From: To: Subject: [IGHS] Newsletter, May 9, 2004 Deming, New Mexico Date: Sunday, May 09, 2004 10:52 AM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ International Ghost Hunters Society Newsletter May 9, from Deming, New Mexico Dr. Dave’s Notes: Registration is on a fast track for our Alamo Ghost Conference in June. We have registrations from Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and of course, the great state of Texas, so far. We do have limited seating so be sure to register early or risk not being able to attend. We are planning some exciting events, excellent speakers who follow the IGHS Standards and Protocols in their field investigations and after the sessions are over, join us for some EVP investigations. Martin Leal offers his walking ghost tour for those who would like to experience the local haunts in and around the Alamo. We will also have a special Inner Circle Investigation on Friday night for those who are experienced in ghost hunting. We do offer group and military discounts so drop us an email for more information on the discounts. This is one ghost conference that you will not want to miss. No psychic mumbo jumbo, we offer the straight scientific approach to ghost investigations. What you learn, you can apply in the investigations with us after the day sessions. HELP: I have upgraded our Acoustica 2.25 to Acoustica 3.1, but am unable to download the 6.9 meg file because of our slow speed wireless modem. If anyone has already downloaded the Acoustica 3.1 and can burn it to a CD and ship it to me, I can enter my Acoustica Key to activate it. I have paid for the upgrade, but downloading it is just not possible. This is our curse for using Verizon Quick to Net speed of 14.4 kbps, but for downloads the speed drops to a slow 800 to 900 bps crawl. I have posted another fake ghost photo in our Free Ghost Gallery, this time the Old Hag is standing next to an Asian teenager. This Old Hag has been surfing the Internet for the last five or six years. The Old Hag started out in photos with her floating in a long hallway. Later the Old Hag showed up in an alleyway. Now for the past year or so, she shows up with an Asian teenager. The story surrounding this photo is almost as varied as stories about the origin of the Angel in the Sky hoax, first sent out in the mid seventies by a Christian sect seeking donations to their coffers. I am beginning to think that those in Asian countries who send this photo to us must believe that we are gullible. While the ghosts portrayed in Asian folklore tend to be more menacing and grotesque, the simple fact remains that ghosts are the essence of who we were in life, complete with intelligence, emotions, and personality. If we were an old hag in life, we will be an old hag in death. However, the Old Hag in the Fake Ghost Photo in our Free Ghost Gallery is simply a digital manipulated image created for the purpose of deceiving. This hoax played into the hands of naive people who actually believed the photo to be valid. I am reminded of that old saying, “You can fool all of the people some of the times, and some of the people all of the time.” Just like the 18 year old youth in Germany that created the last virus that affected million of computers, and a week later, the authorities nailed him. While it may have been a prank to him, the million of dollars it cost other people was no prank, it was destructive and could be labeled a terrorist cyber attack. He wasn't even very smart because his codes gave him away within a week. As ghost hunters, we love sharing our photos with others who can appreciate them, but with cyber terrorism running amuck, beware of any attachments that come to you supposedly from MagicDimensions@aol.com or from Ghostweb@ghostweb.com, these attachments will be virus infected. We do not send attachments. A virus has gotten into someone's address book with our email address, steals the address, and sends virus infected attachments using our address. During the two-hour radio program with Jeff Rense this past Friday evening, we played an EVP recorded with a cell phone. Many cell phones have a memo recorder that will record for 30-seconds or so. This was the first time we have heard of a cell phone being used to record ghost voices. We teach that any recorder will work, now we can also say, any memo recorder also. We also want to thank Shawn Smith for an insight into reverse speech. While recording at a cemetery, his son was reading off the name of a tombstone. When he reversed the segment spoken by his son, the reverse cleared said that the spirit had dark hair. Apparently, the subconscious mind is in direct contact with the spirit realm and knows even the hair color of the spirit. After the son, three spirits spoke up, two giving their names and one spirit saying “thank you.” Since this discovery by Shawn Smith, we will need to start reversing what people are saying, not just the ghost voices recorded. If you are not familiar with reverse speech, go to www.reversespeech.com for more information about it. Today is a beautiful day, temperatures in the high 80s or low 90s and humidity at 17%. We got our AC serviced yesterday, so now we will enjoy having AC to cool us on these hot days. We will be going back to Camp Cody for more EVP recordings. We recorded three two-minute segments in the local cemetery for the Jeff Rense program and got two tracks with ghost voices. One voice said, “Wrong setting …switch,” which may have been the cause of his death as this was a railroad town. Perhaps he died from a wrong setting on the railroad tracks. We will never know for sure. The other ghost voice said, “See you later!” In reverse, it says, “Hey David.” Now, I do not know if that ghost was suggesting that he would see me sooner than I would hope or down the road kind of later. Oh well, I guess I will find out. Happy trails. Dr. Sharon’s Notes: I would like to wish everyone a “Happy Mother's Day!” It is hard to believe that we are already going into the second week in May, but somehow time just speeds along. You know, getting older just means that time seems to fly by more quickly. The past few months have taken me into an area of research that I have not studied much about in the past. I have been studying a lot of the material written by people involved in deathbed visions. Dr. Raymond Moody has been a leader in these types of studies, Dannion Brinkley, having been struck by lightning and killed, only to return to this life, has also written two books on his experiences and working with hospice patients. Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Karlis Osis, PhD, Erlendur Haraldsson, PhD., are all leaders in the field of deathbed visions and understanding the dying and what they experience at the time just before death. There have been studies conducted in this area since the 1950’ s, so it is not something new. Unless a person is searching for information on a topic such as this, it is not something that they would find just lying around on a library table. Nurses and Doctors generally have a code of silence regarding death and the dying. It is not something our society will discuss openly. Working with people who are dying, we tend to turn more toward the idea of respect for them and the sensitive nature of their conditions rather than the fact that things are occurring around them that not only scare them but things they would talk about if they felt there was a level of understanding there. Rather, a patient who is having visions before death is considered more to be out of their heads or hallucinating. This has been a total misjudgment on behalf of medical personnel. Since Dannion Brinkley had his death experience, he has found that working with the dying may take time for the patient to learn to trust, but the patients are more often than not, wanting to discuss what they are experiencing. They want to talk about what is happening to them, what they are “seeing” and feeling. In the first place, dying is a slow process when death comes through the natural process. The patient often feels very alone, alienated from others, knowing their days are numbered. In talking with them, they find a place of comfort and with Brinkley’s death experience; he is able to help them make the transition more easily. We should not fear one of the most natural processes of life, yet we do. One very interesting aspect of studying death and dying is the fact that there is a tremendous difference between a patient hallucinating and a patient having deathbed visions. It has been found that medication rarely influences deathbed visions, and most of the chemical and physical conditions attributed to these visions, are not influential at all. A deathbed vision may be one of seeing another realm, a bright light, brilliant colors, and feeling a pure sense of love. A deathbed apparition, most of the time, is the vision of a loved one, coming to comfort a dying patient and help them make the transition into the next phase of existence. Another little known fact is that religious beliefs are not a major influence on deathbed visions. Patients who experience deathbed apparitions describe the vision as being a close relative who has passed on, angels or dear departed friends. Rarely does a dying patient describe seeing Jesus, Buddha or other religious deities. They find comfort in seeing the vision of a Grandmother, Mother or a relative they were close to in this life. This also validates that the bond of love is eternal and our loved ones are near to help us transition to the other side of this life when our time comes. Evidence is abundantly clear that we do not die alone. The difference between hallucinations and apparitional hallucinations is this: Hallucinations are mixed, many being incoherent, rambling events non-reflective of a dying situation. Hallucinations are a form of mental imagery involving sensory qualities similar to perception but not corresponding to sensory input. What singles out hallucinations from all other kinds of imagery is the fact that the person is awake during them and experiences the same sensation of realness regarding the image as he/she does when perceiving real objects. The experience of realness is a basic component of perceptual processes. Apparitional hallucinations are when a patient sees only a person while his perceptions of his surroundings remain intact. In other words, the patient still recognizes his/her room and normal surroundings, it is only the apparition that is unusual or seemingly out of place. The person is not describing being in a different place at a different time of their life, but their visualizing a person they knew who has died before them, now standing in front of them. Deathbed apparitions are coherent, lifelike, concerned with the death situation and generally bring a message to the patient of an afterlife which he should enter. In the majority of cases, the dying patient finds comfort and peace in the vision and the fear of dying is replaced with expressions of hopefulness and joy in making the transition. As a society, if we were more open to discuss dying and all the events associated with the transition, there would never be a fear of death. Hospitals are a place of healing and yet many die in these settings, which make the transition even harder. Doctors enter the field of medicine to heal the sick, not watch patients die, though it happens. Even in the medical training, little is taught on how to deal with the dying and death. It is the same within the religious community. Ministers are not known to deal with the dying or survivors of the dying in ways that truly give comfort. Many have been found to end up with their feet in their mouths because they stumble around death like it is alien to them. There again, we are not a society that talks of death, therefore we do not understand it or any aspect of it. I have listened to talk radio on many occasions when someone has called, recently having lost a parent and strange things have happened shortly after their passing. Some call to talk about a dying parent talking about a deceased relative standing in the room, yet they see nothing themselves. We should take notice of what these people are trying to tell us as it reinforces something very important to us all. We do not die alone and love does not die with the physical body, it is eternal. When events take place after losing a loved one, we need to recognize that they are trying in the ways they know will get our attention, that they are free of the physical bonds and happy. They love us and want us to know they are not far away. They want to extend the message that death is not the end, it is only another chapter in the book of life and we need not fear making the transition. IGHS San Antonio Ghost Conference on June 19th: Dave & Sharon are hosting their annual Ghost Conference 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. Group and military discounts are available. 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. Digital Ghost Photography Handbook: Are you 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. The CD version is 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. New ABC Network Show: The Swap The Swap is an exciting new series that celebrates the modern American family. Each episode involves two families and a fun twist: the Moms of each household swap places for ten days to experience how other families run their lives. If you are a two-parent family with kids and would love an adventure call now to be part of this Ground-breaking show, email: theswap@rdfmedia.com 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 August 2004 Alamo 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~