Spectral Evidence: Ghosthunting 101 – FestivaloftheDead.com

These people should be ashamed of charging $ 80 of your hard-​earned money for this event. Now, my friend and I are fans of Halloween. Big fans. We entertain a whimsical interest in all things supernatural. We’re skeptical but open minded, and most of all, we’ll gladly blow $ 80 on a fun, unique entertainment experience, whether Caspar shows up or not. We were not necessarily expecting to find ghosts, but we were expecting to be at least mildly entertained or enlightened. This event was neither fun, unique, entertaining, nor enlightening. Bottom line: if it had cost $ 15, this would be a 4-​star review. It’s just way overpriced.
Now let me caveat this by saying that the people running the show seemed earnest, and I’m sure they’re very nice people who believe in what they’re doing. But they hardly seemed like experts – the only information they knew about the devices they showed us was what they gleaned from the «manufacturer’s claims», which they quoted several times. And if you can’t seem to get through a basic PowerPoint presentation, than just how tech savvy are you really? But regardless of their legitimacy or knowledge, they could have provided a far better experience for this price. By the second half of the presentation, at least ¹⁄₃ of the audience had up and left, which speaks for itself.
LOGISTICS/​FORMAT
— A 1.5-hour problematic PowerPoint presentation in which they shared ghosthunting stories and stumbled through audio and visual evidence we could neither see nor hear due to the low quality of the images and the lack of proper configuration to the venue’s speaker system, which they kept reminding us was the reason why we couldn’t hear anything good. «Oh, that’s too bad, these are really good, I wish you could hear it correctly,» etc. You’d think that for an $ 80/​ticket presentation, you could do a run-​through beforehand to make sure everything’s working? Nope.
— Not to worry though, you get a CD of EVPs so you can listen again at home. Just listened while writing this, and now I know the speaker system was not to blame for the lack of evidence.
— Half an hour outside taking pictures and using dousing rods and pendulums with the most apathetic tour guide of all time, who clearly didn’t want to be there. There were a few ladies helping out, who were very nice and helpful and seemed earnest.
— 1 more hour inside again playing with gadgets: EMF devices, a video camera, and ghosthunting iPad apps like Ghost Radar. The guy put a cup on a table and used it as a Ouija board, which got one woman in the room pretty psyched. She was sure that the spirit of a boy she knew was moving the cup in a circle.
— The content of the presentation did not warrant 4 hours. 2 hours tops. Why they insisted on dragging this out over 4 hours, I will never know.
— Plenty of appetizers that tasted good. This was the only part of the night that met expectations.
— Convenient cash bar.
— Take-​home packet of ghost-​hunting terms, tips, and questions to ask spirits.
ACTIVITIES YOU CAN DO AT HOME FOR FREE
— Google what EVPs and EMFs are and listen to them
— Google ghosthunting tips
— Check out apps on your smartphone
— Take pictures at graveyards
— Watch ghosthunting shows for [far better] stories of spectral evidence
ACTIVITIES YOU CANNOT DO AT HOME FOR FREE
— Listen to a local witch say a few words to open your heart and mind to the «spirit of place» and stuff. At least that felt somewhat ceremonious and entertaining. But the guy even told her she didn’t do the spell right! Come on, guy. Awkward.
— Hold dousing rods
PARANORMAL COMPLAINTS
The famed ghosts of the Hawthorn Hotel did not make themselves evident on any of the devices, but can you blame ‘em?
This made for a series of awkward moments watching hopeful audience members stare longingly and confusedly at the foreign devices in their hands, which look suspiciously like refurbished Gameboys, btw. I was looking to grasp onto the littlest bit of magic to make this night worth it, but even those who started the evening off as the biggest optimists in the room were quiet by the end of the evening, which was sad and disappointing to see.