INVESTIGATING GHOSTS AND THE SPIRIT WORLD INTRODUCTION ccording to several recent surveys belief in the existence of ghosts is widespread in fact nearly half of all Americans believe that ghosts are real a sentiment that is shared by a similar proportion of people living in Canada and the United Kingdom Many people believe that ghosts are the souls or spirits of those who have died and places that are said to be haunted are often thought to be associated by a haunting spirit with some strong emotion of the past remorse fear or the terror of a violent death Of course other peo ple believe that ghosts exist only in our imagina tions Whatever you believe ghost stories have been told for thousands of years in almost every culture Paranormal investigators popularly known as ghost hunters look for proof that ghosts are real or for rational explanations for ghostly activity Some use high tech instruments to try to record the sounds of ghosts and take pictures of them Sometimes these photos show shadowy shapes
INTRODUCTION next to living people Some of their videos show objects that appear to be moving by themselves Though most scientists are skeptical that ghosts exist haunted houses spooky stories and ghost hunting reality TV shows all reflect our continuing fascination with ghosts There is a whole world of unexplained events ready to explore History literature and folklore are filled with stories about the appearances of ghosts and
CH A PTER ONE WHAT ARE GHOSTS t was just another night on the job for the staff of Everyday Paranormal First the ghost hunters set up their equipment Then they spread out On this night they were investigating the Myrtles Plantation This large mansion in Louisiana was built before the Civil War Care takers and visitors reported seeing ghosts Some said they heard sounds of children crying Some thought they felt hands tugging on their pants legs Nothing happened until 2 00 AM Then ghost hunter Barry Klinge waiting in the dark in the main house felt a big drop in temperature A cold spot moved over him His instruments showed a drop of almost 40 degrees He smelled cigar smoke and per fume He was startled when a rock skittered across the floor and bumped into a wall Brad Klinge Bar ry's brother waited in the old slave quarters on the
WHAT ARE GHOSTS Ghost hunters believe that the Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana is one of the most haunted houses in America property Brad suddenly felt a hard strike on his back When he turned around no one was there The team members of Everyday Paranormal first look for scientific explanations for the spooky events that hap pen during their investigations Open windows can cause cold spots Curtains can hold smells for decades Voices can carry in the stillness of night The Klinge brothers carefully reviewed the data they collected that night They found that most of the events could not be explained They deduced that there were ghosts at the Myrtles
