Suppose you are sitting in your living room on an ordinary evening and a figure walks in. You notice nothing odd about the figure. It looks solid and casts no glow. It might be wearing a brown coat, or a nurse’s uniform. It walks across the room and sits in the armchair, and the cushion … Read moreThe Metachoric Theory of Ghosts, Lucid Dreams, and Out-of-Body Experiences
There’s a moment that happens to me more than I expected. Someone hears my name, Cody Polston, and they assume they already know what I believe. They expect me to be one thing: the “ghost hunter” who chases apparitions, speaks with confidence about spirits, and collects “evidence” like it’s a science lab. Or they expect … Read moreGhost Hunter and, or Skeptic. How “Complicated” Became My Most Honest Story
Investigating paranormal claims can feel like walking toward a moving target. You’re trying to understand an experience that often arrives through memory, emotion, and interpretation, rarely through clean, measurable evidence. After investigating multiple accounts, I’ve found that the hardest hurdle isn’t just determining whether something “supernatural” occurred. It’s navigating the way beliefs, on both sides, … Read moreHow Belief Systems Shape “Witnessing”: Perception, Meaning, and the Paranormal Claim
Talked with T. J. Trout on KKOB about my new book “What we owe the Dark” and a little about Bigfoot. Listen here
The allure of the paranormal has persisted throughout human history. Ghosts, spirits, and otherworldly entities have captured our imaginations for centuries, appearing in folklore, literature, and religious accounts. In modern times, this fascination has taken on a new form: ghost hunting and paranormal investigations. Armed with gadgets and an insatiable curiosity, enthusiasts seek to bridge … Read moreThe Impact of Horror Films on Paranormal Investigations and Ghost Hunting
Information on the phenomenology of apparitional experiences comes from several collections of spontaneous case studies. Many cases have been presented to societies for psychical research and were investigated carefully to determine the reliability of the data that was collected. Ignoring the fictional accounts, several case study collections provide some rather compelling testimony to the phenomenology … Read moreModern Paranormal Investigation and Ghost Hunting: The stuff you may not know about ghosts and hauntings
Although ghost stories have existed throughout time and across many cultures, the beginning of the serious study of ghosts started in 1840 with the creation of spiritualism. Spiritualism is a religious movement based on the belief that the spirits of the dead exist and have both the inclination and the ability to communicate with the … Read moreModern paranormal investigation, ghost hunting and Spiritualism
Most people know that ghost hunters make use of EMF detectors in order to identify the presence of a spirit. But where did this belief stem from? As it turns out, the idea has been around for quite some time. The theory of electromagnetism which set the foundation for wireless communication was built during the … Read moreThe origins of EMF and its connection with ghosts
Oliver Lodge was born in 1851 at Penkhull in what is now Stoke-on-Trent, and educated at Adams’ Grammar School, Newport, Shropshire. He was the eldest of eight sons and a daughter of Oliver Lodge (1826–1884) – later a ball clay merchant at Wolstanton, Staffordshire – and his wife, Grace, née Heath (1826–1879). Sir Oliver’s siblings included Sir … Read moreSir Oliver Lodge (1878 – 1955) : Paranormal Investigators of the Past
From 1850 to 1854 he filled the position of assistant in the college, and soon embarked upon original work, not in organic chemistry where the inspiration of his teacher, August Wilhelm von Hofmann, might have been expected to lead him, but on new compounds of selenium. These formed the subject of his first published papers … Read moreSir William Crookes (1832 – 1919): Paranormal Investigators of the Past
Another great paper that is quite interesting. Abstract: This research was exploratory, and its main objective was to analyze whether anomalous experiences related to parapsychology had statistical behavior similar to psychoticlike experiences (e.g., hallucinations). If psi phenomena have a different ontology from psychotic-like experiences, then they should have a different statistical representation and measurement. In this … Read moreScrutinizing the Relationship between Subjective Anomalous Experiences and Psychotic Symptoms
Prince was a friend to Harry Houdini and Hereward Carrington and they all had exposed the tricks of fraudulent mediums, however, unlike Houdini both Carrington and Prince believed some mediums were genuine. According to the psychical researcher Robert Ashby, “Prince remained highly skeptical of PK and other physical phenomena, but felt that there was no doubt at … Read moreDr. Walter Franklin Prince, Ph.D. (1863 – 1934): Paranormal Investigators of the Past
A brief video tour of the Inn at Castlerock in Bisbee, AZ. along with some of the ghost stories told about this historic place. The building, set up to be a Bed and Breakfast, is located in a prime position on Tombstone Canyon, making it a short walk to the heart of historic Old Bisbee. Guests … Read moreThe Inn at Castlerock, Bisbee AZ
In 1986 I had been a ghost hunter for just over a year. The challenge back then was trying to find places to investigate. The internet did not exist yet, and there were not many books on haunted places. The majority of those early investigations were discovered by word of mouth. One such story was … Read moreThe ghost of Old Joe
Logic proves that ghosts are exceedingly unlikely to be the cause of a phenomenon. The thousands of supposed ghost cases have turned out to have very reasonable explanations. Many reports from past psychical researchers and parapsychologists indicate that 9 out of 10 ghost-related cases are solvable when someone has actually looked deeper than the surface … Read moreInvestigating Paranormal Claims using Urban myth models
The Southwest Ghost Hunter’s Association (SGHA) was created by five people. Two were very skeptical; two were hardcore believers and somewhere in between was me. The idea of this group was to utilize these different viewpoints, skeptic and believer, to investigate haunted places from a perspective that could lead to an unbiased conclusion. The believers … Read moreHow do you investigate a haunting? (Slides from Presentation)
I have always been interested in the older ghost investigations as they provide an interesting insight, especially when compared to ghost investigations in the modern era. This account is from the book ” HISTORIC GHOSTS AND GHOST HUNTERS BY H. ADDINGTON BRUCE (MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY, 1908) It is comparatively easy, when seated before a … Read moreThe Ghost seen by Lord Brougham
Today I thought that I would share the slides that I used to show when presenting the history of ghost hunting. It covers the beginning and eventual pitfalls that were formed as the field (parapsychology) was overtaken by the hobby.
Harry Price was a British psychic researcher and author, in the early 1900s who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and his exposing fraudulent spiritualist mediums. He is best known for his well-publicized investigation of the purportedly haunted Borley Rectory in Essex, England.
My earliest memory of a ghost story was borne in a summer camp in the panhandle of Texas where my brother and I spent several summers. Not far from the camp was a deserted house that was rumored to have been built on an ancient Indian burial ground that was haunted by several ghosts. One … Read moreHow I became interested in ghost hunting
Eight couples who had never experienced any ‘haunting’ activity in their houses and had no reason to expect they would experience ‘ghosts’ were asked by the author to keep a diary for one calendar month from 17th October – 17th November 2012 in which they recorded unusual experiences. 62.5% of the participant couples recruited completed … Read moreRe-Investigating Un-Haunted Houses
I will admit that this is actually a rather old piece. I wrote the original back in 2005 where it was posted on the Southwest Ghost Hunter’s Association website. Unfortunately, it is needed just as much today, if not even more. So here is the list of “no-no’s” if you are wanting to approach this … Read moreThe 10 Biggest mistakes made by ghost hunters