By Kate Reardon
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Henry Bailey pulls the squawking "tri-field natural electric-magnetic field meter" from its case.
Ghost hunters such as him, he said, use the electronic devices to measure paranormal energy, which can cause disruptions in magnetic fields.
Bailey is a part-time paranormal investigator. This 50-year-old from south Everett is just one of thousands of Americans who believes in ghosts.
By day, Bailey works as a manufacturing engineer at the Boeing Co. in Everett. By night, he stalks spooks at local saloons, homes and even pizza parlors.
If you see a ghost
Source: Paranormal investigator Henry Bailey American Ghost Society: http://www.prairieghosts.com/ags.html. Learn about the ghost society and find tips on ghost hunting, capturing ghosts on film and more. Ghost Research Society: http://www.ghostresearch.org/. Pictures, articles and features about ghosts. Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal: http://www.csicop.org. Publishers of Skeptical Inquirer magazine debunk ghost stories and other paranormal claims.
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Bailey is the state coordinator of the Ghost Research Society and state representative for the American Ghost Society.
He averages 10 investigations a year. People usually call him after something goes bump in the night — a slamming door, a falling dish, a flickering light.
Often there are simple explanations. "Sometimes your mind can play tricks on you," he said.
He said a ghost — or apparition, as the experts would say — is the spirit of a dead human. It may still be caught up in a trauma, such as a murder or suicide. Bailey said he believes it can also be what is left of someone who has died but hasn’t yet realized he or she is dead.
However, Bailey said many situations blamed on ghosts have reasonable scientific explanations, including gusts of wind or passing trains that rattle a house.
When on a call, investigators use all kinds of ghost-detecting doohickeys, such as night video cameras, tape recorders (to capture voices or other noises), electromagnetic field meters and thermometers (to detect ghostly cold spots) and cameras.
Experiences Bailey had as a young boy in a house in Long Beach, Calif., are what kicked him into a 30-year journey as a ghost hunter.
"We had a big German shepherd that wouldn’t go upstairs," Bailey said.
And things belonging to him and his brother disappeared. He began researching metaphysics at age 14. Now he also studies various religious beliefs and older philosophical writings to match those to current beliefs and science such as quantum physics.
He gained his expertise through research and collaboration with others interested in the field.
"I’ve always been interested in the paranormal," he said. "I’m not so much interested in hunting a ghost (but) solving a mystery."
Bailey said he has seen two ghosts for himself. One was on the Queen Mary floating hotel in Long Beach. And the other was in an old private home in Germany, where he believes he saw a bluish outline of a man.
A recent investigation at the Oxford Saloon in Snohomish turned up what Bailey considers to be a classic case of a haunting.
"I am certain that some of the former tenants have not fully left the building after their deaths," he said.
Bailey said his crew of investigators received indications on their equipment that could not be attributed to power lines, outlets or other electrical equipment at the saloon.
Bailey doesn’t charge for his services.
"There’s no guarantee that you’re going to come up with a ghost or get rid of a ghost," he said.
A lot of investigators get discouraged, he said, because more times than not they don’t find anything.
"Most people want to see something," he said. "They want to see a physical demonstration that is going to give them proof."
Since there isn’t any one single expert in the field — no king ghost buster — there are disagreements over the definitions of different energies and what they mean, Bailey said.
Investigators are continually forming theories, but they can’t take their evidence to a lab for scientific testing. If you think ghosts are real, the best approach is to learn to live with them, Bailey said.
"You can’t evict a ghost," he said. "They won’t go if they don’t want to."
You can call Herald Writer Kate Reardon at 425-339-3455 or send e-mail to reardon@heraldnet.com.
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