I’ve had a busy last couple weeks that included a class at Heavenly Hardware Enchantments (http://www.heavenlyhardware.com/) here in Cleveland. It’s a great new shop full of crystals, candles, incense, etc. But I wasn’t there for any of that.

I was there to look for ghosts.

The ghost hunting seminar was sponsored by the Western Reserve Paranormal Society (http://westernreserveparanormal.com/). Got ghosts? These guys will help you find them!

If you’re looking to locate ghosts on your own, there are some basic tools you can use.

#1 A pad and paper.

That’s right. It’s pretty low tech, but something these ghostbusters highly recommend. As you’re investigating, you should also be keeping notes about what you see, what happens when, where it happens. That way, you can compare your notes with those of others who are investigating with you. (An aside, they advise that you never investigate alone and that, of course, you always have permission to investigate any site that isn’t public property.)

#2 A camera

Digital or film, it doesn’t matter. Snap away! The more pictures you take, the more likely you are to find evidence. And since it’s a question I’ve heard asked in every ghost hunting class I’ve taken . . . yes, use your flash. If you’re feeling more sophisticated, you can use a video camera, too.

#3 Tape recorder

Again, it doesn’t matter how sophisticated your equipment is. You can use a digital recorder (recommended by some of the experts I’ve heard speak) or you can use an old-fashioned recorder that uses tapes. The folks from Western Reserve recommend the old-fashioned ones because they believe the tapes, being magnetic, tend to attract more spirit energy.

What are you going to record? You’ll be looking for EVPs. That’s electronic voice phenomenon and what it means is a voice or a sound that you can’t hear with your ears but that does get caught on tape. When you’re investigating, you’ll ask questions (i.e., “Is anybody here?” “What’s your name?” “Why are you still in this house?”). Pause after to give the spirit time to answer. Many times when you play back your tape, you won’t hear a thing. But sometimes . . .

The people from Western Reserve played an EVP they’d recorded on a railroad bridge. The investigator is humming “I’ve Been Working on a Railroad” when all of a sudden, a very breathy voice starts singing the words. Scary? You bet!

Those are the basics. If you’re looking to add to your equipment, you might want to take along dowsing rods. I’d never used rods before this class and I’ve got to tell you, I was impressed with the results. The theory behind the rods is that they can be used to detect energy, spirit energy included.

As I walked through Heavenly Hardware holding the rods parallel to each other, they sometimes crossed. They sometimes swung around so that each was pointing in different directions. There were even a couple times they twirled completely around. Interesting.

So what do you say? Up for a ghost hunt? As part of my ghostly research, I’m going to be joining the folks from Western Reserve at an upcoming investigation. Stay tuned!