The Mysterious Pitney House

            There lies a big historic house on Shore Road in Absecon known as the Dr. Jonathan Pitney House. The house which is now a bed & breakfast belonged to Dr. Pitney who is considered to be the “Father of Atlantic City”.  He is also responsible for erecting the Absecon Lighthouse and bringing a railroad to Absecon and Atlantic City. Dr. Pitney occupied the house from 1833 until he died in 1869. However, visitors to his home believe that he still resides there. Many guests and previous owners have reported a number of strange happenings. One woman was lying on the bed in the Caroline Room when she saw two men walk through the room and disappear. Another woman was staying in the Victoria Room where she saw a strange light coming from one of the drawers in the bureaus. The mysterious light got bigger and then it disappeared into thin air. The sound of a fife has also been heard coming from the little cottage outside of the house. Even though The Pitney House is considered to be one of the most haunted houses in Atlantic County, many individuals do not mind Dr. Pitney’s presence because he is a friendly spirit.

 Many individuals believe that spirits haunt the Earth due to unfinished business in their past life. This is just one of several theories. Other theories on why a ghost may remain on Earth include traumatic deaths, guilt or regret that they may have experienced in their past life, or a strong connection to a loved one that is still living. Dr. Pitney may still reside in his current residence because he wants to make sure that his home does not fall into ill repair. He may also want to make sure that the town of Absecon which, he devoted much of his life to continues to grow and prosper. 

Check out this website which lists a majority of the most haunted places in NJ!                http://www.theshadowlands.net/places/newjersey.htm

Have any of you visited any of these sites?

The Evil Hours

Ever since I was young I would always get paranoid when I woke up during the early hours of the morning. I would dread waking up specifically from midnight through 3 A.M. I always thought I would wake up to a ghost standing over my bed or to my TV turning on by itself. I decided to find out where this topic came about. These evil hours have been referred to as early as Shakespeare, where he mentions ghosts and other supernatural phenomena taking place around midnight. It is also said that 3 A.M. is the devils hour, as Jesus was said to be crucified around 3 P.M. Hospital workers also claim this is the time that most deaths occur in their facilities. Numerous horror movies feature this time and are said to be based on 'real' events. This is the time the spirits are supposed to be the most active.
One reason 3 A.M. might be such an infamous time is because it is sometimes associated with REM sleep. The brain begins to process events somewhat differently during this time which can lead to a sensation of something odd taking place. During this stage of sleep, Sleep Paralysis can occur. Auditory hallucinations are apparent during this time and noises such as knocking, laughing, scratching, and footsteps may appear. It's easy to see how this brain activity can make us jump to the conclusion that a demon is right outside our door.

http://themindseye.wordpress.com/2006/04/15/3am/
http://www.ouijaboardrules.com/2011/01/ouija-board-rules-3am-devils-hour.html
http://www.paranormalpeopleonline.com/dead-time-is-it-a-dead-myth-or-cold-fact/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NO7xA4x9kM

Orbs: Photographic Evidence of the Paranormal or Dust Particles?

I like to believe that in death, our souls transform into pure energy and departs from our physical bodies. Imagine being able to explore the universe or check in on our loved ones in an eyeless blink! The possibility that we only get one life and we cease to exist after death, is difficult to cope with. It's only natural that we would hope there's more... and maybe there is. Believing in a spirit world - the idea that the departed are among us, is a belief in the existence of ghosts. Whether you believe in ghosts or don't believe in ghosts, is not the purpose of this article. What you accept as evidence or proof of the spirit world, is the actual subject at hand.

Orbs have been the subject of much debate among paranormal investigators. Unfortunately, lots of people believe that orbs are proof positive of ghosts or spirit energy despite that the notion has been repeatedly and thoroughly debunked. Orbs are typically small, white in color, circular, semi-transparent blobs in still photographs. There may be one, there may be several per photograph. They are not visible to the naked eye which is why you will not see one until you review the picture you snapped last night. People often believe they see faces, (sometimes recognizable faces) within the orbs. This photographic anomaly has increased in frequency as a result of the use of digital cameras.

So, what are orbs anyway? It appears there are several possibilities. Airborne dust is the most likely culprit, while insects and water vapor/moisture are also very possible. Several conditions must be met before an orb can magically appear in a photograph. Para.Science's investigation revealed that first, the camera's flash must be used. Second, "Airborne material must be located within a few centimeters of the camera lens and the material must also be within a narrow range of angles relative to the lens center axis for the material to be able to reflect the light from the flash into the lens." Para.Science, through an exhaustive series of tests, was able to debunk this anomaly as paranormal. Despite this proof and many other debunking successes made by other organizations and professionals, people continue to believe that orbs are evidence of the spirit world. Thank you The Discovery Channel, for being one of the few entertainment channels that admits to this silly misconception.

Perpetuating myths does a huge disservice to legitimate scientists who are trying to prove or disprove the existence of an after life. Self-deception doesn't help the psyche. If you are a believer who is seeking the truth, at least have some common sense and practice skepticism, it is your sharpest tool for the job.

Sources:
http://www.parascience.org.uk/articles/orbkill.htm
http://www.yourdiscovery.com/paranormal/ghost_hunting/orbs/index.shtml
http://www.ghostorbs.com/ (image borrowed from here)
http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/fake/orbs.html
http://ghoststudy.com/a_what_are_orbs.html
http://www.moonslipper.com/ghostlightsandorbs.html

Are ghosts real?

Many people believe that ghosts are real due to movies, media and pop culture. Some children may even believe ghosts are real and similar to the popular cartoon ghost Casper, however Casper was a friendly ghost. People also believe that some ghosts are evil and have come to haunt them or to seek revenge. Ghosts are believed to be spirits or souls of the deceased and can be anyone from a family member to a friend, parent, sibling or relative.

There has been a fascination with ghosts, however the actual scientific evidence is minimal. Ghosts are also linked to paranormal activity and can't be explained and just regarded as a phenomena. Many people have attempted to capture ghosts on film and some have, supposedly. Based just upon weird or inexplainable occurences, ghosts may always be regarded as just a figment of one's imagination. The idea of seeing ghosts has not be proven reliable or true.

I do not believe in ghosts personally nor have I ever seen a ghost. I watch weird things that happen on television that include a weird experience with seeing ghosts or shadows. The shows are interesting, such as the show paranormal activity but I just cant find myself to believe ghosts are real, until I am proven wrong and when that day comes I will realize I just might be going insane like the rest of America.

EMF meters and Ghost Hunting

My girlfriend and her mother love Hunt the Ghost or Ghost Hunters, or whatever those shows are called. You know those ones where they use high tech equipment like cameras, microphones, thermal imaging and all kinds of stuff that’s used by cable guys and electricians to tell you if there’s a ghost around? Well they were watching one time and got the idea to use the EMF meter in their shed while they were using the Ouija Board that night. I don’t belive in the parker brother’s game personally, but that’s not why I’m here. I was watching them swear that they were communicating with spirits and the small fractions of jumps and activity on the EMF meter only proved them right. I asked them why and they said something along the lines of, “Didn’t you see those professional ghost hunters? They use EMF meters.”

Then I got to thinking about the subject and started doing some research. So naturally I asked the only man I know who can rattle off the instruction manual for just about any device found in the garage, my dad. Basically, the EMF meter, also known as an Electromagnetic Field Meter, is mainly used to detect AC current from things like wiring, lighting, appliances and other devices. In addition to needing scans from multiple directions if it is a single axis scanner, however some scanners are tri-axis and can take all directions readings at once.

What does all this technology actually have to do with the paranormal? Well, according to many sites devoted to the hunting of ghosts, ghouls, goblins and gremlins, such as the folks at Proof Paranormal, found that “Paranormal investigators have found throughout the course of their research over the years that spirits manifest themselves by feeding off of energy.”

They do not however, elude as to how throughout their supposed years of research they discovered spirits feed of off present energy sources. They go on to say that people swear in some places that their cell phones and electronics go dead faster and they attribute that to spirits feeding off of energy. So the spirits resonate this consumed energy or something I guess, and that’s why EMF meters spikes when ghosts are around.

So when the Ghost Hunters go headlong into renovated castles, mansions and historic tourist sites filled with call boxes, lights, radios and televisions with their cell phones, radios, video cameras, image detectors, sound recorders and lights in hand, no wonder their EMF meters always show a signal! I’d say that maybe it would help if you just had an EMF meter and were somewhere outside and away from electronics, perhaps the middle of Gettysburg’s battlefields. But then again you’d have to be able to rule out any EMF readings due to the weather because the sun, moon, storms and other natural things can throw out a reading as well.

Even giving the ghosts the benefit of the doubt and saying they do feed off of energy. The further back we go in time, history, legend or whatnot the more paranormal things seem to be present. What did the old timey ghosts eat? I doubt that if ghosts do exist that they often died of starvation before Benjamin Franklin came along.

Does the EMF meter really aid in detecting ghosts? I suppose it’s possible, I can’t prove that it doesn’t. Maybe I’ll ask my girlfriends Ouija board and see if I can get the answer.