Research Information & Links

Architecture This link will take you to an image gallery of different popular American architecture styles. Click on the photo for a synopsis on criteria, time period, and further links: http://architecture.about.com/od/periodsstyles/ig/House-Styles/ EXCELLENT resource on period homes...examples, terminology, tools for determining age, etc. HIGHLY recommended!!! http://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/design/design.htm

 

Civil War History There seems to be an abnormal amount of ghosts related to the Civil War and that time period around this area. Therefore, its a good idea to have an understanding of Civil War history, and WV's part in it. It could just lead to vital clues about who the "ghost" is and why he/she is still around. Also provided are some links on military uniforms. Sometimes a person will see an apparition and can describe what its wearing. By distinguishing the dress, as well as the history of the area, a previously unknown ghost can possibly be identified. Civil War History http://www.historycentral.com/CivilWar/index.html http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html Civil War Union Dress http://www.ushist.com/wardrobe/us_cw.htm Military Uniform Information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_uniform

 

Weather Weather undoubtedly plays a part in paranormal investigation. Here's a few links to weather archives, so you can go back and correlate the weather of a particular day to the day of a supposed happening.  I believe you can also get current weather from these sites: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html http://www.weatherpages.com/wxhistory.html "Space" Weather also plays a huge part...think solar flares and lunar cycles. Here's some links to check on those occurrences more in-depth: http://spaceweather.com/ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html http://sec.noaa.gov/SWN/ http://sec.noaa.gov/today2.html Also...seismic activity could have an affect on paranormal activity, and at the very least, can be the true cause in cases where beds and such were shaken. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

 

Medical/Health Research Many common medical abnormalities such as Sleep Paralysis, Eye Floaters, mental illness, and the effects of toxic mold, high concentrations of electromagnetic fields, and carbon monoxide can mistakenly be interpreted as paranormal events. Similarly, the side effects of many prescription, illegal, and over the counter medications can also be misconstrued as a haunting. Here are some general links that offer articles on a variety of medical subjects, as well as drug information. www.webmd.com http://www.rxlist.com/ http://www.drugs.com/ http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ National Institute of Health   Sometimes you'll find on death certificates terms that are quite outdated. Here's a few different lists of outdated medical terms and their modern day equivalents. If its not on one of these, chances are...it doesn't exist! http://www.paul_smith.doctors.org.uk/ArchaicMedicalTerms.htm http://members.aol.com/AdamCo9991/medicalterminolgy.html http://www.afhs.ab.ca/data/old_diseases.html   1918 Influenza: http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/ History of Epidemics and Plagues: http://uhavax.hartford.edu/bugl/histepi.htm (Some graphic photos here) Worldwide Epidemics Chart: http://www.familyhistory101.com/encyclopedia/epidemics.html

 

EVP's Lots of articles, tutorials, and even a great glossary of audio terms. http://www.billlonero.com/EVP/glossary.htm

 

 

Mothman & TNT Area Eyes of the Mothman Info on documentary with links to information about the town and sightings. http://www.eyesofthemothman.com/ Mothman Central Interviews and Articles http://www.paraview.com/mothman_central.htm Mothman Lives Mothman "Official" Site. Links to all kinds of good things...pictures, museum, etc. http://mothmanlives.com Mothman.us Links and History http://www.mothman.us/index.html The Mothman File Loren Coleman's Mothman page http://www.lorencoleman.com/mothman_file.html TNT Area http://www.graveaddiction.com/tnt.html TNT Area Military Description of the TNT area. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/point-pleasant.htm http://www.westva.net/mothman/ Mothman Articles http://paranormal.about.com/od/mothman/a/aa091905.htm Some guy's personal experience http://paranormal.about.com/od/mothman/Mothman.htm List of Links http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/wamsleys-mothman/ Interview with Jeff Wamsley, owner of Mothman Museum and author of several books.

 

M-Theory Also known as the String Theory...basically says that hauntings aren't caused by "ghosts" and "spirits" but rather dimensional and time slips. http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/qg_ss.html http://superstringtheory.com/ http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/jhs/strings/str154.html

 

Stone Tape Theory Article on the Stone Tape Theory in explanation of residual hauntings. http://www.thothweb.com/article4441.html

 

Interviewing Here's a couple of sites that show basic body language and clues to look for to tell when someone is lying to you. It could come in handy when interviewing a client or witness, but keep in mind these methods aren't concrete. Also...some people just really don't THINK they are lying, so the most fool-proof method is old fashioned research and fact checking. http://www.weeno.com/art/0799/106.html http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies.php http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/M/mindcontrol/secret_lying.html

 

Foxfire http://inamidst.com/lights/foxfire Foxfire is that luminescent mold... I think it can explain away a lot of anomalies, both in photographs AND eyewitness accounts...such as stories of glowing green eyes in the woods, glowing tombstones, etc.

 

Investigation Resource http://www.wvghosts.com/ghosts101/index.php Online "book" about investigation written by Thomas Cooney...courtesy of WVGhosts.com.

 

 

Historical Research Three of the best places to go to get historical information are historical societies, county courthouses, and public libraries. These links will provide a good start, but for more information, drop me a line. . I've got the full physical addresses and web addresses where applicable for all the courthouses, historical societies, museums, and libraries in WV and the tri-state area. List of all WV courthouses: http://www.womenslaw.org/WV/WV_courthouse.htm   Ohio Courthouses: http://www.bgsu.edu/Colleges/library/cac/cths.html Kentucky Courthouses: http://www.10000trails.com/WKY/courthouses/index.html Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org/ Nationwide Library Database: http://www.publiclibraries.com/index.html Ohio Public Library Information: http://www.oplin.org/home.php?a=&msg= (Websites and physical addresses of all Ohio public libraries) Kentucky Public Library Index: http://www.publiclibraries.com/kentucky.htm WV Public Library Index: http://www.publiclibraries.com/westvirginia.htm List of Kentucky Historical Societies: http://www.daddezio.com/society/hill/SH-KY-NDX.html US State Historical Societies and State Archives Directory: http://web.syr.edu/~jryan/infopro/hs.html   This link is for Cabell County, WV...but there are ways to access other counties/states from the main page. Each county has things set up differently, so some counties have really great information, while others do not. http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/WV_Cabell.htm   Has the documentation on each site in WV listed on the National Register of Historical Places. It's broken down by county. http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/nr.html   Has the documentation on each site in WV listed on the National Register of Historical Places. It's broken down by county. http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/nr.html   http://www.gendisasters.com/ A look at some of the historic disasters that have occurred...lots of transcribed newspaper articles and information.   18th/19th Century Nicknames...many of which are understandably still in use today, but there are some freaky ones on there. This is a handy bit of info to have when doing research, because some of the nicknames are really odd variants of proper names. You may find a nickname listed on some documentation, and proper names listed on others, and may miss the fact that its the same person! http://www.genealogyinc.com/enc_nicknames/index.html   Several times now in research I've run across occupational terms that I had to look up...either because the term itself was outdated, or even the occupation itself was no longer a common practice. This is an excellent database organized in alphabetical order: http://www.genealogyinc.com/enc_occupations/job-A.html

 

Genealogy/Cemetery Information Another good research tool used in conjunction with genealogy research is cemetery records. Here's some links to help with that: Find a Grave www.findagrave.com   Cemetery Locator http://www.daddezio.com/cemetery/junction/index.html Grave Addiction www.graveaddiction.com Email: graveaddiction@gmail.com Beth Santore PO Box 164124 Columbus, OH 43216 Internment.Net Cemetery Inscription Library www.internment.net/default/htm Access Genealogy www.accessgenealogy.com/cemetery/ (Also info on Native American and military records, etc.) WV Cemetery Preservation Association http://members.citynet/WVCPA/mission.html (Cemeteries by county) Tombstone Symbolism http://www.prairieghosts.com/grave_symbols.html http://www.ghost-tours.com.au/pages/page_grave_symbolism.html Cemeteries, Graveyards, and Burial Grounds http://potifos.com/cemeteries.html (Links to resources on cemetery history and preservation) Cemetery Links http://totentanz.de/cemetery.htm Cabell County Links http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvcabell/cemetery/cemdex.htmL

 

 

Legal Resources Here's some legal resources. Some hauntings may have certain court cases attached with them...such as murder cases. Also, you never know when a client will need a legal referral, YOU'LL need advice on local code, etc. These are all sites that do not require a professional/student password to access. http://www.lawguru.com/index.php http://www.findlaw.com http://www.law.com WV Code: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/WVCODE/masterfrm3Banner.cfm Legal Aid of WV: http://www.lawv.net/Home/PublicWeB

 

 

Sleep Disorders Sleep disorders are probably some of the biggest causes of misdiagnosed paranormal activity. I won't get in detail about these, because the links do a fine job of that. However, I hope everyone takes the time to at least skim through these and familiarize themselves with the common symptoms of such. There are many sleep disorders, but these are a few of the most common tied to paranormal activity. Sleep Paralysis: This is also commonly referred to as Old Hag Syndrome. In very basic terms, sleep paralysis occurs when your mind wakes up before your body does, giving the feeling of being paralyzed...even crushed. Many report hallucinations along with this phenomena, called hypnagogic hallucinations. Those can occur independently from SP, but are generally blamed for alien abductions, incubi/succubi attacks, and of course...the old hag. http://www.wikihow.com/Cope-With-Sleep-Paralysis http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P2.html Hypnagogic/Hypnopompic Hallucinations: http://www.sleepeval.com/hypnagogic_hallucinations.htm http://www.sleepdisordersguide.com/topics/hypnagogic-hallucinations.html These are often tied to sleep paralysis and narcolepsy, but are common in people without those problems as well. In lots of personal experiences people tell me, they often talk about hearing or seeing things while lying in bed, or on the couch. I believe a good portion of these sights and sounds are actually the product of these types of hallucinations....hypnagogic being the ones experienced while FALLING asleep, and hypnopompic being the ones experienced while AWAKING. Both types can cause auditory, visual, olefactorily, and other types of hallucinations. They occur when your mind is in that half dream, half awake stage. They're also tied to "sleep starts" which is that jerking awake like your falling feeling. Sleep Starts: This are also referred to as myoclonic jerks, among other things: http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon971114/skinnyon.html Night Terrors: Night terrors are mostly seen in children, especially younger boys. These are different from nightmares, as they occur in a different part of the sleep cycle. A child may seem wide awake, scream, etc....and still be completely asleep. http://ga.essortment.com/nightterrorssl_rmge.htm

 

Public Records This link is for Cabell County, WV...but there are ways to access other counties/states from the main page. Each county has things set up differently, so some counties have really great information, while others do not. http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/WV_Cabell.htm   All kinds of goodies.... http://www.blackbookonline.info/ http://www.crimetime.com/ Thanks goes to my good buddy ORION from PHRETS for the heads up!

 

Paranormal Research This is the paranormal channel for About.com... Great source for information on all things paranormal, and an excellent starting point for greater research. http://paranormal.about.com/index.htm?terms=paranormal   http://paranormalinsider.com/index.php This is an awesome site. New articles are updated daily and cover a wide range of paranormal topics. Great reading!   The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (AS?AP) is an excellent resource. I've quoted their articles several times here on the board and elsewhere. http://www.assap.org/index.html

 

Asylums Just about any old asylum has at least one ghost story attached to it...and for good reason. Many of these buildings are just creepy in architecture alone, not to mention all the suffering that occurred within their walls. Here are a few sites that are dedicated to asylum research: Abandoned Asylum: http://www.abandonedasylum.com/ Historic Asylums of America: http://www.rootsweb.com/~asylums/ Mass Asylums: http://www.massasylums.com/index2.html Kirkbride Style Buildings: http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/

 

Coal Mining We're in the heart of coal country...so here's a few interesting sites on Coal Mining history and such. Fatalities in WV Coal Mines 1883-1925 http://www.swcp.com/~dhickman/wvcmf/wvcmf.html WV Coal Mining Links and Information: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvcoal/ Coal Camp USA's List of Appalachian Coal Towns: http://www.coalcampusa.com/ WV Mine Wars: http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/minewars.html http://www.as.wvu.edu/engl01/users/students/kmoore/public_html/minewar2.htm WV Mine Disasters 1884 to Present: http://www.wvminesafety.org/disaster.htm

 

Law Enforcement WV State Police History: http://www.wvstatepolice.com/history/wvsphist.html WV State Police Officers Killed in the Line of Duty: http://www.wvstatepolice.com/honor/hoh.htm State by State Listing of Past Sheriffs (WV only has Mineral Co. Listed): http://www.ancestorhunt.com/historic-sheriffs.htm#Past%20Sheriffs%20by%20State Black Sheep Ancestors: http://www.blacksheepancestors.com/usa/west_virginia.shtml (Prison/asylum indices, including list of executions) Before the Needles: http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution.htm (Execution information) Crime Library: http://www.crimelibrary.com/

 

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