This may be the weirdest thing to say as a paranormal investigator. But, not all places need to be investigated. Some places are sacred and should just stay that way.

During my interview with Vanessa Hogle for The Spooky Stuff podcast, talking about her newest book Ghosts Abroad Ireland, she made several excellent points. A few of those points inspired this week’s blog. Vanessa and I were talking about traveling around the world and getting outside of our own box. We also discussed when it’s time to investigate, and when to step aside.

Know When to Investigate, Know When to Remember

I know this idea could be applied to every haunted location. It seems the older a place is, the more “okay” it is to investigate. Even in the United States, we have locations that paranormal investigators avoid. For example, the Freedom Tower in New York City and the location of the Twin Towers. Same deal for the location of the Oklahoma City Bombing. The list goes on. Given that these events happened in the past 30 years, it’s still fresh in the hearts and minds of most of us.

And yet, it seems time may eventually make investigating these locations okay. Or, if the event wasn’t something that affected us personally or something we didn’t experience, then it’s fair game.

Not every haunted location warrants an investigation. Vanessa made a strong statement about this with the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Ireland. This was a place that needed to be remembered, not investigated. If you don’t know the history of this place, you can check out an article here with the backstory.

Think about it, in most traditional paranormal investigations, we say something to the effect of, “Prove to us that you’re here by knocking on the wall.” This isn’t the place for that. We know these children existed. We know they lost their lives. It’s disrespectful of us to even challenge their existence. Some places should just be acknowledged and remembered for what they were. If it doesn’t feel right investigating a location, then it probably isn’t right and should be avoided. Also, consider how someone closely connected to that event may feel if you investigated that location.

Expanding Our Horizons

I think we all know by now that there are no two hauntings that are identical. So why do we approach paranormal investigations the same way no matter where we go? It seems that we tend to look at historical locations and think the same thing; they’re must be ghosts. Not only that, but it seems we put these ghosts in a box and we expect them to act and respond in a certain way.

Do these spirits respond as expected? Sure. But we can take it even further. We can expand our horizons and focus more on the individuality of each spirit. Take into account where the spirit is from culturally, and hone in on their context.

Regionally Different Hauntings

Vanessa mentioned that hauntings are different around the world. No two countries will have the exact same type of circumstances. Of course, every country has had its share of war, famine, trauma, etc. But each country’s context is going to be different. Paranormal activity is regional. The way spirits act in Ireland will be completely different than how a spirit acts in England.

This makes sense because, well, let’s just look at the living. We all act differently around the world and that’s heavily influenced by our culture. A person from Ireland will act completely different from someone who is from France. Of course, we all have awareness of these differences in the living and we’ll make adjustments from there. It’s the same for spirits.

Spirits will act differently not only based on where they’re from but also based on their time period. This is why I appreciate and highly recommend John Sabol’s Ghost Excavation method. He takes this concept and goes even further with it by completely diving into the context of spirit.

Understanding Their Circumstances

I truly believe (and recommend) that every paranormal investigator takes a class on cross-cultural anthropology. Not only will this help us better understand the people around us, but it will help with historical context. We don’t want to look at other people’s cultures only through our own eyes. Instead, we want to see their culture through their eyes. There’s a major difference between being a spectator and being a participant.

Finally, empathy comes into play here. I don’t think a paranormal investigator is truly a successful paranormal investigator unless they are empathetic. Having the ability to share and understand the feelings of someone else is an invaluable skill to have. You can still be balanced as an investigator, even if you’re more scientifically minded. Empathy could be the key to truly unlocking the mysteries of the supernatural.

Congratulations! You have decided to step into a unique world of mystery, suspense, and even a little spook. Probably one of the most popular questions I get as a seasoned paranormal investigator is, “I’m going on my first ghost hunt, what do I do?” I love helping people prepare for their first ghost hunt. It’s almost like a right of passage! If you google what to do for your first ghost hunt, you’ll find a lot of good stuff. I’m not trying to trump on anyone’s good advice. But, I do have my own little “to do” list that will help you have the best time you can have!

Respect

First and foremost, respect the location you’re investigating. Respect the deceased that you’re trying to communicate with. Follow the rules of the venue and the group that you’re in. The quickest way to get kicked out of a ghost hunt, let alone some angry spirit coming after you, is to be disrespectful.

Self-Assess

Before you commit to any sort of ghost hunt, you need to decide what you want out of the experience. Do you want to get scared? Do you want to learn some history? Do you want to try to find proof of the afterlife? Are you trying to contact someone in particular? Just answering simple questions like this can help you gain a better understanding of what you want out of the experience. If you’re someone who gets scared easily, read reviews of the location before you go. Read some of the legends and experiences people have had. Is this something you can handle? If not, perhaps looking into a more benevolent location might be better. If you feel you’re ready, then you know what your limits are and when to give yourself a break.

Know Where You’re Going

Being familiar with your location is key before going on a ghost hunt. If the company you’re working with wants to keep it a surprise until the night of, all hope is not lost. Ask them what kind of environment you’ll be ghost hunting in. Is it a house? Will you have to hike? Will you be outside? If there’s any part of the ghost hunt that will take place outside, then be sure you’re ready for whatever weather is on the forecast that night. Not only that, but find out the conditions of the roads. There have been times I’ve almost damaged my car from driving on rugged terrain in my little sedan when my ride buddy had a jeep left at home.

If the location is going to be in the dark night in the woods, then flashlights are a must. Closed-toe shoes are also a must. Speaking of the woods, going through any bushes and trees will warrant wearing some jeans just so you avoid any poisonous plants. I also advise people to not wear all black if they can avoid it. I’ve heard of many ghost hunters getting hit by cars at night because the driver couldn’t see them since they were wearing all black.

Tech

This is another area where I get a lot of questions. I always tell people that you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on equipment. Part of the ghost hunting experience is collecting evidence, or as I prefer to call it, data. It means you could be recording audio on a recorder, or taking a video of your experience. The one thing that people forget is that if you take in 4 hours of data on your audio recorder and 4 hours of data on your camcorder, you have 8 hours worth of data to go through. If data collection is what you want to do, that’s fantastic. But if the thought of this is daunting, there is nothing wrong with wanting to do tech-free just so you can have that experience. Some of the earliest ghost hunters only had a pen and paper to jot down notes.

Pack Smart

If you’re going on a ghost hunt that will last longer than 4 hours, you might need to pack some food provisions to get through the night. Everyone will usually default to packing sugary snacks and caffeinated drinks. However, that will cause your blood sugar to spike, and then you’ll experience a crash…which will be counterproductive if you want to stay up for several hours. Protein-filled snacks, veggies, and water will be necessary to get through the evening.

Food aside, packing flashlights, batteries, and a first aid kit should be in any ghost hunter’s survival kit. Even if the location is indoors, you never know when you might get a scratch or miss your footing and get injured.

Sleep

Getting enough sleep is essential to enjoying the ghost hunting experience. Sure, eventually you’re going to get tired. But if you push yourself beyond being sleepy, you will start to see and hear things that aren’t really there. Sleep deprivation can cause some interesting hallucinations and can be similar to the feeling of being drunk. It could compromise your ability to understand your surroundings. Something simple and logical could get interpreted as something paranormal. If you feel tired, there is no shame in taking a cat nap. I try to get at least eight hours of sleep the night before an investigation along with a nap during the day.

Research

This can go in two different directions. Some people want to research the location as much as possible before an investigation. They do this so that they know exactly what is going on at a haunted location. They will know the names of who is reportedly haunting and be able to use contextual questions to establish communication. Meanwhile, other people don’t want to know anything before going in. This is so that they don’t “taint” themselves with previous information. Many with psychic abilities may opt to do this.

Abilities

If you feel like you have psychic or mediumship abilities, then you’ll need to prepare for another aspect. Numerous times, I’ve noticed people get overwhelmed during an investigation. When I talk to them to try to help them, they reveal to me that they have abilities and they got overwhelmed by the experience. To avoid this, if you’re completely new to the world of having abilities, I recommend that you learn how to ground and shield. There are some great articles to help you learn this. Having the best understanding of your abilities before your ghost hunt will be key to you having a good ghost hunting experience.

Ask the Right Questions

With each ghost hunt, you’ll probably hear a few suggestions for questions to ask. But, there is a trick to asking the right questions that will create a welcoming environment for communication. You want to keep the questions simple, but also smart. One of my pet peeve questions is, “Do you know you’re dead?” Something as simple as asking for a name is better. Knowing the history of the location in terms of important dates in its existence (ie: wars, presidential inaugurations, world events, etc.).

Stacking questions can create problems as well. That is when you ask several questions in the same stream of speaking. An example of a stacking question would be, “What’s your name? Where are you from? How old are you?” If asked by themselves, these questions are fine. But asking them in the same line of questioning, it will result in confusion. Finally, be sure to leave 10-15 seconds of silence after each question to give the entity time to produce an answer.

Be Safe

At the end of the day, you want to be safe. That is the number one priority in any ghost hunting experience. You don’t want to try anything that could compromise your health and safety. You have most likely signed a liability release form, which means that if you get injured, then you’ll have to cover those expenses yourself. While it may be tempting to climb into the attic or ignore the “Keep Out” signs in order to explore another part of the haunted house, a lot of things could happen. The floor might give out, you might inhale bat guano, or you encounter an unexpected injury. Ultimately, you want to put safety first.

If you have any other tips for a successful ghost hunt for a newbie, please share them in the comments!

Tag: ghost hunt tips

Why We Don’t Need to Investigate EVERY Haunted Location