I’ve been talking to dead people for a very long time. It started when I was just a kid and I would see the old lady in my house. Over time I’ve developed my own inner system for communicating with the other side. But in the interest of full disclosure, it is just kinda all in my head.

It’s sort of the big elephant in the room, and the main way that skeptics and debunkers dismiss psychic phenomena. But I presume, since you’re here and all, that you’re okay with the whole psychic, telepathic, etc., experience. And until fairly recently, the only way to know if a spirit was around was either some sort of physical manifestation, or a psychic medium told you what the being on the other side was saying.

Enter technology. Modern ghosthunters have adapted devices to measure the electromagnetic spectrum and record voices that are not immediately audible to the humans present. In the early days these devices were rather large and bulky. Today you can buy a variety of apps to download on to your smartphone. Which I did before heading out on the ghost tour I did last weekend.

In my excitement I started randomly downloading apps that looked good, and then I went and did some research. A lot of the apps were rated as crap less than useful when seriously looking for paranormal phenomena. They all state plainly that they are strictly for “entertainment”. Remember how we creeped ourselves out with the Ouija board in dark closets when we were kids? And you were scared even though you were sure someone was really pushing that planchette? This is the new brand of that. Is it real? Hard to say. I suspect in the presence of other paranormal activity – knocking, orbs, apparitions – that a positive reading on these apps could be considered confirmatory. But if it’s just randoms bleeps on a screen with no other data, well, you have to be your own judge on that.

In this Wall Street Journal article, it describes how some pro ghosthunters think they work, and some don’t. Seems opinions can get fairly heated.

I’ll be the first one to admit I’m not very techno-savvy. I’m still surprised I manage to get blog posts up. But it was fun to play with the apps I downloaded, and I did find one in particular, Ghosthunter M2 by Jedasoft that has produced some surprising results. I saw a fair-ish number of positive reviews. It even has it’s own Facebook page. While the ones that liked it made a point to say that it couldn’t be used to produce viable scientific data, they noted that it could be useful to get a sample of spirit activity.

Now normally when I attempt to interact with the spirit realm, I take steps to protect myself. I’m not sure if it’s because I didn’t really expect the apps to work, or I was just lazy, but I started turning the app on at random times without engaging any of my spiritual protections. And I got a mixed bag of results – some blips on the screen, high EMF readings where there was no other source of EMF nearby, creepy digitized voices pronouncing random words.

But then…

I started to notice my senses tingling a little more than usual around my house. Yeah. I turned those apps on in my house and around my yard. I keep my home pretty clean spiritually. Usually negative entities don’t even bother because I move them on as soon as I detect them. This was definitely something of a darker aspect, and it was elusive. It hid from me when I actively searched for it, retreating beyond the borders of my yard.

The first night, my dreams were only vaguely unsettling and quickly faded out on waking. The second night it was a completely different story. This being attacked me in my dream, multiple times. The dream evolved through several scenes, and in each one a person was trying to do me harm. In each case the people would grab me and draw me toward them, attempting to pass the negative energies into me. In the last attempt, a woman pretended to know me, to be my friend. She drew me in close to give me a friendly kiss, but at the last moment I saw her eyes change to a weirdly pale light. For a flash, they went milky white. Behind her shoulder I saw a dark hooded figure appear and place it’s hand on her, lending her strength. A dark fog rolled out of her mouth and she stabbed one finger into the hollow of my throat in an attempt to distract me so this fog could move into me.

I woke with a start and could still feel the pain of her finger digging into my throat. My arms were crunched up protectively toward my face and throat and my muscles were still shaking and cramping from fighting against her pull.

So here’s the deal, I haven’t had a bad nightmare like this in a very long time. I’m not the best, most all-powerful psychic there is, but I have spent a good deal of time honing my skills. Let’s just say that I usually have sufficient protections that my dreams are typically untroubled by beings attacking me. This thing had gone right through those protections and had managed to attach itself to me.

Awake now, I scanned the room and saw it looking at my husband next. I quickly centered and grounded myself, called in my spirit allies and protectors and did the psychic equivalent of tapping it on the shoulder.

Hey. You’re really not welcome here. And what you just did was really rude. I told it. So I’m asking you to leave. Now.

Awake, I could see this being was just a small, confused creature. It wasn’t even fully human, more like just a fragment of some poor soul’s anger and pain. In short, it wasn’t very smart. All it knew was how to cause pain and terror, because that was all it had ever experienced.

When it realized I could see it, it went into The Scary Dance. This is something spirits will do when they’re trying to convince you they’re big and bad. Sometimes it works, because the spirit I’m up against is one of significant power. This little being dancing around my bedroom was hardly that. It’s gyrations were almost cute.

Let me tell you, spirits hate it when you’re only amused by their Scary Dance. They try harder.

Look, I told it, You have exactly two choices. I can help you. I can point you toward the Veil and help you get to the other side so you can find the rest of you and be healed. Or you can leave.

It laughed and gnashed phantasmal teeth and told me it was going to kill me.

Um, no, you’re not. I said. You’re going to make your choice. Cross over or leave my premises.

You can’t make me! It cackled. I do whatever I want.

You’re right. I can’t make you. But They can make it very uncomfortable for you to stay here.

When dealing with beings who project negative energies, it’s important to maintain your own center and calm. If you maintain your heart and mind in a loving space then the power these beings have is greatly reduced. Plus I had help.

“They”are my allies in spirit. Big, bright, beautiful beings who help me in my work. They manifested their presence in my room, and though the room itself remained dark the energies of love and light poured in. The little being took one look, squeaked in dismay and popped out of my awareness.

I did an energy sweep of my house, and my allies likewise assured me it was gone. Then told me using the phone apps had opened me up and called it in. Because I didn’t have all my usual protections in place it had found a weak spot to slip through.

Lesson learned.

Have you tried any of the ghost hunting apps? Been on a ghost tour or a ghost hunt? I’d love to hear your experiences.