Ghostbusters anyone?

Doc Bernard

Doc Bernard

Indie Arms Member
Sometimes I get asked to do some strange and abnormal stuff. The latest, I have been asked to go along with a group of "ghost hunters" with my gear to document their activities and any "unusual phenomena".

Okay, I am a skeptic, but I cannot say it's fake, because there are too many unknowns for me. But this is not to start an argument on spirituality or anything.

My question is this, I need to make sure anything caught on my HVX is considered virgin and undoctored, throughout the process of ingestion and editing. I am thinking

1. Definitiely to tape, Can I get a simultaneous on screen timecode burn in the field with the HVX?
2. How does the HVX respond to IR lighting? Do I need an IR filter? My handi doesn't need a filter for close work.
3. Definitely bringing the DAT and a shotgun mic.

Ideas? Suggestions? These guys are very serious about what they do.
 
No timecode burn-in possible on an HVX. You can do it on an HPX170, but not an HVX. However, if you're using a firestore or an external tape deck, you can force the timecode to burn in on the firewire output.

As for IR, I don't recall exactly but it's pretty immune.
 
Take plenty of fully charged batteries. In some cases, batteries will drain mysteriously. You will also need to refrain from speaking, so that your voice doesn't get confused as an EVP. That is about as far as my technical advice goes, but I wish you luck on your hunt. Regardless of what may happen, 90% of any activity will be harmless, so keep that in mind. It is only the Demonic stuff that you should worry about, and that is rare... unless you were working with the Warrens :)
 
I think you'll enjoy this gig emmensly. I always have.
As suggested, do bring extra batteries, even if you "know" you are covered. Don't spend too much time trouble-shooting or questioning yourself should your best tape turn up with nothing on it later on. Happens all the time.
My take after many hunts is if an energy beyond our understanding want's no record of it, there simply won't be a record of it. I've shot with heat sensors, infared, lights, no light, with smudge and without it.
You'll leave knowing less than when ya went in... which will bring ya back for more, most likely.

have fun.
 
With the batteries. Have a lot more than you need. Might also want to keep some in the car that is away from the entire operation. Backup camera is good too.

I've been on a few of them myself. They are great experiences. People might say things don't exist. But really - I've experienced so much stuff its crazy to say something isn't out there. Extreme temperature drops are really common. If the ambient temp drops like 30 degrees - you better roll camera. I would just record the entire thing. And keep hunting with the camera.
 
I have some experience with this, Steve. I actually co-founded a group some years ago and did many investigations. But that is really all in the past.

If you're absolutely set on doing this, I'd recommend using something like a Sony handy cam with nightshot. Simple is usually better and nightshot can be very effective with capturing "stuff."

I'm not going to say I understand the paranormal, but my experience tells me there is something going on - all around us - and it is beyond our common and normal logic. Be careful, because if you're messing with this kind of stuff, it may come back to . . . haunt you.
 
DC said:
If you're absolutely set on doing this, I'd recommend using something like a Sony handy cam with nightshot. Simple is usually better and nightshot can be very effective with capturing "stuff."
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The Sony Hi 8 or Digital 8mm is pretty much the standard in this field, but make sure it has the nightshot feature.

DC said:
Be careful, because if you're messing with this kind of stuff, it may come back to . . . haunt you.
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Now DC, don't be trying to scare him. Like I said, about 90% of whatever you run into is really harmless, mostly just unsettling. And that is if you actually are lucky enough to find anything. This is experience from living in a house with an Inhuman entity for 5 years, and it doesn't get much nastier than them.
 
I always wanted to do something like that.

Filming in a hounted house where everyone that spended a night there is ether i a nut house or dead. :evil:
But everything I saw so far are the famous "orbs" and who nows what that is - I think it´s some sort of optical thing with dust and thelike.

I think there are not much of real hounted houses in Germany. So the chances are slimm.

Frank
 
ugafan said:
wtf? :shocked:
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Google it.

Postmaster said:
I think there are not much of real hounted houses in Germany. So the chances are slimm.

Frank
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In a Country as old as Germany, you have excellent chances. Almost any place has an opportunity to have some activity, you just have to look and listen. The more traumatic the past, the more likely it is to have that psychic impression, or even an intelligent haunt. Start asking around and posting ads, or find established Paranormal groups.
 
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There is a stigma, and most folks will keep their experiences to themselves, lest they get The Look, the one that says the listener thinks they are either nuts or hitting the crack pipe.
 
DC said:
I'm not going to say I understand the paranormal, but my experience tells me there is something going on - all around us - and it is beyond our common and normal logic. Be careful, because if you're messing with this kind of stuff, it may come back to . . . haunt you.
Click to expand...

LOL! Okay, I have "experienced" certain things in this arena. Think what you want, I've been teased about it before, so do your worst! LOL

Quick story. The house I lived in when I was a kid was rumored to have been haunted and I have seen very unusual things in that place. I personally think it was a PG, as we would find personal objects moved to very unusual locations. One corner of the house was always cold, even in summer (100+), and we did not have AC. The lights would come on and off when no one was home (per the neighbors). The police were called on several occasions by the neighbors.

Years later, I did research on the house and land and back in the late 1800's there was a shootout between two families (feud). One of the members was killed somewhere real close to our home. The ruins of his home was right across the street.

And, even though I know it sounds weird, but I have always had this "sense" about being able to feel "lifeforce" for lack of a better word. I can be in a totally dark room (or blindfolded and earplugs, a game that my friends would play to test me) and sense when a person or ??? enters/leaves, and sometimes I can tell who it is. Weird, I know. In that house, there was always "someone" there.

Can I explain it? Nope. And no I don't think I'm psychic. Psycho maybe.
 
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Capt Quirk said:
In a Country as old as Germany, you have excellent chances. Almost any place has an opportunity to have some activity, you just have to look and listen. The more traumatic the past, the more likely it is to have that psychic impression, or even an intelligent haunt. Start asking around and posting ads, or find established Paranormal groups.
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It seems like 1945 was a "general reset" or "restart".
Most of the old physical structures where destroyed - maybe also the spiritual.

I did some research on that and found some reliable pre war memorandums by creditable poeple like Carl Gustav Jung.

After the war most stuff I found looks like jokes, fraud, urban kegends and wishfull thinking.

Frank
 
Frank- Buildings aren't really all that important. Spirits have been known to attach themselves to objects as well. There is a Holocaust museum somewhere, that has artifacts such as train cars, shoes, etc. The location never had activity until the objects were brought in. A new house built on the grounds of an old structure might still have the old residents. If you ever see one walking a few feet off the ground, it is likely a residual that used to walk on a floor that was a few feet higher in their time, but no longer exists in our time. In Chicago, there is a location known as Nine Mile Road, home to a famous Hitch hiking ghost. Patience is a must in Paranormal investigation, because the little buggers will frustrate you if you expect them to show up on cue.
 
I had one offer to shoot while we were supposed to stay overnight. I refused, sounded way too weird too me.

I mean that guys apartment has a long-time reputation and people always visit it etc., but since last summer they simply stopped to come, and those who came on say, 2 weeks, gone away within one week.

I don't know, windows and doors self-opening/closing, old women that was scaring kids and dissappear afterwards and a lot of things simply dissapeared and then appeared lately, from watches and jewerlies to big carpets and beds(!).

I know it's kinda off topic, but still, how can one be sure that 'something' will not haunt you back? That is the main reason I refused, last thing I need is to be frightened of my own house. And if I was some kind of entity, I wouldn't like someone disturb me in any way. (I guess lol)
 
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