Do ghosts appear more often at the ‘witching hour’? This question was raised during a 2006 ghost investigation at The Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana.

Researchers offer a wide variety of opinions about the best time for successful ghost hunting. Some say dusk, others say after 9 p.m., some insist on midnight, and a few favor dawn.

At Hollow Hill, we believe that–just as some radio stations are clearer at night–ghosts can manifest more clearly after dark. (See our article, When to Go Ghost Hunting.)

Other than that, ghosts are just people in another plane or dimension, and tend to keep their own schedules.

But, what about the ‘witching hour’ and its legendary power?

The Witching Hour

If you aren’t familiar with real witchcraft, you might assume that the ‘witching hour’ is midnight, or the hour immediately before or after midnight. In fact, the night is divided into twelve equal “planetary hours,” but they’re rarely sixty minutes long.

To determine the actual hours of the night, start with the times of sunset and sunrise. You can find this information in any farmers’ almanac, or online.

Count the minutes between dusk and dawn, and divide that by 12. In the Craft, this is one hour, and each hour has a specific purpose, ruled by a particular planet. Some planets repeat twice in one night.

(A free program can calculate this for you: ChronosXP.)

There are at least two planetary hours each night that correspond favorably to ghost hunting: The hour ruled by Saturn (good for spirituality of all kinds) and the hour ruled by Mercury (communications, including divination). Some ghost hunters favor other planets, and many add the Moon to the hours, since it relates to psychic gifts.

Since the Mercury, Moon, and Saturn hours are generally consecutive and give you three hours for optimum research, we’re listed all three below.

Think of these corresponding hours like the tides; smart ship captains make use of the tides to set sail. Ghost hunters can at least try these corresponding planetary hours, to see if this enhances their results.

Here are the planetary hours for ghost hunting, day by day. (If sunset is at 7:12 p.m. and that hour ends at 8:15 p.m., the notation “Sunset + 1″ means the planetary hour starting at 8:15 p.m. “Sunset + 2″ means the hour after that, and so on.)