| 个人资料Ghost Hunting照片日志列表 |  工具  帮助 |
|
|
5月9日 The End of the JourneyUnfortunately, San Diego marks the end of this Ghost Hunting journey. I've had an amazing time poking into the supernatural all the way down the California coast. I really appreciate all of you coming along for the ride -- and for moral support. Thanks to MSNBC for sponsoring my expedition. I'll continue to look into haunted hotels for my site, Hotels, Resorts and Inns at About.com. Stop by sometime and visit! Happy hauntings. -- Charlyn
Ghost Hunting TipsI asked Christopher Moon, editor of Haunted Times magazine, for some ghost hunting tips. Are there any secrets to capturing ghosts/orbs on film? If you are using a 35mm or disposable camera without the aid of any ghost hunting tools, take as many pictures as you can. When you have the film developed, make sure to tell the photo lab not to alter or correct your pictures in any way. Thousands of ghost pictures have been lost at the hands of inexperienced lab techs. Any clues on where and when to shoot a picture? The best way to determine if a photo should be taken is through the use of specialized ghost hunting equipment such as Trifield Natural E.M.F. Meters. If you do not have access to this type of equipment trust your instincts. What pitfalls (rain, dust) should I watch out for? False positives are very common in ghost hunting. There are some very simple rules you should follow including not taking pictures during any type of adverse weather conditions or while there is heavy humidity. Also make sure that you are not taking pictures of dust. This is accomplished by shining a flashlight beam into a dark room. If you see dust in the beam, this explains away 99% of your orbs. Do you have any tips for capturing ghosts on EVP? Positive E.V.P. results are achieved when you are respectful and ask the spirits relevant questions in a controlled environment. What do you do first when you walk into a "haunted" space? Take and record as many readings as possible. The most important thing you need to be on a ghost hunt is aware of your surroundings. Take in everything that you feel and record it. If you have ghost hunting equipment available make sure to record all of the readings that you get including times and weather conditions. What percentage of the time do you record ghostly events on film or tape? You will find that in the beginning of your journey to be a ghost hunter your evidence will be minimal. If you are respectful and learn to know what to look and listen for over time you will be rewarded with amazing positive results. My percentage for positive evidence has now reached 97.5% of the time. 5月8日 Ghosts and GravestonesSan Diego is the first city in California, which means it has a lot of old places, old stories, and -- just maybe -- ghosts. I decided to try another tour in order to hit a number of legendary spots at once. So, after darkness fell, I reported to the Ghosts and Gravestones Tour in San Diego's Gaslamp district. The tour takes you, among other places, to one of San Diego's oldest graveyards, a haunted mansion called Villa Montezuma, and the place believed to be the most haunted house in the United States, the Whaley House. I was stoked. It starts out quite theatrical. We all board the "Trolley of the Dammed" and are welcomed by our host, Rupert, a British man in a tailcoat and stovepipe hat. I've been wondering about that lately. Why are 99% of the ghosts you encounter in America from the Victorian times? I sometimes wonder if ghosts have a half-life of 100 years. The "rules" of the tour are announced by a recording of Rich Little doing an Alfred Hitchcock impression, which sets a pair of drunk middle-aged men to giggling, and those two events pretty much set the tone for the evening. But I am getting ahead of myself. We make an after-hours stop at Villa Montezuma, a colorful Victorian mansion built for musician and spiritualist Jesse Shepard in 1887. The creepiest part of this house isn't even supernatural. On the walls, hung in glass-fronted shadowboxes, are flowery wreaths made of human hair. In Victorian times, this was a common practice. The hair came from dead relatives. I'd heard of this practice, but I'd never seen one up close. Frankly, I don't need to see one up close again. The tour guide tells us we're not permitted to take pictures inside Villa Montezuma, so I only have shots of the outside. The tour also stops at the William Heath Davis house, where we meet Susie the Psychic Dog. She is beautiful and affectionate, and follows the museum docent everywhere. On certain nights, she becomes agitated, and hides under furniture for no apparent reason; on one such night, the rocking chair starts rocking by itself. It seems that animals, perhaps dogs in particular, are sensitive to forces humans are not; weather events, strokes and heart attacks, and perhaps supernatural phenomenon also. We pass through one of the oldest cemeteries in San Diego. By this time, the drunken men are so taken with giggling fits that some members of the tour are outwardly wishing spirits would appear just to kick their butts. Rupert, our fearless guide, handles it with a pro. We go on to the part I am most excited about, the Whaley House. The Whaley House, built in 1857, is said by some to be the most haunted house in America. Poltergeist activity, ghosts appearing in human form, noises, cold spots, feelings of dread -- just about every type of paranormal activity you've heard of has been reported in this house. We walk up, knock on the door, and... Nothing. No one is there to let us in. Through a mix up between the tour company and the Whaley House, the place is all locked up. I got a picture of the front porch, but that was it. I'll have to try again another night. 5月7日 Kate Morgan and the Hotel Del CoronadoMy next stop, the Hotel Del Coronado, is in my mind the perfect place to go ghost hunting. It's a gorgeous old hotel with a fabulous beach in Coronado, California, just across the bay from San Diego. So in between ghost hunting you can grab some R&R and soak in the atmosphere. The most haunted room, #3327, is booked from here to the next century (well, not really, but it's hard to score), so I "slummed it" in a Junior Suite overlooking the pool, just down the hall. I scheduled a meeting with the hotel's resident historian, Chris Donovan. To prepare, I read the book she wrote on the hotel ghost, Kate Morgan. Here's the short version of the story. A young woman checked in to the Hotel Del Coronado, claiming to be Lottie Bernard, a few days before Thanksgiving in the year 1892. She appeared agitated and ill, and had no luggage. She claimed to have been separated on a train from her brother, Dr. Anderson. He had the claim tickets for her luggage, and when he arrived, she explained, he would bring her luggage and look after her. Over the course of the next few days she looked sicker and sicker, and kept asking if her brother had arrived. A few days later, she took a streetcar into San Diego to buy a pistol and ammunition. The next morning, she was found dead. The newspapers followed the story of the "beautiful stranger" as it unraveled. Lottie Bernard turned out to be an alias, and the investigation took a few missteps before finally identifying her as Kate Morgan. As the story goes, she and her husband, Thomas, used to make a living riding the rails, posing as brother and sister. She would charm men, and he would play them at poker. It is speculated that she became pregnant (or wanted to) and asked Thomas to settle down. They separated, and she found work as a domestic in Los Angeles. No one is quite sure what prompted her to check in to the Hotel Del Coronado without luggage that day. Some believe she and Thomas began the journey together, then quarreled on the train enroute, at which point he left her. After her suicide, quinine was found among her possessions, leading to the speculation that she was pregnant and trying to self-abort. At any rate, no one arrived at the hotel to meet her, and the beautiful stranger took her own life on the hotel steps leading to the ocean. Now, Kate is said to haunt her room, the beach, and some of the shops. Chris took me down to "Established in 1888," a hotel gift shop where some strange things have been reported. I talked to Mary, who works in the store. She confirmed what I had heard about unexplained events in the shop. Mary showed me a wall in the store that used to be a Marilyn Monroe display. "Some Like It Hot" was filmed at the hotel, and Marilyn Monroe memorabilia is sold in the shop. "Things would fly off the wall," Mary explained. "Not just fall off. Fly off." Thinking Kate was jealous of Marilyn, the hotel's other famous female, the memorabilia was moved to a less prominent spot behind the counter, and replaced with other merchandise. Now, wine bottles, ceramic mugs, and wine glasses are kept on that wall, and they have all stayed put. Mary told me about another hotel employee who had actually seen Kate's ghost, so Chris and I headed downstairs to find her. She seemed embarrassed about the questions we were asking. Her co-workers were surprised, as she had not mentioned any of this to them. She certainly wasn't making up stories to get attention. She explained that her job required her to arrive at the hotel early, around 7 A.M. "I was walking past the shops, which were all closed," she said. "I happened to look into 'Established in 1888' and saw a woman behind the counter. She was looking down, like she was looking for something. She wore a long black dress with a high collar." Spooked, she hurried past the shop and went to work. Later that day she mentioned what she saw to the store's manager, hoping there was an explanation. The manager confirmed no one was let into the store that early, but noted all the books at the bottom of the counter were in disarray, as if someone had been leafing through them. Some were pushed back on the shelf, and others were on the floor. She noticed because she always took care to leave the books very neat and straight before she left that night. I asked the employee if she ever saw the woman again. "I don't look into the store anymore," she admitted. "I just sort of rush past it." I was intrigued enough to get up really early the next morning and try to spot Kate. So, at 6 A.M., I strolled past the store a few times, trying to look like a window shopper when someone walked past. I poked around for about an hour, taking a few pictures, but I didn't see Kate. I also walked past her room, #3327, and took a picture outside. I guess Kate was sleeping in that day. 5月1日 Ghosts Aboard the Queen MaryAt the beginning of my ghost hunt, I contacted a few hotels with the reputation of being haunted. While most were happy to talk to me, one hotel was different. The owner told me, "Even if it were true, I don't want you to write about it." The Queen Mary Hotel is at the other end of that spectrum. I didn't even have to ask them if they'd mind me writing about their ghosts. They've made a whole industry out of them. This floating hotel has a storied history. It began as a luxury cruise ship, and was commissioned to serve in World War II when it became known as the Grey Ghost. The ship got so under Hitler's skin that he put a bounty on her: $250,000 and highest military honors to any captain who could sink her. She has hosted kings and served as a floating hospital. After 1,001 crossings of the Atlantic, she came to rest in Long Beach, California, where people can visit, take tours and stay overnight in a stateroom. The Queen Mary has had so many reports of ghost encounters, they've set up special tours, made a film and created a theme park-style multimedia ghost encounter for guests. There is even a Paranormal Research Center on board the ship. So, I decided to spend the day on this haunted ship. A day was hardy enough. The Queen Mary is nearly twice as large as the Titanic, with twelve decks and nearly 81,237 in gross tonnage. I started at the bow of the ship, with the "Ghosts and Legends of the Queen Mary" tour. This tour takes you into some of the reportedly most haunted parts of the ship, and it was a lot of fun, but I couldn't help thinking that all of the ghosts must be long scared away by the racket. The tour uses special effects like fog, huge speakers, lighting and video to recreate haunted encounters in a very dramatic way. It's not scary, just entertaining. One of our first stops was the First Class Swimming Pool, which I was very curious about as there have been a number of ghost sightings reported there. I enjoyed the view from the balcony for a moment before the lights went out, the pool filled with fog, and speakers pumped out the sounds of screaming. The tour also takes you down to the very front of the ship, where the Queen Mary once sliced through a smaller boat in the middle of the night, sinking it within ten minutes. Because of wartime orders, the ship was not permitted to stop for survivors. All 300 of the other ship's crew died, and as the story goes, you can still hear them pounding on the ship's hull. I had about a minute to contemplate this before the loud special effects chimed in again. Undaunted, I headed to the other end of the ship, where the "Peter James' Ghost Encounters" tour was departing. While not nearly as theatrical as the special effects tour, in some ways it was much more interesting. Led by a Queen Mary staff member who could relate experiences of the other hotel staff, the tour took us into several very interesting places. We saw the Winston Churchill Suite, where he planned the D-Day invasion while playing with toy boats in the bathtub (or so they say). We saw the boiler room, where men in uniform and a little girl have been spotted. And we ended up back at the First Class Swimming Pool. This time, we were down at the pool level, and could walk around freely with the lights on. We were able to explore the women's changing rooms, where psychics have detected intense negative energy. We spent quite a lot of time around the pool, hearing the stories about a little girl, a woman, strange noises and lights. The tour guide also confirmed anecdotally what I had wondered: the little girl didn't like to appear when the other, louder tour was going on. I should mention, on both these tours, whenever we got to one of the most haunted areas of the ship, like the boiler rooms, my camera started to malfunction. My trusty digital camera, which has accompanied me on trips around the world, taking pictures in all sorts of conditions, refused to take pictures of particular areas of the ship. Then, as we would ascend upwards, it would start working again. I'm sure there's a rational explanation to my camera's erratic behavior, but it was very strange. As interesting as it all was, I still didn't feel like I'd come near a ghost, so I went on a third tour. I had been told that most of the ghost sightings reported were by tourists who got lost on the self-guided tour. Those who know me can attest that if I am good at one thing in life, it is getting lost. So I struck out on my own to explore the Queen Mary. I wandered around and took a lot of pictures. I took pictures everywhere the tour guide told me ghosts had been spotted. The soldiers in the pictures below gave me a start when I walked around a corner. Looking back on the pictures that did come out, I got more orb pictures at the Queen Mary than I've collected the entire past year. Pictures I took that night at the hotel had no orbs in them at all. I haven't retouched any of these pictures, and some were taken without a flash, so please bear that in mind when you note the quality. Most of these pictures are from the First Class Swimming Pool and the Ballroom. Interestingly, I didn't get any orbs in the Winston Churchill suite, where he has been spotted, and the smell of cigar smoke is reported often. 4月26日 Comments, Well Wishers and SkepticsI wanted to step back from my journey for just a moment and comment on some of the comments that have been left. I appreciate all of the encouragement. It makes me feel as if I'm not really doing this alone. I appreciate comments from the skeptics. Everyone seems to have a strong opinion on the subject of ghosts and whether or not they exist. It has been as interesting reading your opinions as it has looking for the ghosts themselves. I wanted to respond to a few of these comments, and let you know a little about what I believe regarding ghosts (so far, at least). "Show me a real picture of a ghost and I might believe." If you lack the senses to detect something, and don't believe it exists in the first place, and I lack the technology to record it beyond a reasonable doubt, there's no point in me trying to convince you of the existence (or nature) of any elephant. Imagine one of the blind Hindu men of the fable saying, "I'll believe in elephants when you show me a photograph of one." I'd have to: "I believe in God and angels, and satan and demons, not in ghosts, for me the only decision was who to follow, there is no gray, your on one team or another... are you on the right team?" --michealfawn19 It is interesting that the mere thought of keeping an open mind about the existence of ghosts, and what they might be, stirs such strong emotions. The issue polarizes many people into two camps: religious and scientific. Historically theses two realms have long been at odds with each other. I could write for hours on this topic (and probably will return to it again later), but for now, let me just make a few points. To say something doesn't exist because you don't have proof of it strikes me as closed-minded. To say you believe in something utterly without proof represents an enormous leap of faith. I prefer to remain open-minded, therefore I refuse to say ghosts don't exist. I am not prone to enormous leaps of faith, therefore I refuse to say they do exist. Bear in mind that what is obvious, common-sense knowledge has always changed as we find out more about the universe that surrounds us. It was once obvious to everyone that the Earth was flat. Clearly that's been proven to be incorrect. It was obvious to everyone that an object could never be in two places at once. Quantum physics proved that to be incorrect. It is common sense that two particles, millions of miles away from each other and with no measurable way to contact each other, couldn't possibly affect each other. Quantum physics proved that to be incorrect as well. What other so-called common sense facts will be drawn into question as we learn more about our world? Scientists have to be skeptical of phenomenon they can't explain, prove or measure; it goes with the territory. Truly brilliant scientists have to think beyond what we know now, in order to lead us to what we will know. Even Einstein, brilliant as he was, resisted wrapping his mind around quantum physics and what it meant to our knowledge of the world. "God doesn't play dice with the world," he protested, to which Bohr famously replied, "Don't tell God what to do." "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,/Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet) To the skeptical scientists, I say, open your mind to possibilities not yet proven or even dreamt of, for many are out there waiting to be discovered. To the fearful religious devotees, I say, beware of people who say they speak for God and hold ultimate truths, for they may be standing in the way of your knowing real truths. Descartes divided reality into two realms -- mind (the realm of religion), and matter (the realm of science) -- and divided things have stayed. Of course, Descartes also believed that bright objects like the sun omitted a material called "plenum" that put pressure on our eyes, causing us to see. Just as our understanding of light evolves as we experiment, observe and explain, so does our understanding of the world around us. Physicist Amit Goswani, wrote a fascinating book, "The Self-Aware Universe," that explores the necessary historic separation of faith and science, and proposes that quantum physics might eventually bring them back together. "For the first time since Descartes," he says, "science, the humanities, and the religions can walk arm-in-arm in the search for the whole human truth." As one interviewer said, "Science seems to be verifying what a lot of mystics have said throughout history -— that science's current findings seem to be parallel to the essence of the perennial spiritual teaching." OK, I'll stop for now. "I do think the Ghosts, if they do exist, are not so dangerous as human beings. This thinking was from a lesson on X'mas last year, when I was facing a robber with a pistol." --synyan "Um, is it just me or does the orb look an awful lot like crud on the lens?" -- Dave "Hey I love your blog! Keep on writing!" --AFTCrimart "Try going to the Winchester house, it sounds interesting. Or you might want to check out the Coronado Hotel....awesome beaches." --CleTuStdog1 "You need to go to San Diego and take the Ghosts and Gravestone tour that they have in old town. Its awesome. They take you to several real haunted houses and then one of the oldest graveyards in San Diego." --Charlie_bunbun "You have quite an interesting job, how does one go about becoming a 'travel writer'?" --Marta "And that shark in your profile picture looks very familiar...somewhere in Florida?" --CreepinJesus
4月25日 The Unfairness of Ghost HuntingOK, here I am traipsing all around the state of California, looking for ghosts, and my mom finds one in her backyard. Which goes to prove the theory one historian put forth for me this weekend, "Ghosts are very predictable. They don't show up when you are looking for them, only when you are not." She was taking pictures of a crypt belonging to Anne Rice's family, and she kept deleting the pictures because they had a strange glow in them. She finally looked closer and realized the glow bore an interesting resemblance to the outline of a little girl's head. Since Anne Rice's daughter, who died as a young girl, is buried in the crypt, my mom apologized for disturbing her and high-tailed it out of there. 4月23日 A Night in the Queen Anne11:04 PM. Back in my room at the Queen Anne Hotel. Hauntings, regardless of what Hollywood would lead you to believe, are subtle. Experts speak of cold spots, vague forms, the feeling of being watched, or even a smell, like perfume or cigar smoke. Generally speaking, you're not going to get a translucent figure dressed in turn-of-the-century costume floating into the room saying, "Boo." So if you're not paying attention, you could miss it. Or if you're scared, you could subconsciously block it out. Since I'm here to observe any paranormal occurrences that might happen near me, I really have to pay attention. There's no sense in being scared. I'll only pick up on the subtleties of the haunting if I stay calm. 11:07 PM. I just need to pull back that shower curtain to make sure nothing's hiding behind it. 11:15 PM. This room is really interesting. It definitely looks like someone's grandmother furnished it. An antique armoire stands guard against one wall, and lamps with beaded shades flank the bed. Built in to the headboard, an old Zenith dial for the television volume predates the remote control. The DSL modem on the nightstand looks a bit anachronistic. 11:21 PM. I guess I don't need every light in the room blazing. I turn off the overhead lights, but the bedside lamps are a bit feeble. I know. Time for my traveling companion, the television. 11:23 PM. Ugh. It's E.R. Way, way too much blood. That's just not going to work. Maybe the computer screen will help. 11:24 PM. That's better. Mental note: pack a flashlight and LOTS of batteries along with my toothbrush next time. Or maybe a nightlight. 11:46 PM. I'm just going to pull that shower curtain all the way back. Not that anyone's in there, but still. 11:52 PM. And I'm just not going to be able to sleep until I open that armoire and peek inside. 11:53 PM. The armoire's all clear. 12:13 AM. Right, I can't sleep. But this is silly. The ghost in the Queen Mary is a nice one. Nothing to be afraid of. Miss Mary, the headmistress of the girls' school that originally occupied this building, is said to be a comforting presence, particularly around young girls. She's really just a kind soul who still tries to take care of everybody now, just as she did in life. I'm told by a few people the story of one guest, a man who came in late one night and passed out on his bed in the hotel. When he awoke, he was covered with a blanket. Now, it's been pointed out that in his inebriated state he could have gotten up in the middle of the night, found the blanket, covered himself up, and not remembered the next morning. But as the story goes, the blanket was tucked in all around him, and his arms were underneath. Admittedly, it's pretty hard to tuck yourself all the way in. 12:17 AM. I'm kind of cold, and really wouldn't mind being covered by a blanket right about now. 12:23 AM. What is that in the corner? 12:25 AM. Lights are on. It's just a pillow I didn't notice before. Lights (sigh) are off again. SOMETIME LATER. I fall asleep. 7:35 AM. I'm up. No extra blankets. No orbs. I survived another night in a haunted hotel. 4月22日 A Great Orb PictureWe spend the next three hours walking around Pacific Heights, hearing stories of ghosts, history, and San Francisco's more colorful characters. Jim is a very entertaining hosts, and keeps us all enthralled. He delves into the subjects of E.V.P. (Electronic Voice Phenomenon), TK (telekenesis), enchanted objects, automatic writing, and the nature of ghosts. His stories set the scenes for those extreme emotions that might somehow be stuck in time: murder, betrayal, despair, humiliation. We stop across the street from the Mansions. If Miss Mary Lake at the Queen Anne Hotel is the Casper of the afterlife, this is where her nasty counterparts live. This former private residence was a hotel for many years, and I'm a bit relieved it's not anymore. A colleague described staying there once: "We walked down the hall to our room, and there were mannequins in the hallway, dressed in period costumes." she told me. "Very, very creepy. I'm not sure who thought that was a good design idea." Jim tells us the sordid story of the original resident of the building, an heiress who was allegedly murdered by a crazy relative who was kept in the attic (officially she died an accidental death). It is here, across from the Mansions, that Jim gives us one of the many cool experiences from this tour. He pulls out a key, which he announced was from a door in the Mansions, and explains that sometimes objects want to reenact a moment in time charged with extreme emotion. In other words, the key wants to turn in its lock. He places the key in his outstretched palm, pointing toward the mansion across the street. We all gather around and watch with baited breath. And wait. And watch. Slowly the key starts to move. We wait more, this time unable to tear our eyes away. Gradually, slowly, the key turns completely over. Jim then ups the ante by repeating the key experience, this time with one of the young women on the tour holding the key in her flattened palm. The key turns over again. I know it's a parlor trick, but I'm amazed. I take a few pictures on the tour, hoping to get orbs. At one point we stop on a hill, and Jim calls upon the spirits to help with another of his tricks. Afterwards, as we rest in the park, the little boy begins to talk to Jim. I've read that orbs are often seen around children and pets, so I take a picture of the little boy. That's when I get the best orb picture so far. I have only doctored this picture in one way; I obscured the boy's face, since I don't have permission to publish his photo. But you can clearly see a bright, defined orb right next to him. San Francisco Ghost HuntJim Fassbinder is best described as a character. He's equal parts storyteller, magician, and comedian. Well, maybe not so much equal comedian. But he's got more than a few corny jokes to throw into his very entertaining tour, the San Francisco Ghost Hunt. I wait in the lobby of the Queen Anne for Jim to arrive. There are a number of other guests sitting, drinking sherry or coffee, speaking in hushed tones. I'm not sure why they are here, if they are on the tour or just enjoying tea in this atmospheric lobby. When Jim shows up, there is no mistaking who he is or why he is here. Dressed in the kind of throwback, turn-of-the-century costumes you see in those bad television reenactments of ghostly appearances, Jim's vintage look is topped off with a stovepipe hat and a battered leather backpack that reads "Ghost Hunt." Jim is our tour guide to the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, but the tour starts in the Queen Anne's dining room. It is there Jim tells us more about the history of the hotel, and one theory of ghosts being "the manifestations of an extreme emotion, somehow stuck in time." We are a mixed crowd, ranging from a mid-sixties couple from the Midwest to an eight-year-old boy, his older sister and their mother. Children are not usually allowed on the tour, and Jim warns the boy's mother that he won't be taming down the experience. She assures him her son won't be scared, but this time, Jim doesn't mean ghosts. "I'll be talking about the history of the area, the people," he explains delicately. She finally understands he means the steamier side of history. But it is agreed the little boy will come along. Jim promises us an experience like no other. He tells us he will call the spirits to us later in the tour. He just about guarantees us a spiritual encounter. Great! I think. This makes my job a lot easier. Since Miss Mary's room is occupied, we visit the room next door. Jim tells us a number of stories about the hotel, including one about two young girls who came on the tour. They sat in a certain chair in the hotel, and felt a hand resting in a comforting way on their arms. They took turns sitting in the chair, feeling the encounter. "I couldn't get them out of the hotel to start the tour," he good naturedly complains. "So now I don't tell anyone where the chair is." As we are walking out of the room, I pull him aside and try to talk him into divulging the location of the ghost chair. Finally he relents. He tells the group to reconvene in the parlor in fifteen minutes to start our tour. To me, he says, "You might want to visit the Bishop's chair at the end of the hall." A lead! I hurry down the hall. When I see the bishop's chair, time slows down a bit. In the movie version of my quest, special effects would elongate the hallway until the chair seemed miles away. I force one foot in front of the other until I reach it. It is actually a chair with three seats that share armrests, and reminds me of a piece of furniture you might see outside of a principle's office. I can imagine Miss Mary's students sitting in this chair outside her office, waiting to be called in and disciplined. Or perhaps a sick student, called out of class and awaiting the nurse. Either way, when I sit in the chair, I'm not sure if the feel of an invisible, disembodied hand on my arm would be comforting or send me screaming down the hall. I wait for what seems like a long, long time, but probably was only five minutes. I don't want to be late for the rest of Jim's tour, so I jump up and take a picture of the chair. No orbs. No hand on mine. I'm disappointed and relieved at the same time, and I take off downstairs to rejoin the group. 4月15日 First Orb PictureDespite the creepiness of the decor, I have to say the staff is quite friendly. The hotel's manager, Michael, sits down with me and showed me a photo album. It seems some guests had stayed at the hotel recently and had taken several pictures throughout the building. Orbs appeared in most of the pictures. The guests put the album together as a gift to the hotel. Evenings in the lobby, most guests gather for tea, sherry and those Danish holiday cookies that come from a tin. This is also the gathering place for the brave souls who go on the San Francisco Ghost Tour. I'm booked on the tour. But first I take the elevator up to the third floor. Did I say elevator? I meant the Tower of Terror. I swear, the Disney Imagineers must have come here with tape recorders to get the sound effects just right for that attraction. If you've ever ridden the Tower of Terror, you know what I mean. Think back to the basement queue area, when you are preparing to load into the elevator, and you hear that bone-chilling grinding sound. That's the sound I hear, far from the safety of Mickey's cotton candy world, standing alone in an enclosed space, gripping the handle of my suitcase. But just as I'm questioning the wisdom of this whole plan, this ghost hunt that sounded like such a good idea from the safety of my own daylit house, I am comforted by one thought. This time, I'm not staying in the most haunted room in the hotel. That room is booked. Instead, I'm staying in a suite one floor below. My floor, the third, is the one the psychics are always drawn to (I'm told), but at least it's not Miss Mary Lake's room. But lest you think, dear reader, that I am shirking my responsibilities -- wait a minute. Now I'm starting to write like the 1880s. What I meant to say is, I'm not slacking. I got into the room. My new friend Michael, the manager, was nice enough to call up and ask the two elderly ladies staying in Miss Mary Lake's room if I could come up and see it. They oblige. On the right side of the bed in this, the most haunted room in the haunted Queen Anne hotel, I get my first orb picture. OK, so it's not the most shocking photo. But it's a start. 4月14日 False OrbsOne of the challenges of orb photography, and the reason so many so-called "ghosts" pictures are debunked, is the possibility of ghost-like images appearing in the picture from perfectly natural phenomenon. For example, the camera flash can reflect off dust, raindrops, or pollen in the air. That's why paranormal investigators always say to keep detailed notes of the condition in which the picture was taken, whether or not you used a flash, and what type of film was used. In the first picture, the ethereal image in the picture of Cell Block D, the isolation cell which is reportedly haunted, gave me a start at first. It certainly looks like spirit photography. But then I took a careful look at my camera lens. Sure enough, I saw smudge of water from the rain outside. I cleaned the lens and took a picture again; no spirit. The second and third pictures, both taken in a hallway just outside the movie theater and exhibits, look like they contains orbs. But according to my notes, even though this appears as an enclosed space, a grating at roof level let some rain inside. I have to assume these are false orbs created by raindrops. My conclusion? No orbs here. But I can tell you, I wouldn't want to spend the night alone in this place. Extreme EmotionJim Fassbinder, who leads quite an interesting "ghost tour" of San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood (more about that later) put forth a theory of ghosts that stayed with me. Ghosts, he suggested, could be "the manifestations of an extreme emotion, somehow stuck in time." It's not hard to imagine the extreme emotions that took place over the years at Alcatraz. Like the Indians, imprisoned for a year for, as the tour guide put it, "trying to raise their children according to their beliefs." Not knowing when (or if) they would be able to leave, to see their families again. And the escape attempts. You hear about one on the tour, three days with nine correctional officers in a cell, a small band of prisoners with a clever escape plan thwarted by a jammed lock. So frustrated, one of them shoots repeatedly into the cell with the officers. And from the outside, officers sent in to infiltrate were caught in friendly fire when those on the outside were inexplicably ordered to start a full-on assault. Frustration. Sorrow. Despair. Rage. It's not hard to imagine, in such a cold and desolate place. But was all that extreme emotion somehow stuck in time here at Alcatraz? Is it manifest in the sounds security guards hear late at night? Or is this prison just the shell it appears? A lot has been written on the hauntings at Alcatraz.
To be honest, I can't tell. It's already so cold in this desolate place, there would be no way to detect a "cold spot." I step away from the others to the more deserted areas, the infamous areas, and take plenty of pictures. The isolation cells in Cell Block D. Cell Block C. The burned-out Warden's residence. Three pictures got me excited at first. But even though they look eerie, they're not ghosts. Take a look and I'll explain. 4月9日 Room With a BooOK, I did it! I survived a night in a haunted hotel: the Napa River Inn in Napa, California. I'll give you a play-by-play in a minute, but first, a little background. Just so you know what I was getting myself into. In November 2003, a letter to the editor from John Ingram appeared in the Napa Valley Register. He told the story of two friends staying at the Napa River Inn. While walking down the stairs, they encountered a man wearing overalls and smelling of hay. They asked him where the restaurants were. He told them, "This is no dining establishment, this is Napa Milling and I'm the owner, Robert Keig." He walked past them, and when they turned to look after him, he was gone. They never heard the door at the bottom of the stairwell open, and there was no other place to go. Later, when looking at historic photos related to the Inn, they "went ballistic" when they saw a picture of the man. He was Robert Keig, Jr., one of the building's past owners, who died in 1975. The Napa River Inn, on the National Trust of Historic Hotels, does have an eventful history. Captain Albert Hatt bought the land in 1884, and built the Hatt Building. The ground floor was a warehouse and feed store, and on top was a roller skating rink. Captain Hatt's son, Albert Jr., inherited the building and the business. His wife, Margaret, died in 1906. Albert was left raisiing five children alone, and running a failing business. He hung himself in 1912, in the area that is now Sweetie Pie's Bakery. The building was renovated into a charming boutique inn just a few years ago. Guests have reported fireplaces turning on and off by themselves. Objects flying off shelves. Cold spots. Noises of machinery, like milling machines. One guest, while taking a bath, watched a pitcher shake so much he called the front desk to see if there was an earthquake. The former night auditor, Jerry Holloway, once said he would hear the elevator go back and forth between the two floors, but the door would never open. Room #208, right above Sweetie Pie's Bakery, and Room #207 right next door, are two of the hotspots. One woman on TripAdvisor said she heard the doors to both the rooms open and slam shut, but the hotel staff told her there was no one else staying on the floor. "Since my first stay, I have gone back twice during the years," she wrote, "and I look forward to spending another night this summer! I must say however, I will not be spending it in #207!" Well, I did. 4月1日 PerceptionIt does seem like kids are the ones that are sometimes more in tune with forces that we as adults don't see. Maybe because they haven't talked themselves out of seeing things they know shouldn't be there. Some time ago I read about an experiment involving perception. Two groups of people were told to watch a soccer game very carefully (or was it cricket?). One group was told to watch the team with black uniforms, and the other group to watch the team with white uniforms. Both groups were told to pay close attention to any details they could remember, like the numbers on the shirts or who scored when. After the experiment, the participants in both groups were asked to report on what they remembered of the match. Individually they were able to recall a surprising number of details about the match, showing how closely they were paying attention. Not one person in either group reported noticing a man in a gorilla suit running around amidst the players. (There's a related experiment, "Inattentional Blindess, Selective Looking," where you can watch the videos, at the Video Cognition Lab of the University of Illinois.) I noticed this same phemonenon years ago, just before Christmas. I had just broken up with my boyfriend, about the same time my sister and her husband were trying (and having trouble) getting pregnant. We had gone Christmas shopping together, and took an ice cream break on a bench in the mall. We sat quietly for a few minutes, watching the crowd and eating our ice cream. I noticed all the happy couples, walking hand in hand, peeking into windows together, laughing and stealing kisses, their happy smiling eyes looking all the shinier for the holiday lights everywhere. I thought to myself, "Everyone is part of a couple and happy. Except me." Then my sister spoke up. "Everyone here has a baby. Except me." I looked at her, confused. If you had asked me, I would have said I hadn't seen one baby pass by the whole time we were sitting on the bench. But once she said that, I looked at the world through her eyes just for a minute. All I saw were babies, mommies and daddies passing by. The point is simple: we see what we expect to see. The world surrounding us is, in large part, the one we imagine. My challenge on this trip is twofold: not to ignore the ghosts all around me because I don't really expect to see one, and not to invent a ghost that isn't there because I do. |
|
|
