An Interview With Rusty By Mike Harding PWW
February 10th, 2009 |Reprinted with permission
An Interview With Rusty, Host Of Haunted Downunder Radio
Mike Harding
Rusty, you are the host of a new radio show that aired for the first time on the Para-X radio network last week, you have a regular show that will be airing commencing January the 6th, are you excited about this project?
Rusty
*Laughs* I’m very excited Mike but I also have to admit I’m as nervous as all hell, I’ve never actually done anything like this before, I usually like to stay in the background.
Mike Harding
How did the show come about?
Rusty
I have listened to the various shows on offer by a radio network called Para-X for quite sometime and always found the content not only enlightening, but fun as well. On their website they have a chatroom which I dropped by from time to time and one day ended up as a guest speaker on one of the shows. Soon afterwards I was invited by the owners of the network to produce an Australian show which I readily accepted.
Mike Harding
An Australian show? About Aussie ghosts and such?
Rusty
Yes, but that’s only part of what I hope to offer from the show when it begins to air next year. As well as profiles of haunted places and occurrences of a possible paranormal nature we will be having stories of the Aboriginal dreamtime, visits by everyday people who will tell us about their experiences and by those who work in the field of paranormal research. Mike the most important objective of the show however is to provide a resource from which we, as Australians, can show the rest of the world what happens downunder with regard to paranormal research and to support those groups and individuals who work in that field, to show case their efforts.
Mike Harding
Ordinary people?
Rusty
Yeah, I’ve been out nearly every day now just walking up to people in the street and asking them to tell me about any experiences they have had, I record it and present their stories on air.
Mike Harding
Are there many research groups downunder?
Rusty
There are quite a few and they all do a fantastic job. Luckily down here we don’t seem to be afflicted by the infighting and jealousies that seem to go hand in hand with some groups elsewhere. The group that I am involved with, although are funded, regularly assist other groups and researchers and we find the relationships formed have been invaluable.
Mike Harding
How did you get involved in paranormal research?
Rusty
I have a few experiences as a kid, but then who hasn’t, they installed in me a desire for anything I could read, watch or hear about ghosts and haunting but it was when I was 18 after an experience that left me shaken and my interest become much more than something to read in my spare time.
Mike Harding
Sounds thrilling, would you care to share the experience?
Rusty
Mike it was a rather personal experience but the short version is that I was home on leave and a friend came over and joined me for about half an hour or so and we caught up on what had been happening while I was away, the next day I had found out that he had died almost 5 hours before we had caught up. He was a very close friend and to this day I still can’t believe that I actually spent time with what you might call a ghost.
Obviously the experience affected me a lot and from that day I found myself almost obsessed with finding answers, trying to find out if there really was a life after death. In the 22 years since, I have travelled not only all over Australia, but to many places overseas such as Scotland, Ireland, the United States and England, parts of Europe and many Pacific countries investigating and researching reports and rumours of hauntings and sightings of ghosts.
Mike Harding
You must have amassed a huge store of information
Rusty
*Laughs* yes I have actually two rented garages filled to the rafters so to speak of notes, photos, recordings, video and photos. I have so many books and videos that my own place looks like a disorganised public library.
Mike Harding
Do you have lots of toys and equipment?
Rusty
I do *laughs* I’m a toyman so to speak, when something comes out I test it’s possible application and usefulness to paranormal research. I share my home with a deranged cat and a growing mountain of electronic gizmos, camera’s and video recorders; sometimes I spend more time charging batteries than I do actually conducting research. It gets a bit crowded at my place.
I should point out however that all this equipment only aids me in my research. I have seen researchers base their whole investigation on the data collected from some gizmos when in actual fact everything we use has not really been proven to actually do anything. It’s the end result, the culmination and analysis of ALL the data collected that matters most. I often visit places armed with nothing more than a digital and film camera, a compass and maybe two dowsing rods I made out of old coat hangers. All the gizmos we use help us to look at many variables to see if we can glean some information but in the end it’s careful investigative techniques, proper analysis and dissemination of evidence and an open mind free from bias that are the most valuable tools at our disposal as paranormal researchers.
Mike Harding
What’s your favourite “gizmo” as you put them?
Rusty
Ahh yes well I would have to say my favourite piece of electronics would have to be my digital voice recorder. I’ve collected a lot of EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) over the years using various types of recorders but the digital recorder is the one I use most often, and it makes it so much easier when all I have to do is connect it up to the computer and drop the files into a directory.
Mike Harding
Whats your scariest moment?
Rusty
I’m not one to scare very easily, it’s not that I’m brave, probably just too stupid *laughs*. The scariest time I suppose would be at a private home I was permitted to investigate in Ireland. It was a cottage that was over 200 years old and the owners of the years had reported everything from simple hauntings to full blown poltergeist activity. We spent two nights there and it was only on the second night that we started to experience things that offered no rational experience whatsoever. I think it was about two hours into the evening when I was grabbing a coffee from the kitchen when I clearly heard a voice, a females voice, scream out, what it was I couldn’t understand but at that moment things started to fly off the shelves and head in my direction. The two other researchers there at the time also heard the screaming voice and also witnessed these things flying off the shelves and heading at me. Funnily enough though we picked up nothing whatsoever on the voice recorders we had placed in all the rooms and the researcher who was in charge of the video camera left it on a seat and rushed in to the kitchen, I have never forgiven her for that.
One of the biggest challenges we face does not come from the sceptics, but from our own fears and emotions. If we let our judgement be clouded by fear or an emotional response, the data we may collect would be tainted, it’s not easy to keep yourself free from feelings of fear but it is essential to keep them in check.
Mike Harding
Rusty, do you believe in ghosts?
Rusty
That’s not an easy question to answer Mike. Based upon what I have seen and from reliable reports from others, I believe that there is a possibility that there is something that we do not understand but if you want me to say that there are the souls of dead people walking among us, well I wouldn’t be able to say that with any honesty.
I do believe that energy and even our own minds can account for much of what is reported, I do subscribe to the theory of residual haunting, those that replay over and over without any interaction with people or things around it, but I don’t believe that they are ghosts, more something that has been imprinted on the fabric much like a video plays. With regard to actual intelligent haunting, well I remain uncommitted until I find actual proof but as a rule most sightings and occurrences can be attributed to environmental or psychological factors, most, but not all.
Mike Harding
What does the show offer in the new year
Rusty
I’m very excited about what we are planning for 2009. Already we have some fantastic guests appearing throughout the year and we also intend to get out and investigate for ourselves selected cases that might be brought to our attention. I am currently planning a huge ParaFest, a gathering of researchers from all around Australia and overseas, and I hope to continue to get out and meet people to let them tell me their stories, in all it’s going to be a busy and exciting year.
Mike Harding
Just before we conclude, what advice do you have for someone who might want to get into Paranormal Research?
Rusty
I think the first thing is to ask yourself why. If you’re looking for a thrill and just want to see a ghost then there are many laces you can visit that have professionally operated events. It’s not a hobby nor should it be one. If your serious and really want to find answers, you need to first understand what it is your getting into and secondly, you need to get some knowledge about what your doing. Joining an ethical research group is the best way to do this, if you have no experience you shouldn’t attempt to start your own group because in most cases you can only damage the reputation of the field because of unprofessional techniques and practices.
The group which I am affiliated with actually have teams in most states of Australia, they have resources and logistics which are way beyond that which are affordable by most people but most importantly they offer training, not only in how to investigate an event, but in the use of equipment, research, interviewing techniques and dealing with those who have experienced an event. They also have access to outside expertise such as Psychologists, Counsellors and so forth and they use them regularly when dealing with people who have experienced something that they find hard to deal with. If your inexperienced and you accept a private home to investigate you can actually cause more harm to the residents psychologically and create more problems than there actually may have been at the start.
Ethics too us another thing that I think should never ever be compromised. If you find nothing during an investigation, then you find nothing, faking evidence or looking for something which isn’t there is so far past the line of what is acceptable, it taints you and can taint the rest of those who work in the field. I have seen this more times than I care to mention and it makes me angry.
Mike Harding
Thank you very much for joining us today
Rusty
My pleasure Mike, thank you.
An Interview With Rusty, Host Of Haunted Downunder Radio
Mike Harding
Rusty, you are the host of a new radio show that aired for the first time on the Para-X radio network last week, you have a regular show that will be airing commencing January the 6th, are you excited about this project?
Rusty
*Laughs* I’m very excited Mike but I also have to admit I’m as nervous as all hell, I’ve never actually done anything like this before, I usually like to stay in the background.
Mike Harding
How did the show come about?
Rusty
I have listened to the various shows on offer by a radio network called Para-X for quite sometime and always found the content not only enlightening, but fun as well. On their website they have a chatroom which I dropped by from time to time and one day ended up as a guest speaker on one of the shows. Soon afterwards I was invited by the owners of the network to produce an Australian show which I readily accepted.
Mike Harding
An Australian show? About Aussie ghosts and such?
Rusty
Yes, but that’s only part of what I hope to offer from the show when it begins to air next year. As well as profiles of haunted places and occurrences of a possible paranormal nature we will be having stories of the Aboriginal dreamtime, visits by everyday people who will tell us about their experiences and by those who work in the field of paranormal research. Mike the most important objective of the show however is to provide a resource from which we, as Australians, can show the rest of the world what happens downunder with regard to paranormal research and to support those groups and individuals who work in that field, to show case their efforts.
Mike Harding
Ordinary people?
Rusty
Yeah, I’ve been out nearly every day now just walking up to people in the street and asking them to tell me about any experiences they have had, I record it and present their stories on air.
Mike Harding
Are there many research groups downunder?
Rusty
There are quite a few and they all do a fantastic job. Luckily down here we don’t seem to be afflicted by the infighting and jealousies that seem to go hand in hand with some groups elsewhere. The group that I am involved with, although are funded, regularly assist other groups and researchers and we find the relationships formed have been invaluable.
Mike Harding
How did you get involved in paranormal research?
Rusty
I have a few experiences as a kid, but then who hasn’t, they installed in me a desire for anything I could read, watch or hear about ghosts and haunting but it was when I was 18 after an experience that left me shaken and my interest become much more than something to read in my spare time.
Mike Harding
Sounds thrilling, would you care to share the experience?
Rusty
Mike it was a rather personal experience but the short version is that I was home on leave and a friend came over and joined me for about half an hour or so and we caught up on what had been happening while I was away, the next day I had found out that he had died almost 5 hours before we had caught up. He was a very close friend and to this day I still can’t believe that I actually spent time with what you might call a ghost.
Obviously the experience affected me a lot and from that day I found myself almost obsessed with finding answers, trying to find out if there really was a life after death. In the 22 years since, I have travelled not only all over Australia, but to many places overseas such as Scotland, Ireland, the United States and England, parts of Europe and many Pacific countries investigating and researching reports and rumours of hauntings and sightings of ghosts.
Mike Harding
You must have amassed a huge store of information
Rusty
*Laughs* yes I have actually two rented garages filled to the rafters so to speak of notes, photos, recordings, video and photos. I have so many books and videos that my own place looks like a disorganised public library.
Mike Harding
Do you have lots of toys and equipment?
Rusty
I do *laughs* I’m a toyman so to speak, when something comes out I test it’s possible application and usefulness to paranormal research. I share my home with a deranged cat and a growing mountain of electronic gizmos, camera’s and video recorders; sometimes I spend more time charging batteries than I do actually conducting research. It gets a bit crowded at my place.
I should point out however that all this equipment only aids me in my research. I have seen researchers base their whole investigation on the data collected from some gizmos when in actual fact everything we use has not really been proven to actually do anything. It’s the end result, the culmination and analysis of ALL the data collected that matters most. I often visit places armed with nothing more than a digital and film camera, a compass and maybe two dowsing rods I made out of old coat hangers. All the gizmos we use help us to look at many variables to see if we can glean some information but in the end it’s careful investigative techniques, proper analysis and dissemination of evidence and an open mind free from bias that are the most valuable tools at our disposal as paranormal researchers.
Mike Harding
What’s your favourite “gizmo” as you put them?
Rusty
Ahh yes well I would have to say my favourite piece of electronics would have to be my digital voice recorder. I’ve collected a lot of EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) over the years using various types of recorders but the digital recorder is the one I use most often, and it makes it so much easier when all I have to do is connect it up to the computer and drop the files into a directory.
Mike Harding
Whats your scariest moment?
Rusty
I’m not one to scare very easily, it’s not that I’m brave, probably just too stupid *laughs*. The scariest time I suppose would be at a private home I was permitted to investigate in Ireland. It was a cottage that was over 200 years old and the owners of the years had reported everything from simple hauntings to full blown poltergeist activity. We spent two nights there and it was only on the second night that we started to experience things that offered no rational experience whatsoever. I think it was about two hours into the evening when I was grabbing a coffee from the kitchen when I clearly heard a voice, a females voice, scream out, what it was I couldn’t understand but at that moment things started to fly off the shelves and head in my direction. The two other researchers there at the time also heard the screaming voice and also witnessed these things flying off the shelves and heading at me. Funnily enough though we picked up nothing whatsoever on the voice recorders we had placed in all the rooms and the researcher who was in charge of the video camera left it on a seat and rushed in to the kitchen, I have never forgiven her for that.
One of the biggest challenges we face does not come from the sceptics, but from our own fears and emotions. If we let our judgement be clouded by fear or an emotional response, the data we may collect would be tainted, it’s not easy to keep yourself free from feelings of fear but it is essential to keep them in check.
Mike Harding
Rusty, do you believe in ghosts?
Rusty
That’s not an easy question to answer Mike. Based upon what I have seen and from reliable reports from others, I believe that there is a possibility that there is something that we do not understand but if you want me to say that there are the souls of dead people walking among us, well I wouldn’t be able to say that with any honesty.
I do believe that energy and even our own minds can account for much of what is reported, I do subscribe to the theory of residual haunting, those that replay over and over without any interaction with people or things around it, but I don’t believe that they are ghosts, more something that has been imprinted on the fabric much like a video plays. With regard to actual intelligent haunting, well I remain uncommitted until I find actual proof but as a rule most sightings and occurrences can be attributed to environmental or psychological factors, most, but not all.
Mike Harding
What does the show offer in the new year
Rusty
I’m very excited about what we are planning for 2009. Already we have some fantastic guests appearing throughout the year and we also intend to get out and investigate for ourselves selected cases that might be brought to our attention. I am currently planning a huge ParaFest, a gathering of researchers from all around Australia and overseas, and I hope to continue to get out and meet people to let them tell me their stories, in all it’s going to be a busy and exciting year.
Mike Harding
Just before we conclude, what advice do you have for someone who might want to get into Paranormal Research?
Rusty
I think the first thing is to ask yourself why. If you’re looking for a thrill and just want to see a ghost then there are many laces you can visit that have professionally operated events. It’s not a hobby nor should it be one. If your serious and really want to find answers, you need to first understand what it is your getting into and secondly, you need to get some knowledge about what your doing. Joining an ethical research group is the best way to do this, if you have no experience you shouldn’t attempt to start your own group because in most cases you can only damage the reputation of the field because of unprofessional techniques and practices.
The group which I am affiliated with actually have teams in most states of Australia, they have resources and logistics which are way beyond that which are affordable by most people but most importantly they offer training, not only in how to investigate an event, but in the use of equipment, research, interviewing techniques and dealing with those who have experienced an event. They also have access to outside expertise such as Psychologists, Counsellors and so forth and they use them regularly when dealing with people who have experienced something that they find hard to deal with. If your inexperienced and you accept a private home to investigate you can actually cause more harm to the residents psychologically and create more problems than there actually may have been at the start.
Ethics too us another thing that I think should never ever be compromised. If you find nothing during an investigation, then you find nothing, faking evidence or looking for something which isn’t there is so far past the line of what is acceptable, it taints you and can taint the rest of those who work in the field. I have seen this more times than I care to mention and it makes me angry.
Mike Harding
Thank you very much for joining us today
Rusty
My pleasure Mike, thank you.
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