Q & A's

WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS, BASED ON THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCES, & OPINIONS.

I live in a house with four ghosts and my concern is that my house is going to be knocked down and 9/10 flats are going to be built on the land. What will happen to the ghosts? I am considering having them exorcised before the bulldozers start. Is this the right thing to do? Or will they just haunt the new flats?

a. It depends on the type, or personality of the haunting

We don't believe that 'exorcising' the ghosts would be appropriate in this case. Most spirits stay or go of their own free will, & some are actually angered by attempts to 'exorcise' them. They are probably human spirits & don't want to be made to feel as if they were demons. We would suggest explaining out loud to them that the home will be torn down & apartments will be put there. They can make the decision to stay or go. If you are fond of the ghosts, you can always invite them to move with you, or at least tell them that they are welcome to visit. But you might try suggesting that this might be a good time for them to make a break & move on to their loved ones on the other side.

From accounts that we have read, some hauntings just cease when a building is torn down. {The spirits may no longer feel the need to remain with out the building. But, the mere removal of a building can't harm a spirit.} Most 'place hauntings', the phenomenon of events being recorded psychically in a place, & not actual spirit inhabitation, will sometimes, but not always cease when the building is removed. If the haunting is tied to the land itself, then replacing a building may not affect it. This partially explains why some new homes are haunted. Other times it's just a matter of the spirits not wanting to leave, or refusing to believe that they are dead & can move on.

We have heard of many accounts of people seeing spirits go thru doors that are no longer there or up stairs that aren't there, {sometimes complete with sound effects!}. Others have reported seeing spirits floating, or seeming to walk, at a different level than where the floor currently is. The spirits can still 'see' the place they knew in life & may disregard the new additions, or buildings. This also sometimes happens, on rare occassions, with a persistant, non-intelligent, place haunting. {Events that are so ingrained, or strongly emotional, that they repeat even when the original conditions they occurred under no longer exist.}

Please tell me, my father was diagnosed with end stage lung disease and given 3 to 6 months to live back in Sept. 2004. He was in different hospitals for almost one year. He is now home and made it passed the point the doctors expected him to live, but is in very bad condition. Just recently my family and I have been seeing a black shadow pass us inside the house on the first floor were my father is staying. I could be sitting in the kitchen and out of the corner of my eye I see a black shadow go by to another room like if my daughter or somebody walked by. Everyone in the house has had the encounters and my dog has been extremely nervous. Crying for no reason and barking, knocking things over and sometimes just out of control. I am wondering if you could please tell me what you think this shadow is. At first I thought I was seeing things until others started describing the same thing. The only person in the house that has not seen the shadow is my father. Please give me some advice. I am wondering if it
is the spirit of death. We have owned this house for 26 years and never had anything like this happen before. Your advice appreciated.

Don't be concerned about the dark or black shadow ghosts your family has seen. I would say they are most likely curious or helpful spirits, not 'death'.   The color doesn't indicate evil or bad things. It is just how some spirits appear to us.
We discussed this with Tina at the Shadowlands, & we agree that the spirits are probably drawn to the house because of the strong emotions.   These spirits may be relatives that have already crossed over, wishing to check on, & perhaps provide support to the family.   They could also be keeping vigil for your Father's spirit, to help him cross over when it is his time. Or they could possibly even just be 'stray', or formerly dormant spirits that are curious, or feel empathy for your situation. Strong emotions provide energy for, and can act as a beacon, to spirits.   These spirits will probably move on when it is time.

As far as the dog being nervous, it is not an uncommon reaction in animals. Animals & young children can often see things that we can't. And what they don't understand often upsets them.

If these 'shadow ghosts' are disturbing to you, you can always try thanking them for their concern & request that they don't show themselves, or upset the family any more.    Most spirits will listen & abide by a heart felt request.

Q. I have woken up feeling like someone is holding me down. I feel terrified & unable to move. Is my house haunted?

a. Not necessarily. It could be "Old Hag" Syndrome, otherwise known as sleep paralysis. I'm not saying that there are or aren't spirits involved otherwise, but I would base that more on any experiences out side of this one. I have been woken up by spirits myself, usually with them tugging on my arm or blankets. I have almost been "frozen by fear" at those times, but usually I am not completely paralyzed. I have found praying, or asking spirits, to leave is helpful regardless. It helps restore a sense of peace & relaxes you enough to move. For more info on Sleep Paralysis, I suggest checking out this article from Shadowlands. Just click on the link: http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/sleep.htm

Q. I smell perfume , dirt and today I smelled natural gas for a matter of 4 seconds. I checked the whole house and everything was in order. Is this possible that a ghost can emit this type of smell?

A. Spirits can produce almost any kind of smell. They are Often related to their life or death, but not always. The least pleasant is a strong smell of decay. But the odor of blood I encountered at the county home we investigated would be a close runner up! I have also experienced the strong perfume smell, the smell of pipe smoke, & cigarette smoke.

Q. How can we ask my Dad's spirit to contact us? He passed away recently & we miss him.

A. Your Dad can hear you. He is likely very near all of you, even when you don't know it. Talk to him, tell him you need his support to get you thru this. If you listen carefully with your heart & mind, you may 'hear' him talk to you in your head. Or ask him if he can visit you in a dream. Sometimes that is easier for them. If it happens, you'll know. The dream will be very vivid & real.

Not everybody can physically manipulate objects after they are gone. I've spoken to other people who have seen their loved ones show up briefly & vanish, or sometimes speak. It's different for everyone. Some people never actually see or hear anything, but it doesn't mean their loved one isn't around watching over them. Most are. As far as being able to communicate with us after they are gone, I think maybe it's kind of like singing -some people can, some can't, some people can to a degree. If they didn't believe in spirit contact themselves, they seem less likely to try to contact us after they pass. But, there are cases where they may try anyway. Maybe you'll just smell a strong perfume like smell, or something associated with him. But don't be disappointed if nothing happens. Maybe it will later on as he has adjusted himself to the other side. At least you know he no longer has physical pain, & he can be any where just by thinking it. So if you need him, just call his name & talk to him. He can hear you just fine.

Q. My daughter has been in a paranormal group. She goes on hunts to graveyards and mausoleums. Friday night she went out with some friends. She awakened Saturday morning to find a black ring around her wrist and there were 1/2 inch rectangle marks 1/2 inch apart going up her arm. She called the leader of the group and he informed us that she had an encounter with a choking ghost.
Please explain the choking ghost and what she should do.

A. We have never encountered this type of phenomenon before, so we referred this person to Tina at the Shadowlands site. {It is important to remember to say a prayer of protection before & after a ghost investigation, or anytime you feel spiritually threatened. Even wearing a piece of "protective" jewelry can help.}

You can click on the link above, or contact Tina directly for the information. Just tell her you were referred to her by C.I.G.H.T.

Q. I want to ask about how one finds out if they are perceptive to the paranormal?

But, people with the tendency will often have dreams that come true, or experience that deja-vu feeling frequently. (Investigator Lynette B notes: I have often dreamt about places I have never been, & then I eventually end up at them. I've been in houses I've never been to before where I could say where everything was because of a dream I've had.)

Paranormal activity may occur more frequently around psychically sensitive people. They may get premonitions, such as something bad is about to happen, or they should avoid some place, then later find out they were correct.

For further information, try doing an internet search. There are also 'esp' testing cards available that are used in scientific studies.

Q. Why do some people have more "spooky stuff" happen to them than others? My friend & I are both interested in the paranormal. My friend has had many experiences, but I never seem to have anything happen to me.

Spirits seem to be able to sense whom has the ability to communicate with them, & are naturally drawn to them. This ability varies. Some people may have it stronger than others, some may not have any at all. Some people even have it, but don't know it! One thing that seems to make a difference, too, is how open you are to this kind of experience.

People with closed minds seldom experience anything. Some people are too busy to notice, & often completely miss paranormal activity. Or they dismiss it out of fear or lack of knowledge.

Fear, subconscious or not, can block a great deal. One of our investigators was like you. They were always interested in the paranormal, but were terrified of anything happening to them. As they got older, & learned more about spirits, they lost that fear. Now this investigator has witnessed many things herself, & found out that she did, indeed, have some psychic ability.

That's not to say that people who experience the paranormal are never afraid! There are too many accounts of people who are terrified, or maybe didn't even believe in the paranormal, but who have witnessed it. This again may be due to a person's psychic ability, or the accumulated strength of the spirit(s). Maybe they had just never lived, or been in, a haunted environment before.

As we've said before, this will probably never be an exact science, & there are exceptions to every rule. But, a person's state of mind & their natural ability play an important part. & so, of course, do the spirits!

Hi I have a few questions to ask you. First of all we have had some strange things happen around our house. Our home is only 6 years old we built it only family that has lived there. Sometimes at night we here a big thud and cracking sound coming from our kitchen, my husband says it is the house settling, some of our outlets quit working, our power goes out for no reason, breaker switches get tripped in basement, the other morning I heard something fall onto the floor in bathroom and my eye shadow pencil was on the floor, now there is no way it could have rolled off the ledge of the sink as my husband and I tried it ourselves it had to have been picked up and thrown of floor, and last night we heard a set of keys fall on our linoleum floor in kitchen so we went out to investigate and no keys were anywhere in the kitchen on the floor. I thought someone would have to die in your home for it to be haunted, what do you think? Do you think we have a ghost? Please email me back ASAP with your thoughts!

Do you know any of the history of land where your house was built? Was there a house there previously? {See article: "Do You Know the History of Your Home? " } Remember, too, pioneers traveled much of the country & buried their dead where they died. There is also the possibility of early homesteaders or Indians. Some one may have just had an attachment to the land there.

Yet another possibility is that your home is built on a natural lay line. The magnetic field can also attract spirits. You could also have a natural 'spirit portal' near you. They can be opened if the conditions are right & some one with psychic ability is in the house- if they know they have it or not! The spirits can sense it. {I'd say the strongest possibility is you, since the activity has centered on your belongings} Sometime spirits will be "passing thru", decide they like you, &/or your house, & just decided to stay.

I see from your samples of true orbs, they ARE ACCOMPANIED by those dim, transparent orbs you consider false. Those dim orbs that often appear to have "cell wall and nucleus," but I assume from my dust experiments that these features are caused by a lack of focus on a particle.
Is it that you can't "trust" a dim orb photo, unless it has a more dramatic manifestation next to it?
Jeff

Orbs are hard to pin down.   Generally speaking, it can be assumed that orbs showing up like a cell with a squiggly nucleus are most likely to be false. This is because light is reflecting off of an uneven surface such as dust.
Faint orbs in high quantity are also usually dust - even if they show up in the same picture with a solid or moving orb.   Some faint orbs can be part of the energy trail of the actual orb, but they are usually not in high quantity.   But the conditions the pictures are taken in also play a part in determining if an orb is likely to be real or not.   If it is rainy, misty, windy, or there's a high pollen count -you're likely to get false orbs. If the conditions are dusty or dirty, this can produce false orbs.   We don't do outdoor investigations in rain or high wind due to this. Indoor conditions that may produce false orbs also mean we discount all orbs unless they show movement.

Orbs that are bright & solid are more likely to be true, considering that an orb is a ball of pure energy.   There has been so much controversy concerning orbs lately, that I have been largely confining our recent photos to only orbs or anomalies that show movement & depth.   An orb with a trail is unlikely to be the result of dust, etc., & thus offers better proof of spirit activity.

But, as we state on the site- all normal causes must be ruled out 1st, orbs can be iffy, & spirit research isn't an exact science -yet.   We can only use the best equipment we can, use sound judgment, be skeptical, & keep researching!

A. The best way is to record the conditions it was taken under, & rule out any possible natural causes first. (Reflection, double exposure, dust, weather, etc.)

A. We generally only investigate locations that we can get to in no more than an hour's drive from us. (We are in Jasper County ) Otherwise travel time consumes too much of the time that could be spent doing the investigation. (& most of us have day jobs!)

A. We are not interested in doing "branches" at this time. We are unable to monitor or train people who do not live near us, & thus, we could not "guarantee" investigations are done properly.

A. At this time we have had a number of people who have expressed interest in joining C.I.G.H.T. We appreciate the offers, but are unable to interview new people at this time. We have a bit of a "waiting list" at the moment.

C.I.G.H.T. will sometimes consider adding new members to the group. YOU MUST BE AN ADULT! You need to live in or near the jasper county area, be serious & have some knowledge of the subject of ghost investigations, have your own equipment (even if it's just a camera), & have your own transportation. Prospective members must also be interviewed, in person, by our team, before being invited to join. We reserve the right to accept or decline admission to the group after the interview.

A. As far as allowing people to tag along on hunts out of curiosity - we seldom do this, as it is distracting, & may interfere with our results.

Q. How do I find out if anything violent or unusual happened in my home before I lived there?

A. The article below gives some helpful tips. You can also check with your county library for old records & newspapers, & with your county courthouse for public records.

Do You Know the History of Your Home? WHO Des Moines, July 16th, 2004 Posted 07/26/04

Do you know what happened inside your home before you moved in? A lot of homeowners in Iowa might be surprised to learn what took place at their address before they got there. We wanted to know what realtors and homeowners have to disclose about a home's history before the sale?

It was 1996 when Saleena Ayres found her dream home. She still remembers the realtor's words. She said everybody calls it "the house".

Saleena, like everyone in Norwalk, knows "the house". It is 1009 Aspen Drive. "She just told us, this is the house, the murder house. A guy went in and killed his family."

Inside the home in 1993, Rick Forsyth shot and killed his wife, their three kids and two other children, but for Saleena and her family, that day, and even that home, are distant memories. "I didn't even really think about it. The house had been repainted and recarpeted. It wasn't like there was anything visual you could see."

In reality, there are thousands of homes throughout Iowa that have been the site of death, either through suicides, natural causes or, in rare cases, murder. Often times, after such instances, the home winds up for sale.

"Maybe 40% of buyers wouldn't make a decision to buy, because they're uncomfortable with the situation," says Tim Meline. He teaches real estate ethics for Iowa Realty. He says homes where there have been murders, suicides or even hauntings are called stigmatized homes and often take longer to sell.

Take a certain house in Johnston, on the market for three months now. It's a beautiful two-story with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, but there were also two murders here in January. 41-year-old Greg Gaul and 21-year-old Sara Dahlke were both found shot to death inside.

"Time heals all wounds, and it would be true with these types of properties as well." Meline says every home can sell, no matter how gruesome the details, but you might be surprised to hear your real estate agent has no legal duty to know the history of a home.

"In Iowa, the courts have decided it isn't real estate agents' responsibility to discover what takes place in houses they show," says Meline. The realtor will only know about a murder, suicide or haunting if the owner discloses it, and under the seller's property disclosure act, owners are not required by law to reveal anything they know about the home's history, except for physical problems.

So it's not hard to make a mysterious death, suicide or, as Danelle Stamps can tell you, a haunting disappear. "There was no explanation, and I started to hear music."

Soon after the Stamps moved in to the historic Hatton House on 7th street, they realized a musical resident was already living there. "The one time I ran up there and stopped on an off-key note, like startling a musician. That was creepy."

The seller never told the family about a ghost but did reveal the colorful history of the home in the Riverbend neighborhood. "They said it was the biggest prostitution stop between Chicago and Omaha on I-80."

No real estate agent will reveal a suicide, murder or haunting until a potential buyer actually makes an offer. If they did before the offer, they'd be giving the buyer leverage for big discount.

In 1996, Saleena actually had to outbid at least two other parties to get the old Forsyth home. She has met resistance from some neighbors who wanted the house torn down, and she deals with curious friends and strangers. "Does stuff float across the room? Uh, no. Never had anything float across the room."

Her family loves it. Her 10-year-old knows what happened, and the rest of the kids will learn eventually, when they're old enough. Many people might think it's odd they can live here, but it's home. "Honestly, you have to stop and think, what's the history of your home? How many people have died in that house?"

Here's the answer to the question you probably have. If you want to find the history of your home, the best place to start is with your city's police department, or, if you live in a rural area, the sheriff's department. They can tell you how many times they have responded to your address over the years and for what reason.

A. Here is a List of Questions to Consider. These Are Some of the Factors That We Inquire About When Considering An Investigation.

1. Length of time of occupancy at the location? Did you move in recently, or had you been there a while before the activity started?

2. Age of the site? How old is the house? If it is fairly new, do you know the history of the site, such as any previous buildings or significant events at the location?

7. Have there been any sudden, unexplained odors: (perfumes, flowers, sulfur, food, etc.)

8. Have there been any sounds? (footsteps, knocks, banging, etc. with no obvious source)

9. Have there been any disembodied voices? (whispering, yelling, crying, speaking -if so, can they be understood?)

10. Has there been any movement of objects when no one is near them? (levitations, disappearances & reappearances, objects of unknown origin appearing)

11. Have there been any uncommonly, (with no obvious causes), cold or hot spots? (These spots often have a 10 to 20 degree or more difference from surrounding areas, & will usually come & go.):

12. Have there been any unusual problems with electrical appliances? (TV, lights, kitchen appliances, doorbells, etc. operating on their own, or malfunctioning suddenly &/or repeatedly for no obvious reason? Light bulbs may also burn out with unusual frequency in affected areas.):

13. Has there been any unusual problems with plumbing? (Such as leaks or flooding with no obvious source, or faucets or toilets operating on their own.):

15. Have there been any physical attacks of a paranormal nature? (Objects spontaneously thrown at people, feelings of being pushed, or pinched, by unseen force. etc.)

16. Are pets affected? If so, how? (Such as watching or playing with unseen objects, & expressing fear or excitement in certain parts of the site.):

18. Have you noticed any unusual lights, shadows, or streaks in photos taken at the site?

19. When was the first occurrence of the phenomena? Does it seem occur at regular times, or is there no discernable pattern? (approximate dates, times of day)

20. How long was the duration of the phenomena & what happened? (Was it a one time deal? Have some episodes lasted longer than others? Does any certain activity seem to set them off? Do some types of paranormal events seem to happen more than others?)

22. How often does this phenomena occur? (See above question 20 for more specifics)

24. Do all of the occupants agree that what is happening is supernatural, or do they think there is a natural cause? Have efforts been made to rule out natural causes, or sources?