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A Short History of Ghost Hunting
Ghosts, hauntings and tales of strange events go well back into ancient history. More recently though there
is a rich and documented history of ghost hunting occurring in New York around 1848 that started the spiritualist movement
which continued into late 1930's. You may recognize names such as Kate Fox, the Davenport Brothers, Daniel Douglas Home, Florence
Cook, Margery Crandon, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. These individuals along with many others played a large part
in this movement albeit sometimes at opposite ends of the spectrum. (Either in their empathy with lost souls or their skepticism
in such matters). More detailed information is available today on the internet or at your local library. Those people listed
above are in part the reason for the efforts of Harry Price and the start of documented ghosthunting.
HARRY PRICE (1881 -1948)
In his time, Harry Price was one of the most influential persons involved in ghost hunting. Harry uncovered
a number of fraudulant photographers that made their money by double exposing photographic plates and then claiming the images
were the dead relatives of the people being photographed. He proved to the general public how this trickery could be achieved
in the studio. Harry also went to numerous seances and tried to prove or disprove their validity scientifically with gauges
and measures (some instruments were crafted specifically for this purpose) and kept accurate notes and diaries at all times.
Harry Price was most recognized for his work in the Borley Rectory with his ghostly photography and evaluations of
this haunted site. Harry's work is still controversial and questioned by some. He was however the fore runner of ghost hunters
and his work was the start to a more serious look into the proper use of equipment and evaluations to explain the paranormal.
A good source for more information on the spiritualist movement and the evolution of ghost hunting is a book by
Troy Taylor and the American Ghost Society's....
- The Ghost Hunter's Guidebook -
Published
by Whitechapel Productions Press.
www.prairieghosts.com
For more information on Harry Price, visit Troy Taylor's:
Harry Price & Borley Rectory Page.
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