Don't Be Mad

Sorry for the lack of updates here. Not that it matters much... I think our blog gets somewhere around 4 views a month, and that's from me.

In any case, don't be mad for the lack of updates. I made this blog so that Thea could make updates to the site, since updating this is a whole lot easier than updating the site. But she didn't want to be bothered with this, so it goes unupdated, unviewed, and just all around "un".

In any case, if you wish, look over the past posts which are now below, and if you feel like reading any of them you can. But there's no telling when this will be updated again.

Ghost Hunters In Training

Lately I've been getting emails from people that want to learn how to ghost hunt like we do, basically. That's awesome!

I'm glad more people are getting into this hobby that has given me so much pleasure. I just wish I had more hunts to do that they could come along on.

But in the spirit of this, no pun intended, let me say a couple of things to maybe help out those that would like to be ghost hunters and don't know where to start.

First of all, check out the article I posted on the website, Ghost Hunter Tips. That needs to be updated horribly, and will be soon (hopefully). But it's a great place to start.

Also, know that I don't use highly sophisticated equipment, nor does Thea. Get yourself a digital camera, or any camera. Disposables are good enough, and a cheap route to go. I found a decent digital camera on ebay for $50. I could definately stand to get a better one, but for what I use it for and how many times I actually get to go on a hunt, it's fine and should be fine for a long time.

Plus, if you go on a hunt and have friends that want to go and don't have anything to do, they can take pictures for you. The more cameras you have, the better, because the more pictures you take, the better. Nevermind that that will leave your hands open so you can either take more pictures or take video or get EVP or whatever else it is you're doing.

I also have a camcorder. Something that's more like a luxury, though I need to get another one so I can edit the video. I bought a Hi-8 Handycam and it works wonderfully, but my laptop for some reason won't capture the audio, just the video. So whatever you get, make sure it's compatible with whatever video editing software you're using.

And for those who think they can't afford a camcorder, go to a CVS and get yourself one of those new disposable camcorders. They're only about $30. They do only record about a half hour of stuff, but what you record can be deleted, and the camcorder can be used over, up to a certain amount of times that I'm not sure of. But you can get what you record put onto a DVD at CVS (I'm pretty sure) for easier viewing and possible editing.

The last thing I use on hunts is a voice recorder. I got it at Wal-Mart for around $25 and those can be found anywhere. I prefer one with an external mic, but any will do. The only problem you can get with no external mic is, you might wind up recording the sound of the recorder while it's recording. But if you get a digital recorder, then you shouldn't have that problem. I think eventually I'm going to get myself a digital recorder, but what I have works.

That's all you need. You really don't need all of the fancy stuff. While Thea and I were at Waverly I seen a man that had a giant satellite that he walked around with that allowed him to hear everything. While that's a neat thing to have, and I'm sure it helps him, it's more stuff to carry. There's no really good way to mount that to something on you to free up a hand so you can take pictures or get video or even hold a flashlight.

Basically, just get what you feel comfortable with and what can help you to get the evidence that you are looking for. And don't get so much that you can't hold it all unless you don't plan on using it all at the same time, or plan on leaving something sit to record which is a great idea for getting something. Thea left her digital recorder in Waverly while we all went on a break and while nobody was in the building she got an EVP.

I hope this helps. Just know you don't need a ton of fancy stuff. And don't let the guys from TAPS make you feel like what you're doing or what you have is insignificant because they have thousands of dollars worth of stuff. They spent that money on their own and personally I think it's a little overkill. Plus for this second season of Ghost Hunters Sci-Fi gave them a bunch of "equipment cash" as well as some guy that they know that runs a store selling that type of stuff gave them a bunch of stuff for free. So unless you can get hooked up or have the extra cash... you really don't need it anyway.

Good luck with all that you do and always remember to be safe and ENJOY YOURSELF!!! Everyone enjoys Halloween when it comes around, but for ghost hunters, we enjoy it year round!

Site Update

Waverly Hills was awesome and we'll have the story up soon enough.

But coming up is our first anniversary! I can't believe we've made it a year already!

In honor of that, we'll be redoing the site. I'd like to say we'll launch it on the 20th, but we're going to slowly get it up and running, so it'll be all up and done by the 20th. So if you happen to come on and see some pages that look different, that's why. It should all be done by the 20th at the latest.

The Photo Gallery will be gone after the update. It isn't used enough and for those few who do visit it, I'm sorry but you're just not going to see it anymore. We'll move what pictures we like over to the main site, but the gallery will be gone.

A few other things will be taken off or changed too. Stay tuned for more.

And the Waverly Hills stuff will be along shortly!

Malabar

The place was so cool that I wanted to go back to do an actual hunt and maybe I can get some stuff from Ceeley Rose! As far as I know nobody has actually gotten anything with Ceeley yet everyone seems to know the story, so I'll be trying to accomplish something that nobody else has... get some evidence of Ceeley herself! That should be fun.

I've been looking foreward to this for a long time and I have to say thanks to Beth Santore from graveaddiction.com for going with me. I've been an active member on her message board for a while now and we decided to finally get together and do some hunting. She'll be coming down here this coming saturday and we'll be going out hunting all day. It should be a blast.

In any case, I've waited too long this summer to do some hunting and it's about time. I tried to get Thea to come up for it but I think she's going to be busy for her birthday and all that which is coming up next week, so everyone make sure to tell her happy birthday!

That's it for now, I'll have more after the hunts!

Oops

Well, I now feel like a COMPLETE idiot.

I posted on the Mansfield Reformatory page that I took my camcorder and I found out that all the tapes I had bought were the wrong size tapes, only I found out when I got to Mansfield and it was too late. So I didn't get to record anything on camcorder while there.

I was just talking to Thea to see if those tapes I had would fit her camcorder and I'd just give them to her. I couldn't remember the type of tape they were, so I went to look for them.

When I opened my camcorder box, I found some tapes and pulled them out. They were the tapes that I originally bought with the camcorder, and they were THE RIGHT SIZE. So I had them with me in Mansfield and could've actually recorded with the camcorder in the Reformatory. What a dolt.

But there is some good news. I went looking for the new, wrong sized tapes, and I actually found THE RECEIPT! I thought I had thrown it away!

The bad news though... I still can't find the new tapes to return them!

Take notes here folks. Make sure your brain is attached when you attempt to do anything, or you'll wind up like me.

TAPS

Of course we should all know by now that TAPS has a new 13 show deal with Sci/Fi for their second season. I just found out that the new season, which begun filming in January, should start by the end of Spring.

I was happy with this decision, though Sci/Fi needs to start showing some reruns. And if they are showing reruns, then my apologies. But I have been searching for show times and havne't found any, so what's the deal?

Also, I just read on Yahoo News that the next season of new shows is going to include a bunch of supernatural shows. I wonder why. Could it be that TAPS, with their show Ghost Hunters, made everyone realize that we do indeed love the unexplained in this country and that Ghost Busters wasn't just a fluke?

As a kid I only watched Unsolved Mysteries just to see the ghost stories. When a missing person story came on I turned the channel. The show Sightings was a great show, and it didn't last on regular TV. Now you can see both in syndication on cable. Did anyone follow suit? Not until Ghost Hunters came on TV, and now all of a sudden everyone wants a part of that success.

You see, we're surrounded by followers, and very few leaders. You can see this in every market, for every product.

Do you remember when Buffalo Wings (hot wings) WEREN'T around? Yeah, there was a time. Only a couple of places had these, like Buffalo, NY. A quick lesson for you, Buffalo Wings was named that for the city where they started... Buffalo, NY. At least, that's what I was told.

Now you can get Buffalo Wings at any of your favorite sports bars, pizza places, FAST FOOD?! Yeah, some McDonald's have Buffalo Wings. That leads me to my next question... WHY?! Why can't you stick with what you do and let those that specialize in something stick with what they do?

Then there was a couple of gas stations that thought having a well known restaurant, rather fast food place, open up inside their station. Now you can go anywhere and find McDonald's, Burger King, White Castle, Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, and just about every other fast food place inside a gas station.

Oh yeah, and the fast food places joined together. I've seen Taco Bell/KFC, Pizza Hut/KFC, Taco Bell/Pizza Hut... it seems to be just those combinations so far, but there could be more. You don't see gas stations doubling up, do you?

Movies.... Jason vs. Freddy hit it big, so what do we need now? Alien vs. Predator. I'm surprised Leatherface vs. Michael Meyers hasn't happened yet. But not only did the other "vs." movie happen, but Jason vs. Freddy made it ok for the old horror flicks to put out new movies. That was also in part to older movies being remade and doing well, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Then you had a slew of old movies being remade, most recently The Amityville Horror.

My point here is, don't fall for the hype. If that's something you like, then good for you. But for all of the rest of us who enjoy original programming and fresh ideas, we'll constantly be upset by this lack of leadership.

I salute you TAPS, for seemingly starting a trend in this world lacking in trend setters.

Forum Down

Just to let everyone know, the forum will be down sometime maybe today or tomorrow for upgrading. If you happen to go by there and see something other than the forum, that's what's going on. Don't freak out and leave lol, just check back later. We're not sure how long the upgrade will take, but hopefully it won't take too long!

Until then, if you must post something, post on this entry. Just click the comment thing below.

Upcoming Stuff

I want to say thanks to all of you who have emailed me to say that the Mansfield EVP's were great! Also to my family who listened and freaked out that I was the one recording those lol. And as I said to them, if you liked them, check out the Octagon Hall EVP's, those were great too!

I can't wait to go back and Thea should be coming along this time with company. Hopefully I'll have some friends with me as well. But if it's just us, that's ok with me too!

Speaking of which, we do have our very own Ghost Hunt in the works and it will be on the site as soon as details are worked out. It'll (hopefully) be taking place in the Loveland Castle and anyone that wants to go is free to go, though it won't be "free" to go lol. Again, details will be coming soon, but I'm thinking that we'll only be allowed 20 people for security reasons. Anyway, those details will be coming as soon as I get them!

I think that's all for now. :)

Oh yeah, to all the mother's that visit the site including Thea, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

An Update from Thea

Well, I wanted to see how this worked as anyone who is familiar with me knows that I am mostly technology challenged.

If you guys have checked out the site recently you have seen the updated upcoming hunts section. I have tried a few times to get to our local courthouse and do some investigating but one thing or another always seems to get in the way. It has been there for quite some time and has grown to be a beautiful old building. There is also a tunnel underneath that several years ago was used for prisoner transports and things of that nature.

Be sure to also check out the GREAT evp that Matt and I have captured from the places we have visited.

Thats about all I have to say now. Hope this works!

New Blog

By Matt

So this is our new blog! This will be used for anything. If I feel like coming on here and just telling you about my day, then so be it. If Thea wants to come on here and tell us a funny joke, fine.

I just thought that it was about time we had something to just post on. I know we got a guestbook, chat room, and forum, but this is more or less just for us. We'll keep you updated here on our lives or whatever we want. Plus, it'll be good for those times when we're not that busy, like over winter. We can still keep you up to date easily with the blog. You don't have to read it, but you can if you want. This is for us.

So with that out of the way, I have to share this. I was at my favorite bar last night talking with folks that I know well, and sharing my last ghost hunting time with them. It was kind of interesting and a pain in my rear end at the same time. One guy was interested. The lady listening to me tell what happened, as it seemed, kept trying to stump me on ghosts, and kept trying to prove me wrong. I don't know why, because she's into this stuff too. But that's the way it seemed to me.

I don't know. So much for hanging out at the bar and kicking back a few before going home.