Hello friends. I apologize for being out of communication. I’ve been up to some interesting stuff. For the New Year’s, like all good Casino Cats, we went to Las Vegas. It was crowded, to say the least.
Before going to Vegas though, I had an unfortunate experience, so you see, I had to go out of town to lick my wounds. This is what happened. I finally joined a Ghost Hunter’s team. It was a short-lived affiliation, and I’ll give you the scoop.
I got an email from a lady seeking people to join up with her ghost hunters group. She claimed to be big on professionalism, and really big on Teamwork. Professionalism and Teamwork are magic words for me, and I was very interested. However, in talking to her, she kept making certain that I understood that, though we were a “team”, that SHE was in charge of the team. That she would be making the rules. And I’d have to sign a paper agreeing to a list of rules she’d already made up. No problem, I told her. Then she pulled out a “contract” of about ten pages worth of rules and protocol. Eeeek.
Big red flags waved all around me, but hey, I was looking for a team to do ghost hunting with, and sure, maybe she did have the appearance of a fifty-four year old woman trying to be 18, with her piercings, tattoos and henna-dyed red haired…I gave her the benefit of the doubt, and signed up.
Here’s her story: She’d had a group of ghost hunters, but they were an unruly bunch, questioning her authority as the leader of the group, and taking initiative without her prior approval. Well, one day, the wily underlings all got together and agreed to ditch her. Without a word one day they stopped returning her calls, and they kept all the video and EVP evidence.
I signed the contract because actually the rules - all five hundred of them - that she’d written down were, albeit redundant, reasonable.
Then came time to do an investigation. This was set to go down end of December. She shared with us some of the client’s signs of being haunted, and since many of them were physical I thought we should ask for some medical history. Of course, they could be from the haunting, but personally, I like to exclude the obvious, so I asked her to consider getting some medical, and psychological history from the clients before we do investigations. She was adamantly against offending any client by asking them personal questions, that would as she put it, “suggest they were insane.” I was like, you don’t have to quite put it that way…
When I suggested that we have a can of mace on hand, just in case the client turned out to be a weirdo - you know demonic hauntings often occur in bad parts of town, and with people with mental illness…she almost threw me out of the group right then and there. She practically spat she was so taken aback. “I will not have our group enter a trusting client’s home with a weapon!” Then she said something entirely stupid - …”I will not have you shooting mace at the first thing that scares you.”
AS IF I WOULD! Jeeze. I’m on a ghost-hunting investigation - I’m going to have some hairy moments. I’m not going to walk around with the mace in one hand and my flashlight and camera in the other…duh.
The mace was my boyfriend’s idea, who was concerned about me going to some off-the-internet, divorced man’s house to investigate a purported haunting with three other women, and one guy. I agreed that it would be nice to have it. Since she was so unwilling to even consider it, or give a rational reason for not having it, I threw in my towel. I resigned.
I learned a lesson the hard way. I had been so looking forward to being a part of a group that could help people with hauntings…and that’s the other thing that bothered me. So we do an investigation and then what??? Just acknowledge, that yes, there’s a ghost in the house? Is that all we can offer a client? That’s all she was willing to give. There has to be more.
I’d offer a clearing - or at least - a cooperation of the energies. Sometimes we can coexist with spirit energies, and that’s great. Sometimes, the energies have to be led into peaceful transition - and that can take several visits, and hours of work. I have a gift for that kind of work.
I would like to have a group one day. We’d take history information on the house, and the people in the house, their signs and experiences. Our group would have a case manager, a demonologist, tech people, a psychic, and a mediator. Maybe it’s my turn to send out emails…
Luv, Gina
Gina,
Did you want to mention that it IS my team that I created and have poured tremendous amounts of energy into?…that there are rules/protocols to be followed in every professional group - that is called the infrastructure and that you were frightened of the client BUT wanted me to go alone to inverview?
It is my policy never to ask questions regarding mental health - if anyone wishes to know why, I would be more than happy to elaborate - please feel free to write to me directly. Physical healthy is a mute point.
I maintain my position that carrying mace unbeknownst to said client is like carrying a concealed weapon…and yes, I was adament about this as you appeared very jumpy and I felt and still feel that this was and is unsafe and a dishonest thing to do. In the event that I may have been in error, I asked many people (outside the team - many of whom were previous clients) how they might feel about something like this being brought into their home without their knowledge. They were horrified.
Your comments about previous team members about what occurred is unking and not accurate - if you wish to describe a circumstance, it always preferable to give a truthful account. Yours is not - I have never used the term “unruly” to describe what happened but dishonest and one finds people like this everywhere. If I am guilty of anything, it is of being too trusting of everyone…and, Gina, I do mean everyone. I’m not quite certain why you feel the need to write with so much venom…perhaps it helps you to feel better about yourself?
I suspect that you do not really prefer a professional team but merely the ‘thrill’ of the hunt.
We are professional. It is unfortuate that you did not fit in. In the end, although you chose to leave, it was the general consensus of the team that you simply were not appropriate.
If you had read the protocols/rules properly (7 pages), as well as our mission statement and remembered our inverview, you would know that not only am I the contact person for our client but I remain available before the investigation as well as providing aftercare. Our Mission Statement also says that should we be unable to assist said client upon confirmation of a presence, we will never abandon them but locate someone that can.
I’m sorry that you feel as you do and find it necessary to indirectly slander myself and team in a blog of all things.
Anyone who has questions or would care for a more accurate point of view may contact me at my email address or through my website above.
Wooo, a voice from the past. Hello Paula. Still the publicity hound, eh? How bold of you to invite my readers over to your website, for the “real” story. Honestly, I didn’t mean for you to get your feelings hurt. Mine were still pretty raw when I wrote that piece. Seriously, I spent a lot of time, effort, and emotional commitment reading your emails, responding to your emails, arranging my schedule to go on an investigation, meeting with you, etc. and to have our relationship go belly up because you had power issues really violated my trust.
The main reason I wrote that piece is to serve as a warning to other people eager to leap headfirst into the first ghost-hunters group that comes along. It’s important to wait for the right group, where there is mutual respect for each other. And that it’s ok to acknowledge when you don’t fit in to say, “Hey, this isn’t working for me, I’m stepping out.”
As for what you said about the other team members deeming me not appropriate for your group, all I have to say is 1) You convinced them I wasn’t a team player simply because I had the balls to make suggestions that you hadn’t come up with yourself, and I left the team, and 2) even with that said, I’m a very likable person with a lot of experience in the field. I doubt they really felt I was inappropriate but might’ve agreed with you out of fear you’d turn your wrath upon them if they disagreed. They saw how venomously you treated me that nightmarish hell of a day and surely didn’t want you raising your hackles at them.
Speaking of the “team” what happened to Chip? I noticed he wasn’t on your website anymore. He was the best thing your group had going. Let me guess, he got tired of your control freak ways? I’m truly sorry you lost him. He was almost worth staying on your team for.
I will acknowledge you for your sincerity when it comes to ghost hunting. I know without a doubt that it’s your passion, and I respect you for that. I also know your team could be unstoppable if you could get out of your own way, as they say. Maybe you just need a good class in leadership. I know SDSU extension has some good classes on the topic. You could do yourself a big favor if you listen to your team as if they were intelligent humans with something great to offer you, rather than people trying to usurp your throne.
If you ask me to I will remove the article I wrote about my experience with your team, or I can remove your comments. If you want me to leave them up, I will, unless I deem them inappropriate at some point.
Take Care, and keep ghost hunting.
Gina