Guest Blogger: William Butt “The State of Paranormal Investigation”
Written by William Butt
We are all attempting to reach the same conclusions, the same end state; to prove the existence of the paranormal. Many call this a fruitless task that cannot be accomplished and there are too many skeptics in the world.
What the paranormal field needs to focus on is not the skeptics and people who do not want to acknowledge the paranormal or question those who search for answers. No matter what evidence you are able to find
these people will always be there ready to tear it all down. What we as paranormal investigators need to focus on are things that are within our power.It is time to completely distance ourselves from paranormal reality shows. These shows all have fancy gadgets and use investigation techniques that do nothing more than erode our creditability with the very people we are attempting to help. Ghost boxes, sunglasses that provide readouts of “ghostly” words are unproven and a little silly.
These gadgets do the same thing that yelling at nothing in the dark of an abandoned building accomplish, which isn’t much of anything. The same can be said about anyone offering ghost hunting 101 courses online. The last time I checked you can’t find a ghost hunting position on monster.com. These people are trying to do nothing more than cash in on the current paranormal tidal wave sweeping across our televisions.
Anyone can become a paranormal investigator but it takes work and a willing to do it correctly. You should want to become a paranormal investigator out either sheer interest or that drive to find the answers. The question I constantly think to myself is if these shows and “professionals” are really so good at this, why aren’t they any closer to answers than they were during season 1.
Instead we need to focus on two things, first conducting investigations, and the second is communication. You must plan these investigations and have a methodology for conducting them. Methodology is of the utmost importance, you must be able to repeat your techniques over and over with the same results. I realize each location presents its own circumstances yet the methodology should stay the same.
To many times people go into investigations with no concrete plan. You must approach the investigation like you would any science experiment, with a hypothesis and techniques to verify your thesis statement and techniques to disprove your thesis statement. This can all be done without cutting edge technology. In my opinion you have more creditability with less cutting edge technology and more proven technology, i.e. DVRs, cameras, video cameras. There is no need for a state of the art surveillance system, particularly at night because night vision proves unreliable after a certain distance from the camera. With a sound repeatable methodology you can prove your results. It may take time but you are on the right path.
Communication is key, you hear that for the majority of the things in your life, paranormal investigating is no different. There are paranormal groups scattered about the country. We need to communicate and share evidence, your data pool and experience magnifies greatly when sharing information. Paranormal investigators need to become a centralized network of groups instead of random groups scattered about.
The more we share real verifiable data the more will learn from each other and the closer we will get to the answers we are all searching for.
About the Author: Will Butt is a documentary filmmaker, military officer, and
paranormal investigator. You can follow him on twitter at twitter.com/fearnothingprod
Written by Javier Ortega - javier@ghosttheory.com
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Are you saying that skeptics serve no useful purpose in the paranormal world? This is a bad point of view IMO.
As for who is a paranormal investigator and who isn’t:
It is my belief that many of these “investigators” that have landed reality shows were once in it for the true nature of investigation. Then TV producers start tweaking your operation and before you know it, it’s turned into a circus. By then the investigators are cashing in. Furthermore some of them have become well known and they want to keep their 15 minutes going. In other words they become jaded and controlled.
Are you so sure it would never happen to you? While your grass roots opinions show a certain level of integrity, it’s much easier to do and say the right things when you’re not being handed a check and an invitation to speak at Comic-con.
Just some food for thought.
I am a researcher, and a skeptic as well. One problem today is the use of the term “skeptic”, or, rather, the misuse of it. Healthy skepticism should be a prerequisite when one decides to become a paranormal researcher. Entering into paranormal studies with a preconceived belief system will only hamper the results that are garnished. It also serves no purpose when investigating for a client who is also looking for answers. Too many times I’ve had to mop up the misinformation handed down by a group of demon chasers or tv imitators. Clearing the way to be open and willing to only look objectively at the data gathered will do more to help paranormal researchers meet the criteria science claims we don’t.
The rest of your article is spot-on.
in my opinion, I feel the appropriate way to investigate any claim of the supernatural is you need to be skeptical. I have only been investigating for 15 years, but learned in the first year there are more explanations for what people call “paranormal activity”. Like most researchers, I want to find the truth and hope to find real evidence of the paranormal/supernatural.
i had dinner at finleys restaurant in manteca a couple of nights ago the owner deborah told us the place is going to be on the show called my ghost story but during dinner she bragged to a bunch of us how they made things happen and fooled the people who did the investigation and now the bar has been in the news and will be on tv and they are getting a lot of business i really like the paranormal stuff and feel people like this at finleys ruin it for the real stuff out there
Wow. I guess I’m not all that surprised but it still sucks. Thanks for posting that p.f.
Great article and on the money I think. But I don’t even think that people are interested in paranormal investigation to ‘cash in’. Its simply for the fame of it. These virtual nobodys chasing ghosts on the weekends that ended up on TV shows have become rock stars. And everyone wants to be the next ‘big thing’.
I see paranormal groups online all the time who are always looking for ‘fans’ or spending all their time designing logos with their name on it to sell t-shirts and bumper stickers. What used to be intelligent, curious people looking for answers about an unknown phenomena has now become a big popularity contest on who can have the most ‘fans’. And because of this, we see all sorts of drama and bickering between groups over who is better than the other. It’s all become a sad contest with no prizes or winners.
Hopefully this fad will go away soon so those who are serious about this field can go back to working together and exploring the evidence and theories. For myself, my drive has always been not only learning more about what is happening but to also help those people who are haunted by something they don’t understand. Any time I can help a little girl feel safe sleeping in her room again or a family feel at peace in their home instead of selling it, that’s when I feel like a rock star – regardless of how many people are following me on Facebook.
Wow Tom (Stewart), very well put! All I can say is thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree with you wholeheartedly and can hardly wait for the same…people who enjoy working in the paranormal field, working TOGETHER again for all those same good reasons.
“Entering into paranormal studies with a preconceived belief system will only hamper the results that are garnished.”
Great point Dave.
[...] The State of Paranormal Investigation — What the paranormal field needs to focus on is not the skeptics and people who do not want to acknowledge the paranormal or question those who search for answers; rather it needs to focus on are things that are within our power. [...]
[...] The State of Paranormal Investigation — What the paranormal field needs to focus on is not the skeptics and people who do not want to acknowledge the paranormal or question those who search for answers; rather it needs to focus on are things that are within our power. [...]
@ Tom – no thanks on the fame. It brings nothing but problems.