Okay, I'm back! Sorry I didn't post much last week, but life got sort of... involved. Thanks to Amazon's Sunday delivery I received my brand new sparkling UV lights, though, so now I'm pumped and ready to go investigate somewhere! Speaking of investigation, here is another piece from Olivia. Sit back, enjoy and ponder!



So what are the causes for hauntings? 

Once again I think energy, tragic, violent, suicide and even mysterious deaths create energy. 

 There are lots of good ideas on why these spirits stay instead of moving on to whatever comes next. A popular idea is that the spirit doesn’t know it’s dead and is thought to be reliving the moments or days leading up to their death, 

I don’t know about you but I find that both sad and disturbing, having known a few people who have killed themselves I can’t tell you how I hope that is not the case.

 Another thought is that some spirits just can’t move on because of some unfinished business or can’t leave a loved one. 

There are lots of categories for different types of hauntings and ghosts or spirits. But when you boil it all down I guess what I really want to know is it just energy that hangs out in places?

 Does the place itself play a part in creating this phenomenon? 

Other thoughts and ideas that I find interesting:  Some types of materials like limestone or quarts can hold or trap energy, I have also read that water can keep a spirit for crossing it, in these and tons more  stories and folk tales, the thing that stands out to me is the energy, energy of the person, energy of the place.

 So what do you think? What ideas do you have about hauntings? Do you think there’s anything to this energy theory that’s out there?

(I have actually taken to referring to the energy she is writing about as spectral energy and I'm trying to figure out what the frequency of it would be. -DW)

Well, so I broke down and made a gofundme account so I can try to get funding to build some of the things I talk about in the book. The UV specific camera alone that I'm looking at is almost 1000$. I'm confident, though, that these new methods will allow us to take paranormal research to the next level! If you are interested in donating and being a part of this technological revolution in paranormal investigation the address is:  https://www.gofundme.com/7fa4yupy

Well, here we are again! I'm working on lining up some new investigations, I have some new stuff I'd like to test out to see how it goes. Has anyone out there gotten anything good lately? Investigated any cool places? Inquiring minds want to know!

Here's another article from Olivia, She's taking this writing thing and running with it! I'm still looking forward to hearing from you guys, and I know she is too, so get those keyboards working and let's get some discussions flying!


I often wonder how much the human factor plays a role in hauntings?
Is simply believing enough?
I’m not sure, I wasn’t  really a big believer when it first happened to me, but the people who lived there before were, Does that mean they attracted the paranormal or did  they believe because of the experiences they had there?
 I can’t really say for sure but I find it all fascinating, I don’t talk about ghost and ghost hunting at work or with people I just meet, but when the subject does  come up I find that people who say they don’t believe  often have more stories than I do, which I have to tell you I love!
 Dan can also tell you it happens to him often as well.. I think there is something universal and also unique about hauntings and ghost sightings.
  Cultures from all over the world have their own myths and legends. It is amazing how they are the same in many ways,  but with their own unique  twist between cultures.
 I know some people dismiss the paranormal as just their imagination and fear magnified by the dark or because there alone etc… but what if a haunting is triggered by a person’s energy?
 What if part of why not everyone experiences the same thing in the same place in the same way is because of their own unique energy?
 What I mean by that is we all put out a different energy or aurora, maybe it’s brainwaves or emotions and so we at any given time can attract or repel different energy signatures?
It’s one explanation for why ghosts seem to only appear to some people some times. What do you think? What are your thoughts?
Is it our energy helping to manifest ghost or spirits?
Do you think it’s just over a active imagination playing on old fears?

Thanks!
Olivia

You know, It occurs to me that other than my little bio blurb which really doesn't say much, a lot of you probably have no idea who I am or why I decided I was qualified to write a book about investigating the paranormal. Actually, I decided to write this book because I'm NOT qualified to write a book about how to explore the paranormal. That's the entire point of it. No one is.
 Because no one knows anything definite about it. Oh sure, there are a lot of people who are very experienced at it, and a lot who have gotten very good at it, but no one can say they know, 100% without any doubts how anything paranormal works. I include myself in that number.
Am I experienced? Sure. I've been chasing shadows since I became fascinated with the subject when I was about 10. (That's about 36 years now... ech) Do I have a background to do this stuff? Well, I suppose so, I've led a pretty interesting life with a lot of unusual experiences which have broadened my skill set considerably wider than the average person's.
But is there anything REALLY special about me that qualifies me more than anyone else to do this? Nope.
 The only thing special about me is the ridiculous drive I've always had to answer the questions that don't seem to have any answers. To solve the unsolvable puzzles we've been shaking our heads over for years,
I'm willing to look at things a little differently than they've been looked at before and try some new things because they make sense to me at the time. I'm willing to not just step outside the box in my thinking, but to forget the box even exists and just focus on the questions at hand.
So, there's a little bit about me and why I decided to do this whole thing. Can I do it better than anyone has before me? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

We're going to start doing something new here, shake things up a little and see how it all works out.
Once a week or every few days, or whatever, I'm going to have a guest post a feature on here. I don't want you all getting tired of reading my random rambling thoughts too much, so I figured this might mix things up pretty well! The first post is from a good friend of mine, Olivia Menezes. She and I have been out investigating for a few years now and she's got some pretty interesting takes on things. The first article she's doing is on shadow people. So, without further ado, Heeeeeeere's Olivia!




What are shadow people?  That is a question that I have been thinking about since I had my first encounter with these entities, and I have bounced back and forth between whether it is a ghost or something more demonic.
 What I have learned over the years is there are thousands of sightings by people all over the world who have had similar experiences. Shadow people do seem to show up during the most stressful or emotional times, possibly like they thrive on the emotional chaos,
I’m not sure if they cause it or are attracted to it, there are a lot of reports of them scaring the crap out of people, myself included.
 I have done a lot of Internet research on the subject and while it was interesting and helpful information, for me and my personal experience it just didn’t seem to hit home.
There are many theories on shadow people out there.  One that I do agree with is that they are not ghosts, and I don’t believe they are demons either. I know a lot of people experience them to be evil, In my experience, while it did scare the shit out of me the first time I saw it, I never felt it was there to harm me.
 So at the end of the day here are some of the questions that I am left with,
 What are they?
 Why do they seem to show up at the most stressful and emotional times?
 Are they only observing or are they some how causing this emotional turmoil?
 Why would they do that, are they feeding off the energy?
 Or are they just the product of a stressed out mind playing on our childhood fears?

 If you have any thoughts, ideas, personal experience, I would love to hear them.

Thanks,
 Olivia

Back again today! I've noticed (Because Google tells me these things!) that we've had some Russian visitors on the page. I'm wondering if you guys can chime in? What is the general opinion of paranormal occurrences over there? Do any of you know any good stories or locations?
 I'm going to post the questionnaire I've been working on in the next couple of days for anyone who would like to report a sighting. Now,  it is going to be a little bit involved, but please try to answer the questions as accurately and completely as possible.
The better the data we can gather, the sooner we will begin finding patterns. I've had some people me in the past if fake or incorrect information will bother the data findings. The answer is a resounding yes, at least in the short term.
Once enough information is compiled, though, the bad stuff will sort of throw itself out. In the short term, though, please do your best to be as accurate and as truthful as possible. I would rather have a question not answered rather than made up or filled in incorrectly.
I probably won't be posting a lot this weekend, I will be doing a book signing in downtown Ottawa Friday night and I really need to get caught up on the writing for my next novel, the sequel to "The Dragon King". My partner is getting a little antsy, she wants to get busy painting. Anyway, I will talk to all of you soon, Remember, I REALLY want to make this blog interactive so I welcome any and all questions and comments! Have a good night!