Believe it or not there is no magic formula to investigating the paranormal, there is no how to guide that has all the answers, but what we can do is offer advice and suggestions which I hope will help.
- Common sense: something I’ve noticed over the past few years is how much people seem to lack the common sense. You’d be surprised the stories I’ve heard and read about. Firstly DON’T break into any location to look for ghosts. The authorities don’t care if you have an EMF meter and a flashlight as far as the law is concerned you are trespassing; always get permission to investigate the location. Also when you are investigating, get a look at the location during the day and check for potential danger spots. When you’re walking around in the dark it’s easy to get hurt so take your time and be careful.
- Respect: If there is such a thing as ghosts and they are all around us think how would you feel if you’re sitting at home and you have a bunch of people walking around you asking for you to make a noise, bang on a wall, touch one of us… “Ghost were people too” if you believe ghosts are the spirits of the dead threat them with respect. Treat them as you would any other person.
- Language: When I worked in sales I would talk to a lot of different people and each time there would be a specific way I would talk to each person. Someone of my own age group would be a different form of communication than say someone in their 50’s. Much the same as talking to a child, you change the way to talk this is something you should adapt when investigating. Additionally the words you use, someone from say the 1500’s isn’t going to understand “Sup, Dawg” or “Hey, can you make this EMF meter beep” I mean, what’s an EMF meter? What is a beep? Explain the technology you’re using. Explain “this box here will make a noise if you come closer to it”
- Tagging Sounds: this could be as simple as a car driving past the house but most importantly bodily functions, yes…. Farting, burping and growling stomachs all of which when you’re listening back to your audio sound like the devil himself is communicating with you. The fact is we all do it, and all you have to do is tag the audio “That was me” this will save numerous hours of people trying to figure out what’s being said and who’s trying to communicate with the team…
- Audio: You don’t NEED the best recorders in the world to get potential EVPs, Ive heard great EVPs from a $20 recorder and from a $400 recorder. The better the recorder the better the sound and the less chances of mistaking a sound as communication. However something I have found over the past few years is that so many people use filters and audio manipulation in order to pull voices from their recordings. Firstly if you have to run audio through filters the chances are there was nothing there. Secondly I’m a huge believer that if you are running audio through filters, reversing, adding white noise and various other forms of manipulation of sound you are going to get paradilia/matrixing. You’re going to hear all sorts of random sounds mashed together and your brain is going to make sense of the nonsense and you’re going to hear something. If a spirit is communicating with you he/she isn’t going to need you to screw about with the recording for you to hear what they are saying.