Ghost Hunt in Memphis

I dare anyone in Memphis or the surrounding areas to try to ghost hunt. Memphis is full of history, not just because it is the home of Beale Street Jazz, is the home of Elvis PresleyElvis Presley's home "Graceland, Mud Island, and etc. As part of the South, the bloodiest war raged through Tennessee as well as the rest of the Southern United States. The Civil War littered the landscape of the South with thousands of bodies. Book stores and libraries are full of stories based on the spirits of the civil war, reconstruction, prohibition, and the like being at unrest due to the untimely nature or tragic circumstances surrounding their death. Of course a city the size of Memphis is going to have its fair share of crimes and cold case murders that would also lead to a spirit being at unrest.

Due to the recent influx of popularity with reality ghost hunting shows such as Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, and Ghost Adventures there is a huge leap in people who are curious enough to want to try or people who have always been interested in the paranormal and didn't know how to get started. The first suggestion is not for a bunch of teenagers to sneak into a cemetary at night. It maybe good for a laugh or in my case its good for being stupid and you walk into a situation that you are wholly unprepared for. I did it with some friends because I thought it would be cool. Instead, we ended up walking in on the begining of a ceremony that wasn't well, the norm for the Wiccan that I was with. IF you are interested in the paranormal, I suggest getting more information. For people in the Memphis, TN metropolitan area they are in luck! There is a group, based out of Memphis who hosts investigations that are open to the public as well as looking into the possibility of starting a Paranormal Investigation 101 class.

This group is Southwest Tennessee Paranormal Investigations and they are a group of trained paranormal investigators that use scientific techniques and equipment to document paranormal activity. Registered as a non-profit organization with the state of Tennessee, they provide 100% free investigations of suspected "haunted" locations. This group is also a family member of the Ghost Adventures organization. Their mission statement states that they are dedicated to providing their clients with factual evidence through the use of scientific equipment and investigative techniques in a timely fashion, all the while honoring privacy and ethical professionalism. Currently the group features only seven members and is headed up by Derek Kifer, who recently announced that he is scheduling the Paranormal Investigative Techniques class for August 21.

Like most groups they are looking for members and donations. Since professional ghost hunting teams do not charge for their services that have to have some way to pay their traveling expenses and to maintain their equipment. So the class will be $50 per person, and will include a t-shirt, audio review software, drawing for an invite to a private investigation, lectures on audio review, photo analysis, investigative protocol, client interview procedure, and maybe a guest speaker or two. If you don't wish to take the class but just have an affection for the field you can order a t-shirt from their website store http://www.tennesseeghost.com/t-shirts.html

The reason why I, as a paranormal enthusiast and research prefer groups such as Southwest TN is because they are not orb crazy. Those groups who freak out because they take pictures and little circles appear. Absolutely anyone can produce orb pictures just by not dusting for a day or two. For groups like SW TN to come out on it, as well as Taps, and my other personal favorite group, The Paranormals headed by former Taps member, Brian Harnois is because they are out to educate the public. Thinking that orbs are a 100% conclusive fact that paranormal activity is occurring in your house is simply attempting to produce mass hysteria when a pledge cloth would quickly and easily remove the 'supposed haunting.' Even my oldest son, who will be turning 9 next week can look at a photo and distinguish a dust or bug from a true orb, thanks mostly to his die hard support of Brian from watching Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International. It is easy for these fly by night groups to charge an arm and a leg by creating such hysteria.

An orb is a possibility that something paranormal maybe occuring in the home. Now, I have never witnessed a SW TN investigation as of yet, but I would love to attend the class that Derrick will be teaching in August, but I did watch five seasons of Ghost Hunters. In the begining TAPS was very informative and helped to downplay the fear that unprofessional groups in relation to Orbs and mirrors that get fogged up, (a phenomenon known as matrixing where our eyes form something familar from patterns in objects).

Although, Derrick did comment on the SW TN Paranormal team's facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Memphis-TN/GHOST-Ghost-Hunters-of-Southwest-Tennessee/201573551250?ajaxpipe=1&__a=10 that " It breaks my heart to see people misled into thinking dust and airborne particulates are spirits. Ignorance propagated by "teachers" that don't know their ass from a hole in the ground is the worst kind on injustice."

Derrick is one of those people who likes to help and teach. He reminds me a lot of Brian in some ways. As humans we all make mistakes but as with anyone who truly deserves success and happiness there are people who want to pull us down, to try to destroy things that make us happy, simply because they themselves hate themselves so much that the only amount of pleasure they get is from tearing other people down as well. For those who are miserable and want to take their frustrations out on those who attempt to realize their dream they must feel that they never graduated high school, because they surely have not matured beyond their teenage years. As God fearing adults we must let go of these immature desires and go on with our own lives. For those of us who enjoy the field of Paranormal Research we can even joke that their is the possibility that we may haunt those who disrespect us when we are a live.