~By Bill Stone~

If you’re just now joining us, you’re late. Go stand in the corner.

If you must know, I’m in the process of explaining to the world the difference between Ghost Hunting, and Paranormal Investigation. This is the second one. If you missed the first one, you’re welcome to go read it by clicking HERE. I’ll wait.

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Alright, we’ve successfully broken down the good and bad stereotypes of the Ghost Hunting field, so now it’s time to tear Paranormal Investigation apart .

Paranormal Investigation
Paranormal Investigation IS a pseudo-science, but serious investigators do everything they can to stay within the realm of scientific law. Like I said in the first part, Paranormal Investigation is a completely different sport from Ghost Hunting. The difference lies primarily in the methodology, and the basic reasoning behind it, which all boils down to evidence and proof.

Ghost Hunters, for the most part are in it for the enjoyment of the experience. They see their ghosts. They’re happy, and it’s all the proof, or evidence a Ghost Hunter ever needs. It’s more about what I call “Personal Proof”. A well adjusted ghost hunter doesn’t care if anyone believes him. He KNOWS what he had experienced, and it was proof enough to him.

A Paranormal Investigator looks for quantifiable facts… Not ghosts. An investigator KNOWS that his/her personal beliefs, or feelings mean absolutely nothing. It’s all about what he or she can PROVE beyond doubt. Because of this, Paranormal Investigators WANT their evidence scrutinized. They WANT their evidence shot full of holes by skeptics because on the VERY rare case when their evidence remains solid, and without holes, then and ONLY then will their claims hold water.

THAT is the moment of victory.

Investigators know that evidence not analyzed to death, or scrutinized over is nothing but unreliable garbage to other serious people wanting facts. Because of that, they work within scientific methodology. They make a hypothesis. they test it to prove or disprove it. Feeling is irrelevant. Opinion is irrelevant. This method is done repeatedly to obtain consistent information in order to become scientific law.

At this time, nobody has succeeded in making any paranormal based scientific laws.

The Good
1. Skepticism is the default position in science. Because of that, no conclusions are leapt to, and all things are scrutinized over. If any lasting progress is going to be made in the field, it will be done scientifically through investigation, experimentation, and analysis. Paranormal Investigators will be the ones to make it happen. The random, and inconsistent methods of Ghost Hunting just won’t cut it.
2. Paranormal Investigators do not allow their personal beliefs, or feelings to sway their findings. Because of this, they are so much more accurate in diagnosing whether they’re dealing with a natural phenomenon, or a supernatural phenomenon.
3. Paranormal Investigators do not use any types of paranormal based tools in their investigations. Ouija Boards, mediums, dowsing rods, sensitives, and so forth are all unproven methods and are OFF LIMITS for anyone in it for the science, or real evidence. No cynical argument can later be made about their unproven methods, or tools.
4. Paranormal investigation is bound by scientific law, and fact. All SERIOUS investigators worldwide follow these rules, and principles creating standards and consistency.
5. When an investigator finally gains a piece of evidence that passes all of the rigorous tests, analysis, and scrutiny, they REALLY have something worth talking about. The thrill of victory is so much more sweet due to the fact that it’s such a rare occurrence.
6. Progress & discovery can take place. Real progress can happen when new things are scientifically discovered, and studied. With the study of these new things, there is potential for so much discovery, and that, in my opinion is the most exciting thing there is.

The Bad
1. Skepticism is the default position in science. For progress, that’s a wonderful thing, but for someone like myself who grew up loving spooky stuff, and thriving on paranormal experiences, the hard lined skepticism in paranormal investigations tends to numb that initial sense of wonder and excitement. Sometimes I wish I had just stayed a Ghost Hunter.
2. Many investigators become like robots. Their personal beliefs are buried so deep that they’ve lost their ability to see beyond their black, and white rules, and methodology. They can become a bit closed minded.
3. Despite all of their scientific methodology, and sticking to their rules, they’ve still made no progress whatsoever in the field.
4. Many Paranormal Investigators get discouraged due to lack of results, or lack of heart, and instead of just trying to enjoy things, they simply give up.
5. Investigation can be boring. I’m not talking about sitting there on the investigation, and waiting for something to happen, because I personally consider that to be fun. I’m talking about AFTER the investigation. It doesn’t happen often when you REALLY have anything substantial in the line of experiences or SOLID evidence to show off or talk about.

The Ugly
1. A BIG problem with paranormal investigators is that MOST of them are in fact Ghost Hunters who only THINK that they’re Paranormal Investigators. They use bad methodology, mediums, K2 EMF meters as a spirit communication device, and generally believe in their methods so blindly that they cannot see that they’re making no progress. They make us all look bad.
2. Many investigators let this sort of work go to their head, and have delusions of grandeur. They forget that this is supposed to be fun, and get so serious about it to the point where it becomes unhealthy. Many feel that what they’re doing in the field is so much more important than what everyone else is doing, and that they deserve more respect for it. In come the ego problems which are parallel to the Ghost Hunting side.
3. Above, I mentioned delusions of grandeur. Many investigators believe that they are doing such a great service to the world that they deserve monetary payment for their work. Some charge for investigations while others teach “Paranormal Investigation Certification Courses” to pass on their glorious knowledge and make a buck in the process. MANY actually believe that taking peoples money in such a way is actually doing them a favor.
4. Many investigators are only in this field for fame and fortune. It’s creepy, but you have no idea how many leaders of investigation teams I’ve spoken to that THINK that they have a television or movie deal around the corner. I blame TAPS on this abomination.
5. Many investigators feel immense pressure from their peers in the field to produce something of value. This can lead to dishonesty. It happens a lot where a team of investigators get started, and capture absolutely no evidence for a very long time. They get frustrated with how empty their website looks without anything to display on it. Then, they do something unthinkable to the honest investigators out there. they fake evidence to make themselves look good. Either that, or they lower their value by putting pictures of orbs all over their website. Very ugly.

Again, these, like the points made in the Ghost Hunting portion of the article, are merely stereotypes based on years of observation on the paranormal field. Some you’ll agree with, and other’s you’ll just chalk up to me making things up. That’s alright too. If you’re familiar with my writing at all, you know that MOST of what I write has a lot of tongue in cheek aspects. This is no different, but even if you do not agree with these stereotypes, I hope that this article has given you something to think about regarding your own place in the field, and what you’d hope to accomplish.

Ideally, I hope that it might help you avoid some of the common ‘personal pitfalls’ that I’ve seen a lot of Investigators & Hunters struggle through.

Thanks for reading!

Bill Stone
Founder
Beyond Paranormal Investigations

This entry was posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 5:08 am and is filed under Paranormal Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.