You Know You Are Old When

[MossRoad]

That's different than an investigation. We've investigated many places and there's a technique using equipment. A place like that IMO would have lots of activity especially with jail cells in the basement.
I have lots of audio/video that would make your hair stand on end! (Unless you're like me with no hair! ).

I've heard stories of flourescent bulbs coming on by themselves over there. Just ignore the high tension or radio towers and it makes for great stories.

Have fun with the hobby.

 

[WinterDeere]

As an actual EM engineer, and I have seen at least a few of these investigations carried out using E-field probes and Gauss meters, by people who have no clue how those instruments even work. And when did it become assumed fact that a "ghost" is the primary source of electric or magnetic field?

Having spent my entire life living in very old houses from the 1600's thru 1800's, I've seen a few places in which strange things tend to happen, in fact one was a house in which I lived for more than a dozen years. So, I'm not stepping on the ideas of stone tape theory or other unexplained phenomena linked to people or places. But it seems to me that 99% of the "investigations" out there raise more questions about method, than they ever answer about phenomena.

Perhaps what's most amusing about the whole field, is that it seems no two investigators will ever endorse the work of another. They seem to all claim that the rest are total hacks, and only their investigations are valid. That's telling.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I'm the world's skeptic with investigations and most things can be logically explained. After years of investigations I couldn't define what a ghost even is. Something has to be very profound for me to believe it's paranormal.
Some things defy all logic and there are unfortunately lots of "investigators" looking for something, believing every noise is something.
I never even thought about it and my wife & I started a business in downtown in an old early 1800s building. 38,000 sq.ft. basement & 3 story with freight elevator. The building was unoccupied but filled with 150+ years of leftovers from many businesses.
I was in one section working with wife when I ran next door to look for a part. I unlocked door, ran up steps to 2nd floor and went into a large room. A rocking chair was rocking full blast in middle of room. Immediately I thought oh, some vagrant must have broken in somehow, heard me & left...or maybe a cat(?).
So I looked in adjacent rooms opening doors quietly then door going down a hallway. I was very quiet looking/listening carefully and after a while went back and there was the rocking chair rocking violently! I backed towards the door staring mesmerized by the fact it was rocking so violently! I turned running down 2 flights of stairs 3 at a time running next door and couldn't talk...just grabbed my wife's hand putting it over my heart probably 200 bpm.
We both went next door and chair had stopped. I called a friend and we went back that night.
I rocked the chair as violently as possible and it would come to a rest in 17 seconds. I re-enacted how I looked in other offices, hallway, backing to door and it was 2 minutes.
There was no logical explanation for it.
My wife & I later took parapsychology classes at a local college and being a technician bought lots of audio/video equipment and after investigations on our own joined a small local group Ghostec.
I have loads of tapes, CDs, DVDs of investigations and probably 100 true stories, class A EVPs, video, etc.
We were so lucky here because a mile away was an abandoned 2 story ca.1900 home that was built over a very old slave cabin...the thick plaster walls in dining room where plaster had fallen away were hand hewn cabin walls. The house was isolated so pristine without extraneous noise, power, phone, etc.
Loads of activity there, many times I would go there alone after midnight.

 

[WinterDeere]

The chair is interesting, as I lived in a house prior to this one, where very similar things would happen. Never a chair, but other similar things. If there were ever a thread, I could go into details.

One problem I had in that house, was retaining house sitters. This was at a time when I used to travel to Europe for extended periods for work, and rather than put my dog in a kennel for weeks at a time, I'd always hire a house sitter. I'd never tell them any of the history of the place, not wanting to scare them off. But they each had their own unnerving experiences there, so I was never able to convince any one of them to sign on for a second time. More than once, I returned to find the keys on the kitchen table, with a note saying they'll never stay in that house again.

Only two things I'll say about that house, before appologizing for the off-topic tangent:

1. I got used to it after the first several months. After that, I was able to see the frightened reactions of others as more amusing, than anything else. Yeah, there were all sorts of noises at night, and stuff moved around without explanation, but it never hurt anyone.

2. Most of the phenomena stopped when I got rid of my dog. I've heard poltergeist phenomenon are usually attached to a person or pet, so I guess this is common. My last several years in that house were much more "quiet" than my first few years there.

I never bothered to get out any instruments to measure temperature, E-field, B-flux, etc. Never saw much point in all of that.

Our current house is 150 years older (1730's), and is quiet. The oldest house we ever owned was 1690's, and also quiet. The "noisy" one was ca.1880, nearly new by comparison, when I bought it in the 1990's. Go figure!

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Lots of investigations would be just the wife and me, sometimes alone and some with the group. Ghostec has fallen by the wayside since the founder passed a couple years ago at 86 and two members at 69.
Way too much to write here.

 

[CalG]

 

[newbury]

Ever notice that the places that keep you waiting the longest have the worst selection of reading material? At least we're starting to see it again...during covid no one had anything.

But now everyone just reads their phones.

Your last dog died, wife wants no sex, and too many projects to finish.

I thought the discussion was about paranormal, not normal.

 

[JasperFrank]

If it seems that there is some external force that specifically goes after the things you love, it is either bad luck, or some paranormal activity. I don't know if there is some force involved, but it seems to be specific. Almost too precise, and too focused. So sometimes, I wonder.

But now everyone just reads their phones.

I thought the discussion was about paranormal, not normal.

 

[Jstpssng]

But now everyone just reads their phones.

Everybody except me. I leave the darned thing in the truck. In 8 months I'll be leaving it at home.

 

[Eagle1]

Everybody except me. I leave the darned thing in the truck. In 8 months I'll be leaving it at home.

Got rid of mine in 2007 (no cell service here) and have not missed it one bit. Guess I lost out on the whole smart phone thing, oops.
Need me, wait until I come back out from the woods or pasture. Wife can't find me, well sometimes she hears a tractor and can home in eventually.