Haunted Courtney

I hope you're sitting down, because I'm about to burst your ectoplasmic bubble. Is "ectoplasmic" even a word? Let's just pretend I didn't make that up for the sake of this article. First, a little history. Ectoplasm first became popular in the late 1800s when mediums claimed they could produce a mysterious substance during séances. It was said to emerge from the nose or mouth and was supposedly too "light sensitive" to exist outside complete darkness. Convenient, right? As it turned out, many of those famous demonstrations were exactly what skeptics suspected. Once the lights came on, the "ectoplasm" often turned out to be tissue paper, cheesecloth, or some wonderfully appetizing mixture of gelatin, soap, and egg whites. Some mediums even swallowed the material beforehand so they could dramatically regurgitate it during the séance. I don't know about you, but I think I'd rather meet an actual ghost. So... Is tradi...

I have a love-hate relationship with technology. I love that I can find information in seconds or catch up with family and friends from my phone. But I also think technology has a way of clouding our minds if we let it. Ghost hunting has come a long way over the years, but I'm not entirely convinced it's been for the better. Don't get me wrong. I love new ghost hunting gadgets as much as the next investigator. Some of them are incredibly interesting. But somewhere along the way, I think we started relying on electronic beeps and flashing lights to tell us what our own senses used to. Years ago, if someone thought they were in the presence of something paranormal, they paid attention to how they felt. The hair on the back of their neck stood up. Their ears rang. Something just felt...different. Now we tend to stare at a screen waiting for it to tell us whether there's a ghost in the room. Sometimes I wonder if we've become so focused on the equipment that we...