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home > articles > Investigating the future of ghosts
I used to think I knew the best method of investigating ghosts and hauntings. Over the last few months it has become apparent that what I thought was right is not the popular view of a new crop of websites springing up all over this continent. The popular view has become a lurk in the background, at night, and around the law so as to remain quiet until their article goes up to the complete shock of the owners and other paranormal websites that are doing anything to follow the rules. This is more common then you may think and is the subject of my article. Haunted Hamilton doesn't know it all. Personally, I believe it takes a lifetime to develop even a tiny understanding of our business. That's why it's the unknown, because most facets of the paranormal are not, and never will be, proven. However, one thing I do know is that none of it can be explained in orbs, ecto-mists or personal belief alone. These websites rely primarily on photo evidence, drawing their conclusions on a strong belief gained from places that may have roots in religion or pop-culture. This is their base to a building of bricks, made up of photo evidence relying on personal and second-hand experience. The base stays hidden under the surface and keeps the secret that it's only made of air - that there is no concrete support. If it were ever pushed (or challenged) the entire building would come crashing to the ground. How do they survive? These websites are aware that the base is not enough to hold up the bricks, so they protect it from outside influence. This protection is people willing to attack anybody that get close enough to see the secret. Don't believe it, try going to one of these sites and post a question about their findings and see if you get a straight and technical answer. Push for more specific information and see if you aren't put down like the many before you. What makes up the bricks? Picture "evidence" of ghosts are posted at such a high rate that you don't have time to focus on just one. Orbs, ecto-mists and the random picture of actual human forms, compiled from every location, some of which were never reported as haunted until they came and left. The honest ones will stop there and not explore the possibility of what was captured. The right process would be to take that photo and compare it to others, or use different camera techniques to help prove it's real (such as taking two quick pictures of each spot - thanks Steve D!). This is not an option with the new breed; they will post the picture and say it's a ghost without any investigation. Some will even create a belief system of what each orb and ecto-mist means depending on color, size and shape. Not knowing how to prove the pictures is one thing, but what about those who focus only on moving ahead of everybody else, their "competition". These are the ones we need to worry about most, because any person with a basic knowledge of Photoshop can create a ghost photo. As well, for every obviously faked photo, that's one step back for the rest of us.
Acceptance
Acceptance is what we've been looking for since the early days of the late 1800's. It makes up the reason we are here-to prove that ghosts exist. The ones who believe seem to become allies with us. They reject the stereotypical view of us being "Goths" who pray to the devil and are doing his work. Does this stereotype sound unbelievable? Your co-founders had to deal with it first hand when trying to make our reputation within the city of Hamilton. One specific place, which will remain nameless, actually told us that he will never allow an event at his location because he feels that "Goths" will start camping out on the front lawn every night. With that in mind, there is one act that will quickly ruin the reputation of any paranormal website, the act of trespassing. Hamilton has one of the worst problems with "paranormal investigators" trespassing at reportedly haunted locations in all of Canada. The owners of the most known locations are afraid to work with a legitimate ghost site like ours because of this reputation, grouping us all into the same bunch. This begs the ideology that we are only as strong as our weakest link within this city and the cities around us. Haunted Hamilton
is one of a handful of paranormal websites that fight against trespassing
by people in our field, and because of that we receive a lot of "political"
problems from the others that don't agree. We've been attacked (on an
Internet level), put down, made fun of and centred out. What we quickly
learned is that the people doing the trespassing feel they are in the
right, that their action only affects them and that it has no negative
repercussions on the owners of the location. As one example, let's say a group is investigating Darnley Mill. They go in with the most innocent of intentions, "We are going to prove that this place is haunted", said merrily while driving up the dark street. Darnley Mill is closed off by a fence that surrounds it and has many painted "No trespassing" notices on the walls, plus a sign telling people about the dangers of a crumbling building. Dedicated to the ghosts, the group pays no heed to the warnings. They arrive and start "investigating", taking pictures as they move around the outside and inside parameters. Then they make their way into the basement area. This was the location of that furnace explosion that ended the mill, and the lives of some workers. The head of this group jokingly sends in his son to look around. He quickly moves forward to retrieve the boy, when he slips and falls on the sharp rocks. The man hurts his back so badly that he cannot work anymore and has to go on government assistance. The assistance is not enough to support his family, so he decides to find out who's at fault for allowing people to roam such a dangerous location. Whose fault is it? If you said the "paranormal investigator" you'd be wrong. The owner of the land that Darnley Mill occupies would be 100% responsible for what happened. If sued, he/she would probably have to provide enough income to take care of this man and his family for the rest of their lives. What about Insurance? That would cover the damages, but the premiums will go up significantly. Most of the historic locations throughout Hamilton are not rolling around in profits; most of them don't make one. The slightest raise in insurance, coupled with a growing decision by Hamilton not to not pour any more money into historic locations, could very well end Darnley Mill's run as an attraction. What then? Sell it to a wealthy businessman? That's possible, but what use would he have for an old historic relic? None, the land is more important to him. See:
"A person's decision to knowingly break the law will affect others. That's the reason a law is created in the first place, to protect someone or something."
Conclusion
A good reputation with "non-believers" (for lack of a better term) is very difficult to come by and is something that we are still working on after almost a decade in operation. Every faked photo, act of trespassing or general disregard of law and property, we all (by all I refer to any respected Paranormal society) are pushed back a few steps. How many events would HH be able to run with the city if we acted like that on a regular basis? None. The city officials would demand our heads more and more as our numbers grew, a very reasonable and fair action. For those who know us, you will agree that a rant like this is rare for Haunted Hamilton. Normally, we will spend our time working on uncovering hauntings, history and everything paranormal for you. You'll be happy to know that these will remain as such; sending the message that if you see one, it means we are very serious about the subject and feel it's time to share with everybody. With that said, thank you for taking the time to read this. "I
do not think much of a man who is not wiser today |
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