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    Ghosthunting for the Sensible Investigator; second edition
    Ghosthunting for the Sensible Investigator; second edition
    Ghosthunting for the Sensible Investigator; second edition
    Ebook119 pages1 hour

    Ghosthunting for the Sensible Investigator; second edition

    By Romulus Crowe

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    About this ebook

    In the five years since the first edition there has been no progress at all in research into ghosts and related phenomena. In fact, it appears that ghosthunting is now more about reality TV and entertainment than about any
    serious research.

    Modern 'investigations' seem designed to show off new gadgetry rather than to obtain any form of actual data.

    This second edition consists of a collection of essays by an author infuriated by the abandonment of even the most basic of research principles and by the ridiculous insistence that
    buying more unproven gadgetry will somehow enhance success.

    You will not agree with everything in this book.

    It is not here to be agreed with. It is here to start you thinking like an investigator rather than a TV presenter.

    Most of all, it is here to save you money.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRomulus Crowe
    Release dateNov 21, 2011
    ISBN9781465938923
    Ghosthunting for the Sensible Investigator; second edition

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      Book preview

      Ghosthunting for the Sensible Investigator; second edition - Romulus Crowe

      Ghost-hunting

      for the

      Sensible Investigator

      A guide for those who wish to avoid the failure and derision

      that plagues the gullible ghost hunter.

      .

      Romulus Crowe

      Independent Researcher into the Paranormal

      The contents of this book are the reasoned opinions of R. Crowe, and do not necessarily reflect those of any of his past or current employers or associates.

      Second edition.

      Updated and expanded

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      All images including cover are copyright Romulus Crowe.

      http://romuluscrowe.blogspot.com/

      Contents

      Introduction

      Reasons for failure

      Dealing with sceptics

      Pedantic terminologists

      Scouting out locations

      Watching reruns

      Equipment, essential and otherwise

      Photography

      Temperature

      The Infrared and electromagnetism

      Voices and sounds

      Light and dark

      The medium

      Spiritual protection

      Consideration

      What are ghosts made of?

      Non-human apparitions 1. Animals

      Non-human apparitions 2. Objects

      Non-human apparitions 3. Lights and shadows

      Non-human apparitions 4. Demons

      Science and religion

      Heaven and Hell

      Ghostly babble

      Trigger objects

      The Scientific Way

      Argue with me

      -

      Introduction

      It has taken five years for this second edition to appear. It wasn’t because it was difficult to do; it was because when I wrote the first one I had no intention of writing a second. The first edition appeared in response to what I saw as a ridiculous frenzy to sell amateur ghosthunters all kinds of gadgetry they didn’t really need and then set them loose with no training in using those gadgets.

      EMF meters, laser-aimed thermometers, infrared equipment, more and more expensive meters that reach sensitivities that make them useless outside the controlled environment of a laboratory, and so many cameras to look through that nobody is using their eyes.

      Huge supplies of batteries and enough equipment to need a truck to carry it around and guess who sees the ghosts?

      The lone motorist, the dog walker, the night-watchman. The tourist and the people walking home from work. More potential ghost photos have been snapped in these situations and more detailed observations have come forward from these witnesses than from all the hugely-equipped investigations combined.

      Yet if you visit almost any paranormal website or read any book on ghosts, you will be told you need to tool up like a SWAT team before you start. Naturally, this involves a lot of your money.

      Ghosts don’t charge for manifestations. They are most often seen by people who have never paid for so much as a digital thermometer. They are least often seen by those whose field of view consists only of the screen on their camera.

      So that first edition was born of rage and although I made it available, I never publicised it nor made any active attempt to sell it. It came as a surprise to find that people were buying it, and continue to buy it, so I thought I should write a more comprehensive and updated edition. This one is a little more temperate in tone. I have had five years to cool off and am not so confrontational these days.

      The approach taken here is scientific but remember you are not dealing with rocks or ants or monkeys. You are dealing with dead people who are still people. They are thinking beings, some scared, some angry, some friendly, some hostile. This is not entertainment. The paranormal is real and unknown and some of it is dangerous.

      If you scream and run at the sound of a mouse scratching or a paper cup falling over in a breeze then this area of study is not for you. It has mildly frightening and thrilling parts but it has very real dangers also. When you take an interest in the spirit world, it is equally likely to take an interest in you. This is not a hobby you can go home and forget about. Once in a while you might find your hobby follows you home.

      Also remember that this subject area is mess of theories with little solid evidence so far to back up any of them. Don’t latch onto one theory and exclude all others. None are proven. It’s possible that none of them are right. This book is not for someone wanting a fun weekend wandering around some creaky old house. I include theories here but I give no guarantee that they are right. Some contradict each other and some are no more than half-formed, and all are open to question and discussion. I am more concerned with getting people to accumulate serious data that can be tested than in expounding some personal dogma. I am not going to do your thinking for you. Think for yourself

      There are a few sections from the previous book still present in this larger edition. Where necessary they have been edited to fit with more up-to-date theories and findings but if we are honest we have to admit that in the five years between these editions, there really hasn’t been any progress.

      TV shows and more books showing photos we’ve all seen before do not constitute progress. The entire field of the paranormal is beset by random investigations with no coherent structure. We all have our own theories and we all do things our own way. There are some advantages to that, in that no individual is able to impose a particular view to the exclusion of others. The disadvantage is that we become insular, locked into our own theories and ideas until we become convinced that we are right and every other investigator is wrong.

      This edition includes some exploration of some of those theories including some I don’t personally agree with but cannot, in all conscience, declare to be definitely wrong. There are contradictions and there are outlandish ideas here and some paranormalists will scoff at them in the same way the sceptics scoff at all of it. I don’t mind. All I ask is that you consider the theories. I am not interested in forcing you to accept any of them.

      In that first edition, and in this one, I say things that the average investigator, professional or amateur, does not want to hear and will not like hearing. I say them anyway.

      Whether you agree is up to you.

      Note that this book is constructed to allow the reader to dip in and out as required. It is not necessary to start at the beginning and read to the end. For this reason you will find certain themes repeated within some sections because they are too important to be lost in the text. Especially if they were to end up in the one section nobody ever reads.

      Return to contents page

      -

      Reasons for failure

      (Reproduced from the first edition)

      The simple truth is: Most ghost hunters are idiots.

      Consider this: If you were to go bird watching, if you go hunting or fishing, if you decide to track down a rare species of animal, what do you do?

      Do you barge into the forest, demanding the creature come out and show itself? Do you go in as a group, armed with cameras and lights, and trailing yards of cable attached to a plethora of electronic equipment? Do you attempt to provoke the creature into appearing?

      If you do, what do you consider the chances of the creature you seek stepping out of the undergrowth and posing for a photograph?

      How likely is it that shouting and splashing will induce a fish to bite your hook?

      How close will you get to the deer/rabbit/whatever you are hunting if you insist on shouting out to it, long before you see evidence of its presence?

      With that in mind,

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