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A time to speak plainly and from the heart...

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Articles This column is about some things I see in the paranormal community that I find need speaking of and I just wanted to comment about them in an air of open dialogue. And some of it relates to GRI, but I suspect a lot of it will find reflection in your own group or even, heaven forbid, yourself.

I've seen a lot of bad things happen to good friends of late and even a few to myself. Things are said, both in public and many times in private that have no business being said. Often there are no substantiating proofs other than innuendo and gossip that often turn out to be hurtful and painful to the victims.

I regret to say that even I have done this and I now realize it is not the answer. Even when someone has done something terrible to you and deserves your ire, one needs to bite the tongue and resist the urge to talk someone or some other group down. Negative news travels fast and if it is not worth saying, then it's worth being silent about.

I have often found that those who do seek to hurt or harm you or those you care about are often living in fear or in a world that demands they think of themselves first and others last. Most times, it is not even personal or truly directed at "you".

Often, the hurtful comments are not deserved. Sometimes they are. This business seems to inspire rivalries and even arguments and spats that, when you look at them, are worthless, cruel and which point out the insanity of even getting into these arguments in the first place.

There are no such thing as paranormal "territories" either. And with every living person outnumbered by the ghosts of those who have come before by a factor of thirty or more, trust me, there are plenty of haunts left to find and nothing threatening because a new group is on the scene. If someone is new and seeking friends in other groups to learn from, then it is time to extend an open hand of friendship with smiles and not suspicion and narrowed eyes with a frown as payment to a potentially new friend.

If a problem you just can't take anymore with someone does deserve direct talk, then have the guts to talk to the person it is about in person and do it in private for God's sake. They'll appreciate your honesty and direct and frank opinion. Most people can handle direct criticism. They just don't handle being made the victim of opinion or campaigns that they find they are the last to know about.

And countless flame wars and tit for tat exchanges do nothing to quell the anger. They only ignite rivalries that are regrettable to see.

Then there are the train wrecks...

One dear friend of mine looked up one day to see her organization split and was completely shocked at being the last to know. Another famous friend of mine was besmirched by people saying the most terrible of things in ways that border on defamation of character. Another was left in a terrible position due to circumstances not of his own creation and was made the butt of the most hateful collection of writings I've ever seen in my life.

And I've seen others over the past year who have been the victims of smear tactics that are nothing short of horrible and which are, 99% of the time, misrepresentations of truth and often about the oldest of the emotions... jealousy and hate.

Mission Report Shangrala-1: Odyssey Star Hornet Event

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Articles Update: Our case evidence is being posted as we analyze it. The first batch has been uploaded and feel free to comment and listen to what we captured.

A lot of folks look for the bad in things. I like to look at both sides of something before I settle on a decision as to what I'm looking at and when it came to the events that occurred prior to Bob and Summer Jennings stepping up and doing the right thing with the Hornet and TALA paranormal events, I was concerned and looked into things and decided that Bob and Summer were doing the right thing.

I've seen some sites that never see the good that comes out of a negative event and who, even now, are spinning the events to create something else other than the good that came of Brent Fair taking off with the money for both events. The Hornet event was a complete success and if it had not been for Bob, Summer, Chip Coffey and Kristyn Gartland giving of their own money and time, this would have left a lot of people out their money with no event!

Bob did a great job at Hornet and I want to personally thank him for doing a great thing for the paranormal community by stepping in and handling this like the man he is. His wife is right in there pitching to help and she is quite the lady, so I wish them the best.

As for Chip and Kristyn, they were a complete joy to meet and I was truly impressed with how personable and friendly they both are. Both of them made a friend out of GRI and are welcome guests to any of our little hunts if they ever want to stop in and say hello!

Ghost Rider Paranormal Radio on 9/11/09 at 8:00 Pacific: Spencer Hughes of Fox Across America is our special guest!

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Articles


Join us as we interview ghost-hunter and Fox Across America radio personality, Spencer Hughes! at 8:00pm Pacific, September 11, 2009 . Due to illness on 9/4/09, we moved this show to that date... Jon

We met Spencer in July aboard U.S.S. Hornet and he is one dive-in-and-hunt kind of ghost hunter! We'll learn more about his past paranormal experiences, ideas about life and more!

Experimenting with EM and the Paranormal

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Articles For some time now, I've come to the conclusion that Ghosts and Spirits are life forms. Yes, you heard right. Consider the following definition for "life" and you'll see why:

Life (cf. biota) is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have self-sustaining biological processes ("alive," "living"), from those which do not —either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as "inanimate."

In biology, the science that studies living organisms, "life" is the condition which distinguishes active organisms from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, functional activity and the continual change preceding death. A diverse array of living organisms (life forms) can be found in the biosphere on Earth, and properties common to these organisms—plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria — are a carbon- and water-based cellular form with complex organization and heritable genetic information. Living organisms undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, possess a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and, through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations. More complex living organisms can communicate through various means.

Given the notion that we exclude "death" in the common sense from a "ghost", then it would follow that any entity capable of sustaining itself by "feeding" on energy (as we do as biologicals) would qualify as "living".

Since I've removed the mystical definition in this overly simplistic model (my point being to get you to think in a new way about the afterlife and the dead), I've become convinced that it is possible to stimulate paranormal activity in controlled circumstances by using electricity as the "food".

Considering that spirits existed long before we had the tools we had now, one could make the theory that DC (direct current) sources of power might be the answer to how these entities derive their power. So this may explain the predominance of ghostly activity in thunderstorms.

Mission "Ruby-2" - The Old City Cemetery

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Articles I left on Saturday to examine the Sacramento Old City Cemetery as a research site. We have returned to missions in the field as our primary activity and also to follow our book-writing bent along with just plain having fun!

The old notions of a TAPS-style team are long gone and it's just back to being flexible and fun. Whoever goes and wants to join are welcome to hop in and join this intrepid guy who loves the paranormal...

And we've gone solo on the radio show and frankly, it's been a relief to freely explore and operate in my own way on things without worrying what will happen next. I'm free to operate in a much more simplified environment and that has made a huge difference in the last several weeks for the show too... So... things are on an up tick ;>)

I will admit, however, to missing my good buddy Christine. She moved to Ohio and I hope one day to connect up to her again soon and we can hunt together once again. The economy has really done a number on folks doing paranormal work and it's going to be those who adapt and get inventive to keep their chosen passion going forward.

At this point though, it's back to pretty much a solo operation save for periodic co-investigation with other teams and the occasional member popping in to hunt with me.  And it means working within my means to collect evidence and investigate in a safe way. So this mission was special in that a I opted to scope out a high-value target with a limited set of tools and specific plan in place to do a hit and run operation to test for activity.

I also decided to hit a smaller site on the return home and managed to capture a few EVP there. More later in the article.

So, I opted to check the site out and made the drive in to Sacramento and took the 10'th Street exit and was pleasantly surprised to find how easy it was to find the cemetery. The first item of note was that this place is HUGE. I made a preliminary drive around it's borders and then returned to find a parking space and began my 45 minute walk-thru tour.

The next item to make note of was how much activity goes on at this place. It is a very "live" place for a cemetery. Considering how I'm used to cemeteries in the Sierras being so quiet, it was a real shock to see so many people on the grounds and to see the crews doing active cleanup and maintenance on the site. A lot of less-than-well-kept grave sites were being repaired and I was truly touched that the city was dedicating some effort to seeing that these final resting spots were well kept and cared for.

The cemetery, as noted earlier, is quite large. I hiked at least 1/4 mile and perhaps a bit more to reach the southern-boundary and did a first "grand-tour" of the facility. There are graves of every period, style and economic status in this amazing place.

I did get EVP activity and the clips from the media gallery have the entire bulk of these EVPs from the case. The site is very active with EVP generation and more so in the northern part of the cemetery.

In two of the larger roman-style crypts, I did feel some activity and was sure that I had captured EVP activity. The place is so large, I think it is inevitable that there would be paranormal activity on the grounds. My gut feel is that it is going to be a nice place to conduct day-investigations and research over the long-term.

One EVP said "bounce boogie" and another very good one said "They're keeping me up" - I guess in reference to the folks caring for the grounds that day. Near the Mark Hopkins grave, I got a male voice saying "Its my grave" in a very raspy and loud voice before I spoke about the size of his marble tomb, which took a year and a half to construct.

The only items taken for the evaluation tour were a single EVP recorder and a camera. All in all, I conclude that the Sacramento Old City Cemetery is definitely worth visiting and a unique place.

Ghost Rider Paranormal Radio tonight at 8:00 Pacific - Interview with RIchard Phillips, author of "The Second Ship"

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Join Jon for an interview author with Richard Phillips about his book, "The Second Ship", a science fiction novel.

Synopsis: For sixty years, the National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, has been investigating the powerful technologies of a damaged alien ship, an effort dubbed the 'Rho Project.' Now, the American government is ready to share the Rho Project discoveries with the world.

But as the world scrambles to adopt the alien technologies, three high schoolers make another shocking discovery: hidden inside a cave in the New Mexico wilderness lies another alien ship. As the friends explore the second ship, they begin to unravel a decades-long secret involving an extraterrestrial war, government cover-ups, and secret experimentation using alien technology on humans.

A battle has begun, and the secrets of the second ship may be the key to humanity's last chance for survival.

Building your own broadcast studio. GRI's story

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Articles

A while back, I did an article on the Blogtalkradio.com studio I had put together. A lot has happened in the evolution of our studio capabilities and I wanted to take time to go over the current system and discuss the changes to our environment.

The initial system was simply a telephone and me with a computer. While it worked well, I wanted to go with a set of headphones and a true studio microphone to enhance the broadcasting experience and also to find a way to lose the "telephone" sound from my end.

So, I decided to research how to best attack the problem and found that my existing desktop Skype phone was an excellent performer for Blogtalkradio shows. The only issue was that the handset would need replacing (believe me, getting rid of the phone on your ear is a Godsend!). I tried to couple the phone directly to my mixer board (a mid-quality Radio Shack 4 channel mixer) and the results were disastrous for that particular show.

- First evolution

 I bought a used Dell computer and dedicated it as a broadcast system and tied that into the mixer as a result and found that it worked very well. Using instructions on how to tune Skype on the PC to optimize the audio going in and out proved to be very useful (See: http://www.digitalpodcast.com/podcastnews/...t-using-skype/) and I have honed the system into a real performer. It has never let me down and the addition of a audio to USB converter (Behringer U Control UCA202 USB Audio Interface) has really made the quality go up.

One thing we learned quickly was that there was still a need to use a telephone to call into Blogtalkradio.com and I was tying up the family phone line for 90 minutes weekly until I discovered that my cellular plan would allow for plenty of night-time minutes calling after 7:00 PM. So we recently went away from traditional dial up and over to cell phone dial in as the new model.

So you want to be a ghost hunter?

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Articles

I hear it all the time... "Jon, I want to be a ghost hunter... How do I get into doing this?"

The truth about paranormal investigation is that it is far more than the investigation. For those of you new to the process, it can seem like work and is often filled with boredom, equipment troubles, people issues and more. For those trained and who know what to expect, it can be rewarding, enlightening and a source of great comfort.

To investigate and appreciate the unknown which we all aspire to meet in our field work, requires passion and patience, often in equal measure. So this article describes the realities one can expect as a new investigator diving into the great unknown of paranormal research!

So if you are reading this, it can be assumed you really want to be like the TAPS guys or Ghost Adventures Crew and think it is just about grabbing a recorder and heading out.

Not so fast there Pilgrim...

You've got research to do. And you need to do preparation and planning before going out there. And you'll wade through a lot of junk information to find good sites to investigate along with learning HOW to investigate in the first place.

The first thing is to ask yourself what is driving you to hunt ghosts or paranormal phenomena. In my own case, my many psychic experiences over a lifetime drove me to question and attempt to debunk the things that happened around me and led me to this place I am at now, a full-fledged team lead with a real organization and cases in the hopper. I deal with the paranormal daily.

The question is, is that what YOU want? So you need to decide right now if this is for you and if you want to make the investment in time, experience, learning, energy and equipment to do this. Oh... And I forgot that you need to make lots of mistakes so you know what NOT to do!

You might want to strike out on your own and fumble your way through. I did and it cost me a lot of time and effort to realize that I did need instruction and I spent a lot of time getting to know other groups and to watch how they worked and what they did. That effort has payed off and I'm much more comfortable with the process than when I first started.

The process involved making forays to check out other groups and teams, to see their internal politics and procedures and to decide what would work for me and what I could accept or not. You too will find yourself evaluating what works for you in this way and to decide if you are the more independent type or need guidance from a stronger team structure. This is a purely personal decision, but one you'll need to make.

What I don't recommend is going out alone on investigations. I've done it, but I also knew what I was doing and always had an itinerary and time set for me to return with people knowing where I'd be. This is a safety thing and now, I prefer a minimum of two people on investigations to be safe.

There is also the matter of spiritual safety and knowing what you might encounter on a case and how to handle yourself. If you have no idea of what a ghost is, or what sorts of supernatural creatures exist out there, then you have no business hunting ghosts! I mean that!

The other key thing is to trust yourself. If you do experience unease or fear on entering a site, then heed your body and mind warning you and back-off. I'm not afraid to say I've had more than one case where that has happened to me and I've listened to myself and backed off. It was the right thing to do!

Spirit photo from Queen Mary analyzed by fellow member of AA-EVP

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Articles Earlier this month, I submitted my photograph of the spirit faces captured on Queen Mary to analysts at the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AAEVP).

The photo was analyzed and enhanced by the moderator of this influential group and he was impressed with the photo. He described the capture as "littered with spirit images" in his post to me.

I was heartened at having finally captured an image that had definite potential as being that of a paranormal image and thank the AAEVP for taking the time to assist with analysis of the image.