In Search of the Paranormal

On February 19th, I went to an interesting lecture at the New Renaissance Bookstore in NW Portland. Its been on the calendar for months and I couldn't wait. Actual Paranormal Investigators! Or Ghost Hunters. Whatever you call them, they do not actually "bust ghosts", as Martina Baker told the captive audience. In fact, she claimed that if anyone promises you that they can remove ghosts from your dwelling or place of business, it's a financial scheme, because it simply ain't possible. Ghosts have a stubborn mindset of their own. They can leave whenever they want ("go into the light!") but for whatever reason, they remain. It's a case of what Buddhists call "attachment" -- the inability to let go of life as lived in the physical body, even after the body has long been disposed of.

Anyhow, I've been meaning to write on this lecture because it's been an ongoing fascination of mine...perhaps since I went absolutely crazy over Ghostbusters in the seventh grade. Of course, I didn't believe in ghosts back then. It was just a great fantasy film with cool special effects. In the years since, I've heard of others having spectral encounters and read about them in books. I always maintain a dose of skepticism, with always the open-minded belief in possibilities. The closest I've come to an otherworldly encounter was when I was alone in the basement crypt of the Cathedral in Bayeux, France in 1994. I felt a presence of evil down there and got the hell out of there. I haven't investigated it online to see if anything weird might've happened in the Bayeux Cathedral, but the feeling was unmistakeably chilling and evil.

I have had several photographs where an inexplicable bright light messed up the photo, which is an indication that a ghost got into the picture, if some theories are to be believed. Then there's that odd incident in 2002, when I developed several rolls of film from my vacation to Boston and New York City. It might have been four or five rolls of film. For the first time in my life, the store actually lost one roll of film. It contained most of my photos in Lowell, Massachusetts, where I had made a pilgrimage to see the various homes and places where my favourite writer Jack Kerouac lived and frequented as a young man (and again as an older man). I couldn't believe it. Months later, I received a strange voice message on my answering machine. It was a lady with a foreign accent (sounded like she was from India or something) and she had pronounced my name "Nee-koh-lyce" and informed me that they had found my roll of film and I needed to come pick it up. When I went to the store, no one knew anything about it. More than that, no one knew of any lady with a foreign accent working there. And no one supposedly called me about the missing film because they never found it. Weird. I was angry about it. Never in all the rolls of film I have turned in for development have ever been lost...and the one time they lose it, was photos taken of the most sacred literary pilgrimage of my life! Weird. In retrospect, a part of me wonders if that episode was the result of a trickster spirit at play, with the strange accented lady being one of those EVP phenomenon.

Back to the Ghostly lecture. They talked about EVP and even played recordings they made which picked up on comments various ghosts have told them. They said that as they investigate hauntings, they run a tape recorder and don't hear anything until they play the tape back. That's when they get some strange sounds and voices that made my hair stand on end and gave me goosebumps. One ghost told the lady investigator that he didn't like blondes. Another ghost told them to get the "F" out of there!

The ghost hunting team consists of Todd and Martina Baker, a married couple who do this on their spare time as a hobby. They don't get paid for investigating, though donations are gladly accepted. This is something they do out of a pure love for the subject matter. They have an interesting partnership. Martina is the self-described psychic while her husband is purely science and reason and logic. When they receive requests to investigate hauntings that meet their criteria, they said that they always approach it from a scientific basis. They have a process by which they try to find logical explanations for various occurrences (such as a banging sound might be a radiator heater acting up). Their website has several cases and other good information. The call themselves the Pacific Paranormal Research Society.

The woman was the more talkative of the duo, understandably. She was cool. Great personality. Really fun, and funny. Her husband seems more serious, quiet, and logic-focused. They seem to be a good match for each other. I learned a lot in this 90 minute lecture about ghosts and spirits and other phenomenon. For example, most of the hauntings they've covered fall under the category of "interactive", which means there is a ghostly presence that will react to you and maybe even try to talk with you. This is about 80% of the hauntings they've covered.

The second most common is only 15% and is what they call "residuals", which is like a film of a past event that is stuck on a loop. An example of this is of the supposed "ghost ships" some people have reported to have seen off the coast of Oregon. Or of old battlefields, particularly famous Civil War ones. The ghosts seen in these residuals aren't even there. It's just a spiritual reenactment of a tragic event that plays on a regular basis. If you happen to be in the midst of a residual and attempt to talk to the ghostly figure, it would as pointless as trying to have a conversation with an actor on the silver screen. Think of residuals as "ghost movies" of tragic events and sit back and enjoy the show!

The third type of haunting covers about 5% and Martina said that she won't even investigate those anymore. It's called "elementals." These are spiritual beings that people think of gnomes, sprites, trolls, and "demons"--though she claims that calling them "demons" gives them too much credit. Basically, elementals are mischievious non-human spirits that are attracted to the energy of people who invite them into their lives. They are attracted to negativity and feed off of it. The easiest way to not have them in your life is to not invite them in consciously or subconsciously. Martina said that most people don't have to worry about elementals and having a bad day or two is not going to cause one to be attached to you. She said that only people who thrive on drama seem to attract these troublemaking spirits (message to all the drama queens out there!).

One surefire way of bringing these beings into your life, however, is the use of the Ouija board. She said that people who do Ouija board or seances in attempt to contact loved ones are only inviting trickster spirits into their lives. A passed over loved one is not going to communicate to you by use of these mediums. I was interested when she talked about elementals and her refusal to call them demons, because I know some people in our faith community back in the Atlanta area who are obsessed with Satan and demons. My disinterest in Satan and demons have made one lady in particular concerned about my own spiritual welfare because she claims that "the greatest trick Satan ever pulled on humans was convincing them that he doesn't exist." She and her relatives love to recount episodes from their lives when demons have appeared and tried to attack them. And anytime something bad happens, they blame Satan and his demon minions. My mom has been one of the most spiritual people I've known all my life and she would tell me that people who focus on demons only encourage more of that kind of phenomenon in their lives. Her view is that "turning towards Christ means turning your back on Satan." I actually feel sorry for people who focus too much on Satan and demons. They put too much credit on "adversarial spiritual forces" whereas I prefer to focus on the positive aspects of spirituality: moments of bliss, coincidences, synchronicities and serendipities. I have no use for elementals.

Martina told us the difference between ghosts and spirits. Ghosts are attached to places. She said that they get most of the calls for investigations when someone is renovating their house. It happens so frequently, that its one of the first questions they ask when someone calls in, asking for them to investigate. The reason for this is because ghosts are earth-bound spirits who are attached to a place, like a home. They are stuck in a loop, not aware that they are dead. Thus, when someone alters their familiar surroundings, it serves as a wakeup call and they respond by making their presence known. She defined ghosts as: G rieving, H uman, O bsessed, S tubborn, and T ired. She said that when the ghosts gets to the point of being "tired", it means they are finally ready to "see the light" and move on to the spiritual realm instead of remain in limbo (earth bound spirits). By contrast, spirits are free to travel and they are not stuck to a particular place. Spirits generally don't haunt. Passed over loved ones are spirits. Patrick Swayze's character in Ghost was a spirit.

One thing Martina mentioned that I was only slightly paying attention to and regret not asking for further information was when she talked about the "poltergeist" phenomenon. She claims that there is nothing spiritual about it at all. The way she described it, an agent (the person its centered on) is the cause of it due to the powerful energy manipulation of one's own body. Often, these occur in pre-teen girls because of the hormonal and bodily changes, added alongside the emotional rollercoaster. The best solution to it is to get the person involved in physical activity to diminish the pent up energy so it won't be released in walloping doses that affect the physical objects in proximity to the agent. I didn't know that. And here I was thinking that the Spielberg-produced film is one of the scariest films I had ever seen despite being only PG. I'm always afraid when I fall asleep with the TV on that it might happen...but I'm glad that Hollywood embellished the idea for a powerful ghost story.

As they talked about their paranormal experiences and explained various aspects, I couldn't help but think of all the movies I've seen where such ideas were presented. Films such as Ghost, Just Like Heaven (the scene with various ghost busting efforts is hilarious), Dragonfly, White Noise (another creepy film), The Sixth Sense, The Others, Poltergeist, and of course, Ghostbusters. Speaking of that hit 80s comedy film, I read that Dan Ackroyd still wants to make a third one. However, I think if he does, it needs to be re-booted with a new cast and a different approach (rather than having the plot lead to an ancient god coming to destroy our world). I'd love to have a crack at writing the script, as it would be the ultimate dream come true for the 13-year old in me.

Earlier this week, I watched another ghostly film called Ghost Town. It was pretty good, but not as funny as I thought it would be. The bad thing about the film is the British guy in the lead role. I read in a magazine that he's considered the funniest guy in the world, which I found to be overblown hype. He was annoying and rarely funny. He was completely wrong for the role. In fact, he dragged the film down. He's simply not leading man material. If they had to go with a British actor, why couldn't they have gotten Hugh Grant, Jude Law, or Ewan MacGregor, who have been known to be funny as well as having A-list credentials? I liked the supporting actors in the film: Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, Kristen Wiig, and Bill Campbell. The British guy plays a misanthropic Dentist who has a "near death experience" under surgery, which gives him the power to see and hear dead people. When ghosts realize that he can see and hear them, he becomes a magnet for every earth-bound soul in New York to help achieve closure so they can move on to the spiritual realm. Interesting concept, good story...the only flaw is the British actor. Proof that casting makes all the difference in the world. This movie lasted about a week or two in theaters last fall. Had they gone with a different actor, it might've been more successful.

The photo to the left represents my favourite ghosts. How uncanny that they look like my best friend Nick and his wife! When I first met Jennifer in 2005, her ghost story fascinated me. I hope she took good notes about the ghost she knew. It might make an interesting story to write about.

After the lecture, I asked Martina about being able to go on an investigation with them. Unfortunately, she said that she and her husband don't investigate with the general public. Suggested that I should seek a group of dedicated ghost hunters / paranormal investigators in Portland to join up with. That was one of the "new things" I had planned to do this year. I am still somewhat skeptical and need my own freaky ghost encounter experience before I'm a true believer. From a spiritual standpoint, I understand the reasons ghosts exists, but I truly would like to come face to face with one. Preferrably this year. That would make my year, I think.