthese situations.
Carr hopes to dispel rumors and stereotypes about theparanormal. A common misconception about the paranormalis that many people think all spirits are negative. Carr explains that mostactivity isn't negative at all, and that the entities or spirits present are just trying tofind answers for themselves or the spirit trying to get attention.
Speaking on the history of paranormal studies, Carr says, "Thomas Edison triedto invent a phone to talk to the dead. The Egyptians and the Native Americanshave all tried to talk to the dead. That's how long people have been investigatingthe paranormal. I would say over the last five or six years, more evidence hasTom Carr, founder of Wasatch Paranormal and chair of The first Midwest paranormal Conference(17) SLUGbeen gathered than in the hundreds of years people have been doing it in thepast."
Recent technological advances have resulted in sophisticated tools that can helpthe investigation process. Common equipment used on investigations includestape and digital recorders, camcorders, night vision, infrared, thermal imagingcameras and electromagnetic field detectors. The most intriguing type of thesedetectors is the K2 meter, which has a set of lights and when a presence isdetected, you can ask yes or no questions and get a response by the blinkingof lights. The theory behind the electromagnetic field is that a spirit is made upof pure energy, the higher the field, the more likely something paranormal isgoing on - but are these tools, some of which are extremely expensive, reallynecessary to be an investigator?
Utah is home to alarge community ofinvestigators who areuniting to share theirevidence and ideas. Thiscollaboration is an ideathat Tom Carr, chair of theconference, is hoping will catchon. Carr, who has investigated theparanormal for over 20 years, is alsothe founder of Wasatch Paranormal,an investigating team that focuseson teaching the science of paranormalinvestigation to others. Carr co-founded www.ParanormalUSA.org, a forum where investigators in theUS and elsewhere can come to share information and swaptheories or ideas. The site is also one of the main sponsors of theconference. Carr also hosts an Internet radio show/podcast with Russ Larsen ofParanormal Utah, called Residual Hauntings Live.
The word paranormal literally means beyond normal or beyond the usual. Thereare many different methods to capture scientific evidence of ghosts and otherparanormal activity. One of the most common types of evidence captured is theEVP (electronic voice phenomenon), when an audio recorder captures a voicethat isn't heard until review of the audio. The other forms of scientific evidenceare thermal photographs and video, which can pick up hot or cold signaturesthat cannot be see by the naked eye. These types of evidence are a bit harder tocapture, but the results can be astounding. It's impressive to catch an entity onfilm because you can analyze and repeatedly view the ghostly apparitions.
Carr says that there are three classes of people who areinterested in the paranormal: "There are the thrillseekers, who typically wind up screaming andrunning the other way when they encountersomething. A ghost hunter will go andexperience something but not studyit. A paranormal investigator, onthe other hand, goes in and says"Wow, what was that?" and triesto figure out every possible waythat could have happened- a loud noise, a doorclosing - then they tryto recreate it and figureout logically how it couldhappen. When they getto the point when thereis no logical conclusionwe say, okay, that'sparanormal."
A more altruisticmotivation forparanormalinvestigating is also tohelp people in need.Carr's team and othersstatewide provide freeservices for people whohave strange activity intheir homes and are eitherin distress as a result or arejust seeking answers. Carrcites an example from a recentinvestigation at a family home wherethe children were distressed. He saysthat Wasatch Paranormal works to teachtechniques to regain control of the space inthese situations.
Carr hopes to dispel rumors and stereotypes about theparanormal. A common misconception about the paranormalis that many people think all spirits are negative. Carr explains that mostactivity isn't negative at all, and that the entities or spirits present are just trying tofind answers for themselves or the spirit trying to get attention.
Speaking on the history of paranormal studies, Carr says, "Thomas Edison triedto invent a phone to talk to the dead. The Egyptians and the Native Americanshave all tried to talk to the dead. That's how long people have been investigatingthe paranormal. I would say over the last five or six years, more evidence hasTom Carr, founder of Wasatch Paranormal and chair of The first Midwest paranormal Conference(17) SLUGbeen gathered than in the hundreds of years people have been doing it in thepast."
Recent technological advances have resulted in sophisticated tools that can helpthe investigation process. Common equipment used on investigations includestape and digital recorders, camcorders, night vision, infrared, thermal imagingcameras and electromagnetic field detectors. The most intriguing type of thesedetectors is the K2 meter, which has a set of lights and when a presence isdetected, you can ask yes or no questions and get a response by the blinkingof lights. The theory behind the electromagnetic field is that a spirit is made upof pure energy, the higher the field, the more likely something paranormal isgoing on - but are these tools, some of which are extremely expensive, reallynecessary to be an investigator?
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