What to do when you cannot go Ghost Hunting!

So after being active in weekly ghost hunts over the last few months it is now a case of getting more and more bored as the days go on.

What do I do now?

I am itching to get out there - do I need to sneak into a cemetery for goodness sake?

Must I stand outside one of our heritage locations with a REM POD and K2 meter?

Do I lock myself into a room at a hotel just for practice?

And then...is it as much fun when I don't have a group of newbie ghost hunters along for the ride?

Well, there is not much I can do about it right now.
But I do want you to know that I am suffering ghost hunting withdrawals.
I need to hug my parastalkers and my ghosties too!!

Being in lock down means thinking about things very differently.
Now connecting is via social media.
Our local sites are all shut and we cannot enter.

It's only been a few days and to be very clear - I am having a whinge, but I cannot complain.
I am safe at home and we have enough food and entertainment to allow me the time to do things that I have been avoiding for years....like cleaning.

I am studying and researching.
I am blogging.
I am watching other people's video blogs.
I am CATCHING UP!!!!

I used to say that I could not ever get bored staying at home - now I will have to prove it!

My first little project is looking at prison slang.
As we spend a lot of time at Maitland Gaol I thought it might be fun to check out some of the terminology that used to be used.

Here are two really well known words for you:

Why Are Prison Officers Called Screws?

Prison warders, wardens, officers and guards are nicknamed screws, usually by the prisoners.

The slang word screw originated in the Victorian era when a prison warder or officer would give a prisoner a pointless task as a punishment.

Crank Machines

One of these punishments was a crank machine used as hard labour. This crank machine would involve the inmate having to turn a handle on a drum which would be filled with sand or water to make it heavier.

The prison guard could tighten a screw in the drum to make turning the handle harder. Prisoners would have to turn the handle a number of times as their punishment. Thus began the slang word screw to mean a prison officer.

More well known prison terminology - what is a SHIV?

A shiv or shivvie, is a homemade knife-like weapon, especially one fashioned in prison.
The word is almost certainly evolved from 17th-century "chive" (knife).
The related verb shiv means "to stab someone", a shivver being a criminal who attacks victims with a knife.

An improvised prison knife is also often called a shank.

A shiv can be anything from a glass shard with fabric wrapped around one end to form a handle, to a razor blade stuck in the end of a toothbrush.

If you have ever been on a prison guard's tour at Maitland Gaol they will tell you a story of two about shivs.

More to come.