Where do I even begin?

You could say that I have a fascination with the macabre. I honestly can’t explain how long ago it began, but somewhere along the way I became interested in everything considered “dark.” I love ghosts, cryptozoology (Loch Ness Monster, Ogopogo, Sasquatch, Etc.), psychics, mediums, psychometry, stone tape theory, UFO’s, the Bermuda triangle, mysterious disappearances, conspiracy theories, faeries, gremlins, demons, reincarnation, and anything else that operates on the fringe of people’s imaginations teetering along the edge of reality.

I also love Halloween, abandoned buildings, cemeteries, horror movies, and collect “haunted” and odd artifacts and antiques. I have no idea what stemmed it all but after 30+ years, I have some experiences in life that could be considered “unique” to say the least.

When I was in my early 20’s, I founded the Edmonton Paranormal Society in Alberta, Canada. During my time as president I spoke with hundreds, maybe even thousands of people about their personal paranormal experiences. I had the amazing opportunity to speak with some famous and well-respected names and experts within the global industry as well. I was also able to visit hundreds of amazing locations over the years and actively participated in or lead our team on 70 or more investigations. I was featured in print, radio, podcasts, and television. It was an incredible experience but it also was a second full-time job for me. I was working a full-time primary job by day and ghost hunting by night. It wasn’t exactly glamourous, but it sure was fun.

This is by no means meant to say that I did it all alone, I’m just proud of the experience I have. We had a fantastic team of volunteers that pitched in. At our peak we had about 8 investigative volunteers, a handful of other “specialized” volunteers and consultants, and we hosted two social club meetings per month that each had between twenty and thirty people in attendance.

We also got to work with a few amazing open-minded organizations such as the Strathcona County Museum and Archives and the River Lodge Retreat that opened their doors to allow us to investigate as well as allow others to try their hands at the experiments typically conducted by investigators.

But it all had to start somewhere.

The group itself originally started with one email and an online ad. I was looking for a few people who were interested in sharing their ghost stories with me, possibly for a blog or book to write. I wasn’t sure where it would lead but I had always had a fascination and one day I was properly motivated so I took the leap.

One evening after work, I received a response to my online advertisement. After a brief email exchange, we decided to get together and visit an incredibly well-known location. I had never met these two guys but together, in the middle of the night, we snuck in to a large abandoned hospital armed with flashlights, candles, and a lot of nerves.

We never intended to enter but when an open window provided the perfect access on an open platter, so we had to. We spent hours inside, exploring all 7 stories, the rooftop, and the basements. It was exhilarating and I was hooked, forever changed.

We realized very quickly that, if we were going to be doing this more often, we were lacking a lot of the necessary equipment, experience, and reputation to be able to investigate on a regular basis. We borrowed some video cameras from friends and family for an investigation or two in small homes wherever we were able to get them, often creating “make-shift” experiments to detect drafts re-enacting what we saw on television. Most of the time, nothing happened. It didn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves though and it helped us learn the ins and out’s of how to conduct ourselves.

We then decided that investigations were too advanced for us. We weren’t having much luck getting investigations booked and equipment was expensive. We figured that we really wanted to hear stories anyway so we began to meet every two weeks at a local lounge attached to a bingo hall. It was quiet and we pretty much had the run of the place so it would be a mutually beneficial relationship.

Meeting after meeting, we waited. Nobody showed up. We would arrive on time, squeeze a few tables together order some food and sit together discussing all the things we had read about since we last saw one another. We would read books and articles to discuss and talk about places we wanted to visit one day. We would then talk about how we were going to get more people to attend.

In between meetings we were all working full time jobs. I would post online advertisements as often as I could on local sites. I designed and printed home-made brochures, posters, and hand-outs that we gave away to anyone who would take one. We posted them at libraries, all over campus, down town, anywhere we could put them up. We found some online social club forums and began to post in them as well, there was quite a few people in them which was why we were surprised that none of them were coming out.

We then created our first website.

Finally, a miracle happened. We opened our meeting like we always did, we had gotten to know the waitresses and owners pretty well so we conducted our regular routine. Then 30 people arrived at once.

I’m not going to lie, none of us were prepared for that kind of attendance. We crammed more tables together until we had a 30-foot stretch of them with chairs on all sides. The booths began to fill up. It was the busiest night at that pub in years. The waitresses were run off their feet!

“Welcome to the Edmonton Paranormal Society, my name is Ehren Ackerman and I am a volunteer,” I did my best to be loud enough reach the people at the back of the room without passing out from nerves. “This is a safe place to discuss anything paranormal. Feel free to meet each other and get to know one another. The goal is to find other people with similar interests but not judge each other. I’m going to sit at this end of the table and do my best to make it around the table so that I get a chance to speak with everyone.”

Then I did just that. The meeting went for three hours and I spoke to every single person there that night. Everyone had a unique or traumatic experience to share, it was phenomenal.

Every meeting I made it my goal to make it all the way around the table and speak to every individual attendee. We made our motto “the home of the ever-expanding table” because we were constantly having to add another one to the end of the line to make it longer. I met all kinds of people with all kinds of experiences and interests. Our group did this for about a year before the pub wanted to change our arrangement. We began to look around to find another meeting place better suited for our attendees. We had gained more active members and lost some of our original group along the way, many of our attendees were low-income and we wanted to keep everything as inclusive as possible so we chose to take the offer of a local pagan supply store, Where Faeries Live, to use a room in the back of their store. They were amazing hosts to us for the next four years at least. I even believe meetings were held there long past my resignation.

During our formation we had made friends with a local investigative group, so whenever they were short on investigators or needed additional help for a larger location, they would call our main group of volunteers. We attended all of their presentations and learned from them as we went, collecting our own equipment and forming an investigative team of our own along the way.

Eventually, we began to handle more and more of our own cases, overflow from other groups, and became very independent. We had some differences in style with the partner group that we were working with so we discontinued our collaborations. We wished to focus on residential cases and helping families and individuals whereas they chose to pursue a path of television and educational entertainment. They have been very successful might I add, it’s great to see.

We fine-tuned our methodology, upgraded our equipment as we went. I would save up every last penny I could so I could afford to purchase another EMF Meter or Audio Recorder. As a group we fundraised by organizing large events to purchase greater and greater technology. We utilized online marketplaces to purchase second-hand equipment. Eventually, we had a 4 channel CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) and DVR (Digital Video Recorder) System with Infrared Cameras, a 32” Monitor, 6 Walkie Talkies, 5 Handheld Night-Vision Video Cameras, Several Digital and Film Still Cameras, 8 Audio Recorders, 6 EMF Meters, a ghost-box, a Laptop with editing and capture software, Dozens of Flashlights, motion sensor lights and alarms, non-contact thermometers, surface thermometers, sensitive microphones, other types of meters, every type of experiment we could get our hands on, enough batteries to energize a small country and extension cords to get to any remote corner of any house. We had all of this plus safety procedures, a training manual we had written for new recruits, an operation manual we had developed. It all fit inside about 6 Large Rubbermaid Totes and One Rolling Toolbox that we used as a basecamp table.

We then had “The Paraphone” cell phone that we used to conduct all of our operations.

Operating our group was a full-time job. Often the main volunteers would work all day, then we would all get together to eat or get together after dinner each day. During the weekdays, we would conduct preliminary investigations where we would visit people’s homes, review their claims, talk with them about what their expectations might be then arrange for an investigation at a later date. If we weren’t doing that, we were reviewing the footage we had shot from our investigations on the weekends.

Our investigations would begin about two hours before dark on a Friday and/or Saturday. We would arrive and unpack our vehicles and begin to set-up. We would place our CCTV cameras where we believed they would be the most use, tape all of the cables to remove any tripping hazards. We would also set up our audio recorders and experiments in their respective areas. We would conduct a walkthrough of the premise so that we were all aware of any risks and hazards present and go over our objectives for the evening.

Once the sun set, we turned on all of our recording devices and turned out the lights. Our cell phones were left at basecamp to avoid interference with our equipment and we began. One person would stay at basecamp while the remainder of the investigators would be sent to their designated areas. The lead investigator would be in charge of the plan and rotation schedule. We took regular breaks to avoid fatigue and refuel. We even had a bag to save the empties from our energy drinks.

Sometimes the clients stayed away, sometimes they participated, sometimes they stuck around at base camp. It really depended upon the situation and what was happening. Sometimes the claims were that a person was being attacked by an unseen entity, so it was necessary for the person to be present. Other times clients would come home to their homes being disheveled so we tried to re-create those instances. We had to use different tools and different methods depending upon location, type of activity, beliefs of the client, etc. We tried to re-create claims of activity that was either explained to us by witnesses or was experienced by our investigators while on site.

In the early hours of the morning, we would turn on the lights, tear down and pack away all of the equipment into my truck. I would unpack it into my basement when I got home before crawling into bed for a few hours of sleep.

After each investigation came the footage review, which was a daunting task to say the least. To think that an investigation could go from 8:00 PM until 4:00 AM (8 Hours) and each piece of recording equipment needed to be reviewed often escaped our minds while we were investigating. This usually resulted in between 24 and 128 hours of footage review, depending on how much of the kit we used. This was how we would gauge how involved our investigators wanted to be, those who participated the most in footage review got a place reserved for them in the next investigation. We also had a few “regular attendees” and honorary members who would help with footage review from time to time because they were unable to physically participate in investigations.

We would then provide a report for the client that included a DVD-ROM containing copies of any “activity” we were able to capture, and a certificate that we had conducted an investigation at the location for their records.

We did all of this while continuing to maintain two social clubs that met on the first and third Saturdays of every month. One was titled E.P.I.C. (Edmonton Paranormal Interests Club) and the other was I.C.U. (Interactive Clairvoyant Understanding). There was also a regular newsletter as well as a library of books, DVD’s, and footage that could be browsed and borrowed from.

I’m not going to lie, we had it down to an art. We were good at what we did. I’m very proud of what we were able to accomplish as a team. We were a well-oiled machine and it became second nature to us.

I still have a bin full of memorabilia, newspaper clippings, and memories that I hold on to for nostalgia. We were one of the largest groups in Western Canada and that’s something to be proud of.

And of course, what paranormal team would be complete without a bonafide psychic medium or two?

Thank you to my cousin Susan Ursel for suggesting this topic. As you might suspect, I have a few more stories that I could share if you’d like to hear them. If you want to hear more about this, or another part of my life, please send me an email or shoot me a message. I’d love to hear from you and am happy to answer questions about any of my experiences in life.

Please take some time to wander around my website and visit any of my social media pages. If you are able to please like, subscribe, follow, or share. It will really help me out.

Thanks for reading!