CHAPTER 1

From Skeptics to Believers

What is a ghost box?

"What is a ghost box?" you may ask. A ghost box is basicallyan electronic device that sweeps a wide band of frequencieswithout stopping. These bands can and usually do include thefrequencies of your standard AM/FM radio. Many of thesedevices are, in fact, converted radios. The device scans throughthe different frequencies at varying rates while the Listeners tryto hear a message from the great beyond.

High standards for paranormal investigations

When we began our research about the ghost box, wedecided from the start that no matter the outcome, we wouldbe as transparent as possible. Our goal was to allow any andall to take our findings and come to their own conclusions. Ourparanormal investigations adhere to strict scientific guidelinesfor all our team members. When processing evidence welook for all possible natural explanations for the event beingobserved. With that being said, we understand that this levelof scrutiny is not for everyone. Nevertheless, we believe that itis necessary to practice the scientific method when conductinginvestigations. Ironically, our findings have been so spectacularthat when people see the evidence, it seems unbelievable. Wehave been accused on more than one occasion of fabricatingour results. Oddly enough, it is these critics that give us themost pleasure. While this obviously does not help to convinceothers that our findings are valid, it does prove to us that we arenot "just hearing things." When a critic hears the same thingwe do and the only support for his or her lack of belief is thatwe fabricated evidence, it validates our findings, because weknow we did not.

Ghost box experiments are remarkable

If you have never seen our videos, it is hard to understandjust how incredible the process is to watch. While we wereconducting a battlefield investigation in Gettysburg, a couplewho was visiting the site happened upon us during a ghostbox experiment. The Listener with the box in this case wasShawn. He had his hood up and head down while Patrick,the Questioner, asked specific questions about battle events.The couple listened as Shawn provided responses from theghost box to Patrick's questions. The responses were comingso quickly and were following the questions so closely that oneof them said, "He must be a psychic." They were even moreamazed when Shawn removed his hood to reveal that he had onheadphones and could not hear any of the questions Patrick hadasked! This is at the very heart of the double-blind process, andit is sessions like this where the ghost box really shines.

The beginning

We would like to take you through the process by which weeventually accepted the ghost box as a valid tool for paranormalinvestigations. Keep in mind that we did not start this processlightly. We encourage anyone who wishes to follow this pathto take the same approach. We took a long time to includethe ghost box in our evidence. When we began our double-blindexperiments, we wanted to make sure that what we werehearing was truly supernatural. Any researcher should take anobjective approach to his or her investigations. The ghost boxtakes time to get used to, and you may or may not have goodresults right away. No matter how you begin, you should usethis method in a way that can validate findings and verify thatwhat you're hearing is truly supernatural. The bottom line isthat a ghost box should be one tool, but not the only tool, atyour disposal.

Variation of responses by location

As we continued the research in a variety of venues, wewere shocked time and time again not only at our findings,but at how differently each location responded from the ghostbox. Some locations gave no coherent responses whatsoever.We have been on investigations where the box never produceda valid response. We have been on investigations where thebox would talk so much we could not keep up. We performinvestigations in both daylight and darkness, and there seemsto be no difference in how the box performs. Through thecases we present, you will see this diversity of responses and"moods." We do not believe that this is the box's fault, butinstead that it speaks of the disposition of the entities presentat each location.

Variation in the number of spirits

We have investigated a few cemeteries, which haveexhibited their own unique dispositions. Here, as one mayexpect, the ghost box was crowded with people that wanted tocommunicate. Some spirits are open to speak and others arenot. The problem with cemeteries is that the experience canbe so overwhelming that you may not be able to distinguishwho is talking and who is answering. We have had incredibleexperiences at them, though, and in this book we will sharewith you one of the most incredible.

Variation between users

We have also used two different ghost boxes in tandem withtwo separate Listeners to see what would happen. The resultswere astounding! When two Listeners utilized the double blindon two separate boxes, what began to happen was a sort of dualanswer. However, this is not what we expected. Obviously, weknew that it was impossible that both radios would browse thefrequencies at the same time. Different radios have differentspeeds at which they sweep through frequencies, thus makingany kind of synchronization impossible. The boxes also beganfinishing each other's sentences. At one point, we almost felt likewe...