Ghost Seeker Guide Vol:1- Free Chapter Read...Ghost Seeker Checklist

Hey guys getting ready to head out for an overnight Ghost Hunt, at the Swedish National Sanatorium, we are so stoked about this one! A lot of the maintenance people there report machines being turned on for no reason whatsoever, huge chains that hang from the rafters that they use to move heavy equipment start to sway back & forth from a dead stop, countless voices are heard, there are even reports of an apparition who looks to be choking on something. Anyway, we are so stoked about this one as you can probably tell by now! I wanted to leave all my wonderful Twitter & Facebook friends this little Gift! A free chapter from my Ghost Seeker guide vol:1 about Getting Permission and other important factors that should be followed before doing your very first Ghost Hunt for yourselves :) Well hope you enjoy, need to stop at radio shack and pick up a few things...batteries mainly lol! Have an awesome weekend!!!   

Ghost Seeker Checklist

1.      Always and I mean always, get written permission to hunt on the premises. Some would say verbal permission is just as good, but in reality when your dealing with bumping around through someones house whether vacant or not...written permission will save your butt in more ways then one.

"personally for myself and my team, we wont touch a property if they are not willing to sign a written permission slip to be on the property."

Better to be safe and avoid any lawsuits later on down the road, in case you end up breaking something by accident.

This little signed contract, that only takes a few seconds to sign, will save you a whole lot of headaches on down the road...trust me I’ve been totally there!

2. Do you have any identification on you? This should be a no brainer,but you would be surprised at how many people don't carry it on them. And if for some reason your stopped by local authorities, not having this can ruin your entire evening of ghost seeking. The main reason being, they will need this to verify that you do indeed have permission by the owner who signed the written agreement to be on the property. And I guarantee you they will check!

3. Make sure that you always hunt with somebody,never venture off on your own. You never know what dangers may be lurking about the property, and I'm not speaking of just the paranormal activity. Depending on the age of the house your investigating, there can be many physical hazards all over the place. Not to mention, if your investigating an abandoned building, there can be a different kind of danger namely gang members or homeless people that only go there at night. So it might be a good idea, if your un-sure of the surroundings to see if the local police department can do a quick sweep for you, if you have any doubts whatsoever.

" Having a cell phone with you,which I'm sure most of you are going to have is a must! After all the team comes first, you never want to jeopardize yourself or anyone else in danger!"

4.      Keep all your equipment in immaculately clean shape. By having a routine, of always keeping your equipment clean and well packed away when not in use, will prevent the possibilities of registering "false positives" and destroying your findings when it comes time to reveal the activity you found to the property owner. Thus, hurting your credentials and your rep in the property owners eyes.

"This is never a good thing!"

5.      Always keep in good spirits, and emit from your body as much positive energy that you can muster. Show respect for the deceased. Although, there are times when provoking does have it's advantages, but for now that’s not the scope of this guide, I will go over this more in a future guide. Most of the time ghosts/spirits respond and manifest themselves to you,if you don't appear threatening in anyway to them.

6.      Another must, but it does take some practice, is to interview witnesses who have had an experience with the paranormal activity. just make sure you remain objective, try to find out if anything can be re-created by a natural means. "Debunk if you can..." but remain respectful and act in a professional manner. Remember, a lot of these folks are in some cases genuinely concerned of what's going on in their home or on their property. And gosh forbid if children are involved the level of concern rises 100 fold.

7.      Do not contaminate your investigation with cigarette smoke this alone has given more false positives then anything else. "If you must smoke take it far away from where your investigating!" And if your drinking this surely ruins all your credibility as far as if you thought you heard something. 'nobody's going to believe you...' And besides all that...it's down right disrespectful to the property owners and the very spirits your trying to seek. "So just don't do it!"

8.      Always be sure that all your audio and video is starting on a fresh file. This practice ensures that all your recordings will have no cross contamination from recording over dirty files.

9.      All team members involved in the ghost seeking should keep a detailed journal of everything they do,say and hear. That means if Bill clears his throat or happens to bump into something creating a sound, Bill needs to take note of it in his journal along with the exact time it occurred. That way, when it comes time to review the audio,video etc... Each member of the team can compare notes, and make rule out what was paranormal and what was just team noise or outside noise.

"A good habit to get into, is to practice speaking to your partner,in a soft but legible speaking tone, and do so as quietly as you possibly can."

10.  Under no circumstances wear cologne or perfume, reason being some spirits will let you know there around by emitting a fragrant odor. From research and even personal experience, a floral type of scent, usually represents a pleasant spirit. But, a foul pungent odor has in more cases then any represented a possible hostile spirit.

11.  Is ghost hunting an expensive venture? No! It can be...but, you don't really need $25,000 worth of equipment to get some great evidence! A simple $250 to $400 digital video camera will do a great job. You can go to Radio Shack or really any electronic store and pick up a DVR (Digital Voice Recorder), on the cheap, about $90. As far as the computer software, a basic sound enhancement program, would be fine. The only other expense you really don't want to go, to cheap with, would be your batteries "There your life blood!" These you'll want to make sure that they are specifically designed for use in your digital equipment.

12.  During your recording of EVP's (Electronic Voice Phenomena) Be sure the area you decide to set the DVR down on is level, this will help rule out any vibrations from a shaky unsteady hand.

13.  A couple of team members along with the client should do a quick walk-through of the house or property to be investigated. "Remember to take plenty of pictures and physically take note of areas of most paranormal activity that the property or home owner states. "This is what is known as your beginning base reading."

14.  Last but not least...don't come to your own conclusions on-site. It's always best to go over all the evidence as a team and compare notes amongst yourselves before ever coming to any kinda conclusion. Keep any conclusions or personal opinions to yourself, until all pic's, videos, and any audio has been studied fully and completely. If someone happens to ask you for your opinion on something, simply say, "We really need to try and find out what's making this happen." Never ever yell paranormal or ghost until all your investigated work has been fully completed.

The tips mentioned during this 2nd chapter ,are mere guidelines to be followed to the letter, before even thinking about investigating a location. What you will learn in the upcoming chapters is everything our team does to the letter, not to mention our exact step by step process for getting the best results from all our Ghost Adventures quests.... Of course other groups of ghost seekers may or may not do things a bit different, some manage to find certain techniques work better for them then others. But the focus of this first field guide in the series of Ghost Seekers is to be as newbie friendly in the beginning, ( not to overwhelm!) to get you started on bottom floor to insure that all your ghost hunts are following a well laid out process of protocols to keep you and your team members in check & safe.