James Sangster & Tony Barton - Help I'm Haunted

[Scott]

James Sangster & Tony Barton - Help I'm Haunted

MARCH 13th 2012

ghost-hunters.jpg

Listen to the Interview: http://www.spectrumradionetwork.com/...m-haunted.html

Houston Ghost Research is a private investigative group dedicated to studying paranormal phenomenon in the greater Houston area.
Houston Ghost Research was formed to Serve the citizens of Houston through educating the public about the paranormal phenomenon, promoting spiritual understanding and compassion.



James Sangster
HGR Director / Investigator
Responsibilities: Interviewing, investigation coordination, Cleansing, Occult Consultant

James has been involved in the paranormal investigation for over 10 years. His book, Help! I'm Haunted - Dealing with Ghosts is based on their work in the paranormal field. James is also an ordained minister and enjoys educating HGR clients about paranormal phenomenon while coaching them through the process of spiritually re-claiming their homes. He is an IT professional by trade and is currently studying the use of hypnosis to enhance psychic awareness.

Tony Barton
HGR Director / EVP analyst / Psychic Medium
Responsibilities: EVP recording and analysis. Medium Evaluations.

Tony came to the group in a unique way, as a client. ?His extensive studies in both the paranormal and theology help him to understand how his own gifts have made him a perfect fit for the group as he continues his spiritual growth. Like James, Tony is also an ordained minister, and takes great pride in being able to help clients understand better the situations that they find themselves in. After all, he's been there himself.



Houston Ghost Research Website:?http://www.houstonghost.com/

Book: Help! I'm Haunted!: Dealing with Ghosts

Scott

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[Scott]

Our interview with James Sangster & Tony Barton - Help I'm Haunted is now live.

Listen Live: http://www.spectrumradionetwork.com/listen-live.html

Scott

[Harley]

Welcome to Nexus James and Tony!

Great Interview! Fun Fun Fun!

[Scott]

Our Interview with Houston Ghost Research is now available in our archives section.

Very informative show.

Enjoy!

Listen to the archive Here: James Sangster & Tony Barton - Help I'm Haunted

P.S James Sangster & Tony Barton are members of Nexus, so if you have any questions or better yet ghost stories, Go for it!!

Scott

[jdsangster]

yep yep, im subbed to this thread too. always happy to answer questions here or in our forums too.

Tom, i started listening to your starchild interview with loyd. im going to have to pick up his books.

Our Interview with Houston Ghost Research is now available in our archives section.

Very informative show.

Enjoy!

Listen to the archive Here: James Sangster & Tony Barton - Help I'm Haunted

P.S James Sangster & Tony Barton are members of Nexus, so if you have any questions or better yet ghost stories, Go for it!!

Scott

[Heretic]

nice to have you on board gentlemen and just subbed this thread myself

[flower]

Help i'm Haunted!

great title guys

I wonder how many ppl realise they have had a "ghostly" encounter.

There are the typical ghost stories.... things moving that shouldnt... cold air passing thru a warm room...or the quick movement of a spirit out of the corner of your eye...

But what about the "non" typical encounters?

Places...for me can be hanunted. I dont mean "full of ghosts" but..

A forest, is haunted, not so much for the amount of spirits floating around.. but haunted by the memories of everyting that transpired at the feet of the trees.

So.. my questions.

Are all hauntings, spiritualy based? are Ghosts the soul entity responsible for hauntings?

If not... are demons/other beings more common then the spirits of humans that have passed?

How does the emotional factor weigh in?

A room were a rape happened, energy left from the high negative emotions will remain, almost imprinted in the room.

How can you differentiate between the two?

Many people these days are "waking up" , Do you believe this movement affects "how" we see hauntings?

Is it possible that people diagnosed with different mental disorders, who are experiencing "visions/hallucinations" are possibly seeing entities/ghosts?


It is great to have you guys here... Seems like out of all of us.. you have the second best job... Scott has the first!

welcome
be well

[HURRITT ENYETO]

Welcome James and Tony!
Awesome interview with Scott too, very interesting!

My family home is in an old house in the Uk, Its 100 years old, and had an underground Air Raid shelter in the back garden when we moved in. We suspect the old lady who lived there prior to us, actually died in the house.

Anyhow, when we looked upstairs, the door to one of the bedrooms had a nail in the wall beside it, and there was a piece of rope going from the nail and wrapping around the door handle. Of course we thought it was a bit strange, but that the old lady who's house it was may have been a bit eccentric etc. Every room had open fires, and the old lady had moved all her stuff into one room, she basically lived in the dining room.

Anyway, guess which room turned out to be mine
We took the rope off preventing the little room being opened, and me and my little sister were to share that room while the rest of the house was being renovated. We had bunk beds, her on the top bunk and me on the bottom bunk. I was about 7 years old, and my little sis was 5 or 6.

Now bear in mind, it was all a big adventure for me at the time, and i didn't know about ghosts or anything, my mum had said that the old lady was probably eccentric and had sealed the room with rope maybe because the door kept banging in a draft or something.

So the first night we slept in that room my sister was fast asleep, and I was laying in bed awake. I heard the front door open and close, and then I heard footsteps coming across the floorboards (there were no carpets down anywhere) and i mean loud footsteps. My 2 older brothers also lived with us and they were about 17 and 18 years old, so i thought it would be them coming home for the night.

The footsteps slowly walked across the hall to the foot of the stairs and then they started up the stairs. The footsteps walked directly up to my bedroom door and stopped. By this time, although i was hoping it was one of my older brothers, I got really really scared, and tried to wake my little sister in the bunk above but she was not responding at all. Then the door handle began to turn, my parents always left the hall light on because my little sister couldn't sleep if it was totally dark, and as the door was slowly pushed open, i could see a definate shadow on the wall, and it didn't look like the outline of my brothers.

At this point I did something I have always regretted, I got so terrified I pulled the sheets over my head (This was the first time I had ever done this, and it was weird for me to do because It always really bothered me in movies when the kid hides under the blankets. I always used to think 'as if you would hide under the sheets, that makes it even worse if you cant even see what's happening' but that is exactly what I did.

From under my blankets (by this time literately shaking with fear) I heard the door being pushed open, then their was another footstep into the room and then one of the scariest things I have experienced in my life happened. I am literally feeling fear right now as i type this.

The voice of an old lady said "Goodnight little boy"..............(I know how clich? this sounds, trust me, If i was going to make something up I would make up something better than this)
Then the door slowly closed and the footsteps descended the stairs and disappeared. When I could stop shaking and get up the courage, I went next door into my brothers room and it was empty so I ran into my parents room and woke them up, I got quite upset and told them what had happened. Neither of them took me seriously, and my Dad said, its probably your brothers coming home, to which my Mum replied "It cant be **** and **** because the front door is locked and they are both staying out tonight!!

They just told me too go back to bed (like it was just a nightmare) and for months after that, I refused to sleep with out the light being left on.
We had many experiences like that.
If it was just a nightmare, how come I remember it so vividly to this very day, and like i said, it still elicits a response in me.
I have written on NeXus about another particularly frightening experience I had, with real world effects. I will try and find it and re post it here!



Hurritt

[HURRITT ENYETO]

Ok I just found the another experience i had posted over at Avalon, I am copy pasting it here.
Its a bit embarrasing actually reading it back, it sounds like something a kid would write
But I cant be bothered re typing it all, so here it is!
================================================== ===========

I will relate a very frightening experience i once had.
I was laying in bed one night and must have drifted off to sleep (although i thought i was still awake) when all of a sudden i felt a huge weight on my chest, when i opened my eyes, to my horror there was an old woman sitting on my chest, that i can only describe a an old hag or witch (at this point i had never heard of the old hag nightmare) and she was trying to strangle me.

She had one of the scariest faces i have ever seen and pure hatred in her black eyes. I somehow managed to fight her off and ran out of the room and down the stairs with her pursuing close behind. I ran into the far corner of our dining room which is just at the bottom of the stairs to the left and on turning around realised she was no longer right behind me.

I crept toward the door to see if she was there and saw her opening the door to our closet where our fuse box is. I just instinctively new what she was about to do and thought oh no she is trying to knock all the lights off. Sure enough seconds later i was stood in complete darkness an could just make out her silhouette coming towards me. Thankfully at this moment i heard my mums voice calling "are you ok" apparently i had woken my mum up calling out for help in my sleep. Now here's the really creepy part. As i awoke out of this horrendous nightmare my mum was outside my door calling "what's up, are you OK in there" (my door was locked) i got up and opened the door and my mum said are you alright you were screaming in your sleep for help, I said yeah but i just had a horrible nightmare will you turn the light on for a minute. My mum flicked the light switch and nothing happened, All the power in the house had been turned off at the fuse box !!!!!

I swear that is true and is just one of many horrible experiences i have had like that. An old lady lived and died in our house before we moved in maybe it was her who knows. After this i did some research and to my amazement learned of The Old Hag and Sleep paralysis. But that doesnt explain the power being switched off in real life.

p.s our house is very old and was built pre WWII. When we moved in there was an old underground air raid bunker built in the garden.
Just thought id mention it

Hurritt

[jdsangster]

Wow, Celine, all really good questions. I'm sorry for my length here, but your questions deserve answers to the best of our / my ability. Tony may chime in.

Are all hauntings, spiritualy based? are Ghosts the soul entity responsible for hauntings?

It really depends on how you define the word "haunting". For the purposes of this discussion I would suggest we stick to the three (i know i said 2 in the interview, but it depends on how you define it) basic types.

Sentient Haunting - a sentient spirit is interacting with our plane in some form or fashion. The origin of the spirit (ghost, demon, earth spirit, etc.) is largely irrelevant to our work. Our focus is to ascertain the motivations of the sentient entity and assess the threat level to the client. These hauntings would be spiritually based, but again... we are all spiritually based entities so I would say that any haunting centered around an intelligent entity is spiritually based by definition. If you really want to get technical you could say that you are haunting your body right now, though that is typically how we define "life" on this plane / dimension.

PK Haunting - By definition it is a spirit based haunting, though a living agent is responsible, typically under spiritual and/or emotional stress.

I honestly tend to not draw too fine a line between living and dead anymore. I don't think of life as heartbeat. i think of life as an intelligently self-aware intelligent, whether it's attached to a meatsack or not.

Residual haunting - You could refer to this as an emotion based haunting. The theory is that the spirit and / or emotion (i'm not sure at this point that there's a difference) has saturated some element (the mass?) of this plane with the vibration of the event, much like light leaves an image on photographic film. If you define emotion as spirit then you could say this is a spiritual haunting too.

How does the emotional factor weigh in?

The question gets even more complicated when you start to try to grok the nature of the relationship between spirit and emotion and/or faith. Can you have one without the other? Can emotion exist without intelligence? Possibly, though not really in a form of life i'm familiar with. You have to ask if "instincts" are emotions too. If they are then that further stretches the connection between self awareness and emotions.

You could say that emotion is a by-product of spirit and/or intelligence, though that seems too simple an answer. I suspect, (though this is really an abstract for me) that self awareness cannot exist without emotion. I also suspect that the more complicated the order of organization within an entity the more likely it is to display emotion and awareness. The control and temperament of that emotion also must be factored in. If i were to guess, the more ordered a spiritual entity becomes the further along the spectrum of emotional possibilities it can experience. That gives us a greater spiritual range. Ultimately, i think our concepts of the distinctions between spirit, emotion, intelligence and how we define "life" on a spiritual level are much more inter-tangled than we realize. I doubt we have the processing power to fully grok this relationship.

I can absolutely tell you that emotion = power in the spiritual world, which is why we often coach and even push our clients to move from a place of fear to a place of anger. There is much more spiritual potency in anger than there is in fear. It is much more useful. The romantic in me wants to say that love is likely the most powerful emotion, but it's difficult to put that into context for a client when they're trying to push a spirit out of their environment. Getting mad, getting motivated and engaging the clients belief system are the factors we focus on.

If not... are demons/other beings more common then the spirits of humans that have passed?

I think there are more things on heaven and earth than the mind of man is aware. I think we are a drop in the bucket, but the first step to realizing that is to minimize your identification with the "human" order and grok your awareness on a higher order, as a spiritual being. You will continue to be a spiritual entity long after you cease to be human. If i want my children to learn anything from me in this life it will be that... and a love for learning and curiosity.

I really tried to stop putting labels on things a long time ago. It's not a bad thing to use as a simple point of reference, but we, as a species, have a tendency to pigeon hole and categorize things too much so I'm very careful with the labels I use.

A room were a rape happened, energy left from the high negative emotions will remain, almost imprinted in the room.

How can you differentiate between the two?

A rape haunting would be considered a PK haunting since the intelligence involved in the rape is likely not attached to it, though I have heard others argue that "shards" of your spirit can be left / attached in such situations. I've also heard it argued that in such circumstances that we have a moral imperative to help that fragmented entity move on and re-join their "higher self"... I think there are a whole lot of assumptions that are happening in that line of logic, though if you simplify the motivations to simply wanting to help a spirit that may be stuck in such a situation by helping them move on. Sometimes a parent has to be harsh for the greater good.

If there's not an intelligence attached I think a medium would likely have little problem telling the difference, much like when I stood in front of my uncle's casket ears ago at his funeral and could sense that he was not there any longer. He "felt" no different than a table or a chair to me.

Many people these days are "waking up" , Do you believe this movement affects "how" we see hauntings?

I believe the preponderance of evidence suggests that we, as a species, are experiencing a spiritual evolution. I tend to identify with the archetype of the "light worker" or "indigo children" in that regard. I think many folks "ascended masters" if you'll allow me to use that term are embedded within our society right now to help us through this process. I suspect that most entities that are of this type are not fully aware that is their purpose /mission. I know for a fact my child is one of these children, frankly because I was born knowing my first born would be like this. My ultimate purpose it to train and educate her for her mission. I was born with a great amount of awareness that it seems most other people do not have, though is suspect there are many more people out there, who have suppressed that in-born knowledge. Often, when i meet new people, something clicks inside me. I become immediately intrigued with them and they engage a part of me that speaks on a very very subtle level telling me this person is significant. I've only met a handful of these people though. Tony is one of them.

Is it possible that people diagnosed with different mental disorders, who are experiencing "visions/hallucinations" are possibly seeing entities/ghosts?

I strongly suspect that a large portion of mental disorders are actually misdiagnosed spiritual problems or issues with seeing / experiencing too much spiritual information and being unable to process the information in a productive way. I say this because many people i've met that are like this have a very very different vibration. Many, not all, but many of them can see me in the same way I can see them. Most mediums you meet will be able to identify with this thought process, though I dont usually apply the term medium to myself. I consider myself more of a shaman than anything.

[jdsangster]

I will relate a very frightening experience i once had.

awesome posts Hurritt. I've heard many similar stories. I tend to think there is a very fine line between what we define as "awake" and "dreaming". Many cultures even refer to what we call reality as a dream. Your first post makes me think about those connections.

My wife has a similar story about waking up and being choked by the specte of a lady sitting on her chest with her hands wrapped around her throat. I have been assaulted several times myself.

I will say that at face value i completely believe your story because I've heard and seen many similar stories and events.

i would caution you to take from the experience only what is in it though and be mindful of the lessons you allow yourself to conclude if these have been your only encounters. Most people are good, Most spirits are good. Most would rather help you than harm in my opinion.

We should be careful to get out of an experience the wisdom that is in it and stop there; lest we be like the cat who sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again and that is well, but she will never sit on a cold one anymore.
-Mark Twain

[Anno]

I had an odd experience when I was a kid that seems like I ghost but only in that I could never think of another reason for it. I had a paper round before school that took me through a small complex of sheltered housing apartments for the elderly. As I was riding through at about 730 in the morning I saw an old lady stood on the path watching her small dog that was on one of the grass verges looking for a spot to 'do its business' as we say here in the UK. There was nothing at all ghost like about her and the dog so I didn't pay them much attention. They were as real and solid as the other early morning people I'd seen that day.

As I got to about 10 feet away from her I turned left down a side path to leave the complex. She was out of my sight for about a second when I heard a scream. I slammed my brakes on and turned round thinking she was in some sort of trouble but she and the dog had vanished.
As there was nothing spooky about her I assumed she must have fallen over so I looked over the low wall (about 4 feet) that was between us expecting to find her on the floor there but there was nothing. Even if she was an olympic sprinter there's no way she could have gotten herself and her dog to one of the buildings and through the door in that split second. The nearest door was about 15 feet away and they were those big heavy security doors.

That same morning there had been a big cat sighting that my dad had taken pleasure in winding me up about before I set off. I thought he was joking so I checked the morning news before I left and they were reporting it as being about a mile away from where I saw this old lady on some farm land at the edge of the town. That obviously had me in a heightened state as I was about 14 and not wanting to get eaten. Aside from that, there was absolutely nothing spooky about that morning or way the lady and her dog looked or felt. I've never been able to come up with an explanation for what happened other than some kind of time slip or both her and her dog being ghosts.

[flower]

entient Haunting - a sentient spirit is interacting with our plane in some form or fashion.

So by sentient you do not necessarily mean human?

the motivations of the sentient entity and assess the threat level to the client

So the focus is on the clients interaction and how to find peace for the client.

Do you only investigate dangerous encounters?

meaning if there is no threat, do you still investigate further for the client?

. If you really want to get technical you could say that you are haunting your body right now,

That is an amazing perspective. I would say, that people with mental illnesses would relate the feeling of being haunted by their soul.

Is the clients "spirit" altered, or maybe challenged by the presence of these other entities? Or is there a familiarity?

I guess what i am saying is , do we as humans recognize the difference between a human entity and a non human entity?

The theory is that the spirit and / or emotion (i'm not sure at this point that there's a difference) has saturated some element (the mass?) of this plane with the vibration of the event, much like light leaves an image on photographic film. If you define emotion as spirit then you could say this is a spiritual haunting too.

Once again, i am impressed by this perspective. I was not aware your work was so "spritualy" based (pun intended), until Scott brought your info to us. These are fascinating correlations to our 3D experiences that you both are presenting.

Definining emotion as spirit intrigues me very much.. could you elaborate?

I can absolutely tell you that emotion = power in the spiritual world, which is why we often coach and even push our clients to move from a place of fear to a place of anger.

Could you explain this further? We have been discussing the necessity to confront/embrace our "dark" side , in various threads/radio show and i find this perspective intriguing to say the least.

The romantic in me wants to say that love is likely the most powerful emotion, but it's difficult to put that into context for a client when they're trying to push a spirit out of their environment. Getting mad, getting motivated and engaging the clients belief system are the factors we focus on.

Are all negative emotions (in this context) more powerful then love? Is love ever an emotion that is helpful to your clients ?

I think there are more things on heaven and earth than the mind of man is aware.

Do you believe aliens are capable of haunting/communicating with humans through these activities? Have you ever had any encounters with entities not of this earth?

I strongly suspect that a large portion of mental disorders are actually misdiagnosed spiritual problems

How does one go about getting the right diagnosis?

I think we are a drop in the bucket, but the first step to realizing that is to minimize your identification with the "human" order and grok your awareness on a higher order, as a spiritual being.

Grok?? ok i know i've heard that before... can you explain it for the old folk? lol

Great to have you guys on board, thanks for the great answers to my questions..

be well
celine

[reaver]

After this i did some research and to my amazement learned of The Old Hag and Sleep paralysis. But that doesnt explain the power being switched off in real life.

This type of thing is something you hear a lot in Mexico, so much that it is a cliche. Some have ugly experiences like yours, other people are encouraged to seek for some hidden treasure. But the common theme is "dead people" getting on top of "living people" and it happens while they are on a dream state (?).

I've heard from someone that has practical experience with this kind of stuff... and it's more oriented towards magic... that some of those ghosts are like leeches and that if you pay attention to them then they won't leave you alone until you carry out whatever they need or until you can make them go away. Apparently some people have the dead as guardians... as if they were following the person in question around here and there.

It's funny cuz for people who are into magic/sorcery dealing with dead people is like a walk in the park while the rest of the population seems to be haunted and scared shitless lol.

[Fred Steeves]

Hi James and Tony, I had pretty much left the ghost thing behind because most of the field is quite absurd IMHO. Not that I didn't believe it, quite the opposite, especially as I've had my own experiences. Just that it tends to stay well within the confines of scary stories, chasing ghosts around, and/or shrouded in the great unknowable mystery.

Well guess what, when you start contemplating different dimensions, parallel universes and such, along with quantum physics, it tends to let the air out of the great mystery balloon. It then enters the realms of: O.K., these are things that happen. We don't have all the answers by any stretch of the imagination, but science, the science college doesn't teach us, points in a very rational direction through the spookiness.

As far as I'm concerned, ghosts and such are really no more advanced, no more knowing, and no spookier than we are, they just reside in a dimension very close to ours, but a wee bit outside of the average person's perception. A little real education from the knowledge that I'm certain is out there, but well hidden, could save us from a lot of time and needless difficulties in grasping how these different dimensions interact. Or are supposed to anyway.LOL

Often on these forums even, speaking the same common language, we have the slightest mis-interpretation, which can lead to the wildest of needless mis-understandings, and then so on... I can just imagine how much more that effect is magnified with the mingling of different dimensions, and not even a common language or understanding to base things on.

Sorry for opining, but I thought it important to relate my own personal findings and opinions on the subject thus far, before stating that ya'll greatly impress me in the way you are going about this. You have my full attention now, and I look forward to hearing more.

Thanks,
Fred

[tbartman68]

Wow, guys.....awesome posts on here so far. This is Tony, by the way.......

These posts are a part of the reason why we do this, and a shining example of a part of the interview where we spoke about sharing our stories. Even 5 years ago, and certainly as many as 10, I would have told James to get bent had he asked me to share my story so he could put it in his book, much less share it in an interview that goes out to anyone in the world that cares to hear it. Twenty years ago, and I would have been branded a loon, and quite probably compared to the homeless people that you see walking around aimlessly with their shopping cart talking to thin air (or are they???........lol). The fact that we can talk openly about it now goes a long way towards being able to understand the phenomenon better and help people out there that are going through these problems. When I think about the level of confusion, fear, and frustration that I have seen in some of our clients, I can only imagine that it pales in comparison to the levels experienced by families in the time before you could find groups like us to help, and couldn't talk to anyone about it for fear of being ridiculed or worse. These last few years have been one heck of a ride, and I can only imagine what the next 5 years hold......(unless the Mayans were right, of course....lol)

C?line, I'll start with some of your post, and "chime in" along with James on a little bit of it.....I'll try not to ramble too much - like James, I can tend to be a little wordy at times....

Are all hauntings, spiritualy based? are Ghosts the soul entity responsible for hauntings?

If not... are demons/other beings more common then the spirits of humans that have passed?

James covered the "haunting" part of it pretty well, so I'll add to it by saying....it depends on what you mean by "spiritually". If you are referring to human/non-human, then no. There are non-human spirits out there. Many hauntings have been by non-human entities, and have been confused with "demonic" hauntings, because the entity did not respond the same way a human would, or it would actually manifest and bee seen, and since it didn't appear as human, then it was assumed it must be a demon. We try to stay away from the "d-word" as much as we can for a couple of simple reasons:

First, the word itself has too much power. Someone says the word, and instantly people have pre-conceived notions of what it means due to what society or our religious beliefs have dictated to us, and we develop a "tunnel vision" of sorts. Once that word is said, you lose the ability to look at the situation logically and objectively. Imagine for a second that you are a client, and we are about to coach you through taking back your authority and clearing your house. If I told you that you have a negative spirit, and that I can show you how to banish it, you'd be all ears and would focus on the task at hand to learn how to do just that. All I have to do is replace "negative spirit" with "demon", and it's a whole new ball game. Many would be overcome with fear, and would not be able to concentrate. They may even feel defeated from the get-go. If you read "The G.O.D. Experiments" by Gary Schwartz, he explains in his prologue that he had to change God to G.O.D. because basically the word has "too much baggage" attached to it, and once people hear or see the word, they can no longer see past it and open their minds to other information. The same thing applies here. Knowledge is key, and is part of the reason that we have an extensive reading/research requirement as part of the group. Just being sensitive doesn't cut it - many mediums get their readings wrong for that exact reason. We are currently working with a very powerful and gifted medium right now, and the medium's upbringing and knowledge base has dictated that if it's not human, it must be a demon. Getting past that d-word is paramount, and why that is a four-letter-word in our group.

Secondly.......there ARE demonic hauntings & possessions, but they are RARE. According to many different references, the number of actual demons are finite, so there aren't just millions of them running around looking for their own personal Linda Blair. Plus, while they seem to have more power to challenge the spiritual authority of humans, they are still bound by a set of rules that shows a specific pattern. Almost every recorded demonic haunting and possession has followed this pattern to a "T", and is the first thing to look for. Some negative spirits have mimicked some of the pattern to harass people and instill fear, but there is a difference and a trained eye can see it. Basically put, most negative hauntings are just that - negative. Some spirits are just a-holes. I believe I have even used the word douchebag a time or two......lol

Since I have come to terms with my gifts and started learning to focus it, I have seen and experienced many non-human entities. There's even one right now that currently resides in the field out behind my property, and has been witnessed by more than one person. It minds it's own business & I leave it alone.

How does the emotional factor weigh in?

A room were a rape happened, energy left from the high negative emotions will remain, almost imprinted in the room.

How can you differentiate between the two?

James covered most of this pretty well, so I'll just add this: As beings we give off energy, that is increased with heightened emotions. Almost everything around us has the capability to store that energy, sort of like a rechargeable battery, imprinting the event to that area. In an area where there is a traumatic event such as a rape or abuse, the extremely heightened emotions leave a massive signature for the area to store. That's why so many times you have residual hauntings where people are remodeling - they are agitating the storage unit, so to speak, and releasing that energy. The best way to tell the difference is to just sit back and let it happen - if it's residual, it will repeat itself over and over, like a looped tape. If you follow the "Holographic Universe" theories, residual energies can be tapped and interacted with, however, and we are studying and training to be able to do that.

The places with the most intense residual activity I have experienced has always been a place where there has been extreme physical or mental trauma -- a former rest home, the house where the physical abuse happened that I mentioned in the interview, etc. A recent very intense one was at the Alamo in San Antonio. I made the mistake of walking up to the place fully "opened up", and it was almost overwhelming.

[tbartman68]

Hi James and Tony, I had pretty much left the ghost thing behind because most of the field is quite absurd IMHO. Not that I didn't believe it, quite the opposite, especially as I've had my own experiences. Just that it tends to stay well within the confines of scary stories, chasing ghosts around, and/or shrouded in the great unknowable mystery.

Well guess what, when you start contemplating different dimensions, parallel universes and such, along with quantum physics, it tends to let the air out of the great mystery balloon. It then enters the realms of: O.K., these are things that happen. We don't have all the answers by any stretch of the imagination, but science, the science college doesn't teach us, points in a very rational direction through the spookiness.

As far as I'm concerned, ghosts and such are really no more advanced, no more knowing, and no spookier than we are, they just reside in a dimension very close to ours, but a wee bit outside of the average person's perception. A little real education from the knowledge that I'm certain is out there, but well hidden, could save us from a lot of time and needless difficulties in grasping how these different dimensions interact. Or are supposed to anyway.LOL

Often on these forums even, speaking the same common language, we have the slightest mis-interpretation, which can lead to the wildest of needless mis-understandings, and then so on... I can just imagine how much more that effect is magnified with the mingling of different dimensions, and not even a common language or understanding to base things on.

Sorry for opining, but I thought it important to relate my own personal findings and opinions on the subject thus far, before stating that ya'll greatly impress me in the way you are going about this. You have my full attention now, and I look forward to hearing more.

Thanks,
Fred

Well put, Fred. I don't think I could have said it better myself. Knowledge and research are key to grasping some sort of understanding of all of this. The problem with science is that almost none of this stands up to "scientific method", which requires repeatable results in a controlled environment. It doesn't play by their rules, which means one of two things: Either we still don't know the rules yet, or it doesn't HAVE to follow a set of rules, which opens up a whole other set of possibilities (Matrix, anyone???) In our group, we study a wide array of different methodologies, from quantum physics to mystics, to try to help us keep an open mind and at least glean a hint of understanding about what is happening. There is no such thing as "too far down the rabbit hole" for us.

Your statement about misunderstanding each other due to the barriers is spot-on. We have dealt with many issues where the spirit was simply trying to get their attention, and the frustrations from both sides from the client not getting the message created the situation.

[Fred Steeves]

That's pretty funny Tony, "asshole and douchebag" spirits, just like driving in 5:00 traffic. On a more serious note though, I liked your description of being too opened up at The Alamo, and how it can be overwhelming. My wife and I both had a similar experience visiting the old Civil War POW camp at Andersonville in Georgia a few years back. We're not "psychic" by any stretch, but death and misery hung in the air like an invisible fog.

It was good to leave, but also sad in a sense, as in hindsight I think that there is an 'essence' there that has a deep need to be regognized, remembered, grieved for, dunno. Like it's forever a POW camp until it is set free somehow. So when it is noticed that any given tourist in passing picks up on this, even dimly, there is a certain grasping that maybe, just maybe they are the one to help.

[jdsangster]

So by sentient you do not necessarily mean human?

That is absolutely correct. Not all sentient life forms are human. Most of the "ghosts" we interact with are human... Only about 5-10% of the cases we get involved in revolve around non-human entities though. Most of the spirits we (as humans) deal with are our discorporated peers.

So the focus is on the clients interaction and how to find peace for the client.

Do you only investigate dangerous encounters?

meaning if there is no threat, do you still investigate further for the client?

If there is no threat we usually do not get involved. This is simply a function of the amount of the amount of time we spend on a case though.
It should also be noted that we get involved in a significant number of cases where the client FEELS threatened because they don't understand what's going on, but in the process of our assessment we may ascertain that the threat level is minimal. "A family for Eric" from the book and the interview discussion is a good example of this.

Because our resources are limited, we choose to allocate them where they are needed most, families that feel threatened. There are other groups that can handle non-threatening cases. We are in the process of developing relationships with other groups we can refer these clients to. We train these other groups, If willing, in our methods so that they are better equipped to handle their own clients. When they find a case that they're not comfortable dealing with they refer them to us. That is the primary purpose of our Houston Paranormal Alliance group.

I guess what i am saying is , do we as humans recognize the difference between a human entity and a non human entity?

Mediums or individuals with sufficient sensitivity can often determine whether an entity is human or not. I don't tend to put a lot of focus on human vs non human though ever since I realized that my own status as human is most likely a transitory condition that will change with my own spiritual growth and with the evolution of our spiritual species. For the purposes of our group, the threat level and/or intention of the entity is really the only thing that matters.

Once again, i am impressed by this perspective. I was not aware your work was so "spritualy" based (pun intended), until Scott brought your info to us. These are fascinating correlations to our 3D experiences that you both are presenting.

Definining emotion as spirit intrigues me very much.. could you elaborate?

You will likely find that our group is the exception rather than the rule as far as being so spiritually based. We see this as a spiritual phenomenon that CAN be studied with the scientific method, but there are difficulties in that. A threatening or disrupting entity is a spiritual problem, not a scientific issue. The STUDY of the problem can be conducted in a scientific method, but resolution must come from the spirit because science does not currently have the awareness or tools to deal with this phenomenon, though science is making rapid progress in the areas of theoretical physics and other related fields that interface with the Holographic Theory.

I honestly wish i could elaborate more on the connection between emotion and spirit, but I do not fully grok it myself. I only know that there is a connection. At the moment I tend to think of emotion as a lens through which to focus spiritual energy and intent, but I fully realize that this is only a model I have adopted based on my own experience and observations. The "reality" of the situation may be much more complicated and inter-twined.

Could you explain this further? We have been discussing the necessity to confront/embrace our "dark" side , in various threads/radio show and i find this perspective intriguing to say the least.

Light vs Dark IMO are out-dated modalities in terms of ethics. The universe in my experience is not so binary. It is much more "shades of grey" and "the intent is what matters..... "It's the thought that counts." type of thing. Is voluntary euthenasia of the terminally ill light or dark? Is a mother killing her abusive husband to protect her children light or dark? All things exist on a spectrum of grey.

The perspective from which you see this spectrum makes all the difference as well. If you had ever been a terminally ill patient or an abused spouse needign to protect your children you would look at the above questions in a very different light. Perspective is paramount and IMO one of the most important things we need to learn in this life.

Is goading and coaching a client to get angry at the injustice at being afraid to live in their own home because of an invading spirit.... is that light or dark? Should we teach the clients to love their attacker and give them flowers and them with affection or should we teach them to pick up the sword and defend what is theirs?

Are all negative emotions (in this context) more powerful then love? Is love ever an emotion that is helpful to your clients ?

Love and compassion is always a helpful emotion. It is through love that we learn compassion and gain a greater perspective on life. Love is the path of spiritual growth. However, it is not necessarily the tool that is needed to remove an invading spirit. You can no more use love to remove a hostile spirit (at least in my experience) than you can use a potato to drive a nail into a board. It might work if you froze the potato and made it harsh.... but that would be tantamount to shifting your perspective. Clients use these methods to reclaim their space to protect themselves and their families.... Most of the time one of the most powerful motivators for a client with children is the parent feeling absolutely helpless when their children are harassed by these entities. It is the love for their children that allows them to motivate their spirit and reclaim their space.... The world is not black and white. It is all about perspective and shades of grey.

Do you believe aliens are capable of haunting/communicating with humans through these activities? Have you ever had any encounters with entities not of this earth?

The only answer i can truthfully give here is, "I don't know."
I have encountered many entities over the years that did not seem to be human, but as to their origins and genealogy I don't have access to that kind of data. It's easy to pull open a book that says "a spirit like this comes from here".... but in truth I think the majority of that is mythology. There may be some fact there, but.... you tell me

How does one go about getting the right diagnosis?

This will not be possible until science and psychology have a much greater understanding of both the spiritual realm and what science now calls "the placebo effect", which in reality is the motivation of the client's beliefs to change their reality. This becomes clear in the illustrations brought forth in Talbot's The Holographic Universe.

Grok?? ok i know i've heard that before... can you explain it for the old folk? lol

Grok: Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science—and it means as little to us (because of our Earthling assumptions) as color means to a blind man.

It's from Heinlen's Stranger in a Strange Land... which if you have not read... you really should. That's one of the books that really made me realize the importance of perspective*.

Thanks for your thoughts and questions. You strike me as a water brother.

*edit.... corrected the word "perception" to "Perspective.

[jdsangster]

It's funny cuz for people who are into magic/sorcery dealing with dead people is like a walk in the park while the rest of the population seems to be haunted and scared shitless lol.

Sorcery is the science of the spirit world. If you are a sorcerer you are already adept at manipulating spirit and reality.

The western world does not conceive of magic and sorcery like that, but in reality it is. Science will catch up.... as soon as they fully figure out the connections between intent / will and the nature of reality. They're very close already. Someone adept in theoretical physics can have some very interesting conversations with shaman.

[HURRITT ENYETO]

Thanks guys, I think your both doing some really great and valuable work.
And I Have learnt a lot from some of your thoughtful comments!

e if these have been your only encounters.

Haha! I wish, these are just two of the 'tamer' experiences I have had, just the tip of a very large Iceberg

This type of thing is something you hear a lot in Mexico, so much that it is a cliche. Some have ugly experiences like yours, other people are encouraged to seek for some hidden treasure. But the common theme is "dead people" getting on top of "living people" and it happens while they are on a dream state (?).

Do you mean Incubus or Succubus Reaver?
I also dabbled in 'Lucid dreaming' and to be honest I think it thins the 'veil' between realities. Its like anything I suppose, there are good and bad out there, but one comment I found interesting, was the one about turning your fear in to anger. I think this I will try, but fear is a powerful thing, and its easier said then done.


Hurritt

ps Reaver, your taking a risk coming into this thread arent you? you being a Wicked Daemon an all............

[Anno]

I picked up the kindle edition of the book yesterday. 77p in the uk, bargain. In that it's mentioned that everyone is a medium as far as they "allow themselves to be". It was from the email exchange about the Soul Catcher mentioned in the interview.

This leaves me with a question. If one wanted to develop this ability, what advice would you (anyone reading this) give?

[HURRITT ENYETO]

I picked up the kindle edition of the book yesterday. 77p in the uk, bargain. In that it's mentioned that everyone is a medium as far as they "allow themselves to be". It was from the email exchange about the Soul Catcher mentioned in the interview.

This leaves me with a question. If one wanted to develop this ability, what advice would you (anyone reading this) give?

Hmmm, that's a tricky question, but I think a major part of it is to just be open to it. A lot of what you will or wont see is based on your belief system (either consciously or unconsciously)
For instance, what you believe shapes your reality(as quantum physicist's are discovering) so if you don't believe in Ghosts, chances are, you wont be able to see any, because they don't exist for you. But then you get into the realm of 'is it really there, or is it there because I created it'.

Another thing i once did, was to try and focus on those things that you see out of the corner of your eye, learn to use your peripheral vision, you will be surprised at what you will catch, and what you can see, but don't consciously acknowledge.

I'm no expert with how to be a psychic, but I believe we all have the ability, its just latent in many people. I have some psychic ability in my family too so that probably helped in my case. My Irish grandmother was very psychic, and my mother too, but my mothers abilities frightened her so much, she either lost it, or suppressed it so deeply it disappeared.

Just my two cents, probably completely worthless LOL


Hurritt

[HURRITT ENYETO]

I have a question for James and Tony.
My grandmother had certain abilities, and was always reading books about clairvoyance or anything paranormal.
One day she was reading one of these books, and the technique she was learning required her to go into a dark quiet place and concentrate on something. She went into the coal house (that's how many years ago it was) lol and began whatever exercise it was that she was doing. Suddenly, there was a deafening bang right next to her right ear, the bang was so loud and so close that it physically burst her eardrum! Two people that were upstairs came running down to see what the huge noise was, my nana couldnt get out of there quick enough, and it really frightened her, so much so that she threw the book away, and vowed never to try anything like that again.

So my question is: Have you ever heard anything similar happening to anyone else?

Many thanks in advance


Hurritt

[InsightsRUs]

I picked up the kindle edition of the book yesterday. 77p in the uk, bargain. In that it's mentioned that everyone is a medium as far as they "allow themselves to be". It was from the email exchange about the Soul Catcher mentioned in the interview.

This leaves me with a question. If one wanted to develop this ability, what advice would you (anyone reading this) give?

Hi, I'm Lori (newest member of James and Tony's group) and I can tell you with certainty that if someone wants to develop their latent extra-normal (psychic) abilities, it's entirely possible. From my own research and experience I am convinced that we're all born with the capability to use the fullness of each sense (including intuition), but either don't because we don't have good role models in our formative years or, if we are able to hold on to them (talking to "imaginary friends" for instance), we're told it's wrong to "pretend," and our abilities fall by the wayside. It's really a sad outcome. I was one of the stubborn ones. I refused to be told that the voices in my head were "nonsense." I asked them questions and they answered me with information I had no way of knowing. I was nine years old. Today, I teach people how to reconnect with their original senses, so yes, it absolutely possible to "allow yourself" to use your mediumistic gifts (which is simply a form of inner listening).