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Articles, Observations, and Reviews by The Golden State Paranormal Research Society

Golden State Paranormal Research Society encourages it's members to add content to this page by way of private submission. Please submit articles, and reviews that I can format and post for others to see what we think about the equipment and programs we use to do what we do.

Book Review by Jen	The Haunted Queen Mary, Long Beach, CA by Robert James Wlodarski and Anne Powell Wlodarski (2000)					07/19/2008
	I'm sure that the fact that I've read this book a few times will surprise no one, as the Queen Mary is my favorite haunted place to visit! Of course, the first time I went to the Queen Mary after I started my journey in the paranormal, I saw this book and I had to have it! I was staying on the ship at the time, by myself, and I read the entire thing in the bath one evening, and immediately wanted to set out and visit every spot mentioned in the book. It's a great mix of historical accounts as well as stories collected from employees and visitors alike. Pictures contributed by RMS Foundation, Queen Mary Archives are a great peek back in time, as well. The major hotspots are covered, of course, including Watertight Door 13, and the First/Third Class Pool, as well as a host of other, lesser-known encounters. If you have this book with you on the ship, it will definitely keep you moving as you try to hit every spot mentioned. Of course, as some of the areas are guest rooms, you can't visit the site of every encounter, but you could always request a specific room, if you're feeling brave! There's an extensive section of recommended reading, as well as a form to use to report your own encounter (and if you're like me and have spent any measure of time aboard the Queen Mary, you'll have a few to share!).

Book Review by Jen	Ghosthunters: On the Trail of Mediums, Dowsers, Spirit Seekers and Other Investigators of America's Paranormal World by John Kachuba					07/19/2008
	First, this book has the longest title of any book I've ever read...but aside from that, it's a lot of fun to read about Kachuba's adventures as he goes around the country investigating haunted locations and interviewing people involved in the paranormal. He's also quite proud of his Ghosthuntermobile, an '87 Buick Skyhawk, decorated with painted-on tombstones and ghosts. I bet that's an attention getter! This book covers an amazing amount of the places he's investigated, and people he's met, how he became a 'certified ghost hunter', and there's even a chapter on Ghosts for Sale (seriously, check out ebay or craigslist sometime, people will try and sell anything 'haunted'!). Not so much a how-too as a chronicle of his travels, this is still a really interesting book. When you're finished, if you liked it, he's also written books on regional hauntings as well, including Ghosthuting Ohio and Ghosthunting Illinois.

Book Review by Adrienne	Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach					07/19/2008
	Mary Roach says "I DON'T RECALL my mood the morning I was born, but I imagine I felt a bit out of sorts..." I don't recall my mood the morning I started reading this book, but I found that halfway through I was tired of reading stories about car rides with crazy little Indo men to see neurotic patients and stories about women stuffing dead rabbits and white gauze into their under parts in an effort to prove 'ectoplasm'. While I fully enjoyed Mary Roaches other book called "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" (not to be read while eating please), I found myself asking when Spook was going to get into the paranormal. Instead I found a bunch of boring mumbo jumbo about psychics, which I suppose IS paranormal but not what it appeared the book should have been about. I like her writing style and will probably look at the next one a little more carefully before purchasing.

Book Review by Jen	Graveyard by Ed and Lorraine Warren, with Robert David Chase (1992)					07/19/2008
	This is a great read for a stormy night, if you're looking for a good ghost story. There are introductions by both Ed and Lorraine Warren, but the rest of the book is comprised of ghost stories that all center around Union Cemetery in their home town in Connecticut. Not so much educational as entertaining, and the back cover's promise of "eight pages of shocking photos!" really doesn't accurately describe the pictures of Union Cemetery, most of which are just daytime shots with nothing unusual in them. There are a couple of photos that might have paranormal activity, but I'll leave that up to the reader to decide!

Book Review by Jen	How To Be A Ghost Hunter by Richard Southall (2003)					07/19/2008
	I picked this book up with no idea what to expect and found it to be quite useful. While I personally don't subscribe to every method or theory in the book (for instance, I'm not a fan of orbs, nor do I believe they are concrete evidence of spirit activity), on the whole, it's a great resource. I used it as a guide when I was creating the forms we use in our investigations, and it has a nice 'equipment checklist', as well. The author begins by talking about how he got involved in researching the paranormal, which is a good affirmation for the novice picking up this book and looking for a way to get started. It definitely helps you see that everyone has to start somewhere! He then goes on to give his theories as to what ghosts/spirits are, and the various types of hauntings you might encounter, breaks down how to investigate a haunted area, covers paranormal photography and electronic voice phenomenon (EVP), then wraps up with detailing what goes into a good ghost hunting kit as well as ways to start a group. There's also a helpful, albeit brief, glossary that assists the reader in defining words/terms that are commonly used in the paranormal field, as well as a bibliography that's full of great books for future reading.

Book Review by Jen	Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from The Atlantic Paranormal Society by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson with Michael Ian Friedman					07/19/2008
	I'm sure it'll come to no surprise to anyone who knows me that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think any fan of the Ghost Hunters television show will get a kick out of it, especially the first half of the book. TAPS has been around investigating the paranormal for well over a decade, so it's neat to hear about some of their cases that came before the TV show. The book does cover some of the cases from the series as well, up through season 2. Each case is relayed in Jason's words and I kid you not, when I read this I could hear his voice in my head. Grant gets a little blurb at the end of each chapter called "Grant's Take" and again, it just sounds like him, which makes the book that much better. What paranormal investigator wouldn't love to just sit around and listen to these guys talk about their adventures? Ok, I'm sure there are a few out there who would pass, but I'm not one of them. Grant and Jason are great, down-to-earth guys and this book reflects that. There is also a glossary and a ghost hunting guide in the end of the book, as well as a conclusion by Grant. The only thing missing is the Pool Gate story, which really needs the accompanying video to have an impact! If you've seen them speak in person, you probably know the story I'm talking about and are quite likely chuckling to yourself just thinking about it. All in all, it's a good book to get you through the bizarre gaps in the season that pop up here and there!

Book Review by Jen	Into the Shadows: America's Unsolved Mysteries and Tales of the Unexplained by Troy Taylor (2002)					07/19/2008
	We've found that a uniting factor of our team members is a love of history, even if they have differing theories about the paranormal. However, paranormal investigators being what they are, sometimes, run of the mill history won't cut it...names and dates are important, but it's the historical mysteries that grab our attention! This book is a wealth of not only ghosts and hauntings, but other paranormal phenomena and unexplained stories. The subjects and stories covered in this book are too numerous to name individually, but suffice to say there is something for almost everyone in this book. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that all these stories are uniquely American, whereas most books of this kind include stories from around the world. These stories fall well within our geographical frame of reference, which makes them all the more compelling!

Equipment Review	Mannix EMF Detector by Chris Washington					03/04/2008
	The Mannix EMF 1392DL with data logging capabilities is a digital EMF detector that can record and store data for future record. The meter comes with a software cd that is simple to load on your computer and includes both mac and pc drivers. Usage of the meter is simple and takes only a few minutes to familiarize ones self with its functions. When using the meter one must be careful as with any meter to watch bumps and jolts as they will give off false readings. This meter is not as sensitive to these bumps and jolts as most needle meters are and can handle steady walking over most terrain with out giving any false readings. To record your data just simply press the record button and the read out will begin flashing telling you that you are recording. I have been on many long investigations before and have yet to fill the memory capacity which can easily handle an 8 hour investigation. To upload the recorded data to your computer just plug it into your system using the cable that comes with it and select the data logger icon and it will display all your recordings. To save your findings just click on save and title it acordingly, you can then click erase and it will clear the stored data from the memory. Having the ability to record your EMF findings for future playback can be useful in the evidence review process. This meter allows you to record each time you have a spike and corolate it with any other evidence you are collecting such as audio for EVP. Then in future cases you can show the evidence as I obtained this EVP and at the same time I had an EMF spike of 2.5. This meter is a little pricey ranging from $190.00 to $210.00 depending on were you purchase it from and is absolutely worth the extra cash. In the paranormal field evidence is everything and this meter allows you to add one more piece of tangible data to your findings. In my opinion every ghost hunter should have this meter for their collection of equipment.

Equipment Review	Pinnacle Dazzle DVD Recorder by Adrienne Longo					02/09/2008
	Supposedly this piece of equipment will make it easy for you to copy video off of your analog video recorder and transfer it onto your computer and it is easy to use, First of all I HATE not having an instruction manual. It's on a CD. I like paperwork to come with electronics I pay more than 40 bucks for. I did not like my Video recorder, and my computer did not like it. In the end it was so problematic and it skipped around on the recording so badly I gave up and took it back. Save yourself some money and buy a video recorder that will connect via USB to your computer. I felt NO love for this piece of equipment. Not even lukewarm 'like'.

Equipment Review	Sony DCR-TRV280 Digital8 Handy Cam by Jen Maurucio					12/30/2007
	It's not the newest, latest handycam on the market, but it does the job, and does it well! Hi8 tapes are a lot cheaper than miniDV or miniDVD format media, and the digital picture quality is great at full screen for analyzing footage. This camera hooks to my laptop with a firewire and transfering the footage is simple enough for me to do it! The nightshot feature is invaluable, though it'd be great if it had a range a little more powerful than say, 10 feet. Still, when you're aware of it's limitations, and know how to capitalize on it's strengths, it's a very effective investigative tool! On the downside, it gets a little weighty if you're carrying it for extended periods of time, but that's what tripods are for! Sony DCR-TRV280 Digital8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom

Equipment Review	RCA 64M Digital Voice Recorder by Adrienne Longo					11/29/2007
	While I can't say I hate it, I can't say I like it as much as my Olympus DS-2. It has fewer buttons and in order to get 26 hours of recording you have to use the lower quality recording function which sort of negates what I have this bugger for. The instruction manual is great - if you are fluent in 50 languages. It's not even a manual, rather a very large piece of paper and the instructions in English leave less to be desired. Maybe the good parts I needed were in Cantoneese or Tagalog. 'Overall if you have a tight budget and are trying to collect toys of your own, this is a decent recorder to the tune of 34 bucks. You can always use it later to tape conversations from your other half later on so he can't say "I never said that" or "you never told me that". SEVERAL MEMBERS OF OUR GROUP USE THIS RECORDER AND HAVE DIFFERING OPINIONS AND WE SHOULD BE POSTING REVIEWS FROM THEM SOON.

Software Review	Audacity by Adrienne Longo					11/29/2007
	The Free Cross-Platform Sound Editor. How cool is that? Easy to use and FREE. It runs on MAC, MS Windows, Linux and a bunch of other operating systems. You can use it to simply copy sound from your recorders and VERY easily copy out the bits that you want. It exports several different types of file formats including .wav, MPEG, and MP3, change the speed and pitch of the recording. You can also remove static, hiss, hums and background noise to bring out the sound you are concentrating on.

Equipment Review	Olympus DS-2 Digital Voice Recorder by Adrienne Longo					11/29/2007
	This recorder is one of the nicer ones out on the market. The instruction manual is easy to read and best of all - it can copy files to my computer. I was given this recorder and the software for it did not come along with it. You cannot download the software for free so that kind of sucked. However I can play the sound and record it to Audacity. Audacity is a free program for audio editing and it's easy to use. It also has a nice metal case instead of cheap plastic. It feels very nice in your hand and has enough buttons to allow it to be easily used with little to no reading of the manual. The buttons on this recorder are easy enough to use. Turning off the infernal beep noise was somewhat of a challenge. The recording quality is great and it picks up clear sound very well. I believe to purchase one like it is somewhere around $120.00