Most paranormal investigators, myself included, pride themselves on the fact that they incorporate rational thinking into paranormal. It is almost a staple that every investigator needs. In reality, a lot of what happens is not paranormal. It is our job as investigators to separate the natural occurrences to things that we cannot explain. Recent events have made me question this practice a bit lately and has caused me to ask myself the question … am I spending too much time debunking, rationalising and overthinking and not enjoying the experience that is potentially in front of me?
We all got into this business for a reason. Usually we are hooked from our first investigation. Why is that? For me it was because I had experiences that told my gut that I was not alone. I am not talking about flashing lights on a dodgy ghost pro (because there was a lot of that happening too. It is impressive when you are a first timer, but you soon learn!) I am talking about the things I could see and the things I could feel. It was a feeling that was familiar but maybe at the time had not known what it was. For me it was absolute confirmation for myself that I felt something was out there and I had to get to the bottom of it and get some answers.
When I had these feelings, I didn’t question them. I was a bit scared, a bit confused but I never questioned them. As I have evolved as an investigator, I rarely embrace this feeling as much any more for a couple of reasons. The first is that I am normally running a tour for other people. I can’t stand there and not be on my game. It is about them for those 2 hours and not about me. The other reason is that now I do apply a more rational mind set to it. For example, if I have a headache that comes out of nowhere I think well am I wearing my glasses? (I am long sighted and while I don’t need glasses to see, I regularly need them when I am tired to avoid headaches, hence why on a lot of occasions you see me investigating with glasses.) Am I stressed because I have a tour coming up? Is it a cold night? I guess you can see where I am going with this.
The same approach is happening with equipment. The best example I can give to you is the REM Pod. We have used REM Pods on investigations for 2 years solid and never had a response. Lately at Black Rock House in one particular room, almost every investigation we have been getting REM Pod activity. Instead of reflecting and thinking wow this is great, we have been spending our spare time trying to debunk it. To the point where we leave the REM Pod’s running at home for hours on end to see what happens when the battery starts to go flat, or is it just going on randomly, are there certain circumstances (besides using a walkie talkie) that can set it off. Our mind set has been after the investigation has been oh it must just be faulty (even though for hours on end at home it doesn’t go off once). While I guess this is what makes an investigator, are there times where we should also enjoy it for what it is?
I think we can all get a bit serious sometimes. Particularly on Facebook. Sometimes it is like you can’t even have a bit of fun with something because someone may get offended. Paranormal discussions in particular can become quite serious and people become protective and think that everyone should be adopting their style or their way. I myself and pretty serious a lot of the time too. Why? I take what I do seriously as it isn’t a joke to me, but I also know how to have a bit of fun. Anyone who has investigated with me will know this. I don’t think this makes me a bad investigator. I know how to be serious when I need to be.
I am actually a little excited because the next investigation I am attending is as a customer. I am not going to take any equipment. I am not running the tour. I am a customer. I am not going to sit there trying to debunk everything (well maybe in my mind I might a little because I won’t be able to help myself), but my main goal is to go in there and just enjoy it. Take myself back to my first investigation. Embrace the darkness and just listen and watch. What am I feeling? What am I seeing? What am I hearing? I don’t have to prove it to anyone. I don’t have to put a video up on Facebook afterwards. I don’t even have to blog about it (although you know me …). I want to enjoy it. I think we all need a bit of this sometimes. Yes go out there and get great evidence and be really serious about your data and being rational and all that, but sometimes, you are allowed to just let go and enjoy yourself too! It doesn’t make you a bad investigator!
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