Patti Starr may see dead people, but they are nothing like what Haley Joel Osment saw in the Sixth Sense.  Starr, a top ranked Lexington-based ghost hunter, said, “Hollywood and TV have demonized ghosts into something they aren’t.”$0 After 30 years of experience Starr has never been scared by a ghost, only startled.  Her first experiences with ghosts occurred when she was young. The ghosts would come and talk to her at night.  At first she believed it was just her imagination, but as she grew older she knew it was not just her imagination, it was something else.$0$0  To be able to get where she is today, she had to undergo ghost hunting training which included a class, a ghost hunt and then a test.  After years of experience, Starr is now teaching classes of her own.$0$0 In the classes Starr teaches she encourages students to explore and find new methods of finding ghosts and spirits.  She also teaches safety precautions when participating in ghost hunts.$0$0 Starr is president and owner of, Ghost Chasers International, which is based in Lexington.  She also owns The Ghost Hunter Shop located in Porter Place. On a typical day, Starr answers e-mails asking her to look at photographs to see if there is a ghost present and phone calls where someone may ask her to perform an investigation at a house.  She is currently writing a book and must make time for that, as well as make time for appointments which include ghost investigations, seminars, and conventions.$0$0 For those that do not believe in ghosts, Starr will not try to convince them otherwise, but she has collected many types of evidence she finds sufficient to prove that ghosts do exist.  $0$0 Proof that ghosts exist include anomalies in photographs, unexplained moving in video, and shadows of people that do not exist.$0$0 Ghost voices also serve as proof; these voices are known to ghost hunters as Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP).   Ghost hunters use a recording device to capture the voices.  Usually a ghost hunter will turn on the device and ask any ghosts that may be present some yes or no questions.   The EVP may reveal the ghost or spirit answering the question or another unexplained sound.$0$0 Another commonly used device to determine presence of a ghost of spirit is an Electromagnetic Field Detector (EMF).  The EMF,such as one pictured  to the left, beeps whenever there is a change in electromagnetic field. This beep may signal to a ghost hunter the presence of a ghost. An infrared thermometer may also used to determine the presence of a ghost.  The infrared thermometer measures the temperature precisely; any sudden unexplained drop in temperature is possible  evidence that a ghost may be present.   According to Starr, there is a difference between ghosts and spirits.  Ghosts haven’t learned to finish their journey while Spirits have moved on but have come back to visit family for special occasions such as holidays. $0$0 From each of her experiences with ghosts she had learned something new.  Starr said, “I have learned more about life from the dead than I have from the living.”$0