Paranormal researchers offer up advice for amateur ghost hunters

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

Darn near everyone has experienced something they can’t explain, something that could be classified as paranormal.

While most of us are content to let such experiences go unexplained, there are others who search for answers.

Last Wednesday, at the Harney County Library, a group of paranormal investigators offered up a presentation on ghost hunting.

They call themselves Northwest Paranormal Investigators, and they hail from St. Helens. While hearing disembodied voices or seeing floating ectomists might freak out most people, these paranormal investigators take such experiences in stride, hoping to document them using photographs and voice recorders.

Group founder Bob Chamberlain told the packed room the story of how he got into ghost hunting. His mother-in-law was living with him and his wife as she went through cancer treatment. She died in the house, and soon after strange things began to happen. They would hear the sound of feet shuffling across the floor. They would hear voices in the living room when everyone was tucked away in bed. Then one day they noticed a porcelain horse that the mother-in-law had given them move inexplicably  from one end of a table to another.

Those personal experiences propelled Chamberlain and his wife into the world of the paranormal. For the last 15 years, Chamberlain has collaborated with Charlie Robinson, Lori Mortensen and others who have a similar interest in explaining the seemingly unexplainable.

Mortensen took the audience through a list of relatively inexpensive items needed for an investigation. These include a digital or film camera, a voice recorder, an electro-magnetic field (EMF) detector, a thermometer and a video camera.

Pictures can capture orbs and mists as well as other odd phenomena. The voice recorder can capture electronic voice phenomena (EVP), which may not be audible to the human ear at the time, but the recorder is sensitive enough to pick up ghostly voices that can be heard when listened to later.
Mortensen said that when performing an investigation, they will do a sweep of the house measuring the temperature and EMF readings in each room of the house for a baseline reading. Then during the investigation if there are any temperature or EMF spikes, it could indicate a paranormal occurrence.
She also encouraged those who who are interested in doing their own investigations to use local resources such as the library to research potentially haunted buildings. She said newspapers and oral histories can be particularly helpful. City hall records can also provide interesting tid bits.

Robinson offered up a slide show featuring “orbs,” which often show up as little white dots in photographs. He cautioned that not all orbs indicate the presence of a ghost, but some do. One photo in particular, which was taken during an investigation of  the Klondike building in St. Helens, featured a mysterious face in a window. A gallery of these images is available for viewing on the group’s Web site.
After the presentation, the group answered questions on various topics from the audience.
One of the reoccurring themes of the evening was that when performing an investigation, it is paramount to keep preconceived notions at bay. “For a paranormal researcher, it’s absolutely important to have an open mind,” Robinson said. He also cautioned audience members against reprimanding children who have had paranormal experiences by calling them crazy or evil. Because children’s minds haven’t been conditioned by society, their paranormal experiences are purer than most.

While the title of the presentation was “Ghost Hunters,” Robinson offered a little insight into what they call themselves. “We prefer paranormal researcher to ghost hunter,” he said. “But we do prefer ghost hunter to ghost buster.”

For more information on Northwest Paranormal Investigations, check out their Web site www.northwestparanormal.com.