Despite the blog post title I have yet to see the movie, paranormal activity. I have however witnessed enough phenomenon to freak myself out enough IRL. My daughter saw the movie and slept with her door open and the light on for years after. No thanks. I saw the Conjuring in the theater with a friend and made my husband stay on the phone with me until I got home. I still sleep with a night light on because of that! Somehow I managed to muster up the courage to attend a ghost hunt. I really didn't know much going in and I didn't expect anything to really happen. I was wrong!

Some friends and I took a Ghost Hunting 101 course at the Atlanta Landmark, The Wren's Nest. This was the home in which Joel Chandler Harris wrote the children's classic tales of Brer Rabbit. We are not going to talk about the controversy surrounding the author but focus on the home itself. It is the oldest Museum home in Atlanta. The overall vibe of the place was very warm and inviting.

We were provided a tasty meal and drinks while we sat in one of the rooms and were given a presentation from Southeastern Institute of Paranormal Research. A non-profit organization that investigates haunted places.

 Doug, Denise and Tammy of SIPR were the most unassuming ghost hunters. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't them. They were very down to earth, regular people sharing their knowledge and experiences in a relaxed atmosphere.

We were given definitions of the different kinds of hauntings. Residual, Intelligent, Poltergeist, Portal, Doppleganger, Shadow People and Demonic including symptoms of possession. Shadow People fell under Negative Energy along with Demonic. I have seen a Shadow person a few times in my mom's house. Supposedly they are not all bad. I never got a good feeling from him. I am also not the only one to have seen this figure in my mom's house. My mother, brother, daughter, best friend and ex-boyfriend have all felt and seen things over the years. SIPR has volunteered to investigate for free if I can talk my mom into it.

 We also learned about psychics (better known as sensitives) and the 8 different Clairs. Clairvoyance, Clairsentience, Clairsentience Precognitive, Clairsentience Psychometric, Clairaudience, Clairalience, Clairambience and Claircognizance.

Angels and demons exist in a hierarchy.

We learned about the different types of equipment used and how they are used. I was able to use a K2 meter (EMF) during our later investigation of the home. The creepiest and most active piece of equipment we got to see in action was Boo Bear.

Despite looks, this teddy bear is not a toy. It is an expensive piece of ghost hunting equipment. Under the premise that everyone (and everything) is attracted to a teddy bear, Boo is embedded with equipment that senses energy spikes, temperature changes and touch. He responds with voice commands and different things light up depending on the level of activity. During our hunt he was very active and even sensed something touching him. He was also in the room where halfway through I started receiving spikes on my meter. The spikes got stronger and at one point for a good 20 minutes I was carrying on conversations with a ghost who was interacting with me by lighting up my meter.

It could have been the wine, but for some reason I was never scared. There was some concern that this spirit may try to come home with me, at first jokingly between me and my friends, but then Doug mentioned me to be careful. After we had finished and compared our notes between the 2 teams we split up into we discovered the other team had an object move and a flashlight turn on and off. Denise talked to me on the side and explained I need to have a conversation with the spirit and to be firm, to make sure it understood it needed to stay and not go home with me.

So here I was in the parking lot, in the dark, about to leave, alone, reasoning up to the house for the ghost to understand that it needed to stay. It was only then that I started to feel uneasy. I don't feel like it came home with me but I have suffered some very intense dreams. I am not sure if it is just my conscience messing with me. I was told the first line of equipment in an investigation is pen and paper and to write down my dreams because that is a common form of communication between the living and the dead.

Hopefully more ghost hunts are on the horizon for this group.