Thursday, October 27, 2011

Kim Luney From The Southwest Ghost Finders

How did you become interested in hunting ghosts?
For as far back as I can remember I have had an interest in the paranormal. When we are kids we share ghost stories and weird experiences at sleepovers camp outs or gatherings. I found myself envious of those that had experiences, true or exaggerated, so if the places were in my neighborhood, I would go there. Every neighborhood has a rumored haunted house so I would go there often alone in hopes of having an experience. But sadly most often all I found was a ran down empty house I can’t say that I became interested a certain age, it just seems to have always been there. 
  
Did something happen to spark your interest in the paranormal?
I would see pictures and hear stories of ghost and was immediately intrigued! One of my favorite shows growing up was unsolved mysteries with Robert Stack. 

How long have you been doing this?
I have been a team founder and been part of an organized team for 5 years.  But like I mentioned before I have been seeking ghosts off and on most of my life. Before I started with a team I would go to cemeteries with a recorder and camera in hand, I would also spend a lot of time online watching the live ghost cams of reported haunted locations in the hopes of seeing something.

What do your family members think of you doing this kind of investigation?
My family has a wide array of thoughts. My husband is non believer (yet it freaks him out to see or hear the evidence, he is a closet believer I think). My children’s thought vary greatly, But they are all supportive.

Have you ever brought a spirit home with you?
No I do not think so. We do small rituals to assure our safety many of us use prayer, but we also have a Wiccan who is on the team and she has own rituals. We have medallions such as crosses, Saint Medallions such St Michael.  

What’s been the most haunted place you’ve investigated so far? Can you tell us what you found?  
Wow this is a tough question. I have been to many great places it is hard to say which one is the best. Glore psychiatric Museum is a amazingly haunt place. Haunted Hilltop Manor in Des Moine Iowa is another place. A private residence in Pierce City that was a former court house, Jail house and fire house all in one! It was built in the 1800’s. We have had several EVP’s (electronic Voice Phenomena) and numerous personal experiences. For instance at Hilltop manor we were in the attic conducting a  EVP session ( where we sit in a group and talk to the spirits and hope to get a response either in real time or on our recorders). I looked behind me and seen a creepy little doll seating there looking at me, so I turned it to face the wall. We had asked the spirits to give us a sign of their presence. We asked that the doll be turned back towards me as a sign of course as we watched nothing happened. Yet when we getting to our feet to leave it was noted the doll was turned to face me again. That was truly awesome!


Is there a place you’d like to visit, but haven’t yet?
I have always wanted to investigate a insane asylum. I believe that some people that is said to be crazy is actually being haunted. 

http://southwestghostfinders.webs.com/

8 comments:

Shirley said...

Thanks for stopping by, Kim. I'm curious. Are there any members of your group who are non-believers, just trying to prove that ghosts don't exist?

Cait London said...

I have a friend who does this in FL. She has a favorite EVP device. Can you recommend one?

BTW, if you ever pass Custer's Battleground, it's so eerie that you don't need a device :)

Beth said...

It would scare me to do this! In high school, we had seances, did levitation and played with a Ouji board. After a scary experience, I'm done with all that!!!

Beth said...

P.S. What exactly is a Wiccan and how does a person decide he/she is one?

Stephanie Jarkins said...

Thanks for blogging with us. It's great that a childhood passion can be an adult joy.

Stephanie Jarkins
www.gothmomz.com
twitter: skjarkins

Kim said...

Hello Ladies Thank you for your questions and interest.

Shirley yes we have non believers and skeptics. They are very useful to the team,most especially with evidence review, they help debunk, find reasonable explanations etc. If we can make them believe then we know we have something.

Cait My favorite device is my camera. Some of the places we have been have historical relevance and even if I do not capture a ghost I captured a glimpse of history.
PS I would to go to Custer's battlefield

Beth Ghost hunting itself is not scary, if truth were to be told it is actually pretty boring! When you are on location it is rare for something to actually occur, however The scary part is the evidence review! When you a disembodied voice say "Get Out" yeah it can be scary! But it hypes a ghost hunter up!
But in all seriousness I advise you to leave those boards and seances alone. We recently did a case where a woman wanted to have a spooky halloween party went to Toys R Us and bought a board. Weird things started happening in her home, it was the board it opened a portal. Please be careful when playing with the occult.
A Wiccan is actually a religion, where mother earth is the deity,they are often called Witches since they do believe in spells, using herbs and things of the earth.

Thank You Stephanie, It has been a passion and I must say I love and enjoy it, I am very proud of what my team has achived. But I also have a mission to help educate people about the paranormal.The paranormal is a large field with a lot different angles and sometimes hard to understand.

When I started Ghost Hunting people would look down their noses at you.They thought only crazy people and kooks did this sort of thing. So we are making Progress.

If you need anything, have question or whatever if I can help let me know I will be happy to assist

Palooski65 said...

Great post. I throughly enjoyed the presentation you did for Sleuth's. I find most of the ghost-chaser groups too far over the edge. Your group was great--gave us some good "stuff" to ponder. Keep up the good work and come back and visit our group sometime.

Kim said...

Palooski65 we enjoyed talking with you! Yeah some of the groups can be out there! But not all of us! Thank you for kind words!

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