[IGHS] Newsletter, December 26, 2004 Congress Arizona

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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 an international society dedicated and committed to the research and study 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 15,000 members in 87 countries worldwide.

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International Ghost Hunters Society Newsletter

December 26, 2004 from Congress, Arizona

Dr. Dave’s Notes:

Our Christmas Special on our Home Study Courses ends on December 31, so don't delay. If you are thinking about certification through the International Ghost Hunters Society, check out our specials today at http://www.ghostweb.com/mainhsc2.html. We will be shipping all Home Study Courses so they will arrive before Christmas. The Express Mail fees are paid by us and are included in the price of the study courses.

Ours is the oldest certification program for ghost researchers offered on the Internet. We were the first to offer our home study programs back in 1998 to help beginners in this field. Many sources now try to copy us by offering their own home study programs, but they offer only basis Ghost Hunting 101 packages, not the in-depth comprehensive professional material that represents thirty years of our combined experience as the only two full time ghost hunters in this field. We have no day jobs, we are not parapsychologists on the weekends and paralegal clerks during the week, but we are full time committed to this research, traveling across America as we investigate some of the most haunted sites in this great land.

Registration is under way for our Southwest Ghost Conference in March. We have updated our Conference page at http://www.ghostweb.com/swc.html with a hot link to the lodging page, which has a list of hotels in the area. Our primary event will be in or near Old Town Plaza in Albuquerque. This is one event that you will not want to miss. Our conferences are filled with vital information that benefits those involved in the ghost hunting community. We do not entertain with ghost stories, but educate those attending. You will not find us talking about UFO’s, Bigfoot’s, or other non-ghosts happenings because we concentrate all our effort on ghosts and we teach you how to be a better professional in this field.

Albuquerque is what we call the City of the Dead because so many of the buildings have bodies buried within the walls instead of in a cemetery plot. One casket was discovered under the floor of one of the local restaurants during remodeling and was left undisturbed where it was found. Last year we held a seminar in Albuquerque and IGHS member Lorraine Scott was photographed several times with large ectoplasmic vapor surrounding her while she was standing in front of this haunted restaurant.

We completed our Book 2 in the America's Haunting series and turned it in to our Publisher this past week. We are beginning Books 3, 4, and 5 that we have to complete this year. In Book 3, we are open to including stories, photos and EVP from investigations, so if you could like your club or personal experiences to be included in our next books, send them to us for consideration. Book 3 is on Ancient Ruins and Other Haunts.

Book 4 is all about EVP techniques and examples of EVP recordings. If you have gotten some good EVP and would like to share your secrets and experiences gained during your investigations, send them to us for consideration.

Book 5 is on the Gettysburg Battlefield ghosts. We are looking for stories, photos and EVP recorded from in and around the Gettysburg Battlefield. No orb photos, no photos taken in the rain or when it was misting. We will not be publishing any dust orb photos or photos of rain drops, but only authentic paranormal anomalies. Those submitting stories to us will receive full credit bylines and will be able to see their story in print.

Sharon and I have just returned from exploring the old ghost town of Octave, Arizona again. We walked around the outer perimeter of this old mining ghost town and found some beautiful shards of milk glass that we will tumble, polish and then Sharon will wire wrap into beautiful ghost town glass pendants. We have some of our best times outside of ghost hunting when we explore old desert ghost towns. BooBoo is beside herself to be able to explore along side of us. In our recent manuscript, we include a section on Stanton and Octave as Sharon got some good EVP recordings at these two ghost town sites.

Octave is still being mined today by modern day gold prospectors who are members of the Gold Prospectors Association of America or the Lost Dutchman Mining Association that owns the ghost town of Stanton, AZ. These modern day miners are using state of the art metal detectors, dry-washers, and the old fashion gold pans to eke out the elusive gold nuggets.

As we come to a close of the 2004 year, we look forward to a more prosperous year ahead. Looking back for Sharon and me, this past year has been rough on us. First my mother's serious accident in June that rescheduled the second half of the years travel as we rushed to Oregon and then the passing of Sharon’s father in October. We have much that we want to accomplish this coming year in terms of our books and in terms of the progression of IGHS. Our purpose has been to train new people into understanding about ghosts, not from the folklore or traditions of the past, but from what we have discovered from our hands on investigations.

We have many members who have been with us since 1996 when the IGHS was started. We love to hear from them and what is happening in their lives. We have met some wonderful people during our travels, some have become friends for life, others have been people who we have helped along the way and been helped by them in return.

Sharon and I wish you the very best for the coming year from Congress, Arizona, where we have parked our RV and where we see some of the loveliest sunsets in this great nation of ours.

Happy trails.

Dr. Sharon’s Notes:

Over the years, we have received many emails, letters and telephone calls regarding the paranormal and acceptance of it by the general public. Many people may have a curiosity about ghosts and things that go bump in the night but they are concerned about how their friends and families will react to their being involved in such research. I’d like to share some insights I have gained this week, regarding the general feelings of the public about these issues.

A lot of the fears we have of the paranormal, the occult, the supernatural, witchcraft, and paganism, stem from our history. Eve, the first woman was considered the downfall of the whole of humanity because of her error in the garden. Throughout the ages, women have been considered weaker, less capable, and less intelligent. Though things have changed somewhat, in our way of thinking, women have arisen from the backseat positions, taking charge and showing they are more than baby machines here to serve and replenish the earth. We have seen a wave of women fighting for their rights here in America though in the third world countries, where women walk behind their husbands, covered from head to toe in garments, showing nothing but their eyes. I think we've come a long way baby!

Through our education and religious teachings, what has been lost, especially to the female gender through the years? While promoting the importance of material things and physical appearances, we have overlooked something far more important and lost it along the way. We have lost sight of the essence of who we are, the gifts that we are born with but now turn away from, such as the abilities to be sensitive and intuitive, to have a sixth sense of things, a deep awareness of what is around us, attuned with the earth, living in balance and harmony. Women are generally more gifted in these areas than are men and yet how many woman use and acknowledge the gift of insight and intuition when it automatically kicks in? These intuitions are suppressed, and rarely spoken of openly. It is just not a subject to be discussed at a woman's weekly Bible study.

Rather than our natural talents being developed with the spiritual growth coinciding with our physical growth, the focus is on the physical while the spiritual is suppressed. I am not referring to the religious teachings that we may follow, but the deep spiritual part of humanity that we do not talk about. We may not consider ourselves to be spiritual in nature but hopefully in reading further, you will discover there is more to us as humans, than meets the eye. Our history dictates a good part of how we look at ourselves today.

Taking a look back in time, women have been persecuted down through the ages and this becomes perfectly clear during the witch trials. We only saw a tiny portion of what took place in Europe, in looking at the witch hunts of Salem. The focus will be farther back to the time of the Inquisition. In Europe, during the witch hunts, it was primarily women tried and convicted for the act of witchcraft and associating themselves with the devil for their power. Some scholars have suggested that the Church was attempting to take the dignity and self-respect from women, putting them in a position of total subservience to men. For 400 years, horrors were perpetrated on those who were deemed witches and once someone was suspected of witchcraft, torture and rape followed; there was no chance of their being proven, not guilty.

We tend to think in modern terms of what we can relate to today so it is difficult to imagine the differences in the political and social structure that existed in Europe so long ago. Living conditions were horrid and people felt that God punished them for evil they had done. People today tend to think along the same lines when hardship or loss comes to their lives. The question would be why a loving God would punish certain folks in such harsh ways while others go through life unscathed and without suffering.

During the 1300s the Black Death killed between one-third and two-thirds of the European population. The Plague in the 1600s decimated the population again and during this time, the witch trials increased significantly. The people turned against witches and their craft. Once highly respected in the community as spiritualists, witches were suddenly outcasts among their own people. The general feeling of the time was that witches had the abilities to heal, ensure prosperity, peace, and fertility, yet they had no power over the death and disease that had overtaken them. Therefore, if the witches could do good things, they could also cause the trials and tribulations that were taking a toll on the people. With the Church unholy Inquisitions predominant and the horrors that ensued, fear manifested in the hearts and minds of the people that lasted for generations.

The Roman Catholic Church forbids the practice of any psychic arts, even healing, under the penalty of excommunication. The Roman Catholic Church ruled over most of Europe for almost a thousand years and no one in his right mind would contradict the Church or its teachings without consequence. The thought of excommunication today means little in our modern society compared to the time when it was a very serious matter. Being excommunicated then meant that a person was ousted from the community without further contact, friends, or support. It was not just being excommunicated from the Church, it was being excommunicated from life as one knew it. Remember the Roman Catholic Church was the only Christian Church in existence at the time.

The Inquisition led directly into the Protestant movement. The hatred was intense and folklore of the evil stepmother and the wicked witch sprang forth and are found in children's stories today. What the folklore did during that time was deny the existence of psychic abilities and gifts that people had used for the good of humanity. Those who were known to have psychic skills were feared and avoided. Any and all psychic abilities were hidden and not discussed as people feared for their lives. Thus, the suppression of psychic abilities was suppressed in children to spare them from persecution.

After 400 years, people refused to reveal any psychic abilities out of fear for their lives. Everywhere, people lived with suspicion, mistrust, and fear. They knew that friends could turn informers and even family could turn at will. These times were not just passing fancy; they were times that embedded fear into the very souls of those who existed during those times. Those fears passed down through generations of families and we still see signs of engrained fear in people today.

We live in a society today that tends to discount anything of a paranormal nature. People laugh in the faces of ghost researchers, jesting as to the insanity of the existence of ghosts. The reasons for the laughter can be traced back to the ultimate fear put into the hearts of men while witches were tortured, raped, and burned in public places for all to see. The Church was a powerful entity intent on all Europeans being Christian, subject to its rule. The population was held in place under the power of threat that even the innocent could not escape. There are many books written on the witch trials and what took place and if you have the stomach for it, the education is worth reading about it.

There are those today in the majority who feel that anything outside of a structured, mainstream religion is occult and immoral. People may have a curiosity about ghosts, magic, psychic abilities, UFO’s and anything that is yet unknown to them. Yet, they cower in fear of acknowledging anything outside of their experience or beliefs. We can still see the negative connotation associated with subjects considered paranormal, the strength of fear in society today. People cling to what they know and dismiss the possibilities that there are things in this world that remain unknown and are therefore feared.

Today we are able to see small changes taking place and slowly attitudes are changing, minds are opening to possibilities outside of the norm. We see and hear about gifted psychics emerging because they no longer have to hide their abilities out of fear. There are those who attempt to sell themselves to the public as psychics, but beware of the frauds, as they are common in an age when people are searching for answers and seeking a deeper meaning in their lives. If we can accept that people are born with the incredible God-given gifts of sensitivity, intuitive abilities, and a sense that exceeds our five senses, then we can begin to see that these gifts are within each of us as well. We do not need to turn to self-proclaimed psychics, but to our own inner selves for answers.

It takes time and training to quiet our busy minds, shut out stress, and find what is within us. We can discover our talents and develop them while finding a balance between the spiritual being and the physical being that we are. As we explore the nature of whom we are and the gifts we have, we begin to discover the connectedness of all things, seen and unseen. We find we are an integral component of a far bigger picture on a far grander scale.

Happy Hauntings

Southwest Ghost Conference in 2005:

The IGHS is holding its 9^th annual ghost conference in 2005. Registrations are coming in for our Southwest Ghost Conference for March 25-27 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. More information can be found at http://www.ghostweb.com/swc.html regarding this conference. Book early, as we will again have limited seating available to us. We are planning on a meet and greet on Friday night, sessions and hands on investigations on Saturday and for those staying Sunday, we will have a list of haunted sites they can investigate in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque area.

Ghost Charm and Ghost Town Jewelry:

We have added our line of ghost town glass pendants. Check them out at http://www.ghostweb.com/glass1.html. Sharon has created six different designs for her sterling silver ghost charm necklaces, with both carnelian and turquoise or carnelian and hematine stones. The sterling silver ghost charm measures about an inch in length. She also has created some beautiful jewelry by wire wrapping stunning carnelian nuggets that we found in the desert near Deming, New Mexico. The carnelian nuggets were tumbled for five weeks to bring out their natural beauty. She also has earrings with carnelian and combinations of either turquoise or hematine. Get your orders in today by going to http://photos1.ghostweb.com/carn2.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:

We have shared the hidden techniques that enable us to be tremendously successful in recording the voices of the dead. If you need a step by step booklet to help you achieve the same success as we enjoy, including which software to use to analyze the EVP recordings or what cables to use to hook up the recorder to the computer, search no further, check out the booklet at http://www.ghostweb.com/booklet.html. We ship via Priority Mail through the Post Office or download it as a PDF that can be printed out on your end.

CD Version Home Study Courses:

This is the premier certification program for ghost researchers and paranormal investigators, written by professional full time ghost researchers, Drs. Dave & Sharon. Part 1 deals with ghosts and the psychology of earth bound spirits, and Part 2 deals with working with people who are haunted by loved ones. We teach the scientific approach specializing in ghost photography and etheric voice phenomenon with 30 years of combined experience in this field. Read the recent testimonial. More information is available about our Christmas Specials at http://www.ghostweb.com/mainhsc2.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 the largest collection of ghost photos, EVPs, and videos, check out our membership program at http://www.ghostweb.com/pass.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 at http://www.ghostweb.com/memcert.html.

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.

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