Taken from Newsletter Issue 12 - April 2004

Want to be a good ghost hunter and find ghosts worthy of investigation then read on:

Firstly find yourself a good club to join like LPS founded 2003 or SPR founded in 1882. Next get yourself a little ghost pack together containing a flask of tea and sandwiches for those cold nights and those important tools of the trade, a pen and pad with which to record your sightings. This may sound obvious but when you are observing a ghost coming towards you it is surprising just how many would be ghost hunters forget to record the facts as they happen during an experience.

If there are any witnesses found during your investigation then please remember to record details on to a tape or in written format. Second hand accounts are normally never of value and it is important that when you interview your witness always check details are correct in case there are several witness statements in which case you can include trick questions in order to verify the facts. For example the trick question could be as follows: Mrs Smith claims the ghost was wearing a green hat, are you sure the ghost was bald headed? If your witness then remembers the green hat which by the way Mrs Smith did not really mention in the first place. Then your witness is not reliable and neither is your investigation. Usually a professional ghost hunter will be of the qualified psychologist, physicist and chartered surveyor variety and even then he or she will require specialised help from other qualified professionals to help set up a team. Ghost hunters will naturally want to see reported apparitions for themselves and will almost certainly end up disappointed. Perhaps a ghost will appear to order when we know more about the conditions they require. Once you have your report completed you should register it with SPR if you have joined them or inform your LPS friends who would have fled the scene in terror with you and are investigating spirits from another dimension.

As a ghost hunter you will need to take the following equipment with you in order to look professional: Pen and pad, Torch, Tripod Camera, Wellingtons, Most Haunted T- shirt, chalk and fluorescent powder, masking tape, and finally a luminous watch and some capacitance switches. Next prepare to lay in wait for your ghost to appear. You could seal off the area where you expect your ghost to appear using masking tape and block the ghosts path with threads that will reveal any human presence. Next scatter your powders around the area and using ultra violet light you will be able to monitor the whereabouts of your fluorescent powder at all times. If you are using a tape recorder then try to use stereo as opposed to mono for clearer sound effects and finally set up your tripod mounted camera using black and white film and your capacitance switches for the best results making sure the lenses are wide angled ones.

Of course you will need plenty of time to set up all your equipment and are advised to get to your site of investigation early during daylight. This will ensure you know the whereabouts of your equipment. In one famous case a professional French ghost hunter called Lapir Olof ruined his reputation by spending hours setting up the above only to miss the appearance of his ghost by going to the toilet behind some bushes while the ghost made its appearance. So be prepared is the motto for anything can and usually does happen. Ghosts will doubtless continue to provide entertainment in the news papers and on the screen. Ghost hunters will continue to be regarded by some as harmless cranks. Yet the subject is a serious one of tremendous potential significance. Once fully understood it will vastly expend our human knowledge both of the human mind and matter. But until more people take up the banner and there are more amateur ghost hunters out there investigating we will be unable to convince the sceptics despite the fact there is a holy ghost accepted as fact by most religious people. But remember in order to catch your prey you must first lay the trap!