How To! with Mike Pesca How To Ghostbust The Old Fashioned Way
Mar 3, 2026
Dr. Irving Finkel, a British Museum Assyriologist and author, explains ancient Mesopotamian views on ghosts and precise ritual language. Enid Baxter Ryce, artist and professor living on decommissioned Fort Ord, shares murals, eerie discoveries, and apparent hauntings there. They discuss practical approaches to confronting spirits, ancient exorcism techniques, theatrical ritual comfort, and comparing modern ghost-hunting tools with old methods.
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Documenting Fort Ord's Hidden Murals
- Enid Baxter Ryce explored every abandoned building at Fort Ord with students and documented thousands of soldier-painted murals.
- Her cheap ghost-hunting kit registered EMF fluctuations and cold spots, which amplified the eerie atmosphere while photographing wartime art.
Personal Encounters That Shifted Belief
- Enid recounts tangible spooky moments on base: sudden heart-rate spikes, cold sensations, and urgent desire to leave certain rooms.
- A tarot reader once identified a 16-year-old girl behind Enid, reconnecting her to a lost friend and shifting her belief in ghosts.
Ancient Mesopotamia Treated Ghosts As Ordinary
- Irving Finkel found extensive Mesopotamian cuneiform texts treating ghosts as everyday realities with specialized practitioners.
- Ghosts in that literature exhibit personalities mirroring their former lives, from malevolent to artistically gifted.
