My Ghostbusters Job

a reply to: TroyCheek

Well, interesting read, but wow.....

I can't get over that you guys charged three families to bust their ghosts, and did nothing but watch TV and drink beer. Sheesh! At lest in case #4, you resolved the issue. Case #5, hard to know what to think. The kids could have just gotten spooked by a creepy-looking attic, and the claustrophobic feel, and the rest could easily have been just wind and nerves, but.....it could have been something else, too. I have experienced enough to know that, sometimes, there is something there.

Didn't the group have any plan to ever do anything actually related to busting a ghost?

originally posted by: LadyGreenEyes
Didn't the group have any plan to ever do anything actually related to busting a ghost?

I believe the official plan was that Mr. A would use his psychic abilities to locate the ghost. Mr. B would then use his psychic abilities to communicate with the ghost and send it along its way. Mr. C and D would film the whole thing. My job was the be the muscle and keep the ghosts from hurting us through the power of my disbelief. (Keep in mind that I didn't really disbelieve in ghosts or psychic abilities, I just didn't believe in these ghosts or the psychic powers of these guys.) Mr. A generally went over the whole plan with the clients, but I zoned out and I admit I usually had a head start on the drinking by that point. Giving a college student a job that pays in beer is probably not a good idea. (smiley face)

a reply to: TroyCheek

So, in those other cases, they just didn't think there was anything around? Shame no one seemed to take any video; you might have caught something. And, yeah, college kids, easy money, and the Ghostbuster era, people should be aware, anyway. That they didn't call back and complain says a lot, too!

Great story!

Thanks for sharing. It has been a while since I've read an entire long post on ATS. Not that there haven't been any, I just can't stick with them.

Great thread, thanks for sharing

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes
(love your handle, by the way) As I remember, while the "psychics" picked up quite a bit while scanning the house with the family around, once the family went to bed it was just drinking and cutting up. I don't recall any cases where the psychics noticed anything during the night or actually did anything, but I suppose it's possible something happened after I went to sleep. I'm sure this is not what Mr. A reported to the families in the morning, but I didn't stick around for that part. I was already out in the car ready for the ride back to the dorms. Hangover and all that.

I suppose it is also possible that something happened during the jobs where I wasn't there, but it wasn't like any of the group ever said to me "You should have been here last weekend, man! We busted 7 ghosts!"

All the calls would have went to Mr. A, and if he got any complaints, he never mentioned it to me. If these were actual cases of ghosts or evil spirits then I would have expected (counted on) complaints or repeat business. Since these cases were probably just normal events combined with frazzled nerves, and having some "professionals" kick out the ghosts would calm the nerves... To be honest, I like to think that even if we did nothing but put on a show, it helped the people involved, and that keeps me from feeling too guilty about the whole thing. The person I am now would never get involved in something like this, but I was a not-quite-legal-drinking-age young man being offered free beer, so there.

The camera has been bothering me the last few days. I've done a Google Image search, and I can't find anything like it. I'm sure it was referred to as using film, but it was shaped more like a television studio camera (just smaller), and I think those don't have any type of film or tape in them as they just send the image via wires to other equipment in the studio. I actually spent some time in the local PBS television station and saw real studio cameras in action, or at least the old cheap ones that a small PBS station could afford. As I remember the cameras of the time, they needed lots of light, had bad dynamic response, and were sensitive to vibration. Not the kind of technology that would be good for documenting a ghost hunt.

a reply to: TroyCheek
Wow a very scooby doo series of tales there.

As for that whole disbelief anchoring things into central views, a door opening one guy runs through it the other freezes. I don't know bro, believe is a tricky thing, for instance many people here and in the world believe that one man can speak for millions and millions of people, they call that person the president. I believe that is illogical and a practical impossibility. For me that does not exist, yet for millions others it does exist, in there capacity.

As to what I believe about ghosts? I don't necessarily believe in them as its just prudent to do so. These ghost among other of the more esoteric and supernatural even mental perspective stories, always reminds me of this scene form Eric the Viking movie.

Christians beleave in Ghosts, spirits they even invite a Holy ghost to reside in them.

I don't post often, obviously, but you pulled me out of the shadows of lurking. Great story.

Great post and thread!! 👏

a reply to: TroyCheek

Seems like most of the calls were likely not ghosts, then, because surely people would have complained, and word would have spread. If they were nervous over nothing, and a visit settled that, no harm done.

Odd on the camera; maybe they really had no intention of filming anything.