“The ghost box EVP recordings in this video were captured on 17th and 19th November 2009. In these sessions, I used some control questions to see if I could get some precise responses. Some of the results and EVP voices are unbelievable!!! The spirit that communicates with me called Martin is heard a lot on this short video, he always seems to come through very clear

EVP or electronic voice phenomena as it is known is thought to be voices of those passed away trying to communicate with us captured on electronic devices. When trying to capture EVP, you can sit and ask questions or leave an audio recording device in a quiet room. When you play these recordings back, sometimes you will hear voices that were not present at the time, answering your questions or talking in general. This area of paranormal research was popularized when the film White Noise was released in 2005 starring Michael Keaton. The most popular method of capturing EVP is by using ordinary tape or digital audio dictaphone’s or recording devices.”

J.D. Farrell

The Paranormal State crew shares their thoughts and fears about their most extreme case of demonic possession to date.

Disturbed Graves Theory

A journey down one particular branch of inquiry. Ultimately abandoned in favor of a more likely conclusion, we see the application of GPR technology to paranormal investigation.

New Season Premieres December 15th

On the heels of what’s become a national phenomenon with paranormal activity and metaphysical realms, TLC will premiere GHOST INTERVENTION on December 12 at 9PM ET/PT, a four-part docu-series that chronicles a case manager and a team of women with psychic abilities as they try to help different families who are struggling with paranormal activity in their homes.

In each hour-long episode, the women use their psychic abilities to read each of these homes, before they even meet the families who live in them. When the families actually sit down with our paranormal team, they realize that their uncanny talents are exactly what they need in order to finally find the source of psychic conflict and rid their lives of the lingering negative spirits.

Meet the team:

Sierra Campbell: As an intuitive medium, Sierra connects with spirits and allows them to communicate with her through her senses. She has been in the field of mediumship for over 14 years and continues to share her gifts with large audiences and private readings. Sierra is also a published author and producer.

Dawn Clare: A self-proclaimed “Bliss Guide”, Dawn is a clairvoyant medium channeler who sees things related to a person that is more in spiritual and energy form. She is constantly getting messages from those who have passed on, and gives guidance focusing on business/career, health, personal, spirituality and wealth.

Tiffany Johnson: After growing up reading tarot cards to her friends and family and continuing through school honing her talents, Tiffany now assists other people through classes, readings and healings as she taps into New Age Spirituality and deeper studies of holistic therapy. In addition to still conducting tarot card readings and channeling sessions, Tiffany is also an ordained minister.

Raiya Davidson: Raiya acts as the case manager, where she gets historic facts about the building and background information from the families in order to provide the mediums with just the right amount of information to get them on the right track. Through many different encounters with paranormal activity from an early age, Raiya knew she had a special gift.

Aaron Sagers

 Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango

Combine an education of science, philosophy, psychology and history with a little electrical and plumbing vo-tech training and the result is a well-rounded, multi-faceted curriculum that many institutions of higher learning would be proud of. Add in ghost hunting and it’s the school of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS), also known as Ghost Hunters Academy.

Ghost Hunters Academy is the second spin-off from the popular Ghost Hunters brand, which began in 2004 with the flagship show starring plumbers Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. Following the 2008 travel-themed Ghost Hunters International, the new Academy is a unique reality-TV paranormal series which focuses on training and selecting new members for the TAPS team. 

Led by Ghost Hunters investigators Steve Gonsalves, 34, and Dave Tango, 24, the group is comprised of five college-aged “cadets” who travel around the country in an RV to favorite haunted hotspots visited on the main show such as the St. Augustine Lighthouse in Florida, Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pa., the battleship USS North Carolina in Wilmington, N.C., and the Buffalo Central Terminal in upstate New York. 

During the initial six-episode run of the show, which begins at the Revolutionary War-era Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, Gonsalves and Tango test and occasionally eliminate recruits who can’t live up to the TAPS standards. Along with being a shot across the bow at the other college-focused show Paranormal State on the A&E Network, Academy is a chance for the Ghost Hunters and TAPS team to educate fledgling investigators about what goes into the often-tedious, several-night waiting game of ghost hunting. 

Gonsalves and Tango, who both had their own paranormal investigative groups before joining TAPS, spoke over the phone about their new roles as leaders on the show, and what it is like to bring their experiences to the amateur recruits. 

Q: What makes for a good cadet and potential TAPS member?

GONSALVES:  The passion – that it’s there, it’s in them and that they love it and want to do it forever.  If you join our team, we don’t investigate in the same capacity as any other team on the planet. We’re much more involved with much more equipment. We do multiple investigations a week where most teams do one a month. If your heart’s not completely in it, you’re going to fizzle out after six, seven, eight months.

Q: What’s a common misconception your cadets, and even some viewers, have about paranormal investigative shows?

TANGO:  These people come into the show and a lot of them think it’s just like they see on TV. That it’s like 20 minutes in a room, and that’s not the case at all. There’s a lot more to it and I’m glad Steve and I were able to show them that. It can be rough sometimes, but that’s the way it is. It’s not as easy as it looks.  Yeah, we’re sitting down and we’re pointing a camera but there’s a lot more to it with the setup and the procedures and protocol of investigating.

GONSALVES: You have to have a lot of knowledge.  Not that we all have degrees in it, but you have to have a lot of knowledge in the paranormal: the current theories, the past theories, the energy theories. You have to know all this stuff and they all came in not knowing any of it but boasting as if they did. One person says, “I love it, I love it, it’s my favorite.”  She’s so happy that it’s what she’s wanted to do forever, but yet has never read one book, never been to one lecture, never done anything.  How can that passion be in you for as long as you can remember but you’ve never bothered to pick up one book?

TANGO: Don’t just say, “I read this on the Internet, I read that on the Internet.” You need to get real books from parapsychologists and true investigators. A lot of these students say, “Well I read this on the Internet so it must be true.” Maybe it is, but we don’t know that.

GONSALVES: We have one girl who says it’s been her lifelong dream to be a parapsychologist. I finally asked her, “How do you plan to do that?” She says she’s going to go to school for it. It made me realize she had no idea what she was talking about. There is no accredited course in the United States for that … These are people who think they know everything but are quickly finding out that they don’t really know anything.

Q: Can you say which cadet said that?

GONSALVES: (laughing) No.

TANGO: It will unfold on its own.

Q: While you have to train the cadets, do you also have to break bad habits picked up from watching TV, and even from watching the main Ghost Hunters show?

GONSALVES: It would be breaking bad habits, but there’s only one or two of them that have any investigation experience coming into it. Those people we definitely had to break bad habits. The other people we had to break bad habits because they did see these things on TV, but it was a little easier because they didn’t have any prior experience. It was frustrating, it really was. There’s this one that just claims to be the queen of the paranormal, but yet… Well, you’ll see on the show. But it was an experience they all loved. Afterwards, they say, “This was amazing.”

TANGO: You do see progress. Whether it’s a little bit or a lot … a lot of it is just common sense stuff. I think, for Steve and I, that was the most frustrating – things that you don’t have to have any knowledge about. That’s the stuff that bothered me the most.

Q: At Fort Mifflin, there’s an instance when cadet Susan Slaughter is overcome with sadness and the situation becomes really emotional. The TAPS team stresses not forcing people to be uncomfortable, but do you find yourself rolling your eyes at that drama?

GONSALVES: One hundred percent, man. Without a doubt. It’s hard to watch. She hid some important stuff from us, like that she even has those feelings … there’s five qualities we’re looking for during this show. One of the qualities is composure; another one is professionalism. What she does there doesn’t show either one of those.

TANGO: Or even honesty.

GONSALVES: Right. In that circumstance, she blew all of them. There’s nothing wrong with having feelings you can’t control or needing to get out of the investigation site. But you say, “Hey guys, I’m feeling uncomfortable. I need to excuse myself, can somebody walk me outside the premises?” You don’t just break down and take off. If there are clients there, can you imagine how they’re going to look at us now?

Q: There’s an excellent moment in the premiere when Steve intentionally misleads cadet Chris McCune to test how susceptible he is to the power of suggestion. Why did you screw with him like that?

GONSALVES: (laughing) Yeah, we do that quite often. One of the big problems in this field – and it’s not just with new investigators – is to let what other people say suggest what you are seeing and experiencing. You become very impressionable. We do test them continuously throughout the episodes.

Q: Steve, I know you like reality-TV competition shows like Top Chef and Hell’s Kitchen. As a viewer of those, you know there are contestants you immediately like or dislike, and people you don’t think will last long. Did you have the same experience in the leadership role?

GONSALVES: You do find yourself thinking that way, but what I did was treated it like an investigation. When you go on an investigation, you get those feelings at first like, “Oh, we’re not going to find anything here.” But you have to put all that aside and do a thorough investigation no matter what you think because you never know.  That’s sort of the way I approached this. I may think this person is never going to last; I may think this person is goofy or whatever, but I have to put all that aside and give them the best training and experience I can.

TANGO: It’s like a big roller coaster ride. You think you know this person, or that person’s not going to last, and they come out of their shell and it gets interesting.

GONSALVES: It’s going to be an interesting show for people because it is an extreme roller coaster. Just when you think they’re doing awesome, they end up doing a horrible job. When you think they’re going to do bad, they end up killing it. There hasn’t been a reality show like this. Ever. It encompasses every element of reality shows, plus you’re ghost hunting and in haunted places.

Q: Is it tough being the boss?

GONSALVES: What’s funny is we all become friends. We’re all on the road, we investigate every week and we spend 12 hours a day with these people … so it gets a little tough.

TANGO: They’re all great people, and it does get kind of tough but we have to do what we have to do.

GONSALVES: Like I said to one guy, “Hey, I’d be friends with you … but it doesn’t necessarily make you a good team member.” You have to sort of separate that.

Q: You don’t get rid of cadets every episode, so how do the eliminations work?

GONSALVES: If we see somebody is at the point where we’ve done all we can, and they’re just not going to get it, we have to get rid of them and bring in somebody we can potentially use. We do that quite often. That will be fun.  What’s nice is the recruits are around long enough that the audience will be able to connect with them … so it’s not like you’ll see this person for just one episode or half an episode, and you’re like, “Aw man, I was just starting to like this dude and he just got kicked off.” You’ll get to experience each cadet. And then we kick them off! Just kidding.

Q: Since Steve used to be a police officer, who is the good cop and bad cop between you two?

TANGO: It’s kind of both. Certain things will bother Steve, and certain things will bother me more. When they start dilly-dallying, for some reason I can’t deal with it. If they’re talking away and not doing what they have to do, I just can’t stand it. I don’t know if it will show on camera, but I get tense and I just snap at them.

Q: Does it frustrate you that you worked for years as paranormal investigators and becoming part of a hit TV show was a result of that, and now you have a group chosen by video submissions dropped into a spin-off without experience?

GONSALVES: I know I shouldn’t be, but I am. I find myself thinking sometimes, “Wow, I had 15 years in the field before I got a TV show.” Now, everyone nowadays looks at ghost hunting on television as a reward system for being in the field. That’s why they’re in the field – to get on a TV show – which sort of bothers me a little bit. But what I like about it is if it isn’t us choosing the people, it’s going to be somebody else. At least we’re there filtering appropriately.

Q: On the main show, you two are known for pranking one another and exchanging dares. Does that dynamic have to change now that you’re the leaders?

GONSALVES:  It’s still there … but these first six episodes we’re still trying to figure out the show and what it’s exactly supposed to be. We didn’t really have much time to be walking around, investigating and just come up with stuff like that.  You’re going to see a different side of us, a more authoritative side with a jokester sense as well.

Q: Steve, your fear of flying (along with heights and spiders) is pretty well known. Was that the reasoning behind the RV?

GONSALVES: That’s funny.  No, I showed up the first day on set when we filmed at Fort Mifflin, and they were like, “This is your RV.” We told them we’d be on board, because we wanted to take care of the paranormal aspect of it, but that’s all we really cared about. They didn’t really tell us about the other mechanics of the show. To show up and find we had an RV was pretty cool.

TANGO: Steve, you’re an excellent driver, by the way. I don’t know if I’ve told you that. If I drive that thing, it will drive off a cliff, believe me. I could not do that. Seriously, everyone would die a horrible death.

Q: Wouldn’t that make for a great season finale?

TANGO: If they could recover the tapes!

examiner.com

Even experienced paranormal investigators sometimes get the creeps. Find out which moments made PRS members’ skin crawl.

Addicted to Spirits

Ryan discusses the dangers of becoming too attached to the spirits that occupy your home.

New Season Premieres December 15

Chris Fleming on Ghost Adventures Live with the new  SB7 Spirit Box.

I have received a lot of questions and requests to obtain the SB-7, the MEL-8704 REM, and the E-POD that I had used on the Ghost Adventures LIVE episode. Since they are all brand new, in demo mode the engineer who makes them is currently putting some finishing touches on them and will allow me to offer them on my site. www.unknownmag.com in the shop under Equipment as soon as they are available.

While I am taking pre-orders on the Mel-8704REM…

The SB-7 wont be available for about 1-2 months as we are reworking the DEMO you saw used on the show to work in more restricted areas, due to lower frequencies and have more power to the speaker and amplification areas. I am not an engineer so I dont know all the technical stuff involved. But I hope to see a stronger antenna connection and more power to the new demo. Once these changes are made I will be testing it again before it goes into production. We expect them in 1-2 months and I will be offering them on my site unknownmag.com as soon as they are made.

You can PRE-ORDER the MEL-8704REM with the EM magnetic antenna RIGHT NOW at my site unknownmag.com in the store section. This is an awesome device and the best MEL made in my opinion with many features. I also started carrying the E-POD you saw us place on the floor. This device will light up when a EMF field comes in contact or in the proximity of the device. Great for having energy light it up and make signs or signals similar to the K- 2 meter when first introduced.

This was the mel meter I used on the show that ZAK and I used to verify that there was a energy field in between us as well as verifying the sensation you get when what is believed to be a ghost or spirit passes through you. This device PICKS IT UP! It is not currently available as they are hand modified. So a number of them are currently being made and I will have the first shipment by Dec 7th. So pre-order yours today so you are first in line for this awesome, control packed device that tells temperatures, picks up EMF and can register a magnetic field that makes your hair stand on end.

CHRIS FLEMING

J.D. Farrell, Paranormal researcher from the U.K. gives us another example of what can be accomplished by speaking through the “Shack Hack” or the “Ghost Box.”

There are some who say that you are more likely to pick up on lower entities through this means. Others say that although entities can respond to telepathic questions, it is best to speak them as a way of protecting oneself. Then comes the final caveat, as with any device you never know to whom you are really speaking, though most sensitives can discern the difference in energies among differnt types of entities.

We are all learning together in this field.

Lightspirit13

There will be a Ghost Adventures Live Post Mortem show at 8 PM et on Friday.

New Season Preview

Zak Bagans, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin from Ghost Adventures join us to discuss the Live show from Oct. 30th.

We are also joined by Chris Fleming, Dean Haglund, Mark & Debby Constantino, Jeff Belanger to talk about our experiences during the airing of the live show and take your calls and questions.

Thats right! The entire cast of Ghost Adventures LIVE all on one show to share thier thoughts on the experience.

Join our LIVE CHAT and LISTEN LIVE
www.DarknessRadio.com

8-10pm Pacific Time
9-11pm Mountain Time
10-Midnight Central Time
11pm-1am Eastern Time

www.darknessradio.com

Lightspirit’s Note: Did he forget somebody?