IGHS Newsletter

International Ghost Hunters Society - (Internet Newsletter) ghostweb.com
October 22, 1999
By Dave Oester

Mission Statement:
The Ghost Web is the official Web Site of the International Ghost Hunters Society. The IGHS is the first professional Society of Paranormal Investigators specializing in ghost photography. The IGHS offers FREE membership. The Society is dedicated and committed to the research, documentation, education and investigation of ghostly phenomena recorded through digital, film and video photography. The IGHS welcomes new members to join Dave & Sharon in this effort.

Greetings:
The IGHS does not encourage charging for conducting ghost investigations because we are not ghost busters, but ghost researchers. So can a ghost researcher make some extra money to help pay for upgrading their tools of the trade? Read on and learn how to cash in on your EVP, Photos and video footage. The deadline for submitting EVP, Photos or Video Footage is February, so did out your camcorders, dust off your lens and start shooting for dollars. When you get something, send it to us for consideration. Remember that the project pays $1,200/min for footage, photos and EVP for air time.

    1.    Haunted Sites Picked for TLC Pilots
    2.    What are Ghosts?
    3.    Dave & Sharon on Strange Universe Talk Radio
    4.    New Orleans Haunted Workshop
    5.    2000 Gettysburg Ghost Conference
    6.    Home Study Course
    7.    New Video "Haunting Across America" Review
    8.    Gettysburg Ghost Story

1. Haunted Sites Picked for Pilots:
We are looking for EVP, photos and video footage from the following haunted sites that will be used in the two one-hour pilots for TLC. We are also looking for additional sites. If you have sent me video before, send it again as I sent most of what I had to ABC for the owners of those tapes. No psychic experiences, no Ouija boards and no seances. This is a scientific approach and no psychic data will be used. This is a good opportunity to make some money from your video footage, photographs and EVP.

Pool Mill Bridge, Cumming, GA.:
We are interested in eyewitness accounts of paranormal events at this covered bridge. If you have had an experience or know someone who has, please write to me. Between now and March if you get any video footage, fantastic photos or great EVP then we will consider licensing them from you. We require prints so if you have a digital camera, you must make a hard copy of the photo on photographic paper for submission.

Hardin County, Texas:
We are interested in the Ghost Lights found on Ghost Road on the outskirts of the Big Thicket forest. We need eyewitness accounts, EVP, photos and
video footage from this area. This is an eight-mile stretch of road that is uses to be railroad tracks. We need the stories and legends associated with this site and eyewitness confirmation of these events.

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, Chicago, IL:
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it.

Crescent Hotel, Eureka Springs, Arkansas:
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it.

Banff Springs Hotel, Alberta, Canada:
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it.

Myrtles Plantation, St. Francisville, LA:
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it.

Ghost Town, Jerome, AZ:
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it.

Gettysburg Battlefield, Gettysburg, PA:
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it.

Keg Mansion, Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it.

German Concentration Camps, Germany:
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it. What about other haunted sites in Germany?

Australia Most Haunted House, Australia
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it. If you have other sites in Australia that has documented activities, let us know.

Ghosts of England
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened in England. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it. If you know of documented haunted sites, such as hotels, pubs, castles, cemeteries, businesses, old buildings, be sure to let us know about it.

A Mansão DO Marques, Portugal:
We are interested in all eyewitness accounts of apparitions or other ghostly haunting that has happened here. We are looking for video footage, photos and EVP. If you have any personal experience, write me about it.

Orbs & Ecto 101:
We are looking for all video footage of orbs, ectoplasm, apparitions and EVP captured anywhere and of any length. This is like a miscellaneous collection of video footage, photos and EVP that are not associated with any of the above mention sites. Remember you earn $1,200/min of video footage or $20/sec of air time for your video, photos and EVP.

Now is the time for all good ghost hunters to recharge their camcorders and head for their favorite haunted site for filming. Sharon and I are heading out this weekend to film at an old abandoned log cabin, deep in the heart of the Cascade forest where a rancher is rumored to have been murdered.

2. What are Ghosts?
I have gotten many emails from the Asian area asking this question. We teach in our Home Study Course that ghosts is the continued essence, soul or spirit of a person, animal or non human life form after death. We do not normally differentiate between a ghost and a spirit. I know some ghost hunters feel very strong about separation of these two terms, but for us, they may be the same at times. We generally refer to the Walking Dead as spirits instead of ghosts. We teach that unless the living can release negative emotional issues, such as anger, bitterness or regrets, they are unable to let go of these anchors that hold them earth bound. Any emotion that is unhealthy can become an anchor, even love. When we lose a loved one to death, we must let them go or else we may anchor them here because of our love. We must grieve and allow them to depart this earth plane.

Why are some people terrified of ghosts while others react calmly to them? I suspect it goes back to some basic issues, such as are we afraid of that which we do not understand? Most folks who are afraid of something will immediately want to destroy it or drive it away. Some folks equate ghosts with savage animals that will tear out their hearts. This is a cultural fear because some cultures, such as found in Asia do not fear ghosts, but acknowledge them as part of their ancestral heritage.

We get reports from around the world that suggest that ghosts are culturally orientated, meaning that a ghost will hang around the place he or she lived in life. For example, a French-speaking ghost would generally find a dwelling with French-speaking folks and reside in the part of the country that he or she lived when alive.

Often in death, we do not venture far from home. Our world revolves around our home, family and town. In death, we still have our intelligence, emotions and personality so why should we move to another area when we were satisfied with the place we had lived at before. There are not much differences between the spirit realm and our physical realm if we consider the relationships we have in this life and forget having a physical body. The two realms are still inhabited by human intelligence, human emotions and human personality. Yes, we have much in common with ghosts.

3. Dave & Sharon on Strange Universe Talk Radio:
Listen to Dave & Sharon on Strange Universe Talk Radio on October 29, from nine to midnight, west coast time.

4. New Orleans Haunted Workshop:
We are less then a month and half away from the New Orleans Haunted Workshop so do not delay your registration or you will miss this last event of 1999. We have many sites lined up for our on-site investigations that should be most interesting. Take a break and sign up today for this December event before you get caught up in the Holiday Season. This may be the last time in 1999 that you will get to join with Dave & Sharon for an investigation. We are looking forward to this most haunted city that buries their dead above ground. For more info please visit our page at http://www.ghostweb.com/neworl.html.

5. The 2000 Gettysburg Ghost Conference:
We have all the speakers lined up for the Gettysburg Ghost Conference next March. This coming year our speakers will speak on subjects that will help ghost hunters improve their skills in investigation techniques, researching haunted property, developing an EVP program, and a host of other subjects. The web page can be found under Ghost Workshops/Conferences in the Navigation Menu. We are now accepting registrations for the 2000 Gettysburg Ghost Conference. The cost is $75 per person. Lodging reservations can be made at the Holiday Inn Battlefield in Gettysburg. Their telephone number is on the web page. Don't miss planning on this fantastic event! Special Inner Circle Investigation for Friday for all Inner Circle Members. If you are not an Inner Circle Member, you have time to become one by March.

6. Home Study Course Fills Gap:
If you live too far away from attending one of our ghost workshops or ghost conferences than consider enrolling in our Home Study Course and obtaining the benefits of our knowledge and experience in ghost hunting/research.

This is the first Home Study Course that teaches a non-psychic approach to ghost hunting. Learn about scientific techniques to document the existence of ghosts without using Ouija boards and seances that are very unreliable. The International Ghost Hunters Society sets the scientific standards against which all other ghost hunters are judged.

The Home Study Course is designed for the beginner, the novice who has a desire to learn about ghosts. This course details a comprehensive coverage in such areas as, understanding ghosts and why they are earthbound, nature and configuration of ghostly energy patterns, understanding exorcism, where to find ghosts and why, and most important how to conduct successful ghost investigations. Read more about this parapsychology Home Study Course at http://www.ghostweb.com/cgh.html.

7. New Video "Haunting Across America" Review:
The Entertainment Group has released, "Haunting Across America" which is a sixty minute VHS video that is absolutely wonderful. The computer graphics, special effects and documentary are exceptional. The video segments of different haunted places in the USA. Michael Dorn of Star Trek fame is the host.

The IGHS is now a distributor for this video and upcoming videos on their Ghost Series. Haunted Places is $24 including Priority Mail shipping. Order via the Online Store at http://ghostweb.safeshopper.com/ or call Dave at 541-548-4418. You can also order by check or money order or by Fax with a credit card by calling 541-548-4418.

We now have both Videos in stock: Haunting Across America and Haunted Places.

8. Gettysburg by Eric Swanger of kavi_putrah@yahoo.com:
All of us were up on Little Round Top watching the sunset. We missed it by a few minutes, but got talking to another reenactor and some spectators. I took a few pictures with my HP digital camera. About 30 minutes after sunset, we ventured to the Triangular field. All of us had been there before, Jeff and Debbie have experienced strange happenings there before. Nothing concrete, but strange. Jeff felt a finger at his throat and Debbie felt a hand on her shoulder (I learned this later).

It was dark, there were a few people there. I took one picture of Jeff. It was a flash picture. We were walking down one of the paths worn into the grass when Shelly's foot slipped in a hole of some kind and she twisted her ankle. A few months prior, she broke it, so we were both a little concerned about it. We sat down on a rock near the middle of the field and she cried a little and I comforted her. Jeff and Debbie walked down to the bottom of the hill and were out of view. A few people passed us, leaving the field. We, except for Jeff and Debbie, were alone.

About 2 or 3 minutes passed. I was sitting, or rather squatting on the rock, on the right side of Shelly, who was sitting, facing north, but her head was on my shoulder. For some reason (even she doesn't know why), she looked to her left and screamed. She screamed a lot. Then buried her head in my shoulder and said, "There's someone there, I saw something I saw something!!" She was crying and screaming. I told her a few times, "shelly, there is no one there." She calmed down, but couldn't stop crying. It was like a weeping. Jeff and Debbie came running up, thinking that she had tried to walk up the hill and fell on her bad ankle.

They found us on the rock and Shelly was still weeping. They asked her a few questions that didn't even dawn on me to ask her. She described the fellow she saw as "olive complected, wearing a union frock coat and a hat with a stiff brim (not a slouch hat)" he also had a mustache and a very serious look. She said that at first she thought it was Jeff, but then realized it wasn't. Jeff was many yards away. This person/thing was 2 feet away from her, looking down at her.

She claims that if she could find this fellow's picture, she could identify him. She remembers his face very well. I know what union units fought there and we are looking for pictures. After hearing this, I didn't feel anything odd or "spooky." But that changed. (side note: I've had some experiences w/ ghosts before, most were *very* bad experiences) I started to feel something odd going on in front of me. I felt, it's hard to describe, almost slimy, but with energy. I kept flinging my arm like you might do if you got oil or something on it, just to get it off. But something was happening in front of me.

So I grabbed my camera and took a shot, covering the flash with my hand. It didn't go off. This is typical of my camera, and not due to the field. My camera "beeps" when i take a picture. No beep (and later I found out no picture), but there was a flash and it came FROM the woods. A dull white, not quite a flash, more like a pulse of light, very quickly growing and going away, as if in slow motion. This didn't register at first.

Until I took a picture, still covering the flash w/ my hand. It looked a LOT different. It flashed almost an orange and i could feel the heat on my hands (like a normal flash, as it was such). I tried to turn off the
flash, but failed, took two other pictures. One on high quality, one on the lower setting. The first was a little to the left of where I felt "something" and the second (and last) was of where shelly saw this fellow. Finally we left and when we got back to the hotel room, I looked at the pictures and they had a few of those "orbs" or "sheres" on them. And the pic I took at Little Round Top had a large one in it, nearly in the center of the shot.

Kind regards,
Dave