I was a Ghost Hunter for a day!

I am so lame. I spent Halloween night reviewing movies and watching television. Freelance means that most of my social interaction involves avatars and typing. Anyway, I spent the scariest night of the year watching the Ghost Hunters 5 scariest episodes. Aside from keeping me awake all night, it reminded me of the time I hunted ghosts with the team.


I'm not kidding! I actually got to hunt with Jason, Grant, Steve and Tango! Last year, the SyFy Channel (oh wait...it was still Sci Fi back then) flew a bunch of us up to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado (yes, that's the Shining hotel!) to check out their upcoming shows for the season. At the end of the night, the TAPS team took groups of us out to see if we could scare ourselves up some ghosties.

Creepiest hotel EVER!

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a big skeptic. I always think people are trying to fool me. Buuut, I do think there is something out there that is unexplainable. No reason not to believe that ghosts exist.

We started with Grant and Jason in a hotel room in the dark (sounds kind of dirty, no?). Through a series of yes and no questions, and some blinking equipment, we found out that the spirit in the room used to work in the hotel, and really, really liked the ladies. He told us that he used to spy on the female inhabitants of the hotel room from the closet. Each of the female reporters got to hang with him in there. When I closed the door, I could swear it got colder. And the cold felt like it was moving up my back like a hand...damn it! Now I'm going to have to sleep with the light on again.

Grant and Jason during the day's interviews.

Next, we walked down a haunted hotel hallway. I didn't feel anything right away, but as we found out, there was a presence. The TAPS team member said, "If anyone is here with us, can you give us a sign?" As if on cue, the honeymooning couple in one of the rooms started moaning passionately! We barely made it out of there before cracking up hysterically!

The infamous moaning couple hallway.

Finally, we ended up in a tiny little hotel room, supposedly one of the most haunted in the hotel. The light from the moon was pretty bright, so we could definitely see clearly. I was sitting on the bed with one other person in full sight. Everyone else was on the floor. And all of a sudden, something flicked my earring! We checked the windows. No drafts. Magnets wouldn't have worked. The earrings are silver. I have no idea if it was the ghost of the little girl who supposedly haunts that room or if there was some elaborate trickery. (I really, really want to believe it was the ghost.) All I know is, it swung! Coolest thing ever.

Later on, Amanda Tapping from Stargate and Sanctuary joined the group as we explored the old performance hall. (It was still set up from the day's wedding...might have been our moaners.) We got to play with equipment, and wander the basement where a homeless woman apparently died. This year at Comic Con, I got to chat with Tapping for a bit. While talking about our shared Ghost Hunters experience, I asked her if she believed. "Oh, absolutely, I absolutely believe in it. There are forces at work in our world we don't understand. And maybe we shouldn't. Maybe that's part of the beauty of mystery. I love the fact that there are mysterious things and the unexplained, and people try so hard scientifically to explain it. But maybe it just shouldn't be. I love that. I often feel like there are spirits around that are protecting me. I know when my eldest brother passed away, I kept knowing that he was around. I knew he was there. And he would manifest in different ways. This will make me sound totally hokey, but I absolutely believe."

Me with the super-nice Amanda Tapping!

Me too.

I know this is random, but we got a few gifts when we got to the hotel. A Ghost Hunters sweatshirt that my husband took from me, (OK, fine, I gave it to him.) a flashlight, (makes sense) a compass (um...why?) and a giant pocket knife (because I was going to, what...stab the ghosts?)