I like ghosts. No really. I do. So when my friend Denise booked herself on a ghost hunt with the real Ghost Hunters (Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of TAPS) and her cousin dropped out, of course I wanted to go. I got one of the last spots, too. By the time I emailed Jen to tell her how jealous of me she was about to be, the last two spots had been taken.

It was aboard the Queen Mary which is moored down in Long Beach and is…well…it’s haunted. There have been several sightings there over the years.

The convention of sorts was essentially a gathering of about 250 like-minded people. We listened to top-notch speakers who relayed their experiences and taught us about the unknown. Except…well…it’s unknown, so we’ll likely never get the whole picture anyway. They passed some of their knowledge on to us. In many cases, they also had audio and video.

I wasn’t much of a camera bug on this trip, but also there weren’t a whole lot of pictures to take. Yeah, the ship is amazing, but how do you photograph the creepy feeling I got as soon as I walked across the gangplank? A pic of the lobby can’t convey that. Sorry.

But I did get a few shots that sum up the trip. Myself and Denise with Grant and Jason. (Who were very nice and very serious about what they do.)

On the main ghost hunt, they were in the cargo hold with us. It’s kind of funny to say, but I really can say that I’ve worked with Jason and Grant. I’ve hunted ghosts with Jason and Grant. How cool is that? If you’re into ghosts, I definitely recommend attending one of their conventions. But bear in mind, they’re serious stuff and not for the faint of heart. This stuff is very creeeeeeeeeepy!

As I sat down to listen to Dr. Barry Taff, David Schrader got a call on his cell phone and then asked if anyone in the room had a Nikon camera with them. I raised my hand. For some strange reason, I guess the rest of the Nikon owners maybe didn’t have their camera with them or something. Anyway, David handed his cell phone to me and I found myself speaking with Patrick Burns. Apparently, something bad had happened to his camera lens and he needed a loaner for about an hour.

We determined that I had the same camera as his and brought it down to him. He shot the pictures he needed to shoot and then brought the lens back to me about an hour later. Later that night, I just had to get a picture with him–taken through the very lens he borrowed! He’s so awesome!

The day after I got home from the trip, I instantly went to myspace to friend as many of the people as I could find. I know I missed a few, but that’s just ‘cause I haven’t found them yet! Jason, Grant, Patrick, David, Chris Fleming, John Zaffis, Adam Blai, Debbie and Mark Constantino, the list goes on from there. And they were all friendly and willing to talk about experiences. I wish I’d spent more time with them. I’ll definitely go to another, though. If only to have that one-on-one time and to ghost hunt with those professionals again.

All in all, I had a life-altering time. I really did. I’ve always been a weirdo, calling myself psychic and usually being right (Just ask my husband about the tree behind our house that caught fire just after the Southern California fires in 2003! Read the Havoc Tale from Hollywood where I included that little tidbit near the end.).

Ghosts do exist. I’ve always believed that. My earliest memories as a child include ghosts, not imaginary friends. I didn’t like imaginary friends because…well…they’re imaginary and therefore require work to make them real entities. Ghosts were already there and required zero imagination. They are real. (Yeah, I know, I know. I’ve always been weird. Just ask Jen.)

One thing was for certain. After being in a room at the convention with so many like-minded individuals, some of whom as psychic as I am if not more so, it’s safe to say that I’m not crazy.

Weird, yes. Crazy, no. I’m just psychic.

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