Ghost hunting at a Buddhist Temple...

LMAO I am no ghost hunter...not even 100% sure I believe in ghosties.

For the second weekend in a row my daughter has called me in late in the evening/early morning to report that "the ghost" is at it again.

The Masters (it's a Nunnery or whatever the heck you call it - all female) are freaked out! They have been doing cleanses and performing prayers like crazy all around the Temple Grounds.

The Masters, as well as my daughter claim to have seen a "small pure white" figure outside, moving "way faster" than any human possibly could. The noises they hear are footsteps (it's all tiled) and a girl's laughter.

The first time my daughter heard it, she called me at just after 11:30 PM...there are no children at the Temple (my daughter is adult) and there are no visitors except my daughter( in training). She said that both she and two Masters were outside locking up when they heard the laughter...echoing and then saw a figure of a small person dash across the garden area. They said it moved way too fast to be a person and it was quite small...like a young child.

The second time, was just this morning while everyone was preparing for morning service at 3:45 am. There are no visitors in the Temple at this time as it is for Nuns and trainees only. My daughter called and said that nearly every master in the Temple heard the giggles echoing...even above the sounds of the morning chanting and bells. They actually stopped the service to listen...then they all freaked out and started doing prayers all over the Temple again...

My daughter wants me to sleep there next weekend with the camcorder and a little digital recorder and see if I can "catch" whatever it is. HA!

The Masters are all for it and say that I can have free run of the place all night long. They firmly believe it is a "spook" and their only concern is that I don't upset it or make it angry in anyway...hmmmm.

Aside from a camcorder and/or recorder is there anything else I need? Anything to watch for?

I already have suspicions about what it might be...then again I wasn't there and didn't see it/hear it for myself...

Any advice or input?

Cheers

In Buddhism there are entities called hungry ghosts. If a person becomes a hungry ghost then no drink can quench them and no food can satiate them. Typically, offerings of food are left for them. Even though they cannot eat it, it creates wholesome Karma for both the offerer and the ghost. I'm surprised they are attempting to exercise the spirit, being able to create such wholesome Karma is a rare opportunity.

In their prayers they have apparently repeatedly asked the spirit to be calmed. According to them (The Masters) the spirit is not to be appeased. They aren't trying to expell it per say...they merely agreed to allow me to investigate it. I am no ghost hunter and certainly no ordained excorcist LMAO...just a curious person irritated by superstitions.

What I said was they are blessing the Temple and offering prayer. You took that to mean expelling the ghost. If there is such.

And no they do not offer food for ghosts they offer food and such as I understand it only for Buddha (Amitahbah or however it's spelled). My daughter is not Zen Buddhist she is Pure Land Buddhist. There are several branches of Buddhism all relatively similar but with some very marked differences.

They do as I'm told have several resident spooks...and they are not troubled by them. This one apparently has them all quite upset and that's why I offered to check it out...and to satisfy my own curiosity.

Cheers!

well I done one thing that seems to work, if you have about a pound of sulpher and a bunch of bent nails you could do a barrier spell arround the monistary the ghost would think that it was an entrance into hell and high tail it out of the area.

Course you would have to get a pound of sulpher. and of course believe in that sort of thing. Otherwise I wouldent know what to tell ya

Whatukno...I'm not even going to ask what the hell you were doing with a pound of sulfur and a buncha bent nails...LMAO but thanks for the suggestion just the same.

I'll pass on it though. It's one thing for the Nuns to allow me to wander around the Temple at night and quite another to allow me to create a false "gateway to hell" on Temple grounds...

I'm basically just wondering if anyone else has gone in actual search of a spook..in a novice capacity and if there is anything I should know or take along?

I've never done this before and although I'm trying hard not to be too flippant about it, I do want to see if there is anything to this whole Ghost thing...

Hard to remain serious about it I know...but please if I can try to be serious so can the posters who may respond to the thread.

(not implying that you weren't serious in your reply...on ATS one just never knows...)

1. Camcorder
2. Photo Camer (flash can be interesting but also produce explainable weird effects; espically if methane gas is around).
3. And most importantly of all...

A tape recorder. It's really easy to pick ghosts voices up on tape; espically when you tell them what the tape does and is there for and then ask questions. Ghosts will sometimes record on both sides of the tape, but you can still get interesting stuff. I've done it myself.

I think there's way too much evidence in favour of the afterlife and hope you find the same. Ghosts on CCTV in period clothing in high security buildings has to be some of the best; as well as the Soviet Unions own military reasearch.

Good Luck.

Thanks Liberal1984

I wonder if a digital voice recorder is alright to use as opposed to a tape recorder? Does it make a difference?

It's weird even considering this whole venture...I am sure my kid has seen "something" before...at a young age, and I could never fully explain it away. I kind of resolved that given the situation and circumstance that it may have been possible it was a ghost she saw (I witnessed her behaving in an odd way - speaking to the air and waving...offering the air a cookie...that kind of thing...I posted it somewhere in one of the forums...)

Although skeptical I just don't know. I'd love to find proof even if it only satisfies my own need. Even better if I can have something to show others or have others listen to and offer feedback on it!

I am a spiritual person...religious abstainer LOL...I support my daughter's choice because it makes her happy and Buddhism is a fairly peaceful religion as far as religions go...

So I have a cheap MPEG4 digital camera, a digital voice recorder...should I have a cam light? The Temple is usually fairly well lit even at night. Would a cam light cast odd shadows, or would it help illuminate a spook if one were to be seen?

I'm actually kinda looking forward to it....hopefully next Friday/Saturday I can hang out and see what I can find.

Thanks for the input

Oh yes and I have a small tri[od too...goodness I hate those damn shaky videos...can't make out a damn thing with all the jittering.

[edit on 12/4/2006 by justgeneric]

This sounds like an interesting adventure,I look forward to anything you may have recorded on video or audio.I am still a sceptic but have an open mind anyway.

how fun!! well in the ghost hunting aspect of it, not the scared buddhists part.

my advice would be just to take lots of pictures of the areas in which it is thought the ghost is frequenting and then see if you luck out and catch anything.

I would also advise that you go there showing the ghost some respect, ask it to show itself. I'm rather surprised that land buddhists have no method to deal with this spirit and that their prayers and cleansings aren't working. I would hope they have a someone in their heirachy with more knowledge they call upon to help the spirit move on.

btw where is this monastery? are there animals freely roaming around, perhaps monkeys? I remember hearing of a relative who thought he was being haunted because things were dissappearing from his house and he heard noises, only to later find out there was a monkey on the loose in their village.

love to see any pictures you take of the place

Thanks,

WorldWatcher...it's a Temple Located in Richmond BC Canada...no wild animals unless you count the Christians in the church grounds next to the Temple (he he he).

I can't go this weekend though, they have a special visitor this week.

They continue to do prayers to try to "appease" the spirit

My daughter is however taking the cam today to do a research project for school and I'll post some pictures/video of the Temple during daylight hours for comparison to what I may get hopefully next weekend, once the guest has gone back to Taipei.

One marked difference between the Pureland Buddhists and the Zen Buddhists that I have noticed is the level of superstitious belief. Pureland believers are really very superstitious.

I hadn't realized that it's actually a very big deal for them to allow me to film there with the intent of trying to catch" a ghost on video or audio...the special guest is an older master from the Lin Yen Mountain Temple in Taipei and while it's not relative to the "spook" I bet they'll do a few extra prayers while there.

The temple itself is massive and a new one is already in the works...triple the size of the current. This has created some bad feelings on this particular strip of road as there are numerous Mosques, Temples and Churches along this strip (called church alley by the locals). There had been many attempts to shut down the building of the new temple and a lot of ire over the plans to erect an massive statue of Buddha as well...that is still being debated. They got the go ahead on a tentative basis and have already started laying things out on the new site.

Some Nuns think there may be more active spirits due to this new building taking place as well as some of the bad karma some visitors are bringing in (the lawyers from the other churches etc...)

Who knows? Sorry for the delay none the less, but I'll post the pictures when I get the cam back and we'll plan for a nighttime shoot next Saturday.

My conspirator's mind is also wondering how likely it may be that the ghostly activity may be a hoax to scare the Nuns out of building?? LMAO There's a conspiracy everywhere it seems

I was disappointed that it was put off till next weekend but I'll keep you all up to date, and post what I get ASAP. It's a beautiful Temple to be sure.

Whether it's truly haunted is another story...

If you have some spare Loonies (sorry couldn't resist Canadian, I think that's how you spell it) I would suggest picking up a directional thermometer and an EMF Detector. Both of these can help lead you to the place and time to "point and shoot." Directional Thermometer, aberrant temperature fluctuation, particularly when it suddenly becomes much colder in a certain area are a good sign of paranormal activity. Strong EMF readings are also associated with activity, who knows why.

I am not sure if a digital tape recorder works I have always hold you use the old style analog, but I have never played with EVP. An old real tape recorder can not cost more than a few bucks. Might as well stick with the tried and true!

I agree with worldwatcher that you should begin with showing the spirit respect, however if you are not seeing any results, a little bit of provocation can go along way. I am not saying curse his ancestors, simply such things as challenging him to show himself, saying such things as "I do not believe you are strong enough to make your presence known." Things of that nature, hope this helps.

[edit on 9-12-2006 by Baphomet79]

I have heard many times that Analog devices are actually superior to newer digital devices for recording sounds.A recorded real tape will have much more sound details that can be later analyzed by a computer to find strange EVP noises.Just use an older cassette recorder even.The same is true about old vinyl record LP vs new CD's. The audio nuts prefer to listen to an original LP record on a record player with A needle rather than a CD player.They say the old analog record has all the highs and lows of the sound spectrum and generally more "full" sound.

Have some of the video my daughter shot...but it's all inside the Temple and only of the deities...she's taken the camera again today and hopefully will get some daylight shots of the grounds as I asked. Have to decode them into MPEG first and edit some "personal" stuff out but will post when I get done goofing off

Antagonizing a ghost? I can do that...not much different than antagonizing the living really

Nothing unusual happened this weekend so far...but my kiddo didn't sleep there this weekend as she was working. She'll ask around and see if things are still active...

The Nuns love talking about the other ghosts they have there...just not this one in particular (the laughing girl)...they claim to have a few who were once regular patrons, who still arrive for services and they leave spaces for them in the main Buddha hall during prayer services.?!?

I don't know that I have THAT many spare loonies...a directional thermometer is a bit of a novice ghost hunter price range I'm looking to make this cheap and cheerful...it's just a curiosity kick for me more than anything.

I asked a buddy of mine how much his thermometer was (he is really into paranormal investigation,) and says you can get a really good one for $50 US, so I'm sure you could find a cheaper one than that if you are interested. When I've gone "huntin" with him the directional thermo proved to be extremely useful.

Thanks Baphomet...but I likely wouldn't buy one just for a one-time ghosty hunting trip...it's unlikely that I'll become the next great ghost hunter so I just want to stick to some basic tools.

I don't think I'll chance it with a digital recorder as everyone seems to think a good old fashioned analog one will suffice.

No new reports of activity this weekend. I still plan to have a slumber party there anyway

I have some vid. clips of the Temple and just need to decode them and load them to youtube...hoping to do that today. Nothing amazing in them, but may be good for reference. Or for general interest.