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This article is from a 2012 investigation near southern New Hampshire (USA).
Since then, I’ve changed my mind about using pendulums for ghost hunting. Mostly, I recommend them for baseline research at a site. That is, using ghost hunting tools and devices to rule out natural and normal explanations for what only seems like paranormal activity.
WARNING: I absolutely, 100% advise against using a pendulum in a way that asks a spirit (or other entity) to communicate through you. At no time should you give permission for a ghost (or an entity pretending to be a ghost) to enter your body – even just your fingertips – for any reason at all.
Here’s what I said in 2012:
This past weekend – en route the Mal’s Pals benefit where friend (and fellow ghost enthusiast) Kris Williams was speaking – Sean Paradis presented me with some of his latest pendulums.
That experience made me rethink pendulum use for ghost research.
My History with Pendulums
During my teen years – like a lot of people – my friends and I briefly tried using a pendulum. We wanted to find out the initials of our future husbands.
I don’t recall the results. (Obviously, they weren’t accurate.)
For me, it was just a game.
And after that, I didn’t take most divination tools seriously.
But, in the 1990s, I noticed a few ghost hunters using pendulums.
They seemed to be successful.
I was astonished but – based on my past experience with pendulums – I still wasn’t convinced they were useful for ghost hunting.
So, about a dozen years ago, I conducted pendulum experiments at Gilson Road Cemetery. It’s one of the most haunted sites I’ve ever visited.
A Failed Pendulum Experiment?
I assembled a group of paranormal researchers and ghost hunters, and equipped them with clipboards, survey questions, and pendulums.
They surveyed each marked grave at the haunted cemetery, using yes/no questions and homemade pendulums.
These were very primitive pendulums – hardware-style washers on strings, etc. – just to see if results (the pendulums’ answers) were consistent.
They weren’t. At each grave, about half the people received “no” answers, while the others all received “yes” answers.
After that, I firmly dismissed pendulums as serious ghost hunting equipment.
Fun? Yes.
Reliable? No.
Lesley Marden Changed My Mind
Then, Lesley Marden‘s pendulum research raised questions. I’ve been with her on many investigations.
Her results with a pendulum have been – and continue to be – remarkably consistent and helpful.
In addition, I started using Sean Paradis’ hand-crafted pendulums. They were responsive beyond anything I’d seen with other pendulums.
Looking back, I wish we’d been able to use real pendulums at Gilson Road cemetery. Would they have made a difference?
I don’t know… and that’s the problem: I didn’t consider the possibility that the pendulum might have its own energy – beyond the person using it.
What really changed my mind (in 2012) was a cemetery where Lesley, Sean, and I stopped for a brief investigation.
The Cemetery That’s Not a Cemetery
On our way to the Mal’s Pals event, we stopped at a site that can only be described as “a cemetery that’s not a cemetery.”
It looks like a cemetery, with typical stone walls around it, enclosing at least a dozen headstones.
But – as I understand it – few (if any) bodies are buried there.
Something there is not right.
Almost immediately, my camera – which had been working fine that morning – actually broke. The lens opened just a tiny amount. I couldn’t pry the lens open. Changing batteries didn’t help, either. (I took photos, anyway. They were disappointing.)
When we returned to the car, I tried my camera again.
It worked fine.
So, I took it back to the cemetery, and it seemed broken again.
That was among the most dramatic and unique equipment failures I’ve seen in many years in paranormal research.
(A dozen years earlier, a different camera had failed at Blood Cemetery. And then there was the sort-of related gas gauge incident. I have no idea why either of those problems happened.)
So, on that day in 2012, since the camera wasn’t reliable, I figured I had nothing to lose.
I tested a few pendulums that Sean had given me.
The answers were clear – and consistent – no matter which pendulum I tried.
When I asked a question I knew the answer to… the pendulum responded correctly.
When I asked a question about someone whose name was on a headstone in that cemetery…? The pendulum’s answers were consistent, not just with each other, but the independent results of Lesley and Sean.
I had to re-think my attitudes towards pendulums and ghost hunting.
Now, I won’t pretend I use pendulums during every ghost investigation. (I don’t.)
But pendulums are so convenient to toss into my ghost hunting kit – or I can use a necklace I’m wearing – I do use them now & then.
How I Use Pendulums
With each pendulum, I do the same thing: I hold the weighted part (the “weight-stone” or bob or fob) in my hand for just a second, in case that imprints it with a connection to me.
Then, I hold the pendulum from the handle-style bead, pin, or whatever’s at the end of the chain or cord.
I’m ready to run a baseline test.
I say, “Show me a ‘yes’.” Then, I wait to see what the pendulum does.
Then I say, “Show me a ‘no’.”
Once again, I wait to see what happens.
(I have never seen a pendulum give the same response for both answers.)
For me, a “yes” is usually a vertical swing, and “no” is a horizontal swing. Now and then, it’ll be a circular motion, with clockwise being one answer and anti-clockwise being the other.
I check this every time I use a pendulum in a new, haunted location. I’m not sure how much the answer relies on my psychic energy, the pendulum itself, or the energy at the location.
I’d never want to mistake a response. So, I make a fresh start with each pendulum and each site where I test them.
A Spirit Named Fanny
In 2012, at this sort-of cemetery, I was able to confirm – repeatedly – the identity of the energy (or spirit).
After all, I had several names to work with, from the headstones nearby.
The entity was named Fanny. That was abundantly clear from the pendulum response to that name, and only that name.
However, that’s when the information stopped.
No matter what question I asked – and we tried a lot of questions – the entity wasn’t responsive.
I think I tried about five or six different pendulums. Each time, the response was nearly identical.
Was the entity someone named Fanny? Yes. That was a dramatic swing from a full stop.
Did she have something to say? Yes, maybe… it was sort of a yes, but not entirely clear.
There was no response when I asked:
- Whether she was frightened
- If she was alive and well in her own time
- Whether her body was actually nearby
- If she had unfinished business, and so on.
(Those are questions I routinely ask in my research.)
Every time I went back to the initial question about her name, the “yes” was clear.
Nothing else evoked a clear response.
It was a mystery, and remains one.
My Conclusions
I’m always enthusiastic about mixing Sean’s low-tech research methods with sensitive, scientific tools. They may lead us to better “what if?” questions.
But, to be honest, I no longer use pendulums – or any divinatory tools – at haunted sites, except for the initial baseline check.
The risks are too great. If any malicious entity – not just a demon – is at the site, divinatory tools (pendulums, Ouija boards, etc.) put you at risk.
However, I’m a realist, and I know that some experienced ghost hunters like to test alternative research methods.
If you’re a pro – and ONLY if you’re a pro, on a team for at least a few dozen investigations – see my article, Pendulums – How They Work and How to Use Them for Ghost Hunting. You’ll find a link to my free pendulum charts, too.
Note: I may conduct more research at the “cemetery that’s not a cemetery” and the area around a nearby ball field. (Those are all the hints I’ll share.)
For now, if you know the location, I hope you won’t publicize it. If the site attracts too much attention, it may limit our ability to visit the site for undisturbed research.
The one thing I’m sure of is that “Fanny” has a secret, and – so far – she hasn’t been willing to share it with any of us.
Recommended Pendulums
Remember, you can make your own pendulum, or even use a necklace. You don’t need to spend a cent to see if pendulums interest you.
But, based on my Gilson Road experiment – and our far better results in 2012, with “real” pendulums – I recommend quality pendulums if you decide to make them part of your ghost hunting investigations.
Hello Fiona!! I’ve written before about “Blood Hill”, some time ago. I have since been back, on more than one occasion, due to the many unexplained events; feelings of being watched, thick air making it difficult to breath, a feeling of lethargy walking toward the back left corner, almost like the ground is mud that we are walking through. And my favorite; the EVP. We VERY clearly state any surrounding noises. IE: “car passing” “motorcycle in the distance” etc. So it was VERY much a surprise to us to hear music on our recordings! We tried are hardest to “debunk” it as a plane passing over head, but again, that is something we would have pointed out, AND this is quite clearly organ music, in the middle of the night! Other than sharing these happenings with you, I was also wondering, where is the “cemetery thats not a cemetery”? I would LOVE to check that out! And finally, I had never even thought of using pendulums while “ghost hunting”, but I have a beautiful bloodstone pendulum that was gifted to me that will be going with me on our next outing!