AtomaCon Panel: Bigfoot Hunting

On Saturday, November 15th, I attended the Bigfoot Hunting panel at AtomaCon in North Charleston, SC.  It was led by Cheralyn Lambeth and M. Doc Geressy (who are both members of the Carolina Ghostbusters), and it was a fun and entertaining discussion.  Doc stated that just because we haven't found something doesn't mean it's not there and that if Bigfoot doesn't want to be found, it wouldn't be that hard for him to evade everyone.  Cheralyn pointed out that every major civilization has stories about a Bigfoot-like creature.  They talked about the famous 1964 Bigfoot documentary made by David Patterson, and Cheralyn said that a line going down the back of Bigfoot looks like it could be a zipper and that it wouldn't be that difficult to make a fake Bigfoot film.  As for why someone would fake it, she said that professional filmmakers do things all the time to amuse themselves, such as giving Bigfoot breasts in the Patterson film.  Doc said that if the film was a hoax, it was a very good one and wondered why, if it's easy to fake, more people don't make Bigfoot films?  He also noted that generally the people who have claimed to see Bigfoot don't seem like intelligent or credible people and that if someone like Bill Nye claimed to have seen him, then people would probably believe in Bigfoot.  Cheralyn said that you can't prove that something doesn't exist, and I'd never thought of it that way, but it's so true...you can prove that most things do exist, but if no one has proven the existence of something like Bigfoot, it might just mean we haven't found it yet.  And, really, don't we all secretly hope that Bigfoot exists?

I really enjoyed this panel, and I thought about Bigfoot more than I ever have in my entire life.  I even ended up writing about Bigfoot later that night...I've had a lot of fun writing paranormal jokes and haiku for this blog (which are all going into a book I'm publishing next year), so here's a haiku I wrote after the Bigfoot panel:

Bigfoot, how we wish

You’d reveal your existence,

But we understand

Why you stay hidden.

Steer clear of rednecks with guns,

Or you might become

A Bigfoot-skin rug

Or head mounted on a wall.

Stay safe, furry one.

Also, if you're interested in Bigfoot, check out Graham Roumieu's Bigfoot books (Me Write Book and I Not Dead)...they're hilarious!

http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2014/04/book-spotlight-bigfoot-books-by-graham.html 

Carolina Ghostbusters:
http://carolinaghostbusters.com/

M. Doc Geressy:
https://batdoc.wordpress.com/

Cheralyn Lambeth:
http://www.galleryquest.webs.com/

So You Want to be a Ghost Hunter...

On Sunday, November 10th, I attended a convention called ATOMACON (All Types of Media Arts Convention), which was a three-day convention in Charleston, SC devoted to sci-fi, fantasy, and science.  I attended the Ghost Hunting Tech panel (led by the Carolina Ghostbusters) because I thought it would be a great thing to write about for the blog; paranormal investigators Chuck Carte, Cheralyn Lambeth, M. Doc Geressy, and Tally Johnson talked about the different types of equipment they use on investigations, so if you want to be a ghost hunter, here are some of the things you'll need:

-EMF detector/K-2 meter: measures electromagnetic fields
-flashlight with 3 settings: regular, blacklight, and laser pointer
-temperature gun: measures the temperature using a laser pointer
-video and audio recording devices
-seismograph: measures vibrations
-laser grid: detects shadows and other visual disturbances
-Geiger counter: measures radiation

The Carolina Ghostbusters also offered some ghost hunting tips:

-Always research the place you're investigating in the daylight, so you can identify environmental factors (animals in the attic, etc.) before you walk into a dark house at night.
-Before you begin investigating, walk around the house/building with the EMF meter to see what sets it off; almost anything electrical can cause the EMF detector to go off, so this will prevent you from getting false readings.
-If you want to use a ghost box in your investigations, you can make one yourself with a radio instead of paying a lot for one you find online (and this website tells you how to do it:
 http://angelsghosts.com/ghost_box_how_to_make)
-A "ghost camera" is the same thing as a regular camera, so don't be fooled by ads for expensive cameras claiming to be specifically for ghost hunting.

Ghost Hunting Tech was a very interesting panel, and though I don't want to do any paranormal investigating myself (I get creeped out enough just watching paranormal TV shows), I'm glad I learned more about it from the very informative and entertaining Carolina Ghostbusters.  If you think your house might be haunted or you just want to know more about the Carolina Ghostbusters, check out their website!

http://carolinaghostbusters.com/