Ten questions every ghost investigator should ponder

1. Why am I doing this? Or, why do I want to do this? No, not the generic “solving the mysteries of mankind” answer, but why do you personally spend your time, effort, and money pursuing this? Is it a personal quest for answers? Search for spiritualism? You may not have a definitive answer or you might just be doing it for the thrill, but the further down this list you truly go the truth may rise to the top.
2. What do I want to get out of this? This question rides on the back of the why question. Once you know why you are doing it you may realize it is a personal pursuit or desire for subjective stimulation or even a quick way to fame. If this is the case you should stay away from client-based cases. If your answer to question 1 is to prove ghosts exist with cameras and EVP you'll need to do more than merely be a ghost hunter as subjective hunts will only create more questions than actually providing answers. Many do this from the allure of those on television, but ask yourself if an ego-driven motive is worth all of the hassle for just 15 minutes of fame.
3. What am I willing to invest? A follow up would be, “And is it worth it?” A financial stake is more than some people can do let alone giving up weekends and many evenings pursuing this. The costs of a serious team can weigh down on anyone and the more you go down that path the more of an investment of time and money it will become.
   
   The bad side of this is that for many the investment in tools means an investment in evidence. In other words, if they spend a lot of money on gear they will ultimately get "evidence" no matter what the cost. You will also have to learn many new skills if you wish to become proficient at seeking the unknown. -These first three are just to get to gauge the basics, but the next one digs into the heart of your beliefs.
4. What are my beliefs about the paranormal? This is an important one. This one question will define what type of an investigator you are as well as how you approach cases as well as whom you surround yourself with. This includes, but is not limited to; belief in ghosts, demons/angels, camera orbs, use of various equipment, full moons creating better ghost atmosphere, solar storms creating better ghost atmosphere, investigating in the dark, investigating during "dead time", lockdowns being a good method of investigating, what ghosts are defined as (parapsychology definitions versus spiritual), and so on.
5. Am I willing to challenge my own beliefs about the paranormal?
   
   Are you willing to review the work that challenges your beliefs with an open mind? If you are not willing to even think about challenging your beliefs than you’re not really an investigator you’re merely a believer that is looking to support your views through subjective experiences as well as taking evidence and skewing it to fit your beliefs. I've met far too many people who are merely in this to find things that they can quickly state are ghosts merely to support how they feel. This is not objective or scientific and is merely a form of thrill-seeking. This is fine if you merely want to go to haunted prisons/hospitals, etc., but don't claim to be "scientific" and certainly don't act like you're doing anything constructive.
6. Am I willing to continue to learn? Certification courses cause anger with some individuals, but where else can one become educated in this field? Books offer a good start, but eventually everyone needs to ask others who have come before them in order to make true sense of things. It's one thing to regurgitate facts, but it's completely different to put theories to work. This is why many teams merely walk around in the dark asking silly questions. Many certification courses are garbage since those that created them are merely passing on beliefs and opinions or only know book definitions and have never applied much of it in the field. However, there are some courses that provide some great information and education (IMHS and TFU). Are you willing to look to others to continue to make yourself a better researcher and investigator? (Interviewing skills, electronics, critical thinking, science, parapsychology, etc.)
7. What are my goals with doing this? This question creates a focus of the first and second question now that you have pondering the above questions. This goes beyond getting a television show or writing a book and is an evolved look at what you want out of the field and what you are willing to do in your life to make it happen. Think of how you would want to be remembered as a person after you are gone. Imagine, as grim as it sounds, standing at your own funeral –
   
   how do you want to be remembered? What will your friends say, how will those who knew you in the paranormal field remember you? This question takes a deep look at your character and if all you want to do is visit haunted locations and meet celebrities that's fine, but don't assume this sets you apart from everyone else - people see this and are judging you on your actions!  
8. What path will I take to get to these goals? This heavily relies on pondering the above questions. If you are not willing to evolve with your beliefs as well as your knowledge your path will be a short one, guaranteed. This is true with any type of goals in life and shortcuts and laziness will lead you nowhere. Wishing and hoping just don't cut it and while timing and luck may come into play nothing is better than working hard, making sacrifices, and pushing yourself to new limits.
9. What have I learned so far? Occasionally stepping back and looking at where you came from can help give your perspective on what you have learned and experienced along the way. This can aid you in identifying weaknesses or potential flaws in your methods or beliefs and may serve to help guide you on a better path. Taking stock every once in a while can help you reorganize your direction and help you obtain new goals and set new personal expectations for accomplishments such as writing books, being a vendor at a paranormal convention or even getting up and speaking at one.
10. What can I do better / and how do I get there? Creating a personal business plan around goals or self-improvement needs is a good way to motivate as well as compartmentalize obtaining goals. If you break things into small chunks within a timetable and provide a pathway to getting to each goal you will be able to become better in all aspects of life. Once you have reviewed and pondered the first 9 questions the tenth will be much easier than thinking about it right now.

These questions will also work with cryptid and UFO investigators as well and you may even be able to use these questions for any other aspect of your life.

Are We Ruining Ghost Hunting Sites?

I had an interesting conversation with a gentleman who is part of a fairly well known location that is a hub for paranormal investigators and ghost hunters during a speaking engagement at a library in Grafton, Ohio this October. We were discussing plans on my group possibly coming out to the location to investigate particular aspects of the environment (humidity and other factors) during the colder months of the year when the conversation shifted toward something that I had often thought of; are ghost hunting and paranormal investigation groups ruining the famous places they like to investigate? No, not by running around in the dark screaming or by vandalizing, but by just being there.

We can all agree (hopefully) that hauntings are basically an "imprint" of emotion on a location caused by a sudden death or extreme circumstances during life in that particular location. With the high adrenalin flowing during an investigation, as well as the act of trying desparately to communicate, are ghost hunters imprinting over top of the tragic events? Is the activity going on at these locations potentially adding to the evidence gathered later on by other investigators?

I've been fortunate to listen to actor/archaeologist/cultural anthropologist John Sabol speak earlier this year at the Ohio Paranormal Convention in Dayton, Ohio. John refers to himself as a "ghost excavator" as he says he attempts to "peel back the layers" of a haunting. He feels passionately that ghost hunters are indeed scarring these locations by their attempts at discovery by leaving their impressions on the environment and potentially covering up what is really there. John uses a system that allows himself to become part of the haunting environment itself so that he can connect to a ghost or a haunting experience. This is an interesting system that he states is way more effective than the way that ghost hunters and paranormal investigators investigate a location. Although a good paranormal investigation group should be recreating the scene which is part of what John does. To get a little more detail on his process, please see my review of the 2009 Ohio Paranormal Convention.

Personally, at first I thought John was a bit too intense and was pushing his way of doing things on other people. In all honesty it really hit me a few days after listening to him speak that I realized he was right and that I should adapt a little more of what he does to what we do.

When ghost hunters or paranormal investigators attempt to interact with a ghost or record haunting phenomena they tend to do it on their terms. In other words, they are using todays technology to attempt to interact with ghosts or hauntings that have been around a long time. While the technology we have at our disposal is the best yet, is it the right thing to use to connect to a 148 year old confederate soldier?

While the tech is useful for documentaion I think we need to rethink the overall approach by really trying to interact on the level of the haunting, or the ghost, on their terms more than ours. If we can get them to relate to us or have them think we are someone they know or reenact something familiar we would probably get a better reaction than by asking it to "talk to the red light on the recorder" or other methods of 21st Century communications.

Granted, this should not be left to investigating Civil War sites, but could also be applied to abandoned hospitals or prisons as well as the house down the street that has a ghost or is haunted. Is it possible that the constant influx of thrill seekers at historical sites will ruin it for future investigators? Who knows for sure, but it seems logical that continous emotional imprints can not be conducive for obtaining good evidence of haunting phenomena at historical locations.

So, what methods are getting the best results? Have particular locations noticed a change in the type of evidence gathered? I have not been able to find an answer as of yet, but hopefully as the amateur paranormal investigation movement evolves people will move away from behind the safety and security of their tools and realize the potential of communication on the interaction level beyond what is normally used.

As far as ruining sites for future investigators I feel it is a legitimate concern. The high intensity of emotions that accompany an investigation that are repeated over and over are bad enough. If you then realize that there is potential for some investigators to affect the environment by their beliefs and possibly leaving psychokinetic "residue" attached to the environment for future investigators to read with their instruments. As many stumble around in the dark in search of their proof there are many of us also who are in search of answers surrounding the effect of our culture on the paranormal itself.

What is "ParaNewsInsider"?

First of all, welcome to the blog home of the Paranormal News Insider, or ParaNewsInsider for short.

I've started out of the gate here at blogspot and have not yet properly introduced what the site is all about. The Paranormal News Insider is my personal web site for sharing paranormal and odd news stories from around the world. In addition to the stories are my personal added insight and investigation into some of these various stories. I will also include some of my personal investigations that I have planned for later in 2009. My first planned investigation is a trip to the western Pennsylvania woods where I will be doing some Bigfoot and EVP research and investigation work while backpacking. I will also be investigating some hot spots that I have determined in Ohio at various times this year. Hopefully I will have some reports to investigate along the way as well.

The Paranormal News Insider was started in July of 2008 (and made its debut in late August) as a site dedicated to my new newscast within a podcast. I was approached by Dan Bautz in April of 2008 to appear on his new podcast show, the Grand Dark Conspiracy. I was excited as I have done a few shows in the past and had been wanting to do one again, but the opportunity to just be a guest was even better.

I was the first and only guest that May discussing my paranormal group, Ohio Paranormal Investigation Network. The next show featured Parapsychologist Loyd Auerbach who has unknowingly been my guide and mentor through his books and some advice he has given me over the years. I became an advisor of sorts to Dan and helped him find guests for the next few months and later made another appearance in the August show, though this time I helped him shift gears away from the ghosts field to U.F.O. and cryptid discussions. We also talked about some current news that was happening at the time. This lead to our mutual idea of me having a monthly segment on the show discussing the current news of the paranormal. In September of 2008 the Paranormal News Insider segment was born...

The show has been surprisingly successful and the level of guests have helped bring in some large amounts of listeners. The website, on the other hand, has been slow to gain momentum and I had contemplated shutting it down as the calendar flipped to 2009. My ghost group is taking off in membership/casework and I have committed myself to many projects this year (and have others in waiting). All of this and I still have a full time job and a marriage to maintain, so maybe I bit off more than I can chew? This leads me to one of the questions I have been asked a few times over the last couple of months:

How come you only show a couple of news stories in each subject?

Part of the idea behind this site is to focus on the stories that may have the most meaning in their respective fields. Not every ghost story really adds anything to the field and not every U.F.O. story really seems to have impact. I pick and choose the particular stories I feel will have an impact and that may evolve as time goes on. Many of these stories have many facets to them that may spawn urban legends or other forms about mis-information down the road and I am actually e-mailing and/or calling sources related to these stories to help clarify various questions or mis-information. Of course, a lot of this also follows the fact that the site comes last after my job, wife, paranormal group, personal investigations, the GDC podcast and my other projects. Although I have vowed not to let the site be idle for three weeks or more and is another reason why I created this blog....

Why this blog?

The blog was created as an idea for me to be able to share my thoughts, ideas as well as my research and investigations into ghosts, U.F.O. and cryptid topics. While most of my ghost cases deal with clients (confidentiality) I am still an active member in the ghost community and am active in research in various aspects of the field. I also utilize the methods of M.U.F.O.N. for U.F.O. investigations (although I am not an active Field Investigator for them) and I am the Ohio Representative for the Crypto Squad U.S.A. and a member of the Sasquatch Research Initiative. So, I owe it to the cryptid organizations to report and investigate what is happening in Ohio in regards to cryptids as well as make my investigation attempts public record.

What's so special about paranewsinsider?

Or, "Gee, just what the world needs, another paranormal news site!", or perhaps, "Great, another 'paranormal expert' is born". The Paranormal News Insider does not report on every single piece of news. We do have news feeds provided by Paranormal News.com although the stories I post are based upon the criteria I mentioned above. I also take a bit of Ohio flavor as I live in north east Ohio and the Grand Dark Conspiracy podcast is also based in Ohio, not to mention a majority of the investigations I will do will take place locally. While there are other sites that do it, I am also trying to get as many links to various paranormal, UFO and cryptid conventions and meetings across the country. I had contemplated on forming a new cryptid organization in Ohio, but that is on hold until I get a little help with that venture. Again, like I mention on the ParaNewsInsider page, I do not claim to be an expert. I have over 12 years of experience in ghost investigations, almost two decades of interviewing experience and a mulititude of other knowledge and experience in various fields that have helped me in the investigation and research aspects of the ghost, U.F.O. and cryptid fields. While I don't think of myself as an expert I know I have a lot to offer all three fields.

Have questions, comments? Let me know at my ParaNewsInsider address.