Ghost Hunting Explained: Haunted Places, Equipment & Paranormal Experiences

Episode 47 — Matt Litteral / Haunted Expedition — Cleaned Transcript

Guest: Matt Litteral — branding and content creation consultant, owner of Gemini Media Group, Best in Sacramento, and Sacramento Podcast Studio; host of Haunted Expedition and How Did It Happen.

Note: This transcript has been cleaned for readability. Raw timecodes and placeholder speaker labels were removed, obvious transcription errors involving names and paranormal equipment terminology were corrected, and the substance of the interview was preserved. Paranormal claims remain attributed to the speakers rather than presented as established fact.

Opening & Introduction

So far we haven't been to a place that hasn't been hunted. I've physically saw a crumpled up Walmart plastic bag got three feet across the floor, up the side of a wine box. You could kind of feel like an energy or presence and it gets a little chillier, about ten degrees colder than normal. When you ask a question and a response right away by touching one of those two things, it's shows intelligence.

I always tell the spirit like, you can't go home with us. You can't leave with us. You can't attach yourself to us. I finally got the door shut, and I saw something with two eyes going up and down, looking at me like, if you're always worried and thinking about that, this thing is going to attack you. You're probably attracting something that's going to attack you.

and welcome to the podcast today my special guest is

Matt Litteral. He is

a branding and content creation consultant and owner of Gemini Media Group, as well as Best in Sacramento and the Sacramento Podcast Studio.

Matt, thank you so much for being here today.

Yeah, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure. Looking forward to

Matt, before we get into it, we have the last guest. Leave a question for the next guest. And the question left for you was what was your worst travel experience?

probably going to

France from England, was probably my worst travel experience just because I thought I would go over like with just a back like backpacking kind of, but stay like in bed and breakfast or whatever.

And

really, you want to take a suitcase with wheels if you're gonna take the trains everywhere and then you just want to.

to bring extra deodorant because they don't sell deodorant there, and also washcloths. And just be ready to meet some rude people, even at the hotels and stuff,

And then the opposites the same for Italy. You're just like, oh my God, the Colosseum,

the Vatican. Everything like will blow your mind

So would you go back to Italy though,

or go back to Italy? Nice.

Manifested Wealth

created a book called Manifested Wealth. And so I was like, pretty dope book. Can you give me a quick synopsis or overview of what that looks about? So it's kind of based after Law of Attraction.

So when you.

Believe it in your mind, you can manifest anything. You just have to know that what you want and then your mind in circumstances, will lead you to that direction,

as long as you don't give up on it. So you have to hold that thought in your mind every day and keep going for that goal.

cool, man. It's a it sounds like an amazing book.

We'll make sure we plug that into the description. And, and so people that are interested in finding out more, they'll be able to quickly find it on Amazon. I think that's where I saw it first. And maybe some of their locations. Barnes and Noble books are Goodreads or Walmart.com. Awesome, awesome. And

How Did It Happen Podcast

you also have two podcasts. You have the How Did It Happen podcast and the Haunted Expedition podcast.

So can you give me an overview of those two?

Yeah. So How Did It Happen? Is basically like I'm always talking to people because I'm helping them create their brand or social media presence, and what always comes back is like they always tell me their story of how they started out and where they want to go. So. So I'm like always wondering, well, how did that happen?

Like some people say, I went to college for

communication, but then they're doing something totally different, you know? So I'm like, so how did that happen? And so that basically that's how the How Did It Happen? Podcasts start.

Haunted Expedition Podcast

And then

the Haunted Expedition podcast is a long time coming. When I was 18, I bought a condo over by SAC State in the Woodside condos and

found a condo that was like 40,000 cheaper than any other condo in the units over there, but it was all original from like 1977.

And so I had a few experiences there.

And ever since then I kind of became nun numb to

presents that you can't see. Like noises, cabinets opening, doors opening, etc. so I got curious about ghost hunting before there was ghost hunters or any of these shows that are out now. And so I read a few books and stuff, and my friend came over to my house once and had a few experiences of his own, and then we both got into ghost hunting.

So we always did like a weird stat. Hunted B&Bs or did you catch anything? Or did you hear anything? We'd always tell our stories back and forth. Well, finally, now that I've been doing video and podcasting for multiple years now, I'm like, we just need to create a show. Like even the guy from ghost from Topps came to YouTube now because there's no more show.

So I'm like, if he's just like anybody else, we could do it. So what we do now is we do a ghost hunt investigation and then we do after the hunt podcast. So we basically tell what we found, how we felt, how we experienced it. And we also want to bring on other people that have a story to tell as well.

So that's what that podcast is about.

You said this is at the West Side departments or condos because I think the Northrop, it's on that street. And I used to live there of Donahue, which is just right down the street. Yeah. And so now and I drive by there once in a while. So now I'm going to be in my mind like, oh, that's the that's the haunted.

Yeah. It's and the main. Just stay away from it. Yeah. The main Woodside you know there's Woodside East and Woodside Sierra. So it's in the main. But I'll continue that story in a little

Getting Started in Content Creation

just like you have the How Did It Happen podcast.

How Did It Happen. How did you get into content creation yourself?

I made

a few like

testimonial videos for companies. And then they wanted different types of social media or help with social media content for their Facebook page or their website. So then I started taking photos and video because I took that in high school and it was just a side passion.

then someone asked me to film their wedding and I did that. And then they wanted a professionally edited video, like with intro outro graphics. And so I started teaching myself with YouTube, self-taught, just every day, like 2 or 3 hours of content. And then I

killed my whole channel, and I started from scratch because I was all over the place.

I had videos on fireman saving people and videos on unboxing and travel, and it's just my channel is all over the place. So I had no growth.

And then that's when they started coming out with like, TikTok shorts.

Reels came out after TikTok and stuff. So that's when the social media clips and already had a following with a podcast that I started called Talking

Crap Radio, but it's really called it's a Bad Word.

But anyway, the first episode got 11,000 views, and then the next one got 22,000 views. And I got, we got like a thousand subscribers in about four and a half weeks, and it just took off. And I was like,

what? And then we started making the social media clips that you see on your phone, and then it really took off.

So I was like, okay. And then we got monetized. It wasn't very much money, but it was like 20 bucks that I didn't have before. And so then I started learning audio video techniques, adding more cameras, editing professionally. And then I had all these cameras, the audio equipment and everything invested for my podcast. And then I was like, I just need to turn it into a business.

And so I just started a website and then I was open for business and I got like 3 or 4 clients and they really loved it. And then I started figuring out pricing and watching more videos on how to run a studio and how to run a business and went from there.

yeah, it's like a YouTube university. You start somewhere and you just gotta go into it. And yeah, I do actually enjoy your content. I was watching a lot of the haunted expedition and stuff. More recently, as I was kind of prepping for the podcast on the Haunted Expedition, did you have, like, other haunted experiences prior to the condo, like growing up, or was the condo where you first started having some of those paranormal activities?

Matt's First Paranormal Experiences

So the very first one I had was when I was about six years old. I went to this. I lived I grew up in Lake Tahoe, in North Lake, Tahoe City, and so in the summertime my parents would take me to de camp, which was near the beach, and there's woods. So you'd go with like 50 kids and you would create like your own ten kid camps with different counselors, and you would do, like, capture the flag and hide and go seek.

And it was a lot of fun. And so there's this old band and trailer, like on this dirt road that was part of their camp,

and they would do crafts there and stuff, but they always told like a campfire ghost story about it, that two people died there and you could hear the shower running and people inside talking.

And so when I was we were hiding in there like five of us kids in a camp counselor, and all of a sudden we heard the shower run, but there's no water, but you could hear it plain as day. And then we heard the voices and we were like, freaking out. And this is back in the like, late 80s.

So it wasn't like you could put a Bluetooth speaker, anything like that. And so we all had we were like, the kids were screaming like, in this broad daylight. It was pretty crazy. And so after that, then there was another time we went on a hike with the same day camp,

and there was tales of like a witch's coven up in the mountains in Lake Tahoe.

And so we were walking by like this cabin that was looks like people shot it out 50 years ago or something like that place is on. And some of my friends and I went back when we got older,

when I was about 12, we rode our bikes up there and we had the door slammed behind us. And then we heard like these creaking noises and like a frog jumped out in front of us, and we just took off so fast that we were pretty freaked out.

So I've always been

drawn to that energy, I think. I think you have to be open to a different frequency of energy to receive, because if you're totally closed minded, you probably won't ever experience a ghost experience. But I found a lot of people have either with lights or cabinets, or they hear stuff that shouldn't be there.

one time my brother had he's ten years older, he had a my nephew was four years old and he said the eyes on the pictures follow me.

And there was always some he always felt some kind of presence. And when a kid says that, it's kind of like, So one time we did a EVP thing before these ghost shows came out when I was 16 and on the recorder, and we said, why are you here? And then we played it back right away, and we heard a roar

on the tape.

And I still have that tape today. And it scared like five of us. So ever since then, I totally believed it.

EVP and Paranormal Evidence

For for those that know what a EVP is, what is a what is that?

basically a record user, digital or physical recording, like on a tape recorder.

And then you play it back and it might pick up sounds that you couldn't hear yourself. And so that's the EVP. And then there's EMF detector which reads like electromagnetic fields. And so that goes to it's called Milligan's. And normal is like 0.2. But if it goes to 2.0 that's like crazy.

The Haunted Condo

you think like this is mainly because someone's died in the area or something? I mean, your condo before you bought it, don't they have to disclose to you if there's some random stuff like that?

I thought they had to disclose, like you were saying, but it turns out you have to physically ask the question, did someone die here?

And that's when they're obligated to find out. I didn't ask that. So what happened? Remodeled it. A year goes by, I started experiencing cabinets opening, doors opening, closing.

I saw I physically saw a crumpled up Walmart plastic bag, got three feet across the floor, up the side of a wine box, and down in

like a hole where they have 12 bottles of wine

Literally got went up the side and got shoved in. And my wife, my ex-wife was there, saw the same thing, and we were like, we were staying in a hotel that night. And then

after a while living there, met the downstairs neighbor. He told me the guy that lived there before me strangled his girlfriend and killed her there.

What? Yeah. Show me the newspaper clipping from the Sacramento Bee. And that guy was in jail. And that's why I got the place. So she. Wow. So make sure you ask. And he did. Didn't move out, I sold it, yeah. Year later, I got divorced there, actually. So it caused a lot of. That's crazy. I would be nice and freaked out.

Yeah.

I've always been curious. I wasn't really ever scared. I was just more curious, like if we could replicate the situation or the monk, it.

You gotta go knock on that door. See who's living there and see if you could hop in for an episode or two. Yeah. That'd be we were thinking about that. That's funny. I was some of your episodes.

Ghost Orbs and Paranormal Interpretation

I'm looking at it. I, you mentioned these orbs and stuff on the cameras. Like what? What are those orbs or what do you think that they are? So in the.

Community of ghost hunting and or would be considered like a presence or a somewhat of a physical form of a spirit that maybe came into the scene and that the camera could pick up through the lens. And so that's what it would be. So you'd see it like usually they start out and they kind of like move in a way that you don't think dust or something.

And sometimes they could change shape, but they're usually about the size or a little bit bigger.

I was I was looking at the what you guys had on some of your haunted expedition. Yeah. On the podcast, you guys can have show on one of your episodes. There's like a bunch of them flying around, and and I was like, oh, okay, cool.

That probably is some type of energy or who knows? Yeah. Ghost person or, whatever you're it's up to your imagination. But something potentially, especially if they're moving in random directions and stuff, then. Yeah, that is a little bit I was a creepy or scary in the way I mean, I yeah, I avoid this thing like the plague.

Anything haunted? Yeah.

I'm like, nope, no thank you. I won't watch scary movies. Like, you know, you gotta do it. I will have my mind, will trip me up for like weeks and weeks, like, I, I would think that I'm seeing things that aren't there like, I, I, I get super

like messed up. I'm bringing like malfunctions basically.

Yeah. Yeah.

Basically once you accept it, you have to fully accept it and be like, oh, that was probably a ghost. And then that's just your reasoning for things from then on. Like because you don't try to say, oh, that didn't really happen. You go, oh, cool. I wonder if it could do it again. Like so. That's the shift of the mindset.

not for everybody, that's for sure. Yeah. So have you ever felt unsafe like going to a scene or doing an investigation where you're like, oh, I like, do you get yourself get freaked out? And

Feeling Unsafe During Investigations

yeah, sometimes. So we did the carry house until in Placerville twice.

And so we went on this full Moon Knight. It was a blood moon,

And the activity was probably ten fold of our normal investigations. And I was saying, I always tell the spirit, like when we do like a EVP, we use a EMF meter, which kind of shows presence.

And then we also have we started with this new equipment. That's a spirit bill. And so basically it could pick up, EMF energy and make this bell go off. And so we tell the spirit if it goes by there and touches that, it'll make the bell go off. And so we ask it like touch it twice if you're a female, once if you're male, stuff like that.

So then all of a sudden it just starts going crazy. The bell goes off and then we had like a flashlight turn on and then EMF meters going off, and

you could kind of feel like an energy or presence. And it gets a little chillier, about ten degrees colder than your normal.

Can Spirits Follow You Home?

And I always tell the spirit, like, you can't go home with us, you can't leave with us, you can't attach yourself to us.

That's not allowed.

And then sometimes you could hear the bell just go crazy. Like in my mind, I think I take it as they're kind of mad

so when it goes a little crazy after I say that, then you kind of get a little weird that I wanted to come home with you.

So

that probably scared me. That freaked me out a little bit. And then throughout the rest of the night, there's this other haunted room that had a guy hung himself, and two kids passed away from the flu, and the mom all in this one room,

and it's very heavy energy. Like, not a good energy. So my friend and I were going to separate rooms.

This is the same night later in that night, and after that one got mad when I said, you can't come with us, you can't. And then I felt like it was kind of pissed at us.

My friend said we should split up and you should go to this room like there's no way I'm going to that. Like, I was basically, like, very reserved that night. Like, I wouldn't do the, like the little extra things that I would normally do. So yeah, that was probably the

dang. That's crazy. I was watching the one of the episodes and the bell went off, I think for or 4 to 6 times

back to back.

Yeah. So I was like, it was probably that episode that. No, it was that moment. It was in that those sessions

Ghost or Hallucination?

when do you know where it's just maybe a oh, I'm hallucinating versus something that's actually there.

So in these older hotels, they're from like 170 years old. It's been there since they used to hang people in place. And then we also did the Murphys Hotel, and we've done a hotel in Georgetown also, and they're all about 150 to 170 years

And first we asked some people like, we don't really do a total background of who died and stuff, because we like to see if what we catch lines up with people's stories and information.

lot of these places don't have Wi-Fi. They don't have TVs in the room. They don't have there's like bare minimum, like the bathrooms down the hall to take a shower. So it's like these rooms have no electrical interference, like you would find in a modern hotel with Wi-Fi and plugs on every lamp and and lots of people staying there with cell phones.

Like when we investigate these hotels, there's maybe two people staying in the hotel that night. Total. So it's not like there's extra cell phones and equipment. So we always turn our cell phones on.

airplane mode. Unless we're gonna text each other that we we're going to a room, and then we'll set a timer and turn our phones off and then turn them back on after the timer goes off or whatever.

And so I tried to have no interference. And

that's why we have the EMF detectors. So the EMF detector will go off. If you get a phone call on your phone, it does spike up a little bit because it's getting a surge of a network, but all the other equipment isn't affected by a cell phone. So when the bell goes off, it's extra

scary because it's very hard to make it go off unless there's a presence.

Then we have another piece of equipment called a REM pod, which has an antenna, and it creates a electrical field basically around it. So anything that comes in two inches of this antenna, it'll go off. So it physically has to be touched or have this energy near it. And so that's not affected by a cell phone or any other frequencies besides the electrical field around this.

what those two pieces could really get a good read that there's something there. And then

when you ask a question and a response right away by touching one of those two things, it's shows intelligence, because

you could ask it like 3 to 5 questions and get the answers. Then you know, there's something there. Also just go off all the time.

That's crazy. So you do a lot to mitigate any interference by turning off your cell phones, going to these older hotels. I've been there for over 100, 50, hundred and 70 years. And so chances are it's not a hallucination. Chances are you're picking something up in that case. And you alluded to the the blood mood briefly touched based on that real quick.

Blood Moons and Paranormal Activity

So what does that have to do anything with the paranormal activity. Do you guys specifically go out on the Blood Moon for for like this was just by chance? We like going on the full moon because there is more activity for some reason. Just maybe it's a magnetic pool that,

like they say, there's more activity near limestone or granite because the energy can be drawn to those sources.

So same thing with the full moon. If there is a magnetic pole, it's scientifically proven that there's the magnetic pole. And so usually the or during a electrical storm like lightning, there's more activity during that as well. So Blood moon, this was our first blood moon, but we thought it was just going to be the full moon.

And it turned out to be a blood moon, which it had a basically, it's an eclipse of the moon from the planet Mars, I believe. And so it turns red. It turns the sky red around the moon.

And that's why they call it the blood moon. So I don't know is just that's. But I'd say we had more activity in four hours than we did on, like, most of our ghost hunts.

So I'd say there's definitely something spiritual with that blood moon. And I think which is if you got more into which law, there's probably a lot of information, but we don't. We're not in a witch hunting. We're just spirits and making contact. Like we don't want to go to asylums or like dungeons where people were tortured. Those places

we try to stay away from because that's where bad energy exists.

We're just trying to make contact with someone that may have died

Someone who's not gonna do harm your or go

home with you at this point. You know what I mean? Yeah, but yeah, with the blood moon else maybe there's going to be like a werewolf or something because they transform under the full moon and stuff like that.

So I was like, there's probably a tie into it because there's a lot of folk, like a lot of law around the moons in general. So there's probably something to it. Yeah, whatever that may be. So yeah, there's a full moon or a blue moon, which is every three years.

basically that moon lasts long, longer than most.

And so that's why they get that expression once in a blue moon.

Oh, that's where it comes from. Interesting. You could look a lot of that stuff up in the Farmer's Almanac

has a lot to do with the tides of the ocean and stuff. So it does tie back a lot to the lower.

So I, I believe there's stuff to that. Like there probably used to be creatures that look like vampires or people's teeth used to rot so bad that they look like they were a vampire, maybe,

or something, I don't know. Hey, you might still be out there. Who knows? And then there could be some guys that were really hairy and walked around with their hands, and people called them werewolves.

mean, we we have reptilians now, too. So, you know, shapeshifters,

all of the above. There was UFOs. So. So who knows what's really, really out there. What's been your craziest experience so far? Of, like, all of the stories, all of your expeditions, whether it's the expedition or prior to do the Haunted Expedition podcast. What has been like the craziest story that you that you have?

Matt's Scariest Paranormal Encounters

So I, I have two that are just on top number one.

family used to own restaurants, so I grew up in restaurants and we had like six pizzerias and two Italian restaurants in the Sacramento area. And like Tahoe

at nighttime I would go make change and collect the money out of those safes when I was in my 20s.

so I would take my ex-wife with me on some of them. And so my we bought a restaurant over in Alberta, near what, in Alberta and used to be owned by Original Pete's. And like prior to us buying it, the manager and another employee got shot and killed

so one night we were at that restaurant and I walked in the office. The safe was unlocked, like already open, and the light turned on for me when I opened the door.

But there's no one there. It's like midnight, just my ex-wife and I. And she was up front by the counter just waiting for me, and I was

like, oh, this is weird. And then I start walking down the hall and the two sinks and the two bathrooms turned on simultaneously, like the faucets. And then the big mop sink around the corner turned on.

My wife is like, what are you doing? Let's go. I'm like, that wasn't me. She's like, what? And I'm like, so. And turn on like

the light in the office. And the safe was open. And she's like, what? We need to get out of here right now. I'm like, yeah, we felt something really heavy. So I grabbed her hand.

We started running into the front door, and then the spot where the two guys got shot and killed. It felt like someone ripped our hands apart.

We ran out the doors and I was trying to open the door, and it felt like something was pulling it shut. And I open it. And then,

she went outside of the car.

I was trying to close the door as fast as I could, and

finally got the door shut, and I saw something with two eyes going up and down, looking at me like.

And I was like. And we were literally crying in the car for like, another ten minutes

We eventually got rid of that location, but damn. Yeah. And then the second scariest was this is about a year later, I got divorced and I was living by myself in the haunted condo, and I was like, it's time to get rid of it. My friend Pete, who I do the investigations with now, was never a believer in ghosts.

So he's over. We're watching The Exorcist at like three in the afternoon on a Saturday, just hanging out, waiting to go out that night. And he hears a door open and close and he's like, who's here? I'm like, it's the ghost. And I say laughingly, now, because I've experienced so many

things happen. I've had cabinet doors open in my kitchen, cold spots.

The bag that I saw go up and down the side of the box. Closet doors just slide shut and stuff. So I'm kind of like numb to it now.

my friend Pete starts freaking out. He's like, no, there's got to be someone here. And he's like, the AC is on, the wind is up, and I'm like, nope.

And I showed him the closet door and he's like, yeah, that was the noise. I'm like, yeah, it goes between ours and downstairs.

he starts feeling really cold and I'm like, that's a cold spot. It's like, what are you talking about? And then right behind him, we're talking about it eight cabinet doors above his head and blow his knees open up behind him, and he turns around and almost trips on the cabinet that opened by his leg.

And he turned whiter than I've seen anyone ever turn white. I'm like, that was the ghost while you were talking to me that you didn't believe.

was like, what? And he couldn't believe it. And then we heard another noise. And then I'm like, I think we should probably go to your place, because I've never seen all of the cabinet doors open.

That one. I've seen like two open that one's or a door open or something. But not all eight cabinet doors at one time there appeared there like. Yeah. So that night I spent the night on his couch. And then

believe it was two weeks later. I came home from going out to like, have drinks with some friends,

came in the door at two in the morning and imagine a wood dining table with pretty heavy, like 30 pound wood chairs tucked into the table and normal.

This chair was fully turned around, and it felt like I came home to a pissed off white wife or girlfriend that was like, where have you been all night? Like just this, like really mad energy,

I moved out, got an apartment, and I sold it. Oh, shoot. I was like, nope, because that is really uncomfortable.

It's getting a little personal at that point. Well, if he could lift a chair. Yeah, cause I'm the only one living there. Now, if I could lift a chair and turn it around, and then you feel that energy, who knows if it could throw something at me or possess me. Yeah. So I was out of there. Yeah, just thinking about it sounds crazy.

Yeah. Like, I wish you had the cameras rolling. Yeah. At that time, do you ever just install them in your house and just, like, leave them on or have indoor cameras that. I don't know, man, when you're when you're around. Yeah. I put, night vision and, like, the living room and the kitchen.

every once in a while, you get, like, a notification, like something new.

And I'll double check it. I'm sure there's probably something small that moved or something, but I've never really like, I've experienced.

Not like that, you know what I mean? I'm not like like if I saw something like this arm move like that, that wouldn't scare me. I'd just be like, oh, there's someone here. Yeah, but if it's a chair moving like the small stuff, it could be a spider or a little fly, whatever.

But a cabinet door opening, something sliding like, dang, if you get that on camera, yeah, I'll become a believer too at that point. Yeah, yeah. So

nothing like that. And plus I have a six year old now, so I try to different. I tell her like that's probably not real.

Oh but I'm there is energy but it's nothing to be scared of.

It's just different energy. Just like you can't explain how. You can't really tell her how a cell phone works.

But we could get video, we could get audio, we could make phone calls. So I just told her it's energy.

you mentioned the spirit bell, the box, the EMF detector and the REM pod. Is there any other tools that you use that we missed? We also do use night vision cameras, which pick up the orbs in that stuff, because a lot of times we're in pitch black, but but the night vision cameras really let you see what's going on.

Ghost Hunting Equipment

Another one is a cat ball. It lights up when it's touched. So when those goes off, that's they don't go out. Like if you bump a table or bed or you drop it, it doesn't really go off. But if you move it around and like tap it, then the lights go off. So when those go off,

like, whoa, like something touched it.

So like when you hear about people getting scratched or touched or something, I believe it could be real. Yeah. It's not gonna misfire. Essentially those are a little bit harder to activate. Yeah. And then another, we have one that's like a motion sensor, but it's a music box. So it plays a creepy sound, like music, like ding ding ding ding ding ding ding.

Like, it's kind of creepy and it's motion activated also. So if that goes off or like something just walked in front of it

and then no other real equipment, we use that FLIR camera which detects temperature changes and does like the green and the orange and red video that you see sometimes. So we've done that and seen a few like dark shapes but not definitive.

If it's a human or a reflection sometimes.

Most Reliable Equipment

Which piece of equipment do you have the most faith in that it's accurate. The bell and also the

like a EVP. If we hear another sound recorded after we play it

also the REM pod because that's just touch. So if that goes off it's like, that's weird.

Finding Haunted Locations

you're looking at locations to investigate, how do you know which ones to go after or how do you do your research to identify which ones to go after?

I started researching at like the State library, like hauntings, haunted places, haunted ghosts. So and then actually the very first book, I checked this out after I found out my condo was haunted, I opened the front page and it shows a picture of a ghost at the top of the stairs.

It's pretty famous picture, but I don't know who took it.

I saw it yesterday. That clear and right underneath handwritten it said for Matthew.

And that even freaked me out even more because that's all it said on the page. I was like, oh, okay. So I don't know if the ghost wrote that in there or if it was like, I don't.

It's like it's all interpretation, right? Like the house from the Lake Tahoe. He came. He's like, I got you. I want to leave you a note. That's it. So that was the that always stuck with me. I'm like, okay,

so I've always, like, investigated, like haunted places where people seen stuff.

If you go to the Winchester Mystery House.

I've experienced a couple of things there before. They had ghost hunting shows and stuff, and they had they have a few books there of haunted places. So in California. So I bought that. And then I started like I went to a few cemeteries on there, and

was a toy store, us in San Jose that used to be haunted.

So we'd try to make it like play. There's evidence of it, like rolling a ball down the

aisle. Well, so we tried to reenact that a few times and went to a few locations. And like I said before,

my friend Pete and I would pick like a haunted hotel either here in Nevada or if we went, like when I went to London, I went to a few dungeons and tried to see if I hear anything, or I felt stuff that was not good.

That's why I won't do dungeons and stuff

that makes tortured places. But, mainly just doing your research and or if someone tells you, like, I stayed here and I saw the closet door shut, I'm like, note to self, maybe I should check that place up where other people would be like, screw that, I'm never going there. That's exactly my response.

I'm going there. So you have some of the books and you have maybe some online research and word of mouth to kind of start putting together locations that might be worth investigating and using for your Haunted Expedition podcast. Do you have to get permission on using any of the equipment like you're recording? You got these devices. Do you have to let them know or do you okay with that?

Getting Permission to Investigate

Or do you just bring a set up and you just so we usually get permission and a lot of these hotels actually are like it's an in thing now in 2026. It's like there's a lot of YouTube channels now that are doing that switch from like

exploring videos where they would break into abandoned buildings and abandoned houses. And those were popular videos like 5 or 6 years ago.

Now a lot of those channels are doing ghost hunting just because it's a really popular thing right now. So a lot of these hotels really, they're like, they want you to come in film. And because you start getting a lot of views and lot of social media presence for free,

So it's kind of like commonplace now for people to come in with their cameras and stuff like that.

So it's not a big deal. Do you have a spot like that's on your wish list to go to, or one that you're like, I have to definitely get this sometime, who knows when? But I that's that's the location that you're going to check out. Yeah. So we have two that we really want to do which is

Haunted Places in California

the Winchester Mystery House, which we've been on there on midnight tours and stuff.

But we want to film and actually have free reign of it, kind of. So I think we'll probably get that in the next year. And then there's also one called the Preston Castle in my own, which is an old castle that's over 100 years old. And it's been in quite a few movies,

That one's on our bucket list because we heard that you could see, like, full body apparitions and something crawling on the ceiling.

Yeah. And like, they weren't really tortured there. It's not a, like, a insane asylum or hospital or something where people were tortured and away when they died. But just check. I think that's on her book list for sure. Oh, well. Have

Finding Locations With Paranormal Activity

you ever been on the Haunted Expedition and then you find nothing like you go there, you set up and it's a bust.

for the most part, we do enough research to where we feel like this is a and we've always had action.

you watch any other YouTube channels they like over exaggerate. They're like, oh my God, the EMF detector is going off.

This is crazy. And I'll be like, one thing and then the bell will ding one time

where Pete and I've had the bell go off 50 times in a half hour time span, and we're kind of like numb to it. We're like, oh, cool, the bells going. But for anyone else I'd be like, are you kidding me? Like, this is crazy.

so far we haven't been to a place that hasn't been hunted.

Yeah. For the bell. I just like seeing you guys jump.

You had a heart attack. Every time that thing goes off, it is because you're not expecting it. I mean, if it's already going off, you're like, okay, it's going off.

But that first because when you hear the bell in physical, like right next to you, it's totally different than hearing it on, like watching it on your phone or your computer because you're like, well, this thing's moving. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. That's funny.

Ghost Hunting Misconceptions

do you think are some misconceptions that people have about, ghost hunters or,

haunted expeditions,

some people believe, like you, that set up a little bit or you're overreacting to certain things. But

even the one people that you see overreacting, that could be the real response because you're dealing with stuff that you can't see and your mind is telling you that's not real

or that's what society told us, that that's not real, but

there's something there.

And so I don't discount channels that do

what I consider overreacting because everybody is different. So who am I to say that they're acting, you know,

because sometimes I'm like, oh, like I freak out and I'm like, oh, and you just feel this energy like,

what the hell am I doing here? You know? And so I could see it and,

other common misconceptions is like that.

You have to be there at three in the morning or at night. Sure, nighttime helps because it adds a level of creepiness, but

it could happen in daylight. Like we went to a cemetery in Pacific Grove, like right at dusk at around 6 p.m.

and I was getting interaction from multiple grave sites, like answering questions with the REM pod and the bell.

So I got just as much action in daytime. And I actually had like a herd of deer, like, running at me,

which was one of the craziest things I've ever seen them like. And then it, they got like probably where that wall is right there. And they stopped and looked at me and they went

like, oh, he's okay.

Like I swear, like the spirit told him like it or something. That was weird.

That is weird. Yeah. Normally deer like running from you. Yeah. Not having to have six running at you like galloping. You can feel like you can actually hear it like a horse. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's in our newest episode so people can check that out.

How to Become a Ghost Hunter

But

what qualities do you think someone needs to have to be in that ghost hunting haunted expedition field like your.

I think they have to have a curiosity of the unknown and be open and open to believing that there's something more out there than just black and white,

Because if you're like, no, your mind will tell you that that didn't happen.

And then or the wind did it. And that is are the only two answers that you allow yourself. And that's fine, because there needs to be believers. There needs to be nonbelievers. So but to do ghost hunting, you also have to have patience. Sometimes nothing happens for a few hours, and then all of a sudden you'll get a lot of action in the next 30 minutes.

Sometimes you get so much action, you feel drained for three days after where you're just not yourself. You're like your energy, like it's believed that ghosts draw from energy sources so they even, like, drain your energy from you. Wow. Interacting with you. Wow. So I think you need patience, curiosity, open minded. And also.

just time because you're doing it. It's not for the faint of heart. It's extra. A lot of extra hours. You're up late at night or after work and sometimes weekdays. Weekends. So while other people are doing their 9 to 5 and going to soccer games with their kids, you're like editing video and planning your next ghost hunt and calling people and see it if they want to go and verifying things.

And so

yeah, definitely a passion. Definitely. Don't call me. I'm not coming. Yeah, you can watch it. I'm slowly I'll be if you had the camera watching it. Yeah. What do you think happens after death then? I mean, with all the, all of these expeditions and ghost hunts, what's your theory on life after death?

Life After Death and Where Ghosts Come From

there definitely is life after death.

Because we're all energy. I believe some energy could stick around if, say, you enjoyed that your life and you just love being in that place because you felt good there, I believe that energy can stay there.

I believe that there's people that have been traumatized and don't know what happened, so they don't know to move on or where to go after that, and they're just stuck in a loop.

And then I think there's energy that's not of this world, that's bad energy and can be bring bad things.

I believe there's life after death. I believe in heaven. And moving on to it like an energy where just it's a free energy, where just part of life,

Well, so there's essentially different types of energy ultimately.

So

I guess you could say there's different type of ghosts. Yeah. You would. I believe there's like an evil or malicious. Presence in some places that might not be from here that someone got attached in a bad situation and then attaches itself to an item. Well can bring bad energy to other houses like I believe

the ghost I had in my condo almost helped facilitate my divorce because there was always a uneasiness if I was working late at the restaurants, or a jealousy factor that shouldn't have been there.

Yeah, it was weird. Weird? It was definitely weird. Do you? What are your thoughts on, like, purging evil spirits? Do you think that's. Is that a thing? Can they be exercised?

Protection, Sage, Energy, and Evil Spirits

I think it can be like they say, like, if you burn sage in your house in the smoke, that the spirits will move on. But I think if you guard your mind because it's kind of goes back to the law of attraction,

if you're always worried and thinking about that, this thing is going to attack you.

You're probably attracting something that's going to attack you

because you're allowing that energy, because law of attraction is definite. Whether you're thinking something good or something bad, you're still thinking that thought, and the universe will bring that to you.

I guess your brain's kind of like an antenna then. Yeah.

And whatever is your frequency?

Just like the EMF detector, the REM pod, the motion sensor. So if you're thinking that there's evil and you're going to bring home something with you, those people shouldn't go ghost hunting. Because guess what? You're probably going to bring something home with you. Where my from? Pete and I are like,

you cannot go home with us. And I believe that that works, and I believe in God and that he's going to protect us.

And that's why we won't go to, like, dungeons or in the silence or places where people died. Really tragic. Like, I wouldn't do a ghost investigation in a lot of places in Europe,

I do it in a castle, like in the normal part, but not down in the basement and the dungeons.

because that's where people were tortured or battlefields.

I don't I don't want to go to Gettysburg. And even though you could see a lot of people say you could see actual operations there. And I'm curious, but I'm like, they died a tragic, tragic death and too early and stuff like that. So I think you have to guard your mind. Yeah, yeah. And play it safe. And then case by case, you may want to if you feel like you want to come a little bit more risk, you make that decision.

But more often than not you're going to just kind of play it more neutral, more in the gray areas, not in the dark areas. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that's how I take approach that I guess. Okay. Cool.

What is there anything else about the haunted expedition that we haven't covered that is on the forefront of your mind that you want to touch, base on or share with the audience?

if that kind of stuff intrigues you, you should do more research into it and maybe try doing it. If you're curious, I'll definitely say to do it because it is.

Intriguing. If you're open to it. It's kind of like it's a new experience every time. If someone wanted to go on an expedition with you, or are you open to bringing others along?

Joining a Haunted Expedition

Yeah, yeah, definitely. We're actually going to start a fan club, and then we're going to have like where people can enter a drawing and come with us and we'll actually give them like money to fly out here and go on a hunt with us and stuff like that.

So we're definitely going to take that on. And now I have a few friends that actually been watching the show, and so some are like, well, watch it, but don't. We're never going because we don't want anything to come home with us. I'm like, that's right. If you believe that you shouldn't come and then but the ones that are curious were like, we're trying to figure out a way to bring them on

Starting Content Creation With Your Phone

for someone who wants to maybe do their own recording, their own, podcasting expeditions or whatever that may be, you have a like a general tip for new content creators, regardless of their niche.

Yeah. So basically start with your cell phone and get a wireless microphone, like a Bluetooth mic and maybe some kind of light source, whether

it's a flashlight or some kind of panel light.

And just start with that before you invest a lot of money in cameras and audio equipment, because you need to learn how to edit and Daisy. And fastest way is to learn to edit on your phone. Then you get the gist of what's going on by using Capture or Instagram's editor, or editing for YouTube or

stuff like that.

Then once you figure out your lighting and what works and doesn't work, then invest in a camera.

And then like starting on your phone. I mean, learn to editing, learn what it takes, have a good understanding and kind of outgrow your phone.

Then maybe buy your actual camera before you spend thousands of dollars. Right? You're ready spending $1,000 on probably iPhone or Android anyway. So it's basically a up there in cost. Yeah, but if you add the the mic, that's probably very inexpensive and then everything else will kind of fall into place.

So if you don't like it, cut your losses short and that your expenses. Yeah. So exactly.

How to Connect With Matt

where can people find you? Where can people will find your studio if they want to book a session, maybe rent that out? How did they find your YouTube channels and your other social media links? Where can people subscribe and follow your content?

So you could go to Sacramento Podcast Studio, just type it into Google or Google Maps. It's usually number one at the top, and you could click on the website book sessions straight from there. Give us a call and we have our sessions hour and a half sessions. And we have a special custom packages based on whether you want us to help you create all your social media and upload to all the social media, we can do that as well.

And then to find all my socials, just go to Matt Litteral.com and it goes to my bio page and it has all the links to everything. They're

We'll get everything into the lower thirds. We'll also get everything in the description. So if for the audio listeners, just pop into the description. If you want to find any of the content, everything will be linked back to the channels to find

Outro & Closing

that. Thank you again for coming on the show and share your experiences with

Yeah, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

I think what makes this conversation so interesting is that whether you believe in paranormal activity or not, it's really just exploring the unknown.

That is a little fascinating. So thank

you for watching this episode of the Key Concepts podcast. We'll catch you on the next one.