(Yes the above photoshopped gravestone photograph is a little creepy)
Who is the Haunt Detective?
My Background
The Haunt Detective, AKA Ray Johnson, is a retired criminal investigator (gang/narcotics) from the Chicagoland area who has had a life-long interest in the mysterious, the unexplained and to be honest, anything genuinely creepy. He has always been somewhat of a local Chicago history buff and upon retirement started a business conducting historical and genealogical research for clients. (You can retire the person as an investigator but you can't retire the investigator in the person). It wasn't much of a leap to take my professional experience as a criminal investigator, my love for history, and my love for the unexplained, and begin looking into the folklore, legends and hauntings in the Chicago area as a trained investigator would look at them.
Reality Check
I am not here to say that my life's goal is to debunk everyone's experience with a ghost, or a haunting or other paranormal experience. In fact, I myself have had a number of very vivid creepy experiences that I cannot explain. That is probably part of the reason that I became so interested in what some people call the supernatural.
I am also not here to advocate that I understand or will ever understand what a ghost, spectre, spirit or spook is or if they do or don't exist as a semi-physical presence or merely the figment of an active imagination or psychological defect. In fact, that may be something that we, as mortals, were never meant to fully understand.
I AM here to say that I have always thought it would be very interesting to approach the subject (that many people deem ridiculous or weird) as a serious investigator and maybe, just maybe get a little closer to answering the question about "what is going bump in the night". If we don't, then maybe we can just have a little fun in the process. (I like a good ghost story as much as the next guy)