It’s the middle of the night, and you’re lying in bed, stressing out about the next workday with looming deadlines and an overbearing boss. As you attempt to sleep, you open your eyes in the darkness of your bedroom, and that’s when you see it.
You observe a disfigured shape in the corner, staring back at you. But that’s not all; the shape resembles a woman dressed in Victorian clothing, and her face is disfigured. The sight of this entity frightens you, and you move back as fast as you can. As you do so, the disturbing figure glides towards you and just stares at you.
Two possibilities might explain what’s happening. One, you’re being haunted by the Victorian woman.
Two, you might be in the early stages of losing your eyesight.
What is Charles Bonnet Syndrome?
The scenario described above is one of the common scenarios experienced by people who suffer from Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS). It is a condition that is associated with visual hallucinations that occur during sight loss. What stands out the most with this condition is that the people who suffer from these hallucinations are mentally sound. CBS has also been called “phantom vision” or “ghost vision” as experiences have been recorded throughout time.
The Syndrome was first studied in 1760 by Swiss scientist Charles Bonnet (BON-ay). He began to study this occurrence when his grandfather started experiencing visual hallucinations after he developed cataracts. The hallucinations included visions of people, carriages, birds, and buildings, which could only be seen by his grandfather. These visions were spontaneous and were seen in what was left of his eyesight.
Bonnet also noticed that his grandfather was mentally sound and was not experiencing any symptoms associated with mental illnesses.
Some people have reported seeing disembodied gargoyle heads with Charles Bonnet Syndrome.
Types of Hallucinations
Hallucinations will vary depending on the person, their medical condition, and their stress levels. Some people may experience flashes of light while others may experience color changes. Others may experience all different types of hallucinations, including the frightening images of ghosts. Some people have seen figures dressed in period clothing and moving as if they were gliding across the floor. Missing body parts like hands, arms, or even faces are common occurrences. These visions will also be in great detail, even for people with vision that is blurry.
Those with CBS have also seen incredible images like a double-decker bus going through their living room, or people sitting on their couch, kitchen table, bed, etc. They have also seen surfaces covered in patterns like tiles or bricks, even bottles, hats, or dancing children, and the visions can last from several seconds to several hours. What is consistent is that these visions appear and vanish abruptly. One of the most frightening hallucinations include floating, disembodied faces that squirm during random times. These faces have wide eyes that don’t blink, plus prominent teeth and features like a gargoyle.
Experts in CBS believe that increased stress levels can contribute to the manifestation of more negative images. The condition also seems to be more common among people who live alone with limited social interaction.
Why Does This Happen?
One of the most common causes of CBS is macular degeneration, which is a disease that causes certain light-sending cells in the retina to malfunction and cause a blindspot in the center of a person’s vision. Glaucoma and cataracts are also commonly associated with CBS.
As the eyes lose their ability to see, the brain will attempt to “fill in the blanks” for the missing information. It is the brain compensating for what the eyes could no longer see and is trying to help the person navigate through their surroundings. CBS has been compared to phantom limb syndrome after an amputation has taken place.
How Common is Charles Bonnet Syndrome?
A study conducted by Dr. M.L. Jackson of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Dr. Joseph Ferencz of the Harvard Department of Ophthalmology and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, found that Charles Bonnet Syndrome affects approximately 10% to 38% of people with visual impairments.
One of the main reasons for the vast range is because not everyone who suffers from CBS reports it to their doctor. Other factors include differences in definitions as well as historical record-keeping of the condition and the symptom-specific context that’s taken into consideration.
Does Charles Bonnet Syndrome Explain All Paranormal Phenomena?
After learning about this condition, it may be easy to assume that Charles Bonnet Syndrome explains all paranormal phenomena. That’s not the case. The condition has been studied by scientists and skeptics alike and as people have learned more about CBS, it’s very symptom specific depending on the type of person.
For example, CBS wouldn’t explain why people would encounter the same type of phenomenon at a haunted location. Also, CBS wouldn’t explain other experiences like sight, smell, or touch. But just because CBS doesn’t explain all paranormal experiences, it doesn’t mean it should be disregarded or forgotten. It is definitely something to look into and discuss with your doctor if you believe.
The Importance of Sharing Experiences
Patients are often unwilling to share their experiences with their doctor, let alone with others, because they fear they will be judged as mentally incompetent. Therefore, they don’t say anything and end up suffering in silence. Sharing experiences is incredibly important for the person going through this because it will help them get the support they need. Not only that, but it will also help doctors and other members of the scientific community gather information and data on the condition. As we know research and data collection is critical to learn more about the issue as well as move forward towards preventative treatment and a possible cure.
When people with CBS see hallucinations, they often suffer in silence/
Closing Thoughts
Robert Lanza said in his book, Biocentrism, that the world only exists because we are looking at it. What we see is a reality that is created in our heads, our consciousness. If humans weren’t there to observe the world, it would be nothing.
As people with CBS navigate through their lives seeing visions of people, objects, animals, etc, that is their reality as they know it. It only exists because they see it.
Could we say the same thing for ghosts?
Sources:
Jackson, M. L., & Ferencz, J. (2009). Cases: Charles Bonnet syndrome: visual loss and hallucinations. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l’Association medicale canadienne, 181(3-4), 175–176. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.090049
While the house that was used for “The Exorcist” may not be haunted, the land was host to Prospect Cottage, the site of a fascinating ghost story involving one of the most famous female authors of the 19th century.
When “The Exorcist” was released in 1973, it took the world by storm. The story of a young girl named Regan becoming possessed by the demon Pazuzu and the battle for her soul, both captivated and terrified audiences. Thus, the filming locations in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., became landmarks in their own right. Since “The Exorcist: Believer” is coming out in October 2023, let’s take a look at the haunting that took place on the land where the Exorcist House sits now.
While the infamous Exorcist Steps and House aren’t known to be haunted, it doesn’t stop tourists from stopping to take a picture of the cinematic landmarks. If you go up the Steps, you can easily see the Exorcist House to your left. Please note that the Exorcist House is privately owned (I can’t stress this enough), so be sure to enjoy the house from a distance and don’t walk onto the property. The House was used for the exterior shots for the movie. People often recreate the iconic movie poster with Father Merrin standing in front of the House at night in an eerie fog. I’ve heard the owners are welcoming, but take that information with a grain of salt.
Source for Both Photos: Alex Matsuo (recreating the final scene from “The Exorcist” on the right)
But what many people don’t know is that the location of the house was once the location of Prospect Cottage, owned by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte (E.D.E.N.) Southworth. What also isn’t well known is that Prospect Cottage was the site of several ghostly sightings before it was eventually torn down in the 1940s. All we have are a few newspaper articles from the early 1900s to tell us the story.
Who was E.D.E.N. Southworth?
Source: womenhistoryblog.com
E.D.E.N. Southworth was born as Emma Nevitte on December 26th, 1819 in Washington, D.C., in a house developed by George Washington. She wrote over 60 novels in her career, often featuring heroines who went against societal norms of the Victorian era. She was also a friend and contemporary of Harriet Beecher Stowe. E.D.E.N. was one of the most popular novelists of her time. She was also an avid supporter of women’s rights and social change.
At the deathbed request of her father, Emma was rechristened as Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte, (E.D.E.N.). After her father’s death in 1824, her mother remarried to a school teacher named Joshua L. Henshaw. E.D.E.N. and her step-father did not get along. She described herself as a dark wild-eyed elf, as well as being shy. After she completed her secondary education at the age of 15, E.D.E.N. became a schoolteacher at 16.
E.D.E.N. got married at 21 in 1840 to an inventor named Frederick H. Southworth from New York and the couple moved to Wisconsin. The couple was living on the frontier in a log cabin and E.D.E.N. despised life. She had two children with Frederick, a son and a daughter. In 1844, E.D.E.N. returned to DC without Frederick, who abandoned his family in search of gold in South America.
Now a single mother, E.D.E.N. started teaching at a measly $250 per year. To supplement her income, she started writing to support herself and her children. She submitted stories to magazines, and her writing was very well-received. The editor of the National Era contracted her first novel. She eventually became one of the highest paid authors of her day with an annual salary of $10,000. She was able to step back from teaching and write full time.
A New Home and Mysterious Voice
Source: Woman’s Record, 1855
Around 1853 to the 1860s (exact date is unknown), E.D.E.N. moved into Prospect Cottage at 36th Street and Prospect, where The Exorcist Steps and House sits today. It is unknown when Prospect Cottage was built. But we do know it was formerly owned by a former French minister. The house had a Carpenter Gothic design, which was popular at the time.
E.D.E.N. was an avid supporter of the Union. Since her house was located along the Potomac River, she could see the Confederate border from her house. She also had a front row seat to Lincoln’s second inauguration and worked at Seminary Hospital. E.D.E.N. also lets the hospital use her house to help as many as 27 soldiers to recover from their wounds at one point.
According to legend, after the second battle of Bull Run, all of the residents of Georgetown were terrified of the Confederates coming in. Knowing her home would be one of the first stops for the Confederacy, E.D.E.N. barricaded herself in her house. As she stood by the door, she said, “There’s only 3 of us here, what are we going to do if the Confederates come?” A voice in the darkness replied, “There are 4 of you here and you will be fine.” E.D.E.N., her children, and the house survived and they were indeed fine.
Towards the end of E.D.E.N.’s life, the Union Station (now the Car Barn) was built next door, and the Exorcist Steps were constructed while she was alive. E.D.E.N. passed away in 1899 in Prospect Cottage and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, just up the hill. Her son, Richard, inherited the house, and lived there until he passed away a year later. E.D.E.N.’s daughter, Charlotte, then inherited the house, but she wasn’t interested in keeping the house, so she sells it. The house gets bought and sold a few times.
Prospect Cottage then became an ice cream parlor. The ice cream parlor was in the sitting room and the drawing room became a cafe. They sold ice cream, lunches, live bait, cigars, and tobacco. There was even a classic Coca-Cola sign. It became a popular spot for people to sit and wait for the street cars that were passing through Georgetown. It was such a popular spot and pretty much a tourist trap because E.D.E.N.’s legacy was still well known. People would rip off the wood as souvenirs. They would also catch the bugs so they could tell people it was from E.D.E.N. Southworth’s house.
Here’s a snippet from an article in The Washington Post, dated 1905:
The text reads: “Now the sitting-room that Mrs. Southworth planned is an ice cream parlor, and the handsome, old drawing-room serves as a cafe. On the verandas visitors sit and chat as they wait for the [street]cars. Their talk is of Mrs. Southworth, and it is claimed that they cut great splinters out of the porch and side of the house, and even capture the bugs and grasshoppers in the yard for souvenirs. Furthermore, they pull up the weeds by the roots and carry them off, happy in their ill-gotten spoils.”
The house was eventually bought by the National League of American Pen Women in 1928. They hoped to turn it into a museum for E.D.E.N. before it was torn down in 1942. The house that sits there today, The Exorcist House, was built in 1950.
The Ghost of E.D.E.N.
Source: Georgetown Metropolitan
It seems that E.D.E.N. Southworth still visited Prospect Cottage after she passed away, showing that not even death could hold her back from her home.
There’s one particular story from the same 1905 Washington Post article, which was published about six years after she died, about an Italian grocer who set up his cart in front of Prospect Cottage one day. As he set up and got ready for the day, E.D.E.N. came out of the garden to chat with him. Since the grocer was a local, he knew that E.D.E.N. had passed several years ago. He didn’t even wait to see what she had to say. He ran and left his cart and all of his stuff in front of the house.
During the days as an ice cream parlor, E.D.E.N. would frequently appear to talk to people inside Prospect Cottage. People passing by Prospect Cottage claimed that E.D.E.N. would be seen walking around edges of the veranda, wringing her hands.
The author of that article also ran into a boy. The boy tells them that he had seen E.D.E.N. in the window at night, looking out onto the street below.
Final Thoughts
Source: DC Public Library
It seems that once Prospect Cottage was torn down, the ghostly sightings of E.D.E.N. Southworth disappeared completely. This begs the question; did E.D.E.N. decide to move on after her home was razed, or were witnesses experiencing a residual haunting? Since people reported that she was having conversations with them, I’m leaning towards E.D.E.N. was enjoying the company in her home.
The haunting of Prospect Cottage is a hidden gem of Georgetown History. Sadly, it has been eclipsed by “The Exorcist” and the demonic spookiness that surrounds it. This is certainly not a negative haunting. This story is a delightful tale to show that not all ghosts are scary or evil. Sometimes it’s a famous author stopping by her house to have a chat with the new inhabitants.
How lovely would it be to have a chat over ice cream with the ghost of one of the most prolific authors of the 19th century?
In the paranormal investigation world, it is inevitable that we will run into a location where there are reports of spirits of children. While this can be unsettling to think about, because a life cut short is always tragic, it is a truth we have to face at times. Nothing reminds us more of our mortality than to encounter a life that didn’t have a chance to live.
The best way to communicate with child spirits is to treat them the same way you would when they were alive. However, this can be challenging for people who don’t encounter children in their daily lives or don’t work with children.
What Makes Me Qualified to Speak on This?
I worked in childhood and adolescent education for years. I started my interaction with kids helping in the church nursery in high school. In college, I spent my summers as a unit leader camp counselor for the YMCA. After graduate school, I spent my teaching career as a teaching artist for the local school district teaching theatre to kindergarten through 5th grade. In the summers, I was teaching reading skills from preschool through high school. Then, I was a preschool teacher for three years. I’ve interacted with nearly every age group leading up to adulthood before I eventually left the education field for the corporate life. But I’ve taken what I’ve learned and applied it to the paranormal field.
Disclaimer: These are just my suggestions based on my background as a former teacher and experience as a paranormal investigator. These tips aren’t the “only way” to talk to the spirits of kids.
First Things First: They’re Not Demons
Let’s get the obvious out of the way; 99% of the time, the ghosts of children are not demons. This is a very Christian-centric belief in the paranormal that often takes over the field. I’ve only encountered a few spirits that tried to come across as a child. But even so, it’s only been maybe twice in the 20 years I’ve been investigating. Not everyone in the field believes in the idea of heaven or hell. Don’t treat these kids like they’re evil entities trying to take your soul.
Get on Their Level
If you know the location is reported to be haunted by a small child, avoid standing if you can. Try to sit in a chair, or even on the floor, and get on the child’s level to communicate. Even for living children, getting on their level to communicate and talk to them is a more effective way to gain their trust so the child doesn’t feel intimidated by you. Standing over a child and asking questions could very well make them feel nervous around you and possibly remind them of someone who wasn’t kind to them when they were alive.
Be Mindful of the Tone of Your Voice
Some kids appreciate big, boisterous voices. If you’re a parent or a teacher, that voice may work in your favor in a positive manner. But sometimes, you may run into a child spirit that has been traumatized by an adult, and a loud voice may very well upset them and inhibit them from communicating. When I first initiate communication, I try to have a more neutral tone and volume to my voice in the beginning. This gives me the opportunity to gauge the comfort level of the child spirit and see how much they’re willing to communicate, their personality, and how outgoing they are.
Know How to Talk to Different Age Groups
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone on an investigation that’s reported to be haunted by a small child, and then it’s apparent that the young person we’re talking to is a pre-teen or older. Have an understanding of communication styles of different age groups. You don’t want to talk to a 10-year old the same way you would talk to a 5-year old. One can speculate that even in the afterlife, that spirit will reflect their age and development stage they were in upon passing.
Keep an Open Mind
The paranormal investigation practice isn’t an exact science, and we have a long way to go. This means people can make assumptions and mistakes sometimes. The way that folklore, myths, and legends can grow and evolve can quickly change the origin story for many spirits. This means that the 5-year old girl that haunts the old barn may not actually be a 5-year old girl, but instead, a 13-year old boy. Or, even an old man! Keep an open mind and don’t pigeonhole yourself into insisting on communicating with a spirit that may or may not be there.
Use Trigger Objects
If you know the location is haunted by children, bring trigger objects! This means toys, dolls, puzzles, music, whatever gets someone engaged. When trying to engage with children, people will bring different activities to stimulate that child’s mind. Just talking to people with nothing to entertain them could get bored rather quickly. Just as living children can have short attention spans, one can theorize that this is still the case in the afterlife. Depending on what you believe when it comes to evolving spirits long-term, it never hurts to try different trigger objects.
Talk About Things They Enjoy
This can apply to teenagers and adults as well. You can never go wrong talking about things that a spirit enjoys, whether it was something they enjoyed while alive, or still enjoying during their afterlife. Just like the trigger objects, talking about things like foods, their favorite colors, books, music, and depending on time period; movies and television.
Avoid Talking About Traumatic Topics
Children can sense blood in the water if you’re not comfortable talking to them, or if you have something to hide. It’s like they have that extra sense. So, when a child spirit is comfortable communicating with me, I treasure that moment and try to make the interaction as positive as I can. Talking about trauma for the sake of sparking communication isn’t okay. When you think about the living, majority of society doesn’t candidly talk to a child about their trauma, their abuser, etc. when they first meet them. Even experts in pediatric psychiatry will engage in different modes of play and other engagement methods before diving straight into trauma. As paranormal investigators, we are not that spirit’s psychologist, counselor, etc. and when we bring up a child’s abuser and just yelling things in empty rooms, it causes more harm than good. Now, if they volunteer the information themselves, it means that you’ve established enough trust with them to talk about more difficult topics.
They’re Not There to Perform
While spirit communication can be both disturbing and exciting, especially for content creation, these spirits are not there to perform for us. They’re not there to help us create spooky content. They are existing in their (hopefully) happy afterlife and doing their thing. Every time I encounter (what I believe is) spirit communication, I feel exceptionally honored. I feel even more special when it’s a child.
Final Thoughts
None of these tips are a guarantee that you will have the chance to talk with ghost children, or even that they’ll be interested in talking to you. But in a field where trauma-based ghost hunting is becoming the norm and now very popular, this is an alternative approach to paranormal investigations that doesn’t cause additional harm. At the end of the day, ghost hunting and paranormal investigating is talking to people, or at the very least, talking with something we believe is conscious and intelligent. Just as we expect spirits to engage with us respectfully, we should do the same when we enter these buildings and try to talk to those inhabiting it. If you have the chance to engage with the spirit of a child, take that experience as a gift and have a positive and meaningful interaction.
Every human you encounter has their own life story, wishes, loves, desires, dislikes, the whole bit. Every human you meet has had certain life experiences that have shaped them into who they are up to that moment you meet them. They each have their own identity.
Psychology Today defines identity as “encompasses the memories, experiences, relationships, and values that create one’s sense of self. This amalgamation creates a steady sense of who one is over time, even as new facets are developed and incorporated into one’s identity.”
And yet, there’s a common ideology in many paranormal circles that a spirit’s (or ghost’s) identity isn’t relevant as soon as their physical body ceases to live.
Let’s go off with the idea that spirits exist and they’re the remaining consciousness of dead people (sorry, skeptics…) to explore how identity plays a role in paranormal investigations and why it’s important for both the living and the dead.
Why Does Identity Matter?
I had already written the initial draft of this blog a few weeks ago and let it stew for a bit. During that stewing time, I posted a TikTok video lamenting about how cool it would be if the mainstream paranormal television shows had more representation when it comes to diversity in body types, ethnicity, sexuality, and the such. As people started to respond, I was quite surprised over the vitriolic comments from people.
Identity is a socially and historically constructed concept. We learn about our own identity and the identity of others through interactions with family, peers, organizations, institutions, media and other connections we make in our everyday life.
Key facets of identity—like gender, social class, age, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, religion, age and disability—play significant roles in determining how we understand and experience the world, as well as shaping the types of opportunities and challenges we face.
Social and cultural identity is inextricably linked to issues of power, value systems, and ideology.
The media uses representations—images, words, and characters or personae—to convey specific ideas and values related to culture and identity in society.
As you can see, identity matters because it is who we are, who we interact with, and how society sees us. We experience the world based on our identity and how the world identifies us.
Most Common Pushback When Seeking Representation
Over the last few years, I’ve noticed this common saying that’s been used as pushback when I write about and advocate for more representation in the field.
It’s a variation of “Ghosts/Spirits don’t care if you’re black, white, gay, straight, Christian, female, male, etc.”
Personally, from looking at and researching different perspectives of investigators and mediums, one could argue that spirits do care about these things. They care because these things helped shaped their identity, which resulted in specifics experiences throughout many different chapters of their life.
No two people will have a universal experience, especially lived experiences that include encountering racism, sexism, bigotry, and the like.
This pushback could be coming from a variety of angles. For one, I’ve noticed that the people who’ve said this the most often come from a mindset where they don’t see gender, race, sexuality, etc. This comes from a privileged mindset because they more than likely have not experienced oppression because of their identity.
Why Acknowledge Identity No Matter What
But this is a problematic mindset when approaching paranormal investigations, especially if one is trying to make a connection with a spirit for the purposes of communication. If they don’t acknowledge the spirit for what they are, where they come from, and what their life experiences were, then why are they there?
I often find that interacting with people who don’t care about the things that make me who I am to be an extremely shallow experience. How deep can one actually get if you don’t acknowledge the traits that make up that person’s identity?
Spirits aren’t blank slates that stop caring about the things that make them who they are. From personal experience and talking with other investigators, they still care about their identity as well as our own.
Also, identity not only affects the makeup of the person, but it also impacts the way that the person interacts with different social groups. The acknowledgement of identity isn’t an act of exclusion. On the contrary, it’s an act of inclusion and acceptance.
The Nature of Collecting Data vs. Experiencing
Even if one is going into a haunted location to document and collect data, there is still a whole other side of the coin; there’s usually some sort of interaction that happens in some aspect in an investigation. Usually this is in the form of the investigator trying to start a conversation.
While yes there have been reports of phenomena occurring while no one was trying to actively engage them, if we look at the context of those incidents, usually there was a topic being discussed that resonated with the spirit.
What resonates with spirits is directly connected to their identity. Maybe it resonates because it’s a reflection of how they experienced the world when they were alive. Or could also remind the spirit of what life was like before they passed away.
It doesn’t even need to be a deep conversation about trauma. It could be something as similar as a shared interest like a favorite book, song, or movie. More paranormal investigators could be asking questions in relationship to identity as opposed to asking questions based in trauma. The field seems to be heading in that direction as more people take on a more compassionate approach to paranormal investigating.
The Benefits of Acknowledging Identity
For many paranormal investigators, they got into the field because they either wanted to have a paranormal experience or get documentation of one. It’s not unheard of for an investigator to be in this field to prove the existence of the afterlife as well. When I started Queer Ghost Hunters on YouTube, I started noticing that the investigators would share their own backgrounds and their stories to show the spirits that they were safe to talk to and they were creating a safe space where the spirit can simply exist.
When the paranormal investigator shares their experiences and takes ownership of their identity, it’s beneficial not only for the spirits, but also their fellow investigators. Sharing similar lived experiences based on identity can help build trust and create a connection between the living and the dead that could potentially create more meaningful interactions.
Those who have experienced oppression because of their identity tend to veer towards the importance of it and they are eager to acknowledge and validate that spirit’s identity. They see the importance of acknowledging a spirit’s identity, whether that is their gender, race, or sexuality. Depending on the context of the time period for that spirit, they may have had their life end because of their identity.
Final Thoughts
Let’s return to the pushback mentioned earlier, “Ghosts/Spirits don’t care if you’re black, white, gay, straight, Christian, female, male, etc.”
The big question would be if the people saying this care about their own identity right now? Do they care about the identity of others? If the former is yes, and the latter is no, then there’s a lesson in compassion and empathy that still needs to be learned by these individuals. When I hear someone say that their faith is important to them, I point out that their faith is an integral part of their identity. If they are married, their spouse is an important part of their identity. Same if they have children, friends from different social circles, it’s all important.
So when someone says that spirits wouldn’t care about identity, I simply say that if the living care, then certainly the dead do as well.
Finally, these concepts aren’t just for spirits. These are critical things to think about as we navigate social relationships within the paranormal community. Acknowledging identity in the field is a step towards representation in the field, and it can help create that inclusive space where everyone can truly feel welcome.
For decades, it has been typical to see paranormal investigators walk into a haunted location and immediately start provoking and saying things that could be extremely traumatizing to not only spirits and ghosts, but also the living. Is it really necessary to do this in order to get a response during a paranormal investigation? What if this the best way to try to communicate with spirits? Is there another way to go about it?
Personal Experience
I had a TikTok recently that went viral where I shared a (very) short version of the One Bed Over: A Hospital Haunting story. This was the incident of the spirit attachment I dealt with after my car accident on New Year’s Eve 2005. I shared my story with the TV show “Haunted Hospitals” and wrote the book. Telling this story became a healing experience for me, and overall, I’m grateful for the opportunities I had to share it.
Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of interviews on different podcasts and radio shows about the story. But in the past few months, I found myself experiencing more PTSD incidents since telling the story more frequently. Nightmares, panic attacks, flashbacks, they were all coming back with a vengeance.
How Do the Spirits Feel?
Why do I bring this up? Because talking about this traumatic chapter in my life just a few times per month has really sparked some responses in my body and soul that’s made me identify the need to step back.
Yet, what about the ghosts that we try to connect with in haunted locations? Especially locations where there was a lot of trauma and negative events in their lives? There’s a group of strangers coming in and asking about one of the worst days of their lives. Then we expect the spirits to pour out their heart and souls to us, a bunch of strangers, without building rapport or trust. And some of these places see traffic on a daily basis.
Besides a location not being haunted, perhaps this might be a reason that paranormal investigators are met with silence? Or worse, they end up being physically assaulted. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered this on the field. But then, a simple subject change will change the activity levels towards a more positive environment. That simple subject change is compassion and empathy.
Example: The USS North Carolina
In 2018, I did my first paranormal investigation at the Battleship North Carolina (also known as the USS North Carolina). I had been investigating for quite a while up until this point. I wanted to dive deeper into the hauntings of this location besides traditional ghost hunting. Taking a page from John Sabol’s Ghost Excavation method, I had my team members (all female identifying) dress in period clothing. Justifying our presence on the ship would be a bit challenging. This is because civilian women on the ship wasn’t necessarily the norm back in the Battleship’s prime.
So we took on a more flirtatious approach as women looking for sailors to take us out on a night on the town. This included contextual flirting, dancing, and all sorts of shenanigans from the 1940s. Yet, when we tried to steer the conversation towards World War II, and more specifically, Pearl Harbor, we were met with absolute silence. But if we brought up drinks and dancing, our equipment would respond and we got more activity on our recording equipment. Simply put, they weren’t interested in talking to us about a tough topic. To be fair, most of the World War II vets I knew (especially my grandpa) didn’t talk about the war, especially with women.
Example: Trivette Clinic
If you’ve read my book, The Hamptonville Hauntings, then you’ve already read this story in more detail. Without going too deep into the history and research rabbit hole, the Trivette Clinic opened in 1932 in Hamptonville, North Carolina as a small town clinic. This was a place where tonsils were taken out and babies were born. After Dr. William Trivette died in 1938, the Clinic was converted into a supper club and detox center, then a nursing home, and finally, a private residence. While not a lot of “horrifying trauma” happened at the Clinic, one could argue that surgery and childbirth is a form of trauma on its own.
But one of the most remarkable experiences I had at the Trivette Clinic didn’t involve talking about medical procedures at all. It was playing music. Dr. Trivette’s wife Gwendolyn was a singer who had a love for opera. I’ve always been extremely drawn to her for various reasons, and one night, with two of my team members, a series of events led me to believe she was with us. Thinking about her love of opera, I was inspired to use music as a trigger object. Trying to think of popular operas back in Gwendolyn’s time, I defaulted to “Musetta’s Waltz” from the opera, La Boheme.
Reaction to the Music
As the music started playing from my phone, every device we had in the basement started going off. The lights became brighter when the music swelled in intensity, and the lights dimmed during the quieter moments. It was like there was a reaction in the environment to the music. In my head, I pictured Gwendolyn singing to the music. Needless to say, it was an emotional experience.
Ever the debunker, I decided to play Van Halen’s “Jump” to see if our equipment would react the same way. None of the equipment went off, even when I grabbed my phone and walked around the space. I played a few more songs and still, nothing. No reaction like that.
Example: Melissa Elliott at the Cabin on 360
One of the darker places I’ve been to is the Elliott House next door to the Cabin on 360. The locations are owned by the same person, and sit just feet away from each other. It should be noted that I don’t call the Elliott House dark because of demonic entities or anything like that. It’s because it was the site of a brutal murder. If you want to learn more about the Elliott House, and Melissa Elliott, here’s some more information.
Melissa Carol Elliott was just 12 years old when she was raped and murdered by her half-brother in 1979. Just being in the house and knowing what happened within its walls is enough to give me bad feelings about the place. Knowing this, it made it hard to remove my bias. Also, it’s been said that there is a dark entity in the house.
When my team and I investigated the house, we went into Melissa’s bedroom and set up a few recording devices. I wanted to make sure to focus on things that a pre-teen girl would have liked or been interested in during the late 1970s. If Melissa was still a present entity in the house, I’m pretty sure the last thing she would want to talk about is the end of her life and likely the worst day of her life. But also, avoiding the traumatic topic could give us an opportunity to communicate with other spirits in the house, if there were any.
Shifting Gears
Immediately, I noticed that there wasn’t much response when my other two male members were asking questions. Keeping the nature of Melissa’s death in mind, plus being a 12-year old girl, she may not be comfortable around older males. Pulling out the Osmonds, David Cassidy, and other pop culture icons, it seemed we were getting some responses on our equipment.
There was a moment where it looked like there was light shining on me for a brief second. I thought one of my team members shined their flashlight on me. My team member thought my Fitbit went off. The only thing that made me hesitant about declaring it my Fitbit was that my little watch will stay illuminated for several seconds, not a brief moment. It wasn’t headlights from the outside either.
Why Avoid Using Trauma
There’s a multitude of reasons to avoid using trauma in spirit communication. To be fully candid, using trauma as the first tactic to get a response is a cheap tactic. I even find skeptics using trauma to also try to elicit a response, which is puzzling. It’s like, “I don’t believe you exist but I’m going to exploit your trauma anyway.” Some of the best skeptics who investigate still respect the space and the people who once lived there.
By avoiding the use of trauma, you earn trust not only with the potential spirit you’re trying to communicate with, but also with the group in your company. I think we often forget that if we use trauma to elicit a response, we risk upsetting our fellow investigators who may have a personal connection with similar trauma.
When we use trauma, it’s often a very generic approach with broad questions that don’t go any deeper. Also, using trauma right away forces the investigator to go in with a certain bias. They may assume that the house being haunted is haunted by the spirits tied to specific history and so they laser point on that traumatic event. Meanwhile, they miss out on meaningful communication with an entity that’s either not tied to that specific history, or they don’t want to talk about it.
So What Should We Talk About?
For the socially awkward like myself, coming up with topics to talk about with spirits can be tricky. I can’t even do small talk with the living so how can I talk to the dead? I’ve learned a lot about social interactions from paranormal investigating, especially from the examples above.
It also should be said that not every topic will be “trauma free” for everyone. Like, talking about someone’s child to one person may cause heartache and grief to someone else who may have lost children or weren’t able to have their own.
Here’s some things to talk to ghosts/spirits about:
What brings them joy
Their daily lives
What the space looks like to them
Who is around them at that moment
Favorite foods and treats
Entertainment they may have liked (books, music, movies, television)
Recipes
Games
Here are a few more topics to explore, but may have trauma associated with them:
Religion (favorite hymns, Bible verses, etc.)
Were they in love?
Did they have children?
In reality, any point mentioned could bring up trauma. But in this case, the intention is different. Without diving too deep into intent vs. impact, there is a difference between going into a space with the intention of using trauma to provoke a spirit and trying to talk a spirit about something that may have made them happy and you upset them by accident.
This list is just a starting point. What’s great about this list is that you can keep it generic enough to help you pinpoint the historical and societal context of the entity you’re talking to. I like to call this method, “Start Big, Go Small.” Start with a broader topic, and use the responses to get more granular to help pinpoint the person you’re talking to and where they’re from.
Final Thoughts
We don’t need to provoke or say upsetting things during a paranormal investigation in order to get a response. If anything, we could get even better data and evidence by not going the route of provocation.
I see a shift happening in the paranormal investigation community where we are veering away from using trauma as a talking point. This makes me very optimistic for the future of the paranormal. Unfortunately, paranormal media has yet to catch up. It continues to default to trauma as a way to get a response from spirits. Not all television shows are like this (shout out to “Kindred Spirits”), but most of them do this. It’s not terribly surprising since the focus of most TV shows is to get that spooky evidence and then move on to the next location, leaving a mess of shattered feelings and trauma behind.
On Friday, October 21st, 2022, Netflix released their newest paranormal reality series, 28 Days Haunted. Based on a theory by the late Ed and Lorraine Warren that it takes about 28 days to pierce the veil into the other side, three teams take residence in three different haunted locations for that duration.
As a paranormal researcher and investigator (or even ghost hunter), I’m not the biggest fan of paranormal reality television. It’s unrealistic, and it’s become stagnant in the past 10 years with the same people on TV and nearly identical formatting that’s being replicated all over the media. So when I found out about 28 Days Haunted, I wanted to give it a chance. Especially since I’ve interacted with a few of the cast members previously.
Initial Thoughts: Ed and Lorraine Warren
I didn’t expect Ed and Lorraine Warren to be a part of this show. In full transparency, I’ve read all of their books as well as any books approved by them because I loved the Warrens growing up. My opinion has since become more complicated, which I’ll share another time. Also, I’ve known and worked with people who know or worked with the Warrens.
I’ve never heard of this theory coming from them, even from my colleagues who worked with them. But that’s not to say that the Warrens didn’t come up with it. I would love to see a primary source confirming this. I’ve actually heard of the theory from multiple people over the last few years who have claimed it as their own. I also can’t find anything before 2022 to trace this theory back to the Warrens. Again, if anyone has it, please let me know!
One of my friends did mention that maybe it came from the Amityville Horror. This is due to the Lutz family being in the Amityville house for 28 days. I could see that. But again, at the time of writing this, there’s nothing on paper or video pre-2022 that ties the Warrens as the creators of this theory.
Also, there are quite a few gaps with this theory that the show didn’t address. Does the 28 days theory apply to only a certain type of haunting? What about the dynamic of the group? Could the 28 days take even less depending on the people in the group? Does this include knowing the history of the location and the haunting or going in blind? I have so many questions.
Finally, I found the alignment with the Warrens to be a risky move for the show. Lately, the Warrens are coming under fire as of late for alleged fraud, as well as predatory behaviors, including the story of Ed Warren and Judith Penney. Granted, when the show was in production, these issues didn’t quite have the spotlight as they do now.
A Note About Paranormal Reality TV
Before diving into my first reactions, I want to say that paranormal reality television is a genre of its own. It’s not reality in most cases. It’s dramatized, it’s staged, and sometimes it’s even scripted. I would align most paranormal reality shows as “found footage.” Some shows do more or less of that than others. But keep in mind that these shows have to tell a story to keep their audiences interested. This is a result from research on the side of the production companies. While most of us in the paranormal community want something different, we’re not the target audience of these shows. I can’t watch these shows as a serious paranormal researcher. But I can watch it as someone looking to be entertained. I also doubt that we will get a TV show that’s more representative of real-life paranormal investigation because it’s pretty boring 90% of the time.
These shows are for entertainment purposes only, even if their audiences take them as reality. That’s the nature of the beast.
A Note About My Bias
Because I want to expose my bias right now, I have had conversations with a few of the cast members and we’re connected on social media. Dare I say that I even consider them friends? With this in mind, know that I will support my friends. It is possible to be critical and still support your friends. Also, from my own experience of being on TV, I know how little control cast members typically have over the editing and presentation of the television shows they’re on. Well, unless you’re Zak Bagans or Jason Hawes. Most of my notes is about the production side.
If there are certain things that the cast members did that I liked or didn’t like, I’m looking at it through how the producers edited it and presented it to us. The situations we saw on screen may have been completely different from real-life. As the audience, we were presented with an altered version of the events. I know this and sympathize with the cast on this.
Netflix
First Reaction
On that note, after watching the six 30-40 minute episodes, my initial reaction was that I didn’t hate it. I found the format of the show refreshing, as it’s different from the other mainstream ghost hunting shows you would find on networks like Travel Channel, Discovery, SyFy, A&E, etc. I liked the visuals when they introduced the equipment, even if the descriptions weren’t always accurate. It was evident that the producers were trying to do something different with 28 Days Haunted since it didn’t necessarily follow the same formula as the other shows.
Were there moments of cringe? Definitely. It was not the fault of the cast. That was on the editing and on the producers.
Lack of Gender Representation
After processing through my first reaction, I started to dive deeper on what I liked and didn’t like about the show. The first glaring flaw (yes, I’m calling this a flaw) of the show is that there was a gross lack of diversity. Out of the three groups, there were only two women. There was only two genders on the show, when we know that gender identity is much more diverse. The two women were utilized as psychic mediums, or sensitives. Women are very capable paranormal investigators, researchers, and technicians. Also, there was an all-male team, and I think it did the show a great disservice to not have an all-female team to balance it out.
This brings me into the situation in Episode 3, titled, “I’m Done”, that has put the Colorado team in a negative light, particular with a tense moment between Shane Pittman, Ray Causey and Amy Parks. The team was investigating Captain Grant’s Inn in Colorado. Amy, who has abilities, had set boundaries on her comfort levels and didn’t want to do any mirror scrying. The way the show presented the situation, to me it looked like Shane and Ray ganged up on her a bit. I don’t know if this happened in reality, but it was concerning nonetheless. It looks like Shane, Ray, and Amy have a positive friendship now so it’s quite possible the show skewed the situation.
How the Women Were Treated
A few things Ray said during the confrontations greatly disturbed me. This is because it seemed that Amy’s value only came from her abilities and not as a paranormal investigator. Her contributions up to the point of the confrontation seemed to be ignored. Again, I’m sure the editing of the show made the situation something different from real life. But the fact that the show was comfortable presenting this to the audience is a bit disturbing.
Also, if you’re not able to do a proper paranormal investigation or spirit communication without a medium, then you’re limiting yourself on resources and your capabilities. A paranormal investigation should not be dependent on the presence of someone with abilities.
Similar thing happened with Brandy Miller and Jereme Leonard, the team investigating the Madison Dry Goods store in North Carolina. Jereme is a demonologist and Brandy was the one with abilities. She had her limitations and what she was comfortable with as well, and Jereme tried to push her further. Then it ended up being Jereme who got the brunt of the negative energy from the spirits.
It was clear when Brandy and Amy were carrying the weight of their respective investigations. Especially Brandy when she was going in with the spirit communication and Jereme’s main contribution was to walk around sprinkling holy water. And instead of supporting Brandy when things got intense, Jereme continued to provoke the spirits.
Lack of Diversity
There was a gross lack of ethnic diversity in the case. Every cast member was white presenting. Personally, I find that unacceptable given how diverse the paranormal community is. This was a huge miss on the production company and even Netflix. That’s all I’ll say about that.
There was also no representation in different religions. This was evident with the Christian approach to investigating. It’s an old and outdated approach in paranormal television that won’t go away. But if the main demographic of these shows are white Christian people, then perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. The assumption that if a spirit doesn’t like Biblical scripture, it must mean it’s evil, was evident. Not everyone is a fan of the Christian church and they’re not demons.
Also, it’s 2022. Can we start having a more diverse cast? Pandering to an audience that only wants to see white/Christian men is only going to work against the networks eventually.
The beautiful thing about the paranormal community is that there is diversity. Some of the most interesting things to come out of paranormal experiences and research is the diversity. If you don’t have a team with diverse backgrounds, you’re likely doomed to only see the paranormal through a particular lens that may or may not be correct.
But there was a note of neutrality. In regards to the the Connecticut team, consisting of Nick Simons, Sean Austin, and Aaron Thompson, I found a bit more balance. When Nick dug up the pentagram from the ground, I actually thought it was a sheriff’s badge or even a Christmas ornament. But I did appreciate Nick clarifying that a pentagram isn’t evil, but that mainstream Christian mindset painted it as so. Those are the moments that had me loving the show.
Othering of Spirits
There was a strong sense of “othering” the spirits with one of the teams. Meaning, they weren’t being treated as humans. Instead, they were treated like demonic entities or trapped spirits who were absolutely miserable. The spirits were presented as something to be terrified of. What I never understand with investigators on TV is that they run when activity starts picking up. You’re there to investigate, and you’re getting a response, that’s prime time to stay! Because of this, I feel like there were a lot of missed opportunities. Nick Simons from the Connecticut team did call this out in one of the episodes, which I appreciated.
Netflix
The Liberal Use of Provocation
I’m not a big fan of provoking, nor do I like using trauma to elicit a response out of spirits. So when Jereme and Brandy took this approach in the first episode of 28 Days Haunted, I was surprised that they were surprised that they would have a negative reaction. I did appreciate the Colorado and Connecticut teams having a bit more compassion for the spirits. Given the awful history of the Lawson family, I would have expected more compassion to come from Brandy and Jereme in the beginning instead of exploiting the family’s trauma.
Perfect Predictions
This is the one area I found the least believable in the show. The psychic mediums on the show had near perfect readings of the stories behind each location, even down to the names. Perhaps the producers struck gold with the cast members with abilities, but I rarely run into this, even with the more skilled psychics I’ve worked with.
Not Enough Content
I do find it weird that even though each team spent 28 days at their respective location, which would total to about 672 hours per team, we didn’t get a lot of content. Combine the hours of the three teams, that means they were there for 2,016 hours. And yet, we only got six 30-40 minute episodes. So, maybe 4 hours of content total? If my math is right, this means we saw less than .2% of the footage from all of the investigations. Granted, we didn’t see meal times, personal time, etc. But still, this is a gaping hole.
Of course, this might mean that the teams didn’t get a lot of activity other than what we saw on screen. But, it would have been nice to see those moments where there wasn’t activity, just to show there was more of a balance in the investigation process and that it’s normal to not get activity every time.
Strong Bias
Something else I noticed in the first episode was that there was a huge bias towards, “Yes this place is haunted.” There wasn’t any, “Let’s investigate and see if we can figure out whether or not this place is haunted.” Perhaps this stage happened and the show chose to skip it, which is a very real possibility. The show moves pretty fast.
Speaking of bias, I did see a few comments about the lack of a historian in the teams. To be fair, there was a historian working somewhere. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been given the information on the locations. Also, Brandy did speak to a historian about the Lawson murders.
Did the Show Need a Historian?
I also don’t believe that the hauntings in a location are always due to the historical context of a location. So, I’m not sure if having an on-site historian in each team would have made things better or complicated. Would going in with someone knowing the history and having them direct the team to the history hinder the investigation? If the historian was hands-off and didn’t influence the path of the investigation, that would be fine. I’ve always liked having one person on-site who knows the history because they can help continue the conversation.
But I’ve also worked with historians who greatly influenced the path of the investigation to fit a certain agenda. Like, if the investigator heard the name “Paul” and the historian knew there was a Paul who lived in the house in the 1700s, they go in hard on 1700’s Paul while neglecting that there was someone named Paul who lived in the house in the 1980s but they aren’t as well documented. True story by the way. I still feel bad about assuming that 1980s Paul was 1700s Paul. I don’t blame him for ditching our conversation after five minutes.
Netflix
Why I Ultimately Liked the Show
After all of these criticisms I mentioned, it may be surprising to hear me say that I liked the show. Ultimately, I had several favorite moments in the show. These are the moments that I think made the show stronger than the mainstream shows on the other networks and it gives me some hope that something different may be coming down the pipeline in mainstream TV.
One of which was Amy calling out the culture of toxic masculinity in the paranormal when Shane and Ray were trying to get her to do mirror scrying. Amy did not hold back and I actually applauded after she finished.
The locations were different as well. Given the nature of the show, it wouldn’t have made sense to send the cast members to popular locations like Waverly Hills or Trans-Allegheny. It was nice to see different locations this time around. Because I lived in North Carolina for about 8.5 years, I was already familiar with Madison Dry Goods. I’ll write a blog about that location and why I think it’s haunted.
I mentioned this before, but Nick Simons defended the pentagram. We don’t see this often on mainstream paranormal TV. I loved that moment.
Also, one more thing I loved about the show was that the cast consisted of mostly new faces. We’ve seen Shane Pittman on The Holzer Files and Sean Austin in other programs. But overall, we saw new faces to the paranormal entertainment field and I found them way more engaging that the same faces we’ve been seeing for the past 15 years.
Spotlighting Imperfections
My other favorite moment was when Sean Austin saw “CU” written on the mirror and how it was handled. Nick Simons didn’t hold back on his skepticism. We need more of that on paranormal television. The fact that the show even showed us that it may have been Sean that wrote the letters on the mirror is pretty groundbreaking. How often do we see one of Zak’s team members call him out on “Ghost Adventures”? Never.
The cherry on top though was when Sean, Aaron, and Nick were doing a communication session later, did the spirits start calling out Sean for writing “CU” on the mirror as well. That moment was pure chef’s kiss and something we rarely see on paranormal television.
Also, this show did not present the paranormal investigators as perfect people, or even heroes of the show. Although many of them tried to be the hero, it didn’t work out as such. This is a refreshing approach since the mainstream TV shows remind me of bad LARPing where the cast members are trying to be the hero of the situation. In 28 Days Haunted, we saw the flaws of each cast member because the show took a risk and showed them to us.
How the Show Can Improved for Future Seasons
If 28 Days Haunted has future seasons, here’s what I suggest in making the show even better.
Have a more diverse cast
Balance out the teams
Longer episodes
Let us see the moments where there’s no activity
Rotate the groups to see if each group gets the same activity, or if it changes based on the dynamic of the team
Have a historian available to the team to validate information but not influence the path of the investigation
Continue to bring in new faces
Final Thoughts
Was this show perfect? Definitely not. Expecting perfection, especially from a show that’s experimenting with a different approach, is only going to set one up for disappointment. I want to celebrate what made this show different from the rest of the shows in hopes that this inspires some sort of change from the paranormal entertainment industry. There’s a lot of work needs to be done. But I’m hopeful that this show means that maybe producers are finally listening to the needs of its audience instead of assuming what they want.
If we want something different from paranormal reality television, we should be a bit more supportive when someone tries to do that “something different.” Otherwise, producers will continue to rely on that stagnant format, with the same cast members from the past 15 years, and nothing will change.
Finally, I want to applaud the cast for their work on the show. It must have been really difficult to separate yourself from your families, your job, and even social media for 28 days to film the show. Also, putting yourself out there in front of millions of people to get judged and criticized is not easy. You took a risk by being a part of this show, and I do think you did something great here. This show is a game-changer in the genre of paranormal reality entertainment. It laid a foundation that will hopefully continue to encourage a different approach to this stagnant genre.
2022 marks a new year, which means it’s all about new beginnings! One of the things you might be looking to do is to up your ghost hunting game. Becoming a paranormal investigator is a big decision. It’s a choice that takes up quite a lot of time and money, not to mention management on a multitude of levels, especially if you run a team. For many paranormal investigators, going on more investigations seems to always be on the list of things to do to become better. Field work is critical if you want to improve your investigation skills. Perhaps it includes going to that “bucket list” location, or trying new things at an old location. No matter where you are in your paranormal investigation journey, you’re always trying to better yourself.
I know this is one of my 2022 goals. So, here’s a list to help you (and me) learn how to become a better paranormal investigator this year!
Don’t Take Everything at Face Value
When you see someone post a photo, video, or audio clip of their evidence, don’t hesitate to ask questions. Ask the poster why they think it’s paranormal, and how they came to the conclusions they have. Just accepting someone’s posted data as legit paranormal phenomena isn’t necessarily helpful to the field. This is especially true if we find out that the data is a hoax. In a world where people are using filters, string, and other hoaxing methods, I usually go by the idea that if it’s too good to be true, it usually is. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to debunk, but the more you ask questions, the more you will find yourself debunking.
Document More
Documenting experiences doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as easy as writing down an incident with the date and time that it occurred. This is critical to do in the moment, even when you’re freaking out. After you’ve calmed down, you can further explore what happened and find out why it happened. Also, it helps build your credibility. Whether you’re writing down notes, taking photos, making notes of the weather changes, etc., document more of the surrounding events in your investigations and experiences. You might start noticing a pattern, or be better equipped at explaining an incident.
Research Something Different
We have your typical research areas of interest: history, psychic mediumship, and locations. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box when it comes to research areas within the paranormal. For example, research the psychological effects of EVP, or audio pareidolia. Maybe even research the idea of time loops, adding performance to investigating, etc. Or, subscribe to a parapsychological research journal from the Rhine Research Center or the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena. Thinking outside the box this year can really help expand your paranormal investigation methods and expertise.
Hold People Accountable
This is especially critical for people to do when they see someone willingly fake evidence. The growing trend on TikTok and YouTube is incredible “paranormal” events being captured thanks to fishing line, clever audio editing, and poorly performed reactions. This behavior continues because we are willing to stay silent. However, our silence is deafening, and we need to start holding creators accountable for their actions. See the fishing line? Call it out. A video of a door opening by itself too good to be true? Ask to see a different angle. Our singular voices aren’t doing much, but vocalizing as a group may make a bigger impact.
Collaborate with Someone Who Thinks Differently
This doesn’t mean you have to collaborate with a skeptic. Collaborating with someone with different approaches and ideas can help you really hone in on what you believe in the paranormal. I often enjoy talking to people who disagree with me because it gives me the opportunity to expand my mind and see what other people are thinking in the field. Being challenged is often a scary thing in this community, but I promise that it is one of the most valuable experiences you’ll have.
Think Like a Skeptic
You don’t have to be a skeptic to think like a skeptic. Even if you think skeptics are full of it, thinking like one can help you keep accountable in your investigation methods. Work backwards in your investigation and method of collecting evidence. What questions would a skeptic ask you about your experience? What gaps would be pointed out in your investigation? Thinking ahead on these points will help you become a better investigator as well as be able to offer better explanations when asked.
Be Aware of Your Biases
This one is a tough one. We all have biases, even skeptics. If a skeptic (or a cynic) goes into a location with a goal of debunking, it’s a bias. I often catch myself having a bias when I go into a haunted location. As someone who likes to do my research pre-investigation, I have to be aware of my own biases. I can’t assume that the spirit causing the activity is the one I read about online. Heck, I can’t assume that any activity is a spirit. I have to keep an open mind and proceed to try other methods of engagement to see. If I feel a cold spot, and I assume it’s a ghost I read about online, that’s a bias. This can be really counter-productive and even harmful.
Read What Others Are Doing
While it’s nice to stay in your own paranormal bubble, sometimes you have to see what others are doing. If we stayed in our own corners, we would never know about different ideas and methodologies of other people. Part of the reason why this field has stayed stagnant for so long is that we’re not willing to try new things and try what other people are doing. On the flip side, also share what you’re doing. Yes, peer review can be scary, but feedback is critical in this field and we need more of it in order to get better. Could you imagine if the Estes Method stayed within the circle of Karl Pfeiffer, Connor Randall, and Michelle Tate?
Take Classes
Finally, while controversial, take classes. There are lots of free resources online, as well as offerings for an annual membership fee. For example, ASSAP (Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena), offers weekly webinars for an annual fee of about $28. The Rhine Research Center also offers plenty of online events to learn more. Even classes you find on Udemy and other learning platforms can be beneficial. If you find out the class is bad, then you know what sort of quality to look for.
I’m forever a student and believe in the idea of never stop learning. As soon as we stop learning, we become stagnant. There are far too many people in the field who don’t find value in education and it honestly makes me sad. While it’s true that we will likely never be able to prove the existence of ghosts, we can learn other areas of the field. There’s photography, videography, audio, genealogy, folklore, just to name a few. If an investigator doesn’t find value in education, it’s a red flag. Don’t be a red flag.
Advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The paranormal community can be toxic and problematic, especially if you don’t fit into the acceptable dominant group of investigators.
There is a major disparity when it comes to paranormal entertainment. This is especially true for paranormal events where event runners are filling up their rosters with people who aren’t even involved in the field. There is a major absence in women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community on television and paranormal events. Yes, it’s perfectly logical for event planners to fill their roster with a few TV folks. But there are prolific members of marginalized groups who are researching, creating content, and investigating that are being overlooked.
Also, the paranormal community needs to start listening to members of marginalized groups when they speak out. If they point out something that is problematic in the community, investigation methods, etc., we need to listen and see what we can do to make it better. Personally, I’ve met many BIPOC who have told me that they don’t feel safe in the paranormal community. That’s a huge issue.
We won’t get better, become more inclusive, and be a safer space unless we start listening. We’re not listening to marginalized groups, and that needs to stop. Not only do we need to listen, but we need to speak up when a marginalized group is getting oppressed all over again because ghost hunters want to ignore ethical boundaries.
What other things can you do to become a better paranormal investigator in 2022?
According to verywellmind.com, “Cultural appropriation refers to the use of objects or elements of a non-dominant culture in a way that doesn’t respect their original meaning, give credit to their source, or reinforces stereotypes or contributes to oppression.”
The conversation about cultural appropriation may be uncomfortable for many, but it’s important. It’s an important conversation to not only have in the witch, occult, and pagan communities, but also the paranormal community. It’s fascinating that current paranormal television shows are still getting away with appropriating. Especially in the age of “woke” culture, which includes a plethora of other things like cancel culture, consequence culture, etc.. If you point out when and where these television shows are appropriating, you’ll get swarms of fans coming after you. All for the sake of defending their favorite paranormal television star.
Sadly, it seems that this wave shows no sign of stopping. This is because the television networks, producers, stars, and fans will not listen to the people whose culture it actually comes from.
The Dybbuk Box
The standout appropriating strike lies with the use of the Dybbuk box in the media. For years, the Dybbuk box has been a source of frightening entertainment on television. It even inspired the 2012 movie, The Possession. After it was acquired by Ghost Adventures star, Zak Bagans, who took it and ran. Bagans has used the box for live investigations. He has fueled quite a problematic narrative for the Dybbuk box and Jewish culture.
This has also inspired countless others to acquire (or even make) their own Dybbuk boxes. Thus, it continues the false and problematic narrative that’s hurting Jewish culture. Why has this narrative continued to exist? According to Zo of jewitches, it’s because, “People wouldn’t listen to Jews […] And if you had just listened to Jews for the past 20 years, you wouldn’t have been scammed for so long.”
What’s even worse is that speaking out against the Dybbuk box has sparked a wave of anti-Semitic hate from the paranormal community to Jewish people. Zo has spoken out about how the show has twisted Jewish folklore. She is tirelessly trying to get more information out there. In return, she was sent anti-Semitic harassment.
Ancient Indian Burial Ground
The “Ancient Indian Burial Ground” trope has been prevalent in paranormal television for decades. While many assume it rose to prominence thanks to the Amityville Horror story, it actually goes back to post-Revolutionary times. This is all thanks to poet Philip Morin Freneau. I learned this as I was listening to The Q Files’ podcast episode, “Ancient Indian Burial Grounds – Oh My!” In 1787, he published a poem called, The Indian Burying Ground. This is a trope that has been used time and time again in horror movies. So is it really that surprising that it made its way into paranormal reality television? By categorizing sacred Native American traditions as nothing more than magical people prone to conjuring bad luck and evil hauntings, we grossly misunderstand the culture. Not to mention, stealing something from another culture and twisting it into something that better fits mainstream narratives.
There’s so many more issues that warrant their own article, like the use of skinwalkers and the wendigo.
Smudging
Somehow, I’ve managed to tick off thousands of people when I publicly said that smudging is a closed practice. Then, I started asking naysayers exactly what they were doing in their smudging ritual. Turns out, they weren’t actually smudging. They were performing a smoke cleansing. It would be like me going out and taking a walk and calling it “going for a run”. The practice of smudging and the plants that are used are considered sacred to Native American/Indigenous Nations. Another issue that is especially troubling is when people feel entitled to use practices from other cultures. They completely distort them from their original intention, and then dig their heels into ownership of the practice. It deviates and steals the spotlight from the marginalized
Sigils & Symbols
Whenever I hear about a group of paranormal investigators seeing sigils and symbols either at a location or on a person, I brace for impact. Anything that “isn’t of Christ” often gets immediately labeled as demonic or evil. Just look at how occult practices are discussed on paranormal television and movies (looking at you Conjuring universe). The occult is often victimized by the perspective of “the other” that has the conventional popular shaking in their boots.
Instead of looking at these sigils and symbols and trying to make sense of them, they’re labeled as evil or demonic. This is offensive for people because those who created these symbols use them for positive reasons. What’s even worse is that there are haunted locations that will look up symbols randomly on the internet. Then, they’ll paint them on their floors and walls in order to look more “spooky”. It would be like getting a tattoo of a random Chinese character and not realizing it means, “toilet”.
Erasure
My friend Ron at White Rose Witching made an important note that pointing out cultural appropriation isn’t enough. We also have a duty to point out erasure that’s happening in the community. Instead of acknowledging a culture’s history and nuance when it comes to certain topics, it’s completely erased for the sake of calling it a demon. Furthermore, it transforms the others in marginalized groups into monsters, ghosts, creatures, basically removing their humanity. The other being erased by mainstream culture causes them to become caricatures of their own existence…and a poorly drawn one at that.
Will it Ever Stop?
All of the elements I pointed out here can make very good TV. To the ignorant person, these elements are spooky. This proves the argument that we fear what we don’t understand, and paranormal reality TV capitalizes on this. But, it’s harmful to marginalized and underrepresented groups. In the era of “cancel culture”, why these shows continue to get away with this absolutely blows my mind.
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One of the most common questions I’m asked is whether or not Ghostbusters is accurate to real-life ghost hunting. Anytime I do conventions like ConCarolinas, AtomaCon, MystiCon, etc. I’m usually on a panel about Ghostbustersin some capacity. Either it’s “Ghostbusters versus Ghost Hunting”, or “Real-Life Ghostbusting”, something to that effect. Because I am a paranormal investigator and also a fan of Ghostbusters, it makes me one of the go-to people for that topic. With the new movie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), coming up, this is the perfect time to talk about real life versus fiction.
Real Ghost Hunting
There are some things about Ghostbusters that are definitely not true. For one, ghost hunting is never that exciting. In reality, you’re sitting in the dark for eight hours and then you might see like maybe a blip of an apparition or something may fall over that has no explanation. That’s if you’re lucky. But that’s it. You know we don’t really ever see full-bodied apparitions right away or sometimes ever.
We can’t catch ghosts and put them in a ghost trap. We don’t use proton packs and use the streams to wrangle spirits.
Also we’re more discreet. When I do residential cases, I’m not in my team t-shirt or anything like that. We tend to dress like normal people in regular street clothes. This happens because we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. We do our investigations very privately because our clients may not want the neighborhood to know that they have a haunted house. Truly, we wouldn’t be walking around in flight suits and our equipment all hanging out unless we are someplace like Gettysburg where ghost hunting is a thing. But, none of us own flight suits. My team has t-shirts, but we don’t have official uniforms.
A Family History
I think most, if not all, Ghostbusters fans know by now that Dan Aykroyd has a family history of psychical researchers, parapsychology researchers, and paranormal researchers. His great-grandfather, Samuel Aykroyd, was interested in psychic research and psychic experiences. He regularly held seances in his home and he primarily worked with a medium named Walter Ashurst. So Samuel, Dan Aykroyd’s great-grandfather, had this keen interest in psychics being in touch with the other side. That interest went on to Maurice Aykroyd, who is Dan Aykroyd’s grandfather. They were owners of journals like the American Society for Psychical Research and other academic studies of the supernatural.
In fact, Dan’s father, Peter Aykroyd, wrote a book called,A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Seances, Mediums, Ghosts, and Ghostbusters. You can get it on Kindle for about ten dollars. If you want a paperback copy, you’re gonna be spending almost a hundred bucks right now. I’m guessing it’s because of the Ghostbusters name being so big right now. Everyone’s trying to scramble to get a copy of the book. I happened to find mine at a used bookstore. It’s a great book. Dan Aykroyd wrote the foreword for the book. So Dan took his family’s interest and family history and integrated elements of that into the Ghostbusters movies.
Zener Cards
So there’s a lot of things sprinkled throughout the movies that you know are exaggerations or embellishments, but they’re not complete fabrications. One of my favorites are the Zener cards. They are what you see in the beginning of the first Ghostbusters movie. Venkman, played by Bill Murray, is doing a test with Zener cards. This is based on testing ESP and intuition. But also, it’s like a probability game too. So people will do these tests and you can do them at home too. There’s actually worksheets available online where you can test your ESP, your intuition, and check off if you’re right or wrong. You don’t even need other people to do this. All you have to do is shuffle the cards and concentrate. I love these cards and they’re really good just to have fun with.
Witness Interviews
Another thing that is true uh you know when we’re in the first Ghostbusters movie is interviews with witnesses. In the movie, after the librarian sees the ghost and collapses on the sofa, Venkman is basically questioning her. By the way, I love how Venkman is the resident skeptic. Every team should have a skeptic. He’s asking the librarian if she has any family history of mental incompetence, history of drugs or alcohol, and more. This is actually very typical of what my team will ask our clients. We ask similar questions about a history of drugs and alcohol, and have they been diagnosed with anything psychologically. This is to get the full picture and the full story to try to debunk as much as possible.
We don’t want to involuntarily validate someone unnecessarily, so we’ll ask those kinds of questions because we really want to know what we’re working with here. Also, we don’t walk in right away believing the person now. We go in fully understanding that scary experience was very real to our clients, and what we’re there to do is to help them understand what that experience was. More often than not, it’s helping them understand that those footsteps they heard were squeaky floorboards.
Recording Everything & The Legal Stuff
Of course, we record everything. We got our camcorders, audio recorders and a full system surveillance setup. There is usually someone watching the cameras during investigations because we want to see everything that’s happening. We can’t be in multiple places at once. So those cameras help us record everything. By the way, in case you’re wondering, yes, we do have clients sign liability paperwork. They sign release forms and they sign contracts.
Another thing that is pretty true is how people react to seeing ghosts. For example, when the guys are seeing the ghost in the library for the first time, they’re like, “So what do we do?” That actually happens more often than you think on ghost hunts. Especially when you do have a skeptic who has an experience. We rarely say “Get her!” or “ Get them!” We don’t do that because more often than not we lose that connection.
The Tech
I wish I had an Egon Spengler on my team. The PKE meter, the gigameter, the goggles, proton packs, ghost traps…obviously none of them are real. Tny of the tech that we do have as ghost hunters is not made to detect ghosts. They’re made to detect something else.
Maybe the closest piece of equipment to reality is the PKE meter? You know a lot of paranormal investigators will compare to a K2 meter. What that does is it detects the levels of electromagnetic fields. This doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a ghost nearby. It just means that the EMF is high wherever we’re at. There is a common belief that high EMF or fluctuating EMF means there are spirits. My team measures the level of electromagnetic fields. If there is a high level of EMF, sometimes that does cause hallucinations or feelings of someone watching you. Many will assume right away that it’s a paranormal experience. But really you might just need to turn off a TV or a computer here and there.
So really, what we’re doing is we’re detecting changes in the environment. We don’t actually have equipment that can detect ghosts. We’re looking for changes in the environment and then seeing if there’s any correlation with paranormal experiences. For example, if someone sees a shadow in the hallway, then they hear a piece of equipment go off, we’ll make a note of it and try to debunk it first. We don’t have the fancy tech like they do in Ghostbusters that actually detect ghosts but we do have tech.
University Research Programs
Another part of Ghostbusters that is kind of true is that there are research programs within universities to study paranormal and parapsychological events. Duke University used to have a parapsychology unit within their psychology department, run by J.B. Rhine. Once Rhine left Duke, he actually took the parapsychology unit with him. Today, we have the Rhine Research Center and they’re still active to this day. they’re still going strong. There are people with scientific backgrounds who are exploring this. They’re doing experiments, and they’re publishing their work in peer-reviewed journals. Universities with parapsychology programs that are definitely not fabrication. If you want to study parapsychology in a university setting, more often than not, you’re going to have to go overseas.
I know the University of Edinburgh has parapsychology under the psychology department. There are even a few people who will get their master’s degrees or get some sort of certificates from these graduate programs in university. I actually know some folks who have PhDs. They’re not necessarily like parapsychology or in the paranormal but they use a paranormal emphasis in their studies. For example, I know someone with a PhD in psychology and she studied the psychological effects of EVP on people. That’s kind of a loophole you know some people will use to still study the paranormal and get that academic credibility.
Self-Promotion
Another thing in Ghostbusters that’s pretty legit is the commercials. Paranormal investigators are all about self-promotion because there are so many people in the paranormal community. You have to make yourself stand out sometimes if you want to get work. When I say “work”, I mean investigation opportunities. No one’s making money from this. We do take calls and we do take case submissions. I mentioned earlier my clients have to fill out a form and they have to sign paperwork. We do residential investigations, but you have to sign the paperwork and fill out the forms. We do this to prevent future legal issues.
Charging for Services
In Ghostbusters, they charge for their services. In the first movie, I think they quoted the hotel like five thousand dollars. If you charge in the paranormal community today, you are going to have a bad time. It’s very much frowned upon. you don’t charge to help people with their paranormal situations. From a legal standpoint, it’s really sketchy to charge because you can’t prove the existence of ghosts. Rule of thumb: you don’t charge. I don’t charge for investigations. The only areas where I make money from the paranormal are from my books, YouTube monetization, any sort of creator fund like on TikTok. I make the money but I would never charge a client for trying to help them with their haunting.
Poltergeist Activity
The paranormal events that happen to Dana, like the eggs popping and cooking on the counter top, are often associated with poltergeist-like activity. For me I look more poltergeist activity is coming from within like it’s an external response to something happening within. From the research I’ve done, poltergeist is similar to telekinesis and psychokinesis that’s out of control so it’s coming from the person, not a ghost.
There’s also residual hauntings but Ghostbusters doesn’t really cover them. Residual hauntings would be leftover energy that’s still “active”, like at the Battle of Gettysburg. For example, you see a ghost walk across the field at three o’clock every day but he doesn’t respond to you. He just walks across the field. More than likely that’s residual. If the spirit acknowledges you answers your questions, then we would classify that as an intelligent haunting or conscious haunting.
Possession
The possession aspect with Zuul and Zephyr, the key and the gatekeeper, well…I’m on the fence about possession. But, it is a well-discussed topic in the paranormal field. It’s a lighthearted take on possession. I actually don’t know if I really believe in demons anyway. That’s a whole other conversation for another time. The way that the movie depicts possession is fairly accurate to the beliefs behind the phenomenon.
Shape-Shifting
Let’s talk about shape-shifting. One of my favorite moments in the movie is when Ray chooses the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man as the form for Gozer. The whole reveal is brilliant. But shape-shifting entities aren’t original to the movie. In fact, it’s a hot topic in the paranormal community. Do we even know we’re dealing with ghosts? What if we’re dealing with inhuman or elemental spirits that are just shape-shifting? This is why we won’t ever prove the existence of ghosts, by the way. There’s so many theories and runarounds. Shape-shifting is a thing in the community too.
Ectoplasm
Another thing that’s in the movie, but very rare….ectoplasm. It’s a hot topic in the Ghostbusters movies. I don’t personally believe in ectoplasm; there are people who do. Ectoplasm was common during the Spiritualism movement because that gave some sort of tangible proof of communication. It was physical “proof” that there was paranormal activity. But usually, ectoplasm ends up being cheesecloth that the medium would regurgitate from their mouth. Gross.
That’s my breakdown on ghost hunting versus Ghostbusters. Now you know the true story behind this famous franchise.
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In September 2021, I made some waves on social media with the following statement:
Hate to break it to y'all, but most ghost stories, lore, and legends are whitewashed, straightwashed, and Christianwashed.
After I published a TikTok video about trauma and the paranormal, one of my followers suggested that I read Ghostland by Colin Dickey. I have to say, this is probably one of the most important books for any paranormal researcher and investigator to read.
I’ll do a full book review on my team’s website, Association of Paranormal Study once I complete it. I wish I hadn’t sat on this book for so long. It came out in 2016, and yet, I never heard of it until a beloved follower suggested it to me.
Anatomy of a Ghost Story
Ghost stories have always been a point of interest for us as humans, even more so if they’re based on truth. There’s something about the creepiness of the unknown that not only gives us a thrill, but offers some sort of security blanket that it will never happen to us…or could it? This feeling is very similar to being a true crime fan. Like…it couldn’t happen, but it could. I think that’s the heart of the paranormal community. These events seem so unreal, but there’s an element of truth to them.
The anatomy of ghost stories, local legends, and lore, has always fascinated me. Ghost stories can tell so much about our history and legacy as a society. The fact that marginalized groups are so often left out of this narrative is very telling. These groups are often treated as the other when they are included in narratives. This is especially true for TV shows. The trope of “ancient Indian burial grounds” comes to mind. Dickey also goes into this in Ghostland as well as in an interview for the podcast, The Q Files. It’s worth a listen. Another is, “They were practicing witchcraft.” And finally, “These two men who lived together for decades were best friends and roommates.” Okay, sure.
The first two points are often used to explain an angry or aggressive haunting. Instead of pointing the responsibility in how these marginalized groups were treated by society, blame is placed on the aggressor. I’ve often noticed that these groups are often lumped into the “evil” haunting or even a demonic haunting.
Ghost Story as Escapism
According to the BBC article, The secret meaning of ghost stories, “Women were contributing around 70% of ghost stories to magazines in the 19th Century.” Ghost stories were a way for women to break against society as well as challenge conventional gender norms of the time. Why mention this? I think it could give us a clue on how ghost stories have evolved over time. But how consciously aware of it are we?
Our bias can also provide us a way of escape, even if we’re not consciously aware of it. As we continue this journey, keep bias in mind. Consider how it has shaped paranormal experiences and ghost stories of real places.
Paul Patterson, Ph.D noted that the earliest ghost stories date back to Ancient Rome. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ve heard me talk about the story of Athenodorus. I’ve mentioned the story a few times in my books as well. Patterson mentions that in these early years, the ghosts were just…there. They aren’t harming anyone and really, they’re only tied to unfinished business, like a botched burial. Then, Patterson continues to say that as history entered into the late 18th century, ghost stories became quite dark and aggressive, heralding the genre of gothic fiction.
The Made Up Ghost Story
It’s hard to face the fact that most ghost stories are made up. Throughout history, humans have been conditioned to try to fill in the blanks when it comes to things we don’t understand. As we continue to gain more understanding in various fields of sciences, those mysterious ghost stories we grew up with are now becoming more explainable. Those footsteps you hear from behind you? Floorboards readjusting. The Salem Witch Trials? No witches involved, except for Tituba, who studied root work. Just a corrupt Puritan community hungry for land and power and potential ergot poisoning as the catalyst.
It is from the lack of understanding is where we see who is (or was) the dominant social group of the time. In Ghostland, Colin Dickey recounts the neighborhood of Shockcoe Bottom in Richmond, Virginia. The particular neighborhood has lots of bars and restaurants, filled with ghosts that are predominantly white. However, just down the block, slaves were bought at sold as well as imprisoned. With so much trauma that occurred in one area, why are the ghosts reported as predominantly white?
Dickey made a brilliant point about the neighborhood’s white tourism and the burying of such a horrific chapter of its history. He says “For those who would rather not revisit those days, the city’s ghost lore makes it easy, turning our attention to murdered gunsmiths and fabled prostitutes” (Dickey 117).
Historical Context
In 2014, I wrote a book called, The Haunted Actor: An Exploration of Supernatural Belief Through Theatre. The book was primarily based on my research into paranormal belief as shown through plays and musicals throughout history. From my analysis, I was able to get context on the belief of spirits for a play’s respective time period. For example, exploring the idea of a ghost’s identity was analyzed with Hamlet. The perspective of witchcraft and sorcery during the Elizabethan era can be found in plays like Macbeth, The Tempest, Doctor Faustus, etc.
Through historical texts like plays, sonnets, poems, etc. we truly get a glimpse into paranormal beliefs of that era. However, we’re seeing it through the eyes of the dominant group of that time period. Silence was meted out to those that didn’t have fame or couldn’t read or write.
In my blog, A Different Kind of Therapy: Processing Trauma with Ghost Hunting, I talk about how modern day paranormal investigators and researchers use the paranormal as a way to process trauma. That could be personal trauma, or facing the trauma that is history, especially in the United States.
An Ignored Group
Another point that Dickey makes is the fact that dominant ethnic group often controls the narrative, even when they don’t mean to. A slave, for instance, was not allowed to read or write. This meant that they weren’t able to record their stories; whether that be personal experiences, family history, cultural ghost stories, etc. By the time former slaves were dying off in the 1930’s, the federal government put forth the WPA project recording slave narratives. Thanks to oral tradition, they were able to save many of these stories, but not all of them. There are millions of stories that we will never learn about because the people who knew them are no longer with us.
Also, the dominant group has better control over the narrative of marginalized people. This is especially true in places like Myrtles Plantation and Monticello. Dickey, for instance, tells about sightings of Jefferson’s ghost and how he is regarded as benevolent. Given the dynamic of Jefferson’s problematic personal life (specifically Sally Hemmings) and the fact he enslaved over 600 people in his life, how is it that there isn’t much discussion when it comes to hauntings by slaves?
Another potent example is the La Llorona, also known as the weeping woman. It is often mentioned to me by friends and followers of Latin American descent how the legend is whitewashed, especially in Hollywood. Now, it seems the white woman in Victorian dress dominates the narrative instead of its originator.
The Role of Bias
I realize hardcore believers in the paranormal may say it’s because they moved on. But how do we actually know this? While I’m a skeptical believer in ghosts and paranormal, I also know that we can’t actually prove any of this. Also, we don’t ever really know who or what we’re talking to. So, how can one confidently say that they’re communicating with the spirit of Thomas Jefferson? Why does one assume that if they see a shadow in the wine cellar, it’s that of a murdered white gunsmith? These questions especially puzzle me when the experiences don’t line up with the history.
The impact of the area’s turbulent past on residual hauntings may clarify things a bit if we take that into account. But then again, that also exposes the glaring inaccuracies of record keeping and reports of paranormal experiences. I know that many of these ghost stories were made up for entertainment purposes, and to make a location seem more exciting.
Bias in True Encounters
Several of the stories are also true, so it’s important to recognize that. I find it fascinating to see how they are interpreted by people of different genders, races, religions, and sexual identities. Depending on who you talk to, reactions and interpretations are vastly different.
Since this is the case, will we ever be able to truly identify spirits? Are ghost stories simply a way to process trauma and make difficult topics easier to digest?
I’ll be honest, I truly noticed the role of bias coming through when I work with mediums. If I know them well, it’s even easier for me to spot it. Is this a bad thing? I’m not sure. What I do know is that psychic mediums, empaths, and intuitives can change the dynamic of an investigation from positive to “demons are coming” in a matter of minutes. Being aware of not only our own bias, but the bias of others can help maintain some accountability.
Moving Forward as Paranormal Investigators
I believe, as paranormal investigators and researchers become more aware of their bias, it will help maintain an open mind. Honestly, we will never find tangible proof for spirits. At this stage of my life, I’ve accepted that the paranormal is a personal journey for everyone, much like religion. That personal journey is based on our bias. These biases come from our upbringing, trauma, family dynamic, the list goes on.
I’ve noticed that the more effective and knowledgeable paranormal investigators, psychic mediums, witches, etc. are ones who are self-aware of these biases. Instead of jumping to conclusions, they look at all possibilities and don’t immediately assume that they know the spirit they are talking to. In full transparency, this is something I’m working on for myself.
