From: To: Subject: [IGHS] Newsletter, March 28, 2004 Deming, New Mexico Date: Sunday, March 28, 2004 12:50 PM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Remove Link To Unsubscribe from Newsletter: Click on Reply To or send email to ighs-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com for an automatic removal from this newsletter. Mission Statement: The Ghostweb is the official Web Site of the International Ghost Hunters Society. Membership in the IGHS is always FREE. The IGHS is dedicated and committed to the research, documentation, education, and investigation of ghostly phenomena recorded through EVP, digital, film and video photography. The IGHS is a society of ghost believers, ghost hunters, and ghost researchers with over 14,000 members in 87 countries worldwide. Travel Along with Dave & Sharon: Join us as we start our fourth year of RV traveling as we explore America's Most Haunted Sites. We had a dream and now we are living that dream of traveling across this great land in our little house on wheels with our Welsh Pembroke Corgi dog named BooBoo. We are currently investigating haunted sites in New Mexico. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ International Ghost Hunters Society Newsletter March 28, from Deming, New Mexico Dr. Dave’s Notes: We have a new Mail Forwarding Address for our mail. We changed from the Pensacola, Florida address and now have a Deming, New Mexico address. We also have a new telephone number, 505-494-0026 that now matches our mailing address. Please update your records and if you have a home study course exam to send to us, please use the New Mexico address. The address is as follows: Dr. Dave Oester Dr. Sharon Gill 713 W. Spruce PMB 715 Deming, NM 88030 We have posted some remarkable photos taken during our Albuquerque Seminar we held last month. The photos are of Lorraine Scott standing inside an ectoplasmic cloud of spirit energy. She is standing in front of the Church Street Café where we held the seminar. Check them out, as the photos are amazing. Her photos will appear in our next book that will be published in 2005. I had a chance to surf a little lately and found some interesting web sites where so called ghost experts have posted supposedly ghost photos, but in reality the photos all contain dozen of airborne dust particles we call dust orbs; these experts were calling these airborne dust particles ghosts. Spring time is here, grass and tree pollen counts are at their highest, and I am sure new photos of yellow ghost orbs will start showing up on web sites. A few years ago we lost a good friend to yellow pollen, it seems that the air was thick with pollen and every photo taken contained these pollen orbs. Our friend could not come to admit that the yellow orbs were pollen related and not ghost orbs. We must have our eyes open to what exist around us, not what our imagination would have us believe. We encourage following a scientific approach to ghost hunting, an approach that encourages us to question everything, reject all that can be explained by rational logic and only allow that which we cannot explain as being possible paranormal. All too often beginners leap to conclusions not based on fact, but on their hopes and their imaginations. It seems that so many ghost clubs do not follow any standards or protocols for their investigations and they lack any training in interpreting the anomalies captured with their digital camera. They immediate jump to the false conclusion that anything sphere shaped captured with a digital camera must be ghost orbs. They are anxious to show the world how great they are by posting their dust orbs and all they end up doing is confusing the visitors to their web site. We have been teaching people for years that not all sphere shaped anomalies are ghost orbs, but rather they are the common environmental anomalies known as dust orbs. I have heard of a ghost club that charges $50 to attend their investigations. The IGHS has never charged people to attend their investigations. We have always welcomed visitors and IGHS members to join us as we travel across these United States to participate in our investigation without charge to them. Recently when we investigated San Pedro in central New Mexico, we had three ghost hunters join us from Albuquerque. We had a great time and we charged no one for joining us in our investigation. Our investigations are always free, just as membership in the IGHS has always been free and always will be free. Some Internet clubs charge a fee to be a member, but not at IGHS. While we were in Illinois last year, Jason Snider of Oblong, Illinois, contacted us. We met with him and then joined him and some of his ghost club members as we investigated some of the local cemeteries, as we were field testing our Ultrasonic EVP detector. No one paid us anything and in the end, we will be using some of his experiences in our next book. Speaking of our Ultrasonic EVP technology, our engineer ended up in the hospital and then after recovering, he moved so it has taken a bit longer for him to get the next generation unit finished. We are still field testing and will continue to do so with the next unit we receive from our engineer. Research is never fast, but seems to crawl along in slow motion at times. We are still committed and still working hard to develop a two way communication between the living and the dead. We love to meet people and to share our understanding of the spirit realm that we have gained from 28 years of combined experience. We learned of the Holy Cross Sanitarium from David Brandt in Las Cruces, New Mexico that led us to conduct several investigations at this Deming site. We are grateful for recommendations from our visitors and readers of various haunted sites. Just the other day we were conducting another EVP investigation at the Holy Cross Sanitarium and recorded two spirit voices, one talking to the other. We will be playing the voices from Holy Cross Sanitarium on the Jeff Rense Talk Radio Network program on the first Friday in April. Tune in and listen to our recordings or go to www.rense.com and listen to the archived programs. The book we are currently writing and due out in 2005 will include a chapter on ghost pets, along with photos of ghost dogs. We lost a Yorkshire terrier back in 1996 and yet our “Shadow” has followed us when we moved to Central Oregon and again we has followed us in our travels. Just the other night, Sharon was sitting on the bed and she felt something jump up onto the bed. The bed moved and yet there was no one present, at least no one she could see. At times, I have caught a glimpse of a small tan Yorkie like dog in BooBoo’s bed. I do believe that this ghost dog is our beloved “Shadow.” We teach that our animals do not go far from us in death. If they loved us in life, they will continue to love us in death and stay close to us. Religions that teach that pets have no souls are about as far from the truth as they can get. Our pets have souls and they continue to exist beyond the grave, the same as you, and I will continue to exist. We will not have physical bodies, but our spiritual bodies will exist. Our souls will continue to have the same personality, emotions, and intelligence that we had when we were alive. If we are kind and loving in this life, we will be kind and loving in the life to come. By the same token, if we are angry and mean in this life, we will be the same in the life to come. It has been my experience that Christians will label these spirits that are angry and mean as demons. Talk about being trigger happy, any spirit is labeled a demon by those who follow the Jesus road. Yes, most often when we are get e-mail about demons, the sender is on the Jesus road and wants to know how to get rid of their demons. They try exorcism and it does not work. They call upon the name of Jesus for the demons to depart, yet the spirits do not depart. We have to explain that the living cannot banish the dead, as the living has no power over the dead. The label “demon” is simply a term applied to something we do not understand. We fear what we do not understand and we try to destroy what we fear. Those who call themselves demon hunters have watched too many Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes. There are no demons! Demons are a myth encouraged by organized religion to instill fear and obedience in their followers. We have designed and written our Home Study Courses so the myths and folklore that abounds within the ghost hunting community are exposed. We share our techniques and protocols that ensure successful outcomes during investigations. We share all of our insights and understanding that we have gained from our combined 28 years of experience. We have conducted over 1,000 field investigations, captured over 500 ghost voices and evaluated over 200,000 paranormal photos. Our background as professional photographers has enabled us to separate the environmental anomalies from the paranormal anomalies. We were the first to offer a Home Study program on the Internet back in 1998 for beginners wishing to learn more about ghost hunting. Our courses are second to none; others groups are now offering courses that attempt to copy what we have, but they fail since their objective is not to teach, but simply to make money selling a look alike product. As the largest ghost hunting organization on the Internet, we are a scientific organization striving to share our knowledge of the spirit realm that we have gathered from our research and from our field investigations. We lead the way with the home study program and we are still the leaders in this field. We have trained tens of thousands of people. Dr. Sharon’s Notes: In 1989, I sat in the waiting room while nurses settled my husband Jim into his room in ICCU. A dear friend sat by my side, the staff assured me I could see my husband very soon. I tried to be patient thought it seemed like it was taking a long time. My friend, Brent, and I talked little as we were both scared but tried not to show it. It had been a long evening and we both hoped things would calm down once Jim got settled in his room under the care of a qualified cardiac physician. I felt that I should call my parents so they would know what was happening. They were very close to my husband and I knew they would want to know he was being hospitalized. There was a telephone in the waiting room so I dialed my parent’s phone number. After several rings, my Mother picked up the receiver and said, “hello.” I started to talk to her and tell her about Jim when she told me it was not a good time to talk as she and my Dad had company. She thought I should call the next day as she could talk then. I hung the telephone up feeling very alone but so very thankful for the friend sitting by my side. I sat back down, tears running down my face as Brent put his hand out to me. I explained what had happened but there was little to be said. Time was passing slowly and we were worried about what was happening with Jim. The nurse came in and told me there was a problem. Jim had arrested and they were working on him. She had nothing encouraging to tell me other than they were doing their best. My husband was my best friend, we did everything together and to hear the words, “cardiac arrest” sent a shock through my system. I would not accept that Jim could die and leave me. No one would have. He was 51 years old and until two years before, he always been in excellent health. Once again Brent took my hand and asked me what we should do. I suggested that we pray. We sat together, our hands still clasped and prayed for Jim. Our religious beliefs differed yet our prayers were heartfelt and sincere. As I sat there with my eyes closed, praying that God would intervene, I suddenly felt a cool breeze. It was softly brushing my face but definitely far cooler than the ambient air in the room. The air seemed to swirl around me as though the air conditioner had come on with the air vent blowing directly on me. It was late November and snow had been falling when Brent picked me up to drive me to the hospital. The air conditioning would not have been on in the hospital. As suddenly as I felt the cool air, I felt a calmness and deep sense of peacefulness within me. I opened my eyes and looked at Brent who was still sitting next to me with his eyes closed and his head bowed. When he opened his eyes, I asked Brent if he had felt anything unusual. He said no, he had not felt anything. I told him what I had experienced and though he was sitting right next to me, Brent never felt a thing. I told Brent that Jim was gone. He did not laugh at me and yet he did not want to believe that Jim had died. Brent was a very sensitive man and he loved Jim almost like a Father. Jim’s death would be a tremendous loss for him, as it would for me. Nothing like that had ever happened to me and yet I knew what the cool breeze had meant. I knew that I his loving way, Jim had let me know that he was leaving. The cool caress on my face told me he was moving on to the other side and that he was at peace. A short time later, the doctor walked in to break the news to me that they had done all they could, but Jim had died. It was obviously hard for the doctor to find the words as he stumbled through what he was trying to say. After he broke the news to me, I looked directly into his eyes and said, “I know it.” It seemed as though the doctor sat speechless for a very long time, maybe shocked at my reaction or waiting for hysterics. I cannot say, but it seemed as though he did not know what to do or say. Brent called his Mother to let her know he would be home shortly, that Jim had passed away. I called some dear friends from the church I was attending and though they were in bed asleep, they headed to the hospital right away. I didn’ t wait until the next day to call my parents, I called to tell them my husband was dead, a call they never expected. I didn’t keep them from their visitors, I just delivered the news, and by that time, my friends had arrived to take me home. Life can take sudden twists and turns that we never expect. We can lose someone dear to us in the blink of an eye. It happens every single day to people we may know or those whom we will never meet, and it hurts to the core of our being. Our lives are never the same no matter how we struggle for normalcy and we find ourselves left with a gaping hole in our hearts. My life changed that cold November night, never again to be the same. Events that took place after Jim died changed my life, as I knew it. I had no idea what would happen to me or where I would go, but I knew Jim would want me to go forward and not give up on life. I had some paranormal experiences happen in my home after Jim was gone and though the occurrences were typical of things Jim would have done, I denied it was him causing the things to happen. I kept telling myself he was at peace in heaven as that was what I had been taught throughout my life. Looking back, the only explanation could have been Jim trying to let me know he was there as no logic or rationale could explain the events. The process of grieving was difficult for me. I was a 40 year old widow facing a whole lot of unknown. I looked for books on grief and could find nothing to help me understand what it was that I was trying to work through. The church I attended had no answers, no help for me outside of donating time to volunteer at the church. I helped paint the new office and stained the doors to keep busy but the pain remained in me, with not relief in sight. I realized by my own experiences that we are a society that denies death and refuses to discuss it. Friends can turn their backs feeling helpless and afraid. When people lose someone they love or friends they have known, they are faced with their own mortality. That is not something people want to do. Life went on as normal all around me but I felt like my life was isolated and moving in slow motion. In all of the change and confusion, I promised myself that if I ever got through it all, I find a way to help others understand the process of grief and accepting death as a natural part of our lives. It is not an easy time for anyone when losing a loved one, yet we all will face it at sometime in our lives. We can not run from grief any faster than we can run from death, whether we talk about it or not. Though my life has changed, it has been a magical journey of discovery. I had experienced events that enlightened me to the fact that those we love do want us to know that they are free from their physical aches and pains and have found peace and happiness on the other side. I denied it for a long time and yet I still knew deep within me there was a message in each event that took place. I realized that even though we are in an age of tremendous technological and scientific advances, we cower at the idea of death. When we have to face it because of our own loss, we do not know what to expect or what to do. Many give up on life when death hits close to home, sometimes committing suicide, rather than face life alone. It takes an earth shattering experience and tremendous loss to wake us up to all that is around us and to open our minds to knowledge we can gain, even in loss. When we hit bottom, there is only one way to go and that is upward, if we allow ourselves to do so. I have never forgotten what I promised myself I would do if I survived the agony of loss. I was not sure how I would be able to accomplish fulfilling such a promise, but I have learned that things do happen to open the doors of opportunity. The International Ghost Hunters Society is a result of Dave and I meeting and pursuing the same goal. We moved into a haunted house in Seaside, Oregon fourteen years ago. Our first book, Twilight Visitors, was based on personal experiences and knowledge that we gained while living there. We realized when setting up the our web site, Ghostweb.com that people had a lot of questions and stories to share and they yearned to know more about the spirit realm and things taking place around them. The Ghostweb was the first active website of its kind and it grew by leaps and bounds, generating tremendous interest in ghosts. The home study course was the first of its kind, designed to teach people how to research and investigate ghosts and haunted sites in scientific ways. We established standards and protocols for investigations that prevent natural causes to be mistaken as paranormal anomalies. We have only grown and expanded our knowledge over the years and share that knowledge with people who are interested in learning more. The second part of the home study course was developed to expand knowledge of death, based upon the doctoral thesis I had written. It helps the investigator understand death and grief and also how death and grief can affects people’s lives. It covers events that can occur following a death so those working with people can help them to understand in a deeper way, what is happening to them and around them. Paranormal occurrences occurring around a surviving spouse and family members is a common occurrence, it is not something that happens on rare occasions. These are the things that happen but we do not discuss them out of the fear of ridicule. It is difficult enough just accepting the loss and changes taking place. In order to heal, people need to be able to talk openly about what is happening and come to an understanding of the events, not hide them. The responses from those taking both parts of the home study course have been tremendous. One lady told us how she had grieved the death of her beloved Father for fourteen years, searching for answers, wanting to be able to let go of the pain. She and many other have thanked us for providing a comprehensive course that helped them understand something that society at large, considers taboo. The woman has since taking the course not only worked through her personal pain of loss, but she has helped others who are struggling for answers too. She is busy in the field of ghost research and working with those who want answers and help. As Dave and I continue to investigate and understand the other side of this life, we continue to share the knowledge we gain. This is something we have been able to dedicate ourselves to do, full time. It is a field of knowledge that is revealed slowly, but surely with sincere interest and exploration. Where one question is answered, two more come to mind, but we are dedicated to learning all that we can and to helping others along their path to discovering for themselves the truth about life after life. There is far more to this life than meets the eye and by continued research, we are discovering and documenting things unseen. We have been misled in many aspects of our lives, but there are too many things happening in our world that cannot be explained away or hidden any longer. The events are frequent enough that they cannot be ignored and brushed off as imagination. For Dave and myself, it is our life work to learn more and that is exactly what we intend to do. IGHS San Antonio Ghost Conference on June 19th: Dave & Sharon are preparing their annual Ghost Conference that will be held in San Antonio, Texas on June 19 at the Menger Hotel. The Conference for the third Saturday in June will focus on the ghosts of the Alamo, the Menger Hotel, and San Antonio, ghost photography, EVP recordings, and EVP evaluations. No psychics or mediums will be speaking, as we are a scientific based organization focusing on using scientific tools for recording and documenting the existence of ghosts. There will be a special investigation on Friday night for Inner Circle members. All events are within walking distance of your haunted hotel and meeting place. Special room rates of $95 at the Menger, just ask for the International Ghost Hunters Special, as long as rooms are available. We will have limited seating due to the meeting room limitations, so do not delay registering with Dave & Sharon. Check out http://www.ghostweb.com/alamo1.html. The New Jersey Ghost Hunters Society Ghost Conference 2004 This statewide conference will be held on Saturday, May 15, 2004 in Florham Park, NJ. It will be an all day event (9:00 AM to 5:00 PM) packed with multimedia presentations, author presentations, and great key learnings. All conference attendees are invited to ghost hunt at various haunted locations that evening. For more information or to register, please visit www.njghs.net or email the co-founder directly at laura@njghs.net. Digital Ghost Photography Handbook: Confused about orbs? What are dust orbs and how do they relate to real ghost orbs? Read our 20 page thermal bound book or download the PDF book and discover how digital photography is the wave of the future. We have been using digital since 1994 and we share with the reader, which are the best digital cameras on the market today. We also share what to look for when purchasing a digital camera and provide some protocols to avoid falling into the dust orb trap. Check it out at http://www.ghostweb.com/booklet2.html. How to Record and Analyze Ghost Voices: Traditional techniques for recording ghost voices are outdated and far less successful. Sharon and I have an accumulated 28 years of experience in ghost research and in evaluating ghost tools for field investigations. Along the way, we have discovered many hidden techniques that enable us to be tremendously successful in recording the voices of the dead. Our new book will disclose our time tested techniques in a step by step procedure that is easy to understand and to apply. Check out the book at http://www.ghostweb.com/booklet.html. We ship via Priority Mail through the Post Office, not the slow boat to China known as Media Mail that takes several weeks to arrive at an address. CD Version Home Study Courses: We offer two CD versions, one with the Home Study Course in PDF format that can be read by any hardware or software with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, version 4 or higher. This option is for those using the Mac Operating system or PC computer with an operating system that is not Windows based. We also offer the second version on the CD as the HTM version for PC computers using Wins95, Wins98, WindowsMe, and WindowsXP. The added features of this CD version, includes color photographs of spiritual orbs, spirit energy ectoplasm, a full body apparition and samples of ordinary airborne dust particles we call dust orbs that fool so many people. The separate Photo Analysis CD is now a part of the CD version. In addition, a printed copy can be made from CD, as in the printed version. We pay the shipping charges for Priority Mail in the USA, International Air Mail to Canada and for an extra ten dollars, we will ship it by Global Priority Mail to Europe and Asia. More information is available at http://www.ghostweb.com/mainhsc.html. Fulfill your dreams: Magic Dimensions We all have dreams that we wished that could be our reality, but we do not know how to make that wish come true for us. In our book, we teach about the magic of having your dreams fulfilled. We show the reader how to open a doorway for a new reality where your dream will come true. Many claim this process is a miracle, but Quantum Mechanics teaches us that our miracles are simply an application of this weird science. Out book can show you how to create that miracle! We share with the reader the magical techniques that create the miracle we seek after in life. Magic Dimensions may be one of the most important books that will change people’s lives. Visit our web site at http://www.ghostweb.com/magic1.html for more info on ordering the book. The ISBN number is 0-595-22032-0 and can be ordered from any bookstore or online at major dot.com bookstores. The online e-book can be downloaded immediately. IGHS T-shirts Available: We are pleased to announce that we have our new IGHS light blue 50/50 screen printed T-shirts available. The two sided printing has a large full size on the back and a smaller size image on the front, over the left pocket area. Limited sizes are available ranging from XL to 2XL. Check them out at http://www.ghostweb.com/tshirt1.html. Life Time IGHS Member Certificate: Instead of renewing every year, IGHS members can now purchase a Life Time Membership for $60 or a Life Time Membership and Life Time Clip ID Badge for $75. This is available through PayPal and through our online Secure Order Form. IGHS ID Badges for Investigations: We have received many requests for some kind of Identification Badge to wear while conducting field investigations. We have created a laminated ID Badge with a metal clip that snaps onto your shirt or other piece of clothing. It says that you are a Registered Ghost Hunter/Paranormal Investigator in good standing with the International Ghost Hunters Society and it has our signatures and web address. Order the ID Badge at http://www.ghostweb.com/id_badge.html. Password Memberships: We offer a special membership in our Ghostweb Ghost Galleries. Due to the size of these ghost galleries, we have to limit the number of people because of the bandwidth consumed by downloading the photos, spirit voices, and ghost videos in this area. If you want to view over 9,000 ghost photos, EVPs, and videos, check out our membership program at http://www.ghostweb.com/pass.html. IGHS Membership Certificates: The IGHS offers a beautiful Membership Certificate. The membership certificate is valid for one year Check it out at http://www.ghostweb.com/memcert.html for more information. Kind regards, Dave, Sharon & BooBoo International Ghost Hunters Society Currently in Deming, New Mexico Copyrighted 2004 by Dr. Dave Oester All Rights Reserved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our next book is spooky! American Hauntings Investigated, due out in June 2004 San Antonio Ghost Conference -- June 19, 2004 -- San Antonio, Texas http://www.ghostweb.com/alamo1.html Dave Oester, Ph.D., DD. Sharon Gill, Ph.D., International Ghost Hunters Society 713 W Spruce, PMB 715 Deming, NM 88030 Web URL: http://www.ghostweb.com Email: MagicDimensions@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~