From: To: Subject: [IGHS] Newsletter, May 23, 2004 Deming, New Mexico Date: Sunday, May 23, 2004 8:48 AM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Remove Link To Unsubscribe from Newsletter: Click on Reply To or send email to ighs-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com for an automatic removal from this newsletter. Mission Statement: The Ghostweb is the official Web Site of the International Ghost Hunters Society. Membership in the IGHS is always FREE. The IGHS is dedicated and committed to the research, documentation, education, and investigation of ghostly phenomena recorded through EVP, digital, film and video photography. The IGHS is a society of ghost believers, ghost hunters, and ghost researchers with over 14,000 members in 87 countries worldwide. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ International Ghost Hunters Society Newsletter May 23, 2004 from Deming, New Mexico Dr. Dave’s Notes: Registration is on a fast track for our Alamo Ghost Conference in June. We have registrations from California, Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and of course, the great state of Texas, so far. We have limited seating so be sure to register early or risk not being able to attend. We have some excellent IGHS speakers (View the list at http://www.ghostweb.com/schedule.html) and after the sessions are over, join us for some hands on EVP investigations. We will also have a special Inner Circle Investigation on Friday night for those who are experienced in ghost hunting. We do offer group and military discounts so drop us an email for more information on the discounts. This is one ghost conference that you will not want to miss. No psychic mumbo jumbo, we offer the straight scientific approach to ghost investigations. What you learn, you can apply in the investigations with us after the end of the sessions. Why should you attend Alamo Ghost Conference? Allow me to give some reasons that the conference will benefit you. The IGHS is not just a ghost club, but a society made up of over 14,000 members in 87 countries. We focus on the individual, not on chapters, team leaders or state coordinators, because we work with people, helping them to understand the nature of life beyond the grave. Our web site has over 15,000 web pages and occupies our primary domain and two sub domains. We maintain our own web site, we answer all of our incoming e-mails, and we examine about three hundred photos a month for free. When you listen to talk radio shows with ghost hunters playing EVP and the host asks a question, nine times out of ten, the ghost hunters are not able to respond with an answer. Why is this? The guests have no idea why they can record EVP or why it is occurring. For them, ghost hunting is a hobby, nothing else. Yes, it is a fun hobby, but we teach so much more. Ghost research is a way of life for us. We take people beyond the hobby stage and show them how they can gain insights into the spiritual realm, for spirits exist within this spiritual realm. We explore the spiritual realm free of religious blinders and dogmas. We will be sharing ghost voices that we have recorded from across the United States and from Central America. We will not only play them, but also teach you what to look for and how to gain insights into understanding life beyond the grave. Most people fear death, but we explain and demonstrate why death is just another chapter in our continuing existence. We know of no other ghost research organization that takes the time to work with the individual so they can experience the advanced knowledge that can come from this work. One of the reasons we are so different from other ghost clubs is that we act as a clearing house for reports from all over the world. We do not mean ghost stories, but techniques and protocols that enable us to share with our members. We do not collect ghost stories as we did in the beginning; we have left that to other ghost clubs. We are into research, not story telling. For example, we learned of one technique from Shawn Smith who discovered it by accident. This technique has opened new areas for research that no one before has thought about. We pioneered reverse speech developed by David John Oates in the field of ghost research. We were the first to apply reverse speech to EVP recordings to show the human nature of ghosts and this singular aspect transported ghosts recordings from a simply hobby to a major breakthrough in understanding the nature of ghosts. We will be speaking for three hours, sharing our insights and techniques with those attending our June Conference. We welcome new ghost hunters who want to expand their knowledge base and who want to learn more about life beyond the grave. We offer a one on one approach at our events, the conference members attending will not just sit in the audience as bumps on a log, but will get to enjoy an interactive approach not offered by other groups who put on events. Our speakers are people who have taken our certification courses or those we have worked with in person during past investigations who follow our Standards and Protocols. We have noted that many groups employ parapsychologists as speakers, but we know that these so called parapsychologists have achieved very little in the field of ghost research. All of these parapsychologists have day jobs outside of ghost research and we know of none that has demonstrated any significant contribution to this field, other than speaking at events. Our speakers have experienced the baptism of fire, meaning that they have achieved results and made contributions to the field of research. Our events focus on the scientific approach not the skeptical approach used by parapsychologists. We encourage an open mind, not a skeptical mind closed to the paranormal. We have IGHS members who are psychic or have mediumships abilities, but these members also employ the scientific approach to validate their findings. Typically, psychics ignore the scientific side and demand that their feelings, impressions, or visions are valid, without any physical evidences to confirm their findings. The simple use of a camera or a tape or digital recorder would aid in confirming the presence of spirits. Simply stating that a psychic sees a man dressed in Civil War uniform is not evidence that a spirit is present. However, an EVP recording or a photo of ectoplasmic vapor would suggest that something was present and give some validity to the claim mad by the psychic. Science is not the enemy; science is the physical method of validating the existence of what is sense. Many years ago we had a psychic attend one our seminars and during the investigation afterwards, she put on a good dog and pony show for the members, even crying and then demanding certain people leave the building since the little boy ghost didn’t want them in the building. She had her captive audience, listening and believing her. Unknown to the members, she had trouble in her marriage, she was being ignored and so she found she could get attention by claiming to see and hear things that no camera or recorder would detect. Whether she was gifted or not we do not know as her claims could not be validated by anyone attending the investigation with her. A psychic may be gifted, but that does not mean that the gift is for seeing the walking dead. Many of our IGHS members may be able to sense the presence or see vague outlines of spirits, but they do not consider themselves psychic, but rather as sensitive to the spirits. These IGHS members do not get on a band wagon and beat their chests proclaiming their greatness. They are humble and dedicated to understanding more about life after death and that my friends are the true psychic. We hope our members find themselves well after the terrible storms and flooding of this past week. We traveled through the 500 tornadoes last May as were heading back west from PA. Now, those terrible tornadoes are hitting again with destructive forces. Years ago, Sharon survived when a tornado hit her mobile home. She was lucky to be alive as not many survive a direct hit on their mobile home. Happy trails. Dr. Sharon’s Notes: This is one of my articles that I feel needs to be included once again. I have always heard, you are what you eat, but lately I heard someone say, “You are what you think.” This is so very true, if you think about it. It is our thinking that develops the personalities that we have and the people we become. For Instance, do you ever look in the mirror and think how very fat you look? With our appearances being so important in this day and age, I’m sure that’s something that crosses many thousands of minds, daily. Once you see your image and deem it to be less than desired, the thoughts of that stay with you the rest of the day. Your clothing may feel a bit tighter, your mood descends, and desperate thoughts of how to lose those extra pounds are a feature of the days thinking. This applies to anything and everything we do on a daily basis. Did you perhaps grow up being told how dumb you are or how you will never amount to anything? As children, those negative statements are a part of how we feel about ourselves and in the formative years are part of what molds us into the adults we become. As a child, when a parent tells us how worthless we are or how we will never learn anything, after a time, we believe it to be true. If we are told that we will fail and believe it, we fail. Today, professionals are seeing the damage being done by this kind of verbal abuse and they are making a great effort to reverse the negative programming in our kids. The focus now being a more positive one, is essential to boosting a child’s self-image. Falling into the trap of negative thinking is easier than people might think. The fact is that most very negative people never stop to think about what they are saying, how it sounds, or how it affects the people around them. Negative people are those who push people away by their mere behavior, yet they don’t stop to realize what the root of the problem might be. This article is intended to help folks recognize and be aware of negative thinking and behavior; in themselves or those around them and to help them come to understand that they can change that negative pattern, changing their lives. Becoming aware of negative thinking and negative people can be the first step to prevent falling into that negative trap. It has become enough of a problem within the community of man, which I am hearing it discussed on talk radio all across this nation and finding articles about it in magazines and newspapers everywhere. I’m sure the subject comes up on television programs, but we are presently not privy to that form of media. I understand that it has become a problem worthy of discussion, especially in such times of turmoil and unknowing what lies ahead. The problem of negative thinking has always been there, growing and becoming habitual. It is all around us like an invisible force drawing people in and holding them in its grasp. We are bombarded everywhere we turn with negative energy as times are changing. The nightly news is rarely anything that makes us feel good anymore. To be aware of what is taking place in this world, we are in the habit of turning on the news daily. The majority of what we hear are the negative events taking place, here in our country and abroad. The tragedy of the terrorist attack in September added fuel to an already burning fire, which has accelerated and increased the negative toxicity all around us. Because of 9/11, more people have become aware of the power and strength of negativity, which has become a topic open for discussion. We are in trouble. Correcting negative thinking starts within ourselves. Your brain automatically sends messages thousands of times a day; unfortunately, they aren’t always the most encouraging. More often than not, they relate to our shortcomings rather than the successes we experience. The things we accomplish and the good we do are shortly forgotten, yet the more negative things in our lives, hang right in there. Our negative messaging, constantly filling our thoughts causes us more problems, such as making decisions that are impulsive and emotional rather than decisions that are rational or sensible. Just a simple example of that would be getting angry after a negative event and feeling the strong urge to go on a shopping spree or overindulging ourselves on ice cream sundaes after finding we’ve failed at our diet anyway. These are just small examples of poor decision-making influenced by negative factors in our lives. I’m pretty sure we can all relate to either or both of those examples. We have the ability to control our negative thoughts, just as we are able to think in positive ways. It is like the Yin Yang, or the balance needed in all things. When one takes control over the other, negative over positive thoughts, the positive fades into the background and the longer one remains in control, the more out of balance our lives become. By being aware of the negative takeover in our thinking, we can restore balance to our thoughts that in turn brings our lives back into the needed balance. Negative thinking brings us despair yet positive thinking gives us hope. What people think about themselves makes all the difference in their self-esteem and when we feel good about ourselves, the world doesn’t quite look as bad. Being aware of negative thinking means, we can then stop those negative thoughts and put them into perspective. What is the problem that lies as the basis for the onset of those negative thoughts? Take a good look at it, ask yourself what started the process and deal with it. In that way, it can be set aside and not become an obsession that creates more problems later, nor will it become a negative rut that continues as a habit. Avoid black and white thinking. According to Dr. Monica Basco, clinical psychologist, some of us tend to think that things must be done in certain ways or in no way at all. If a person speaks in absolutes, such as “always” or “never” they think in black and white and are in an all or nothing trap. Avoid that type of extreme thinking. Nothing in life is absolute outside of death and taxes, so by using “often” rather than “always” we allow ourselves to see moderation in all things. If you find yourself thinking that if you can’t do something to perfection then you don’t want to do it at all, stop, and think for a minute. If things have to be done to meet a high standard of perfection, you have already set yourself up for failure in that all or nothing way of thinking. We view failure as a completely negative outcome, so step back and get perspective on how something can be accomplished with pleasure not pressure. Approach each new day and each project on the basis on how to do things better, improving time spent. Face the future with a positive outlook on bettering each day, not regressing to what was done wrongly in the past. Generate the positive thinking you want in your life and shed the negative thinking that we fall into so easily. Think back on the days when you have felt positive and confident and how everything seemed to fall into place easily. Days when we are at our lowest, we lack confidence and our self-esteem plummets, nothing seems to go the way we would like and it is discouraging. That is one good example of the difference between negative and positive thinking and the outcomes we generate. Dave and I have put a great deal of emphasis on positive vs. negative thinking. We have also emphasized that we project our energies, positive and/or negative and attract the same back to us. New research has shown this to be true. If you project negativity, negative people and negative situations are drawn to you, where positive energy being projected out attracts positive people and opportunities. You are virtually a walking magnet! Positive and negative thoughts can be very powerful. Research done at the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto has shown that a positive attitude can aid in healing where a negative attitude can delay healing. Recent studies indicate that nine out of ten people, who change from a negative attitude to a positive one, see a positive improvement in their lives. Research has also shown that people tend to dwell on the more negative aspects of themselves more so than the positive ones. Feeling good about yourself is an instantaneous creation of positive energy! It is important to recall our successes, deeds and accomplishments that generate that positive energy. We all make mistakes, as that is the nature of how we learn. Being able to realize we all mess up, opens the door to forgiving ourselves and letting go of the negative energy associated with errors. Being able to forgive ourselves and let the negative energy go, opens up more room for the more positive energy that we need to fill our thoughts and lives. Positive energy moves people forward because it motivates and energizes. Negative energy retards and inhibits forward motion, it stalls growth and holds us back, and it limits our potential. It all pertains to the thought patterns, be they negative or positive and the influence our thinking has on our outcomes. The first thing to be done is to be aware of the negative messages that sent out by our brains. Deal with them, rationalize them, and thwart the damage being done by stopping them. Realize that mistakes happen and forgive yourself, going into the next day with the new attitude of improving each day in more positive ways. Focus on your accomplishments rather than your failures, looking forward to the future, not back, to what once was. We can’t change the past but we can learn from it to change the future for ourselves in ways that are more positive. We have all heard that laughter is the best medicine. Find the things around you that make you feel good, make you laugh or bring you the greatest pleasure and enjoyment, should you find yourself slipping into a negative trap. Funny movies can bring on a more positive attitude and laughter makes us all feel better. Mingle with positive people and avoid those who look for the negative in other people or things around them. You will find that life offers a lot of positive energy as we let go of negative patterns. Even the bumps along life’s road don’t seem quite so harsh when our outlook, attitudes and our thinking changes. All I have shared here deals with life and making it more positive because this is where it all begins, within ourselves. Negative unresolved issues go with us in death and we are still faced with finding resolution when we leave this physical plane of existence. We don’t shed the negative attitudes or emotions with our physical bodies. Our emotions, hang-up’s and issues go with us and to find the answers and resolve the problems can become anchors in death. Suicide solves nothing as those issues that caused a person to take their very life, remain with them on the other side until they can find resolution. Suicide does not solve any problems, it only create new ones to be added to the existing problems. The International Ghost Hunters Society is a research society that believes that by understanding human thinking and behavior, we come to a better understanding of the nature of ghosts. Most of our research has given us a good foundation for this theory and has helped many to understand and deal with spirits present in their homes or places where there is ghostly activity. Research into the spirit realm is the focal point of our organization. Helping others to understand is a very important aspect of this research. If in writing this article on negative thought processes and helping people recognize there is something they can do to help themselves and improve their lives, then we all benefit from the changes being made. May you all have a good and positive week ahead. IGHS San Antonio Ghost Conference on June 19th: Dave & Sharon are hosting their eighth annual IGHS Ghost Conference in San Antonio, Texas on June 19 at the Menger Hotel. The Conference for the third Saturday in June will focus on the ghosts of the Alamo, the Menger Hotel, and San Antonio, ghost photography, EVP recordings, and EVP evaluations. See the video of the shadow people. No psychics or mediums will be speaking, as we are a scientific based organization focusing on using scientific tools for recording and documenting the existence of ghosts. Group and military discounts are available. All events are within walking distance of your haunted hotel and meeting place. Special room rates of $95 at the Menger, just ask for the International Ghost Hunters Special, as long as rooms are available. We will have limited seating due to the meeting room limitations, so do not delay registering with Dave & Sharon. Check out http://www.ghostweb.com/alamo1.html. Digital Ghost Photography Handbook: Are you confused about orbs? What are dust orbs and how do they relate to real ghost orbs? Read our 20 page thermal bound book or download the PDF book and discover how digital photography is the wave of the future. We have been using digital since 1994 and we share with the reader, which are the best digital cameras on the market today. We also share what to look for when purchasing a digital camera and provide some protocols to avoid falling into the dust orb trap. Check it out at http://www.ghostweb.com/booklet2.html. How to Record and Analyze Ghost Voices: Traditional techniques for recording ghost voices are outdated and far less successful. Sharon and I have an accumulated 28 years of experience in ghost research and in evaluating ghost tools for field investigations. Along the way, we have discovered many hidden techniques that enable us to be tremendously successful in recording the voices of the dead. Our new book will disclose our time tested techniques in a step by step procedure that is easy to understand and to apply. Check out the book at http://www.ghostweb.com/booklet.html We ship via Priority Mail through the Post Office, not the slow boat to China known as Media Mail that takes several weeks to arrive at an address. CD Version Home Study Courses: We offer the CD version is for PC computers using Wins95, Wins98, WindowsMe, and WindowsXP. The added features of this CD version, includes color photographs of spiritual orbs, spirit energy ectoplasm, a full body apparition and samples of ordinary airborne dust particles we call dust orbs that fool so many people. The separate Photo Analysis CD is now a part of the CD version. In addition, a printed copy can be made from CD, as in the printed version. We pay the shipping charges for Priority Mail in the USA, International Air Mail to Canada and for an extra ten dollars, we will ship it by Global Priority Mail to Europe and Asia. More information is available at http://www.ghostweb.com/mainhsc.html Fulfill your dreams: Magic Dimensions We all have dreams that we wished that could be our reality, but we do not know how to make that wish come true for us. In our book, we teach about the magic of having your dreams fulfilled. We show the reader how to open a doorway for a new reality where your dream will come true. Many claim this process is a miracle, but Quantum Mechanics teaches us that our miracles are simply an application of this weird science. Out book can show you how to create that miracle! We share with the reader the magical techniques that create the miracle we seek after in life. Magic Dimensions may be one of the most important books that will change your life. Visit our web site at http://www.ghostweb.com/magic1.html for more info on ordering the book. The ISBN number is 0-595-22032-0 and can be ordered from any bookstore or online at major dot.com bookstores. IGHS T-shirts Available: We are pleased to announce that we have our new IGHS light blue 50/50 screen printed T-shirts available. The two sided printing has a large full size on the back and a smaller size image on the front, over the left pocket area. Limited sizes are available ranging from XL to 2XL. Check them out at http://www.ghostweb.com/tshirt1.html. Life Time IGHS Member Certificate: Instead of renewing every year, IGHS members can now purchase a Life Time Membership for $60 or a Life Time Membership and Life Time Clip ID Badge for $75. This is available through PayPal and through our online Secure Order Form at http://www.ghostweb.com/memcert.html. IGHS ID Badges for Investigations: We have received many requests for some kind of Identification Badge to wear while conducting field investigations. We have created a laminated ID Badge with a metal clip that snaps onto your shirt or other piece of clothing. It says that you are a Registered Ghost Hunter/Paranormal Investigator in good standing with the International Ghost Hunters Society and it has our signatures and web address. Order the ID Badge at http://www.ghostweb.com/id_badge.html. Password Memberships: We offer a special membership in our Ghostweb Ghost Galleries. Due to the size of these ghost galleries, we have to limit the number of people because of the bandwidth consumed by downloading the photos, spirit voices, and ghost videos in this area. If you want to view over 9,000 ghost photos, EVPs, and videos, check out our membership program at http://www.ghostweb.com/pass.html. IGHS Membership Certificates: The IGHS offers a beautiful Membership Certificate. The membership certificate is valid for one year Check it out at http://www.ghostweb.com/memcert.html for more information. Kind regards, Dave, Sharon & BooBoo International Ghost Hunters Society Copyrighted 2004 by Dr. Dave Oester All Rights Reserved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our next book is spooky! American Hauntings Investigated, due out in August 2004 Alamo Ghost Conference -- June 19, 2004 -- San Antonio, Texas http://www.ghostweb.com/alamo1.html Dave Oester, Ph.D., DD. Sharon Gill, Ph.D., International Ghost Hunters Society 713 W Spruce, PMB 715 Deming, NM 88030 Web URL: http://www.ghostweb.com Email: MagicDimensions@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~