Ghost Vigil Investigations

30/05/2024

Out of the blue! You guys know that I've enjoyed drawing comics. Back in 2003, I wrote and drew a comic book called "Jack Skull." Recently, a filmmaker named Jason Turner adapted Jack Skull into a short film. It is dark, but a tinge of humor. And it is free to watch on youtube.

Take time to enjoy your life. Someday, we all meet JackBased on the comic by Mark Stinson

01/07/2017

This will sound a bit heretical, but paranormal investigations at possibly haunted sites tend to cast themselves as "scientific," when in fact they have very little to do with science. These investigations are sometimes even at odds with science. My saying this is not a condemnation of "ghost-hunting" or "ghost-hunters." It is just an observation.

There is no existing science that supports the existence of ghosts as beings or energy, or manifestations of energy. And I realize this is why it is called "paranormal" science. Other-than-normal. Unexplained. I get this. But, there is no evidence that the spirit of a human can survive the separation from the physical body, and exist as a being of "energy." I have put the word "energy" in quotes, because we don't know what ghosts are. Or what they consist of. And yet, most paranormal investigation equipment focuses on measuring electromagnetic fields or temperature variations.

Ghosts do not have a physical form. No vocal chords with which to speak or moan. No body or physical form to reflect light, so they can be captured on film or digital imagery. No body parts with which to move objects or touch people.

If ghosts do consist of energy, then they consist of an energy that we do not understand, have no real way of measuring or detecting, and nearly every piece of equipment used by paranormal investigators is useless...worthless. Most ghost-hunters are well-meaning, and feel they are being honest and scientific in their methods...but very few of them are actually scientists, or even understand the scientific method. Most look for confirmation of their beliefs, rather than exacting evidence. The craze over "photographic orbs" (caused by dust close to the lens being lit up by a flash or IR light) being "spirit energy" is an example of what happens when people do not understand research, or bother to do any actual research.

Most ghost-hunters read a few, or perhaps piles of, ghost-hunting books. Most of what they learn, they learn from these subculture specific books or what they read on the internet. The subculture of paranormal investigations is incestuous, with ghost-hunters educating new ghost-hunters in their subculture's conventions, thus propagating the mistakes of the past.

Again, I'm not condemning ghost-hunters or ghost-hunting. I think most involved in the field are well-meaning, and truly believe they are looking for answers and scientific evidence. But, there needs to be a departure from the subculture's conventions. There will always be ghost-hunters, and I'm not calling for the death of the subculture. I'm just saying, it is about time that someone (not me...just someone), come at this from a clever new way, that gets away from the odd and off-target methods of current ghost-hunters.

(All this being said, I've been guilty of most of the things I discuss in the paragraphs above. I'm not better, nor smarter, than others. Everything other ghost-hunters have done, I've done myself. More than anything, I'm describing why I stopped actively investigating the paranormal a few years ago. There were no real answers to be found using the current methods popular in the current ghost-hunting community.)

30/06/2017

I was watching the television show "Supernatural" the other day, and I saw the episode with the "Ghostfacers" ghost-hunting group for the first time. Honestly, it was brilliant. I mean, it was a raging exaggeration...but it hit on all the right notes. When Ghost Vigil Investigations was very active and very public a few years ago, we met a lot of other ghost-hunting groups. Sorry, "paranormal investigation groups." Anyhow...whoever wrote that episode did their research...or personally knew some ghost hunters. Because it was perfect. :-)

02/06/2015

Historic locations that do promote the haunted nature of their location, and then charge money for tours, investigations, and other forms of access to their site aren't doing anything wrong. it is incredibly difficult to maintain an historic site. It can be hard to find a method for raising money to support the staff, maintenance, and other costs associated with such a location. If a site has a legendary status as a haunted location, and there are people willing to tour it or investigate it, then it is only fair that those people help financially support the location. The only real concern, is how honestly the paranormal nature of the location is portrayed or explained in order to market access to the location. If marketing becomes full of lies and half-truths, this is damaging to the Truth of the location.

01/06/2015

There are reported paranormal hot-beds (old asylums, tuberculosis hospitals, abandoned prisons, homes where people were murdered) around the country that charge for people to come and investigate the paranormal. We used to joke that these places were the equivalent of “Paranormal Amusement Parks.” I don’t mean to say that these places are fake, or that no paranormal activity takes place in these locations. But, with the popularity of ghost television shows, a paranormal industry sprung up. Incredibly scary looking locations with dark histories were commercialized, and turned into tourist destinations for the many paranormal investigation groups that began springing up. I don’t necessarily think it is a bad or negative thing, but I’m unsure it is a good thing either. It can lead to claims of paranormal activity that have their origins in marketing strategy, rather than credible evidence.

31/05/2015

I can say with confidence, that every private investigation that Ghost Vigil Investigations has conducted that involved children experiencing the paranormal, the children had watched a number of Ghost Hunters episodes or some other paranormal television show. I am not saying that ghost-television causes children to experience or imagine paranormal experiences in every case. Clearly that’s not true, because children have been experiencing paranormal phenomenon long before ghost-television. But, children are impressionable and imaginative. When I was a child, there were scores of television shows and movies about Big Foot. I could hardly go into the woods, without imagining that big hairy lug being around the next bend on the path. One time there was a loud sound while I was in the woods, and I breathlessly ran a full mile home...sure that Big Foot must be right at my heels. It is just important when interviewing a child that has experienced the paranormal, to keep in mind the influences on the child, and to what subject matter in media (television and internet) the child has been exposed.

30/05/2015

A fear of the unseen, or the unknown, must have its origins in the very beginnings of mankind. The terror of what you don’t understand...what you can’t anticipate or prepare for...and all things outside our normal experience. Modern humans are no different, and have not escaped this fear. So when a modern individual or family experience things in their home that they do not understand, it is natural and understandable that fear results. The purpose of a paranormal investigator or consultant is to help with this fear. The unexplained phenomenon should be analyzed and explored. The possible explanations should be described and articulated. Possible ways to prepare for future phenomenon and how to deal with it should be shared. And the individual or family should be reassured that possible paranormal phenomenon, while unsettling, is in almost every case - physically harmless.

30/05/2015

Ghost Vigil (minus Tara who was in Jamaica) on our May 2015 investigation at the 1859 Jail in Independence, MO.

30/05/2015

Visual Expert Human Factors: Night Vision

An interesting article on night-vision, and the various forms or modes of vision the eye employs to adapt the the level of light it is encountering. It is much more complex than just rods and cones. http://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/nightvision.html

Expert witness for accidents involving human error in vision, perception and attention: highway,legibility, lighting, warnings, interfaces, etc. Intellectual property disputes where visual similarity is at issue.

15/05/2015

Way back when, a production company approached Ghost Vigil Investigations about shooting a pilot for a television show. The producer had also produced Ripley's Believe it or Not for television, and was interested in putting out a paranormal show. We went to the Strawberry Hill Museum in KCKS with the film crew, and shot pilot footage. In the long run, the production company ended up not producing the show. But, it was an interesting experience for us...and gave us some idea of what it must be like to have to produce a whole season worth of interesting ghost-television footage...

15/05/2015

The fact that photographic orbs are caused by brightly lit particulate matter close to the camera’s lens, played into the error in thinking that caused orbs to be considered paranormal in nature for so long. In everyday photography (birthday parties, kids in the backyard, photos of scenery on family vacation), there are not that many opportunities for orbs to appear in photos. But, on a paranormal investigation...the conditions are almost always perfect. Paranormal investigations usually take place indoors at night, and require a flash to take clear photos. Paranormal investigations often take place in older homes or historic buildings, and these places are usually rife with dust that can be stirred up. In addition, a lot of photos are taken in basement areas, attics, and unused portions of the building, which are even more susceptible to having lots of dust. So, we see more orbs in photos taken on paranormal investigations, because all of the conditions required to cause photographic orbs are present.

Even cemetary investigations at night are opportune moments for capturing photographic orbs in our pictures. One of the following is almost always present on an cemetary investigation: pollen in the air, dust kicked up from the road or ground, or moisture in the air. This prevalence of photographic orbs in investigation photos and their rare appearance in every-day photos, helped spark and maintain the false belief that orbs in photos and video have a paranormal cause.

14/05/2015

You may have noticed, but part our new focus as a group in 2015 is daily posts here in the Facebook group. Since April 21st, we've been posting daily here in the group. Informative, thought-provoking, and educational posts on the paranormal. If you have friends of family interested in the paranormal, suggest this page to them...or post a link to this page on your wall. We're committed to keeping this page a place worth visiting daily... :-)

On a side-note, GVI has a private investigation scheduled near the end of the month. We'll share photos and results on our website and here for you to check out. Thanks!

14/05/2015

Several years ago, I was giving a workshop on the paranormal, and explained the mundane cause of photographic orbs. So prevalent was the belief in a paranormal cause for orbs at the time, that an attendee of the workshop loudly challenged my theory, stating that orbs were indeed paranormal, and I was just being too skeptical. I pulled out a camera right there, and took a flash photograph of the audience. No orbs. I then stomped on the carpet in the room, and stirred up a bunch of dust in the air. I took a second photo of the audience, and it was full of photographic orbs. I passed the camera around and let everyone take a good look at the orb-less and orb-filled photographs, and that seemed to quiet down the protest against a my mundane explanation of photographic orbs.

12/05/2015

Orbs also appear in video recordings made with both tape and digital recording devices. Again, all that is needed is particulate matter (dust, moisture, lint, etc.) in the air close to the lens and the light on the camera. The particulate matter is brightly lit by the camera’s light, and since the particulate matter is in front of the lens but completely out-of-focus is appears as moving balls of light in the video recording. Potentially, a video camera with its light turned off could still capture orb imagery, if there is a flashlight, over-head spot, or some other source of bright light capable of shining on particulate matter close to the lens. Again, orbs appears in video recordings have a completely mundane cause, and can be recreated time and again through experimentation.

11/05/2015

Photographic orbs in digital photography often have odd textures apparent within the boundaries of the orb shape itself. These patterns often appear to be pixelated and random. While photographic orbs in photos taken with film cameras tend to be blurry and washed out, the photographic orbs in digital photos can almost look like the images of amoebas that you see under a microscope. This is normal, and it is a result of the way the digital image is captured and processed digitally into a finished image. But, you will sometimes see patterns in these digital photograph orbs that look like faces, or symbols, or other recognizable shapes. When this happens, it is tempting to take this very mundane and explainable phenomenon, and attempt to suggest that the face or symbol we are seeing in the orb is a paranormal phenomenon. This is a faulty thought-process, akin to seeing a face, dragon, or pirate ship among the cloud shapes in the sky above us, and suggesting these cloud shapes are paranormal. Our brains are programed to identify recognizable patterns, faces, and symbols in random and chaotic pattern fields. The devil’s face in the wood-grain of a table. An image of Jesus on French Toast. You get the idea.