Dark Hunters: Why Ghost Hunters Do it in the Dark



It seems counter-intuitive to turn the lights out on a ghost hunt. After all, the residents experience the ghosts probably 75% of the time when the lights are on.

Here’s some of the reasons for this practice:

Powering down:
Hitting the breakers is important to not confuse instruments such as EMF meters with anomalous readings. It also means less chance of air-conditioning/heaters causing drafts and hot spots, electronics going off, and other mechanized items like ice-makers in fridges confusing the hunters.

No light: We’re certainly not people with nightvision ourselves, but using cameras that can read infrared (nightvision) can help to bring out details in a spectrum of vision we don’t possess. It’s believed that in the infrared spectrum we might find something that has trouble showing itself in the human eye’s range.

No interference: Without lots of cars on the road outside, children screaming in yards, telephones ringing, this is an ideal time to do a study. If you don’t want to get confusing sounds and activity in your evidence files that can be explained by human intervention, then nighttime is your time.

Vision: Admittedly, it’s very easy to be distracted by wall hangings, doo-dads on bookshelves, light coming in from a window, et cetera. With the lack of visual spectrum, like a blind person, hunters become keener with their other senses like smell, hearing, and bodily sensations of being touched and becoming cold.

Quiet time: Some hunters believe that nighttime is the witching time (when things of a paranormal nature come out and play). This is a time when homes and businesses are quiet, when if something of a spiritual nature lingered, it could have the place to itself.

I admit, I’ve done ghost hunting in just about every condition. In the daytime, I hear the fans turn on, a plane overhead, a dog barking, and am distracted by the objects in the room and other visual stimulation. I don’t believe phenomenon only happens at night (about half of what I witnessed as a kid was in the daytime), but I do know that when I was resting in bed at night, I knew the sounds of the house and the feels of it, the smells and the sights in the dark. When anything changed, it was immediately apparent. I think it’s telling that I get little evidence in daylight hours, but most of it in the night. Some might ask, “well, why aren’t ghosts out in the daytime?” They are. The problem is, we’re distracted by life and our senses are filled with too much stimulation to discern phenomenon when it’s occurring. You wonder if that’s true, notice next time you go to bed, how many weird shadows you see, strange sounds you hear, how many aches and pains you feel in your body that you didn’t notice at all in the daylight hours.

Hope this explains it for you. I get this question a lot and it’s very complex to answer. Suffice to say, it’s not for mood or ambiance. There’s an actual reason behind what we do.

Comments

  1. this is interesting. i always seem to look at the clock most nights at 3:15am...they say that'sthe time ghosts are around the most (maybe i heard it in amityville horror?).

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  2. You're right. That time has been used a lot. Most people call 3 am the witching hour. Honestly, I wake up at 3:15 all the time. I wonder why that is? Maybe I should see if anyone else has that issue--could make an interesting post about the witching hour--thanks for the idea. If I do a post on it, I'll give you credit. :-)

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  3. I know that when we are in the woods and it is nighttime and pitch black, I hear much more of whatever creatures and other sounds the woods have to offer. The wind even sounds spooky. You don't get distracted by the things around you. Your post totally makes sense and glad to see you break it down.
    ~Julie~

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  4. Great answers to the question. I'm also reminded of something Art Bell said about his Coast to Coast AM program...I don't remember the exact quote, but he said something to the effect that the show wouldn't work during the daytime...people's minds were much more open at night. I think that kind of goes along with your "quiet time" answer.

    And that's interesting about 3:15. I think that's the first time I've heard of 3 am being the witching hour. Hope you do a post about that soon. :)

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  5. It makes sense not to have all the distractions during the day. But most paranormal activity I've heard of personally has been in the day. Interesting.
    BTW, what did you think about the first story on the Destination Truth episode this past Wed.? The guy does seem to be pulled back from his chair. And the scratching on his arm when he was wearing the long sleeve jacket. I was impressed, but I'm not an expert. What's your opinion?

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  6. Julie;
    That's why "The Blair Witch Project" was so scary--those sounds in the woods and the darkness and you're on the animal's territory and not your own. That's why I say a Bigfoot hunter show would be wickedly awesomely scary!

    Jeff;
    I'll put the post up tomorrow about the Witching Hour and the Devil's Hour. I'm trying to find more about people having issues with 3 am and I've already found a lot of people who wake up at 3 am regularly. It could be circadian rhythms, could be something about body temperatures... could be something mysterious (that's the best kind).

    Sandra;
    I was thrilled beyond belief by that episode of "Destination Truth." I believe that it was the most genuine phenomenon I've seen on a show. Between the plane having issues (that had me laughing and sweating) and then the dude throwing up, the lights were amazing--I've seen those before and they're unexplainable, but that guy...he was sitting crosslegged and he was a blur as his arm was flung way up and out and he was thrown. There was nothing humanly possible about that and I'm extremely hard to please when it comes to such events, but I can say without blinking (doesn't happen often) that was genuine and chilling. I'd love it if they had spent some more time talking to him when he got his sh@$ together. I'd like to know if he felt it coming on, sensed something, felt an emotion strongly... I desperately want them to go back there and do some serious research with GPS and compasses and geiger counters... heck, anything they can find. I'd like to know how that area generated so much power. Maybe I can look it up and find more about the geology and history of the area... Another post, I suppose. Oh, and -- yes, that was real phenomenon. I'm so glad I taped it. I rewatched it a dozen times to study the course of events and how he was thrown. My 21-year-old son even tried to recreate getting up like that so fast and with the arm pulling you from indian style seating...impossible. Not even close. I hope that's a sign of the season. Josh is doing an amazing job as the producer--this team wasn't whiny babies, these people were ready to step it up and be his equal and not make him carry everything and do it all alone. Going into that cave--took some serious guts on that woman's part.

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  7. I want to try it. Do you know any haunted places in Greece, maybe Athens?

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  8. Oh, and by the way, you should definitely watch Charmed. It is an awesome show.

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  9. Georgina; Try these...

    http://gogreece.about.com/od/weirdgreece/Weird_Greece_Ghosts_Vampires_UFOS.htm

    http://gogreece.about.com/cs/santorinitravel/a/offbeatgreece.htm

    Let me know if you go on a ghost tour or do a little hunting. I'm curious--your country has fantastic geology and lots of water, ancient civilizations--perfect conditions for hauntings.

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  11. I am a teenager. I always woke up like between 3-5 am. Yesterday I watched a horror movie. And around maybe like 3-5 I woke up as usual. But this time I heard something like someone is saying ha ha ha ha. And my name also starts with ha. And I heard the voice maybe for 10 minutes. And in the morning when I told my mom she said this happen because you watched horror movie. But I don't think it's connected with it. Because I always watch horror movies. It never affect my daily life.

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    1. I have had this happen before too. In fact, the past week, under a lot of stress, I was having dreams where just as I woke up, someone spoke to me and in my waking state, I thought they were in the room with me. In fact, I could point to the part of the room it seemed like they had spoken from. They said things that didn't mean much like "what do you need?" and "oh yeah, right." But one said "you must name the skinwalker on the hour in 22 minutes." I woke up, staring at the clock and it was 22 minutes to the hour. Sometimes, these shifts in sleep state can pump out all kinds of oddities that mix up with your internal clock, REM state, deep sleep state, paralysis, and any combination of those. I have had the dream state interrupt waking state before where I watched giant spiders crawling up the walls and across the ceiling as I was awake because my dream state was still running. If it happens once, consider that the conditions were right for an oddity like that. It can happen, but it takes the right circumstances, sometimes a noise from outside breaking through your sleep to be incorporated in dream state, or shifting awareness and dreams. If you have a belly ache when you sleep, you might dream someone punched you in the gut. That's because the physical pain became noted by the unconscious mind. Same thing if you hear weird noises in your sleep, like someone hammering outside, and you work into a woodpecker in your dream. I suspect this is not going to be a nightly thing for you, just the odd happening like it is with most folks. As you are waking, it can seem very real. I hope that helps.

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  12. I am a teenager. I always woke up like between 3-5 am. Yesterday I watched a horror movie. And around maybe like 3-5 I woke up as usual. But this time I heard something like someone is saying ha ha ha ha. And my name also starts with ha. And I heard the voice maybe for 10 minutes. And in the morning when I told my mom she said this happen because you watched horror movie. But I don't think it's connected with it. Because I always watch horror movies. It never affect my daily life.

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  13. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Great help for me. Cause I'm just starting to become a Paranormal Investigator myself. And share, I'm writing this reply at 12:55 am. And strange huh, I can smell sulfur. Haha.

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  14. Jason (jasonjones_260@hotmail.com)August 9, 2017 at 1:51 PM

    Hi, I've been on multiple ghost hunts with a group I trust, I am a believer but a sceptic also about the way we get evidence about the paranormal. I have heard unexplainable noises one of which was a whistle repeated back when asked, disembodied footsteps and seen unexplainable REM pod, K2 and touch activated balls activations however I am still sceptical about them. I however can't find any pieces online about REM Pod manipulation and how they might be faked which makes me believe that it is contact from the paranormal. Non believers say there isn't enough evidence because you can't see them ummm I'm sorry but if you're expecting to see them on key you're not going yo get it, I like how they can't really explain the noises, repeated whistles and touch activated equipment going off... there's the proof.

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