Biological Dangers
Ghost hunting can be a fun and
rewarding field to follow, as long as nothing serious happens. A majority of
the time while perusing spirits, nothing will happen and being skunked will be
the order of the day or night at times. Dangers will appear to you and your
group in all shapes, kinds and sizes. One kind that could possibly harm you is
biological in nature. I’m referring to micro-organisms, viruses and harmful
toxic particles that can cause serious harm to your health. Basements, basement
houses, old mines and anything underground are just a few examples that can
harbor these types of dangers. We were planning on investigating an old abandoned
basement house in Helper, Utah. I contacted the owner to obtain permission and
upon investigating the property prior to entering, we decided to abandon the
investigation. The inside of this old house had approximately 8 inches of
standing water, dead animals floating in the water, black mold on most of the
walls, and was full of black widow spiders. Even wearing a respirator, we would
never enter into an environment such as this. Asbestos was used as insulation
in walls and on pipes in older buildings. Asbestos is a carcinogen and extreme
caution should be used while working around it. The wearing of a respirator is always
a good idea in certain buildings. We tried to gain access to the old train
station in Thompson, UT but were denied because of the asbestos issues inside. Remember,
if it’s present, you’re breathing it.
Animal and human waste are other biological
dangers that you will run into while ghost hunting. I’ve been in buildings that
have had piles of human waste and dead animals in the basement. One place we
investigated back in 2011, a bar and grill had an unhooked toilet in the attic
with human waste lying all around. The cover photo to this article shows this. This
is in a place of business where people eat and drink. Another private home I
did many years back have the bathroom toilet disconnected from the sewer and a
straight pipe from the toilet dropping it into a big pile in the basement. After
seeing this I decided not to further investigate into the basement.
Animals both wild and domestic are a danger
that you constantly will have on your mind. There’s an old mine office building
that we frequent quite a lot for EVP’s but whenever we go there care must be
taken that no animals are inside. I go there a lot in winter and have photos of
big cat tracks (Cougar) that lead into this building. Another Time we were at
the Mountain Meadow Massacre site doing an investigation and I decided to go
down to the creek into the willows to capture some EVP’s. Remember, if you ever
go to this site, there is a working cattle ranch surrounding this place. After
sitting down and asking my first question, I was interrupted by a mad cow. This
cow comes charging through the willows after me.
Spiders are another thing to watch out for,
especially the venomous kind. Here where I live in Utah, black widow spiders
are common. If you or anyone else in your group is allergic to different types
of venom, extreme caution is needed. Old grave yards, the kind that hasn’t had
any maintenance, are breeding grounds for black widows and snakes. The MK
tunnels in Emery County, UT are totally full of spiders. We went there to try
some EVP’s at night and when we entered the portal, the wall seemed to be moving.
There were literally billions of spiders everywhere. We left. We did a home in
Murray, UT that had Rattle snakes in glass tanks. The owner collected the venom
and sold it. I couldn’t concentrate on the investigation because of this. If
you are contemplating doing old mines, be careful as wild and domestic animal
do inhabit old mines. Be careful when sitting down in an old mine to do EVP’s,
rats, mice and spiders will be present if there’s any piles of debris around.
Transients, drug dealers and just plain people
in general can be a hazard too. Be aware of your surroundings at all times. I
like to do EVP sessions at old ghost towns and once I was at Standardville by
myself doing EVPs, when three trucks arrived. I was behind an old wall not
making a sound. I had a good idea as to what these people were up too, drug
dealing. After they finished what they were doing, they all left. I stress this
more than anything else and even though I’m guilty of it too, take someone else
with you and don’t go by yourself. Another time in Seattle, I entered with
permission into a boarded up old hotel. Thinking that I was the only one there,
on the 4th floor I entered into a room that was occupied by 5 transients. I
immediately turned ice cold, but soon found out that they were all very nice people.
They even told me about strange things happening inside this building. I shiver
to think, what if they were anything but nice people. Be careful when in a
large old building or any building, you never know who else might be there too.
It’s better to have others with you and some type of protection, than to amble
into trouble alone.
This is pretty much all common
sense and all I’m stressing is to be prepared. You might think to yourself that
this won’t happen to me, but it’s a mathematical certainty, if you do this line
of work long enough’ it will happen sooner or later. Remember be safe and happy
hunting.
Ron Johnson
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