With the cast and crew of Late Night at the Horror Hotel getting ready for their first paranormal experience/investigation we asked our lead Ghost Hunter and co-host John Cannon some questions regarding the topic and what we may be getting into. Here are his answers to some of the more frequently asked questions by people getting into the field of paranormal research.
LNHH - What are some of the most common terms associated/heard with ghost hunting?
John - Some of the words most commonly associated with ghost hunting and heard on all the TV shows are the following.
EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena): Disembodied voices recorded electronically not heard at the time and only heard once the recording is played back.
EMF (Electro Magnetic field): A field of energy produced by electrically charge objects
(This is the theory that the paranormal produce and use energy to manifest themselves.)
Dowsing Rod: This can also be referred to as a Divining rod as well. It is usually a “L’ shaped rod held in each hand and is able to detect the spirit field thus resulting in crossing together, works off of the EMF principal.
Flir Camera: An infrared camera that shows thermal temperatures in the aspect of hot and cold, brighter yellows and red as hot and darker blues as cold. This is a night vision technique used in order to capture possible apparitions that a regular camera might not be able to.
Orbs: Small circles that appear on both video and standard or digital film. These are said to be balls of energy of the paranormal. This is by far one of the most sensitive topics in the realm of paranormal research.
Shadow People: These are shadowy figures that you can physically see as shadows along the walls or through doors or windows without a physical source.
Cold Spot: A spot that is colder than others within a certain area. This is based off of the EMF principal that because of the draining energy a colder spot will develop where the apparition is trying to manifest itself.
Witching Hour: This is the hour in which “magic time” happens when all paranormal is supposed to occur the most. Most people refer to the witching times as the times between 3am-6am.
Instigating: This is the act of intimidating, threatening or pushing the paranormal to do something.
Dead Time: Also referred to as quiet time, this when you leave the equipment running and remove the human element from the investigation. This is to allow the paranormal to do their thing without the interference of the human element, can usually last up to 2 hours depending on the group.
LNHH – Do you always find something such as evidence when conducting an investigation?
John – No you don’t, you can always get the creeks and bumps and odd noises of a place, but that does not necessarily mean it has paranormal activity. Keep in mind that most of the sounds and images caught can be explained though simple logic. It’s the evidence that can’t be explained that you want to focus on the most.
LNHH – Is it as fun as it looks on TV?
John – There are two ways to answer this; the first being is that, yes it is fun. To go out and experience history in the realms of the paranormal is unparallel. However what people don’t see is the hours of investigation time and review. You may be sitting in one sport for close to two hours just asking questions to the dark and hoping for that one EVP, now with that when you go back to listen for EVPS that’s a solid two hours of review, just for that particular session. It is very labor intensive, but the pay offs of finding that piece of evidence is well worth the work.
LNHH – what equipment should someone purchase to begin ghost hunting with?
John – I have seen a number of groups and websites offer starter kits with a bunch of stuff in it or require a long list of items needed for investigations. Now in my personal opinion and experience the thing you need most before all else would be a digital recorder & thermometer, followed by a digital camera. Once you have them and are familiar with them then look into getting a good handheld video camera and the rest of the items will follow like EMF detectors and what not.
LNHH – Are there any tips you have for people starting out?
John – Yes, one thing I would remind everyone is to not let your mind wander. When you’re in the dark and conducting an investigation your mind will start to wander and you’ll want to see and hear things that aren’t there. Make sure you keep a clear and level head, be logical and calm when something does happen. Once you start to freak out in your mind or out loud then you’ve pretty much lost any chance you had of denying or confirming what just happened.
LNHH – Have you ever been scared on an investigation?
John – If I hadn’t been then I would start to worry about myself. Its dark, the looming though of a paranormal event happening and your imagination wandering, people get scared and even the ones you see on TV get scared, it’s a apart of the experience and research.
LNHH – Final thoughts?
John – Just one, make sure you keep it fun, but don’t post stuff if it’s not legit. Don’t fake evidence or experiences that never happened because it just takes away from those who are really trying to find something. There is no shame in finding nothing, is it disappointing…yes, but you never know where you will find that next paranormal experience.
We want to thank John for taking time out of his busy schedule to sit down with us for a brief overview of the beginning basics of ghost hunting. We are sure there will be more questions along the way, and you can be sure we will ask him.
You can find John with Rob and Sal on Late Night at the Horror Hotel’s new segment/show Bizarre Realities at latenighthorrorhotel.com and find out all the places they will be appearing both on and off the screen.
