Haunted Courtney

Does it look a little strange around here?   Don't worry... the ghosts haven't taken over the site... probably. Listen, we can't rule these things out.  I recently (yesterday, I won't lie) bought the domain HauntedCourtney.com. It's been eons in the making, and I'm VERY excited.  After years of writing about haunted places, ghosts, and my theories around ghost hunting, I'm finally giving Haunted Courtney a much-needed makeover. Think Rachael Leigh Cook in "She's All That," without the exceptional red dress and sassy haircut.  I'm fixing broken images, organizing, and literally dragging the old girl into 2026. Stick around to see how it evolves! So, if you're new here- welcome! I promise I usually keep things neater than this. But the posts won't stop just because I'm slapping some paint on the walls. I'll keep posting regularly and working on the site every day.  Courtney  

I don't mean we pop out of the womb with our very own EMF detector and REM pod (as cool as that would be). I mean that we already have everything we need to experience the paranormal. We are born with five incredible tools: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Long before ghost hunting gadgets (and long before Aaron Goodwin was being locked in a basement alone), humans had ways of experiencing the unknown. Maybe our greatest paranormal equipment has been with us all along.  Sight If we block out all the distractions and slow our minds, we may be able to see a world that exists just on the edge of our own. Even now, while TVs are used as background noise, social media videos are blaring, and the world is blurring around us, we sometimes see something just at the corners of our vision. Imagine what we could see if we focused just a little on that.  Today, our attention is constantly pulled in a hundred different directions. Phones buzz with notifications while televisions an...

Like other types of hunters, paranormal investigators seem to have their own "season." I know what you're thinking: October, right?  We've all been told that the veil between the living and the dead thins a little bit every day until Halloween night, when it comes down for 24 hours.  Sounds amazing, right?  I always thought so.  I remember growing up thinking that ghosts were just sitting on the other side of the veil, waiting to be released into the mortal world. Clawing and scraping against the invisible barrier until the clock struck midnight on Halloween.  That doesn't make much sense, though.  Do they respect time zones?  Are East Coast ghosts released first?  How does that work?  As I've gotten older and spent more time investigating, I've started questioning that idea. In my own experience, I haven't noticed paranormal activity increasing around Halloween. To be honest, I've not gotten a single EVP or paranormal photograph ever on Hall...

As time passes by, and technology absorbs every spare moment, I've noticed something slightly alarming. Kids don't seem to believe in ghosts anymore.  They simply don't see them.  They don't allow their minds to rest enough to see those things peeking at them from the dark. Phones and tablets consume every ounce of visual energy, and aside from a poltergeist knocking a device out of their hands, they refuse to see beyond them.  I've always believed that you can't fully experience the paranormal until you accept that there's more to this world than what you can see and touch. Some non-believers have moments of poltergeist activity, but never a lasting relationship with the beyond.  Of course, not everyone wants a relationship with paranormal beings, and I can't blame them for that. It's not for everyone. I worry, though, that this age of digital domination has led to an age of paranormal blindness.  Paranormal blindness is the inability or unwillingne...

I've always been baffled by the idea of a specific time of night when ghosts emerge. It's widely believed that if you want the best chance of capturing evidence, you have to conduct your investigation in the dead of night. Why? Do hauntings only occur from midnight to 3:00 a.m.? I don't think so. I've experienced unexplained activity in broad daylight and in the early hours of the morning. So why do so many investigators choose midnight to wander around abandoned hospitals in search of a ghost willing to play the game? I have a theory. For starters, I think most ghost hunters, whether they want to admit it or not, enjoy the adrenaline rush. And honestly, who can blame them? What scenario is scarier than walking through a reportedly haunted building at midnight? Add in the fact that you can barely see the room around you, and you've got enough adrenaline to restart a heart. Sounds fun, right? It is. I just don't think it does much for the investigation. ...

Evidence contamination is one of the most frustrating things you can discover after an investigation. It renders any evidence you may have collected completely useless. Once you realize one piece of evidence is contaminated, you start questioning everything else. As painful as it is, sometimes the only option is to throw it all out and start over. I know exactly how that feels. I once drove more than ten hours to investigate a location, only to discover later that noise interference had ruined every second of audio I recorded. It almost hurts to delete something you know you may never be able to replace. Learn from my mistake. Here are a few ways to avoid contaminating your hard-earned evidence. Tip #1: Keep your group small I know it's tempting to bring everyone along for the adventure, but resist the urge. The more people you have with you, the less control you have over the investigation. More people means more talking, more footsteps, and more opportunities to mistake y...

It's a dark and stormy night, and you've been invited to tag along with a local ghost hunting team. Every crack of thunder makes you jump, and every flash of lightning casts strange shadows along the walls. Each one seems to be reaching for you. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. You slowly make your way down one of the maze-like hallways of an abandoned asylum, gripping the flashlight someone handed you earlier. As you pass a doorway, you catch movement out of the corner of your eye. You freeze. You take a slow breath and notice something else. When did it get so cold? You exhale, and your eyes widen as you watch your breath drift through the beam of your flashlight. This is it. Your first ghost. You take one more deep breath, summon every ounce of courage you have, and swing your flashlight toward the doorway. Something launches straight at your face. You scream. Your flashlight goes flying. The beam bounces wildly off the walls while you desperately try to ...