HOPPS Ghost Hunters

I am really interested in talking to someone about becoming an investigator or fill out a survey about it.

Come join us for our 3rd presentation at the Muncy Library on Oct. 25th at 6:30pm. Come talk ghost talk with us! Bring on some investigations or share your personal ghost story.

Get ready gang, for Sunbury investigation. Cindy & I have been there before & I had light go out at response to my question & tv came on by itself...in kids room! Can't wait. Hope to get new evidence to put on website.

Laura

It's been a really slow year for us, with little or no evidence found at locations we investigated.  We're ready to start the New Year and are looking for areas to investigate.  We have a lot more cameras now, better preliminary questions to get to the root of the problem and after the holidays, more time to do investigations.  If you know of a haunted location, or have one yourself, please call  (570) 584-2844 or email us at one of the links on the Home Page and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.  I'm looking forward to breaking this dry spell we've had and we need some of the things you experience to help us get the EVPs and footage we need for a great website.  Thanks!

All, if you want to chat live w/Ryan Buell & Sergey while they investigate in South Carolina, Ryans home turf, then get on website they will indicate on tv priorto the investigation.  Also, a new branch off of PRS, call Ghost Prophecies, will air at 8:30 on A&E....looking forward to a good ghost hunting night!

Laura

I always had a problem with error codes on some of my Sony camcorders.  Well, I found a list to share that tells some of the codes you may experience with your camera.  This is not to say all cameras will have the same codes for the same things, but it is a starting point for troubleshooting at home.  This list is available on our Downloads link to the left under Sony Error Codes, a MS Word file.

We've had some problems arise recently that I think I should address here on our site, just so people understand our process.

1.  Our investigations are free

2.  The first step is gathering the information (sometimes takes days)

3.  We research the case history, including past tenants of homes, rumors of  actrivty in and near a location, ask questions you must answer about yourself or the people affected,

4.  We ask you questions you must be active in seeking out answers to such as medical,  psychological and emotional history, as well as drug use to include current prescription drugs, non prescription drugs and recreational use of drugs.

5. Once the other possible answers for your problem are ruled out, we will make an appointment to see you at the location for a preliminary check of the area.

6. If we cannot determine other possible causes for activity (such as high EMF, carbon monoxide poisoning, etc.) we will estabish an investigation date.

7.  We require all pets to be removed from the home during an investigation and only the minimum of people can remain in the home.  Usually this is the person affected only, unless they are minors or feel the need for emotional support.  This is not a spectator endeavor.

8.  Investigations results are not immediate, they can take weeks sometimes due to our case load, but if we perceive anything unusual or unsafe during an investigation that case will take priority.

9,. Our recommendations are recommendations only.  If you're not willing to work toward resolving the problem as we suggest, we cannot help you much further. 

I had to put this on here so people understand we're not just jumping in without knowing what we're doing. We follow what we feel is a safe avenue for both us and the client, with methods that are required to ensure that safety.  We certainly don't want to make things worse with our presence.  Sometimes people will not accept that fixing the electrical problem or leaking flue pipe may be the cause of the activity, but simply put, we must try to rule out the obvious first.  I will try to help with simple things like that, (maybe just sealing a pipe correctly) but may require you to call in someone certifted to make a determination as to the severity of the problem.   We may recommend calling in a priest or other religious authority to conduct a blessing of a home.  We can recommend this, perhaps contact one for you, but you must be active helping yourself as well.  To be fair, the problem usually must be resolved by the person who is most affected, we are there to help you do this safely, give you a support structure, and document events to prove or disprove paranormal activity exists.  We are not trying to be famous, rich or have an underlying agenda, we simply want to help and experience the things with you and try to explain the sometimes no-so-obvious.

I had the misfortune of being told local radio stations were running some kind of series with local amatuer ghost hunting groups taking turns speaking over the airwaves.  I say this because they really don't understand what's going on, but get on the radio and spread bad information.  That's OK, the radio is for entertainment.  One of the groups talked about Allison's Grave once again, apparently having no inclination to do research first.  I typed it as a Google search and lo and behold the top five articles have our included research and findings on them.   Here's just one example:

http://sites.google.com/site/hauntsandhistory/poconosi-80east

The research step is the most important, followed by analysis, then the hunt itself.  Anyone can be a ghost hunter, but not everyone can be a paranormal investigator. 

I really try not to be critical, but when I find other groups out there trespassing, thrill seeking and just overall not having a clue as to the possible consequences of their actions, it's upsetting.  This tends to taint how people feel about what the real investigators do, and sometimes will preclude the serious groups from access to sites at future times.  I look at it this way;  If 50 groups come to a place to investigate but only one has the equipment, knowledge and tenacity to do things correctly, the other 49 have already set a pattern of mannerisms that sometimes forces the property owner to just say no to everyone. 

If you belong to a group, please at the very least follow these steps so others can be welcomed at a later time.

1.  Get permission to be on the property

2.  Have the equipment to do the investigation

3.  Research your subject matter and the area you're investigating prior to going

4.  Be respectful to the property, the owner, and anyone you come in contact with at the site

5.  Don't taunt (spirits) if you don't want to deal with the consequences

6.  If you're in over your head, call for help from someone who may know a little more about what they're doing --ther'es no shame in not knowing, only shame in allowing it to become a way of doing business

7.  Remember, there are no experts, don't pretend to be one.

Just my two cents as I'm easily offended by attention seekers.

Laura and I were lucky enough to get to Pennsylvania College of Technology tonight to see Ryan Buell and Sergey Poberezhny talk about the paranormal.  I learned we are so much alike it's uncanny.  They spoke about a lot of the issues I have addressed on this website such as digital cameras, orbs, mindset, religious beliefs, etc.  Our group must be on the right path as there was nothing they talked about that we haven't already posted in some form or another.  I did like how passionate Ryan was when addressing the problem a ghost hunting group was having, and agree with the prerequisites in attempting to enlist the help of religious persons for more than just a blessing.  *First, get a medical and psychological screening done to see if your problem may be health related  --this helps to preclude hidden problems and shows an effort ahead of time that you're serious about your problem (paraphrased of course).

Also the warning he provided to would be paranormal investigators - Be prepared to deal with the consequences of what you're doing.  This has to be emotional, physical, and theological.  If you're not ready, don't start seeking the unknown, you may not like what it has to share with you.  Basically, if you hunt lions, know that lions may also hunt you ....they're better prepared in their own environment.

I was reluctant to attend as I shun what television has done to this endeavor....but I felt better knowing Ryan admitted it takes about 12,000 minutes of footage to make a 22 minute episode.  That's a lot of data!  Too bad tht's not explained well enough on TV, because analysis and tenacity are the weakest points in every paranormal group I know.

Overall, we were both impressed with the time they took to explain things and enlighten those who attended with little or no knowledge of the paranormal, other than what they see on TV.

Thanks guys!

I get a lot of requests to analyze pictures people send in for my opinion.  Keep in mind, it's an opinion and sometimes people don't hear what they want to hear, although I do use sound science to come up with what I see in the pictures. 

Often people don't even understand their cameras.  How does aperature, ISO (ASA) settings, shutter speed, and number of megapixels affect your shot?  Rather than go too indepth, I found a website that explains it all in laymens terms.   I am not taking credit or blame for any information posted here, but do recommend you do some reading. http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_iso.html

As for analysis, I have been using PIcasa 3.8 available for free, which does an amazing job at letting you bring out detail, changing the colors on your pictures, editing, etc. and you can see the results immediately without having to save the picture with each step in enhancement.  The program is available at  http://download.cnet.com/Picasa/3000-2193_4-10160334.html  The cool thing about this program is when you open a picture, down in the left corner is the picture information -shutter speed, ISO, and aperature.  It also should show the type of camera this picture was taken with if it's a digital camera.  With the camera information you can look it up and see the specs, limitations for heat and cold, and any known flaws that may have been noted by testers.

Another mistake for ghost hunters is thinking "nightshot" settings on digital cameras are true "night vision" type shots.  The first rule of a true night vision camera is it will have an infrared illuminator (IR light) on the front of it.  This will look like a dull red glow if you look at it in the dark.  If you don't have this feature, it's more than likely this is an "enhanced nightshot" device, which uses slower shutter speeds and changes in aperature to allow the camera to take light in for a longer period of time --not true nightvision.  One way this affects your pictures is with a longer exposure time (1/60 second down to about 1/8 second or longer) is you will get a camera movement effect unless it is mounted on a stable tripod.  People often get what looks like a traveling orb on their pictures simply because of this shaking.  Your heartbeat alone is enough to make the camera shake, although you'd swear it was perfectly still.

Now to address dust spots on your lens. Simply put,  dust spots show up as a function of aperture. The smaller the aperture, the more resolved the dust spots will be.  That is why they appear on some pictures and not on others.  It is important when taking multiple shots that you keep everything set manually.  Allowing the camera to keep making adjustments only increases you chances of getting false "orbs".  If it's dark, it's dark, you don't need the camera to continuously keep adjusting itself.  Once you preview a clear picture shot in the dark, keep those settings the entire night.  You'll see less "orbs" and dust in the resulting photos.

Just some helpful hints.  Part of operating a piece of equipment is understanding it.  Especially if you want to make claims of capturing "ghostly" apparitions. 

My experience?  I've had my own photo (film) developing lab since I was 13.  That's 35 years ago.

 Happy picture taking!