My Ghost Hunting Equipment Part One: Myself

They say that the best equipment you have is yourself. And I can’t disagree with that. What you feel, sense, and experience personally can be the most profound and impactful paranormal connection. I am by no means a psychic or a medium however some of the personal experiences I’ve had can not be documented with sharable evidence. This includes the sense of just knowing and feeling something is around. This sense of knowing can also impress feelings of whether the energy is friendly or has malintent. If it is fine with you being there or if it wants you gone. There have been times where I am getting nothing on an investigation but I feel drawn to a certain area so I move to that area and my equipment starts going crazy, supporting the intuition I was receiving. There was a time where I entered a room that felt creepy and menacing and just after I asked “do you want me here?” I felt an overwhelming urge to leave. I did not wait for an answer because I just had the sensation I was not wanted. Later, when listening back to my EVPs, I had caught a very angry and growly voice as I was leaving the room that sounded like it said “Go. Hurry.”

I have had moments where I stop right where I am to just take in the cues my body is giving me. Such as with the sensation of a static electricity type charge that tingles my skin- it makes the hairs on my neck, shoulders, and arms stand up but is unlike a normal “chill” or “goosebumps” feeling. Its almost like an actual energetic charge is passing through me in some way. This happened to me as soon as I entered the center of the room called Candy Land in the basement of the Devon building at Pennhurst asylum. It happened again at Bobby Mackey’s- we had not been getting a lot of activity at the time but I announced to the group that I felt it and shortly after, our REM Pods started going off.

There are certain things one may witness with their own eyes that may not be “catchable” on camera as well. I saw several shadow figures in the basement of the Mayflower building at the Pennhurst asylum. At one point, it appeared a full out dark shadow of a man was walking around at the end of the hall, his silhouette blocking out the red light that illuminated the portion of the hall beneath the exit sign. I alerted our group so we all stood still and silent, listening and watching. Then I heard voices that were not our own- a conversation going on down that end of that hallway. I made fun of myself, laughing and telling the 2 other people that I was with that I had been mistaken, that other people must have come down to the basement. They were quick to point out that the only entry point to the basement was right in front of us and we would have known if another group came down. So we went to explore and validated no one else was there. Just the three of us. Although my camera was not rolling, I do not regret it. I experienced something that I may not have been tuned into had I been looking through a camera screen. The lighting on the camera may not have even caught what I saw. But what I saw, heard, and experienced was very real and impactful.

In a room in the basement of the Sorrel Weed house, I experienced a heavy dizziness and lightheadedness. I left the room to see if it would go away and shortly after leaving the room, it did. Upon returning to the room, the feeling would return, and get stronger as I approached an old wheelchair in the corner of the room. This room ended up being one that served as a make shift surgical and hospital room during the war, a room that was once inundated with wounded soldiers needing life saving measures including limb amputations. In retrospect, I attributed the dizziness and light headed feeling to what someone suffering blood loss would likely feel. I met a girl just outside the room that told me she could not stay in that room, she kept getting dizzy and we bonded over our shared experience.

In the carriage house slave quarters at the sorrel weed house I encountered a different strange sensation. I experienced this just outside of Molly’s room (a slave girl who was found mysteriously hung in the quarters after her slaveowner’s wife committed suicide). I felt a definite imbalance strike me in the small walk way leading to the room. I continued to walk it to see if the sensation would stay and it did- but only when I walked that strip of the room. It felt like I was swaying a bit- as though I was on a boat that was sitting still but rocking side to side. Inside of Molly’s room, a woman next to me broke out into uncontrollable sobbing, overcome by a sense of sadness and just stared out the window while we tried to console her. Presumably picking up on Molly’s sadness imprinted within that room.

Although I would urge everyone who is “ghost hunting” to tune into and develop their senses, equipment is still so fun to have!! And being able to document and share with others helps to build upon enlightenment of the unknown. I must admit, collecting equipment can become as addicting as the process of investigating itself. One does not need to spend a ton of money on equipment if they can’t or don’t want to though. One can practice developing using their instincts and internal senses. A lot can be done with a phone including photos and videos. There are free phone apps that I’ve found to be useful (and have even been recommended to me and used by people who have their own very popular TV shows!!). There are also inexpensive items such as pendulums and flashlights that can be used. Inexpensive trigger items can be considered (I had a friend that brought a single cigarette and a porn mag to a prison!! – genius! lol). Toys for the children spirits or certain songs may attract energies to you. Or even better- get creative and come up with something of your own!!

In following posts I will discuss the equipment that I have collected so far and some that I have used but do not own myself. If anyone has equipment they love and would recommend please share your experiences as well!!