Devil in the Delta (4 page)

For me, the question of belief was answered long ago. When you've been touched by invisible hands, heard disembodied voices speak around you, and seen a pale figure materialize in front of your very eyes, it's quite easy to believe. But we will talk about these adventures later …

What's important for us to know now (for dealing with the Martin case) is that cases almost always revolve around either a hard-core skeptic or a person who is already convinced he or she is haunted. Each type of person poses a unique set of challenges and accommodations and both types of client want some type of resolution to their haunting.

Haunted Locations

Despite the naysayers, there are a lot of haunted places. Don't think so? Just check out the first paranormal book I wrote,
The Ghost Hunter's Field Guide,
also available from Llewellyn Publishing (last plug, I promise). There are thousands of haunted hotels, restaurants, museums, B&Bs, and (most certainly) homes. Over the course of visiting many of these places, I have seen, heard, and been touched by ghosts. And it's always a unique and startling experience.

Because of this, for me the subject of the paranormal is not about, “Do ghosts exist?” It's about
proving
they exist and understanding
how and why
they exist. Famed investigator and reporter John Keel once wrote, “We must stop asking: Can these things be? And begin asking: Why are these things?” (
Operation Trojan Horse
, 1970). I agree.

It's interesting to note that for every place out there that chooses to capitalize on their haunting—or at least acknowledge that it's happening—there are probably a hundred that refuse to admit that they are experiencing some strange things. But, more and more, it is becoming quite accepted for places to admit that they experience paranormal events and to even advertise their ghosts. This is mostly due to a sudden surge in paranormal television programs.

For these haunted tourist sites, getting national exposure on a television show is the ultimate goal. And this has, mostly, worked in the paranormal community's favor. Ten years ago, if you wanted to do some investigating at a haunted hotel, you'd have to sneak around with your camera and audio recorder in the middle of the night. These days, you can approach the concierge and get most of the “hot spots” in the place pointed out for you. You just may have to leave a nice tip …

On the bad side of the television experience, though, it has released a whole new wave of inexperienced investigators into the world who are claiming to be experts.

Recreational vs. Professional Ghost Hunting

As I said before, it was a batch of television shows that sparked my original interest in exploring the paranormal, so I understand the concept of watching ghost hunters on television and wanting to do what they do. Unfortunately, though, television shows have producers—producers who want tension and suspense in their programs. Even when nothing is going on, they make sure the show is exciting. This is, of course, a concept that almost never translates to real paranormal investigations.

You can always tell when an investigator is a victim of these shows' high expectations; they fidget, they talk, and generally become bored long before an investigation is actually over. And they almost never produce any good evidence—even when they are at a great, haunted location. This is because they pollute all their audio and video footage by constantly talking, they give up too easily, and they don't take the time to properly review the data/footage they have collected (because this task is even more boring). In short, they are recreational ghost hunters. And there is nothing wrong with this—as long as they
know
they are recreational ghost hunters and do not attempt to do private cases.

When a researcher performs an investigation at a private home, the inhabitants will want answers! It's not like on a television program where you can do some sort of brief “show and tell” and scoot along your way. As you're going to find out while you are reading this book, investigating a private case means understanding the psychological elements of the household, the personal belief system of the family, and often helping them cope with what's going on in their house.

One of our investigators in Paranormal Inc was once approached by a coworker who claimed her home was haunted. She said activity was happening on a regular basis and that she wanted us to attempt to get “proof” so others would stop thinking she was crazy. It sounded simple enough. As we drove to investigate this location, I asked for more information about the case from my co-investigator. Where were the hot spots in the home? What kind of activity had been witnessed? Did the client have any idea of who may be haunting the place?

After thinking for a few minutes, he had to admit that he had none of these details. After talking about this for a few minutes, we quickly figured out that his coworker was being evasive concerning the details of her haunting. She hadn't said who she thought was haunting the place or provided any details regarding the actual occurrences in the home.

When we arrived at the house and were taken on a tour of the premises, the woman (along with her husband) pointed out specific places where they claimed to have heard or seen something, but it was becoming painfully obvious that she was not telling us the whole story. So I asked her directly who was haunting their home. That was when she dropped the bomb.

Her teenage son had recently passed away on the property and she was convinced that he was there in the house with her. She told us this with tears appearing in her eyes. Behind her, her husband watched anxiously. I would later learn from him that she had been getting counseling from a psychiatrist since the boy's death. So, needless to say, there was more going on than us simply investigating whether or not the house was haunted. We could potentially undo years of psychological counseling and send this woman over the edge if we said to her that her dead child was haunting their home.

Conversely, it might even send her over the edge if we told her that he wasn't in the house with her! This kind of conundrum is common with private cases—and one of the pitfalls that cause a lot of amateur paranormal groups to prematurely make decisions about a case and, often, say things because they want to make the client feel better by saying what they want to hear.

We would go on to find nothing paranormal at this particular house (thank goodness). Seeing that she was a devout Catholic (statues of Mother Mary were all over the place), I told her that she should be content that her son was not there and that he had “moved on” to a better place. At this, though, she vehemently disagreed. “I want him here with me,” she said. “I don't care if it's selfish.” I stressed to the husband that he should probably make sure she still gets counseling and reiterated that the “haunting” of their home was simply wishful thinking on her part. He agreed and thanked us.

Imagine the scenario at this house if a self-professed psychic had pretended to speak to their dead son or if an amateur, thrill-seeking ghost hunter had walked around the house, jumping at every pop made by the water heater and claimed to hear/see something that wasn't there. Either would have been disastrous and might have caused irreparable psychological harm to this poor woman. Of course, there is also the possibility of another danger with this type of case as well …

Obsession

There is an age-old question that's popular with all ghost hunters: Why is it that some places are haunted and some are not? Having a death occur within the property seems to be no factor where this is concerned. Every hospital in the world has had deaths, yet you rarely hear of haunted, currently operational hospitals. Some places even claim to
be haunted by someone who died in a whole different
location—this is why there are multiple properties that claim the spirit of Abraham Lincoln.

What's the deciding factor that creates a haunting? Hand in hand with this conundrum is the fact that not everyone seems to see/hear ghosts. There have been many times over the years that I have visited a haunted place to learn that past residents had “no trouble” while living in the afflicted location. How can some people live for years in a seemingly haunted house without ever noticing a single strange event?

According to some researchers—and I have to admit that my own personal experience with cases seems to back this up—that the more a person pays attention to a spirit, the more activity seems to occur. It is one of the reasons that “interact” and “escalate” is part of my investigative method; the more you interact with a spirit, the more things happen. And, strangely enough, this can even happen in places that were not originally haunted! This concept is termed “obsession” by the paranormal community.

Because of this concept of spurring increased activity, certain clergy urge people to avoid communicating with any spirits they encounter. The presumption is that if you notice a spirit, and it notices you too, it will stick around. If we are to believe this concept, then even dwelling on the possibility of a place being haunted could (possibly) create such a haunted environment. And it has …

A group in Canada called the Toronto Society for Psychical Research tested this theory in the 1970s by inventing a ghost named “Philip Aylesford” at a place that had no haunting whatsoever. After a few sessions of speaking to Philip, imagine their surprise when they started getting answers! Then, not only did the location begin to exhibit paranormal activity, but the spirit present seemingly adopted the persona of Philip. Since we know that there has never been a Philip Aylesford, who or what is speaking to these researchers?

If dwelling on the subject of ghosts can actually create a haunting, a whole new problem suddenly arises. What if the previously mentioned family had continued to speak to their dead son in their home? Would he have eventually appeared? Or would some random spirit be attracted to the attention and pretend to be their son? These are interesting—and disturbing—questions. And what do you do once the spirits are there?

When we examine the concept of obsession it's hard to not talk about the tragic case of journalist Joe Fisher. Most of what happened to Fisher was documented by himself in the book
Hungry Ghosts
—and it makes for a riveting, if not sad, read. The short version is that Fisher, while investigating a story about psychics who could channel the dead, became obsessed with a spirit that he believed was speaking to him through a medium that he trusted.

He soon became obsessed with this “spirit,” who stated that she and Fisher were lovers in a past life. His obsession with this medium/entity became so strong that he lost most of his real-life relationships, including his marriage, and embarked on a quest to Europe to determine if the spirit was, indeed, a real person who once lived there. On this journey, he discovered that most of the information given to him were outright lies. Now, here is where Fisher's story goes terribly awry …

Instead of concluding that the medium provided false information and confronting her for lying to him, he determined that it was the spirit who was lying to him and that it was attempting to manipulate him for nefarious reasons. He left the spiritualist group and soon became paranoid that spirits were now trying to get him. On May 9, 2001,
Joe Fisher committed suicide by leaping off a cliff at Elora Gorge, near Fergus, Ontario, Canada.

His death was a tragedy and left many questions unanswered. Why was he so convinced that spirits were after him? Were paranormal events really happening around him? Unfortunately, nobody but Fisher can truly know what was running through his head the day he passed away.

While this is an extreme example of obsession with the paranormal, there is still a lesson to be learned here: obsession is a very bad thing!

Ghostbusting

Blame it on the movie if you like, but there is a whole culture of paranormal investigators out there that believe they can “get rid” of ghosts. Some are even so bold as to post this on their websites. Huh? How can you guarantee to get rid of ghosts? And do we
want
to get rid of them? I'd hate to think that if I died and became trapped in a physical location, people would be trying to do away with me. I mean, where would I go exactly? Aren't things bad enough as it is?

Claiming to rid a location of ghosts is a bad practice. Besides the fact that there is no way to guarantee this, how do you
prove
a ghost is gone? It's hard enough to prove to some people that a ghost is there. These types of shenanigans are usually done to give clients a sense of relief—though this will be short-lived if the place is actually haunted.

So what can investigators do to assuage the fears of a haunted home owner? It seems a little cruel to investigate a private residence, show the client evidence that they are, indeed, haunted, and then to simply leave them wondering what's next. So what do you do? This is where the psychological and religious aspects of a household come into play. Notice I say “of a household”—not you!

At times, simply understanding the religious views of a family and suggesting an appropriate course of action is enough (you don't want to suggest a Protestant “clearing” of their home if they are a Catholic—this is a foreign concept to them). At other times, like the case I mentioned before, it's more appropriate to suggest a counselor or psychologist/psychiatrist. And, unfortunately, there are times when a family should simply consider moving if they continue to be uneasy with their environment. Moving is an especially important consideration if there are young children present who can be permanently scarred by living in an environment of fear.