Why do people investigate the paranormal?

This is a question I am sure many people have asked themselves while sat in a cold, dark location either bored and wishing something would happen, often scared witless when something does happens or terrified in anticipation of something happening. Also this is something we, as Paranormal Investigators often get asked.The first answer I guess is simple. As human beings we are born with the ability and need to learn about the world around us and for some people this extends to wanting to learn about what can’t be easily seen or understood. Most people who get involved in paranormal study seem to start out with a need to find proof for themselves that there is life beyond our time on earth, sometimes due to incidents that raise the question, or bereavement or something as simple as watching a program about paranormal activity. Of course there is the other side of the coin which is some people get involved in this type of work because they do not believe and hope to disprove theories and beliefs. The presence of either is equally justified within a group as long as those investigating are willing to be sceptical when necessary and check out all possibility of rational explanation, and those who are totally sceptical are willing to accept when something can not be explained even if it means using the term “paranormal” in its true sense “unexplainable”.There is also another reason why people enjoy what appears to be a very uncomfortable and almost macabre activity and this is the need for excitement. Most people will admit to the fact that they enjoy the adrenalin rush that comes when excitement and fear clash. In recent years this has been known as “getting a buzz” out of something. This search for excitement leads people to many activities from going on roller coaster rides, to taking up dangerous sports and for some people spending nights in supposedly haunted locations waiting for the unknown to happen.And finally I feel there is the motivation of wanting to be part of something that could some day change the opinion of many people about the presence of spirit life around us. Ask most investigators to honestly say what motivates them and along with personal knowledge and the excitement will be the hope that one day they will be the ones who get the picture of a full manifestation that shocks the world or that they get the one bit of evidence that throws all logical theories out of the window.
How Can Our Minds Affect Paranormal Investigations?There are many ways in which our minds can influence and affect paranormal study. This is because the human psyche can influence the behaviors and perceptions of the people involved, and therefore on occasions, the findings of each investigation. In this section I will look at certain elements of the human mind and look at the impact these can have on us in this line of work, although obviously no-one could cover all areas in such a brief study.
Section One - The Effects of TirednessNearly all investigations take part over long hours and at night time. It has been proven that however a person sleeps during the day our bodies and minds will still tell us we’re tired at certain times during the night. Tiredness affects our senses and our emotions and this is where it can impact on investigations.
The SensesEyesightAs we get tired our senses become impaired. The muscles that control the eyes and make us able to focus become weaker when we are tired so we are more likely to see things that aren’t there or misconstrue what we do see. We have all at some time thought we have seen something “out of the corner” of our eye, when we are tired this is more probable and could account for many “sightings” of shadows, flashing lights and similar. Our eyes also take longer to adjust to changes of light when we are tired and this can lead to headaches. Therefore it is possible that the headaches people get that they put down to paranormal influences are in fact down to the eyes inability to adjust to the way we often go from being in torchlight to maybe full lighting to complete darkness etc.
HearingOur hearing can also be affected through tiredness. This can be down to it becoming more limited but also can be caused by the lessening ability of our eyesight. People who are blind often have a greater sense of hearing than those who are sighted. Even in the animal kingdom nocturnal animals have a much better sense of hearing because they need to rely on this more in the dark than eyesight. Because our eyes don’t work so well in the dark we tend to hear better as our other senses make up for our limited sight. Sounds that are totally natural but we don’t hear normally can suddenly be heard by us and therefore there is a possibility that we may consider them paranormal. Also there is the risk that sounds will seem much louder in these conditions and therefore a sound from some distance away can appear to be very close by.

SmellAgain our sense of smell can increase as our other senses decrease. Also while sitting quietly expecting something to happen we become more aware of the environment around us and pick up on things we may not have previously noticed. In our day to day life we are often too busy taking in all the information sent to our brains to notice the subtle sounds and scents, take away the eyesight and other influences and we are bound to pick up on those scents/sounds that previously would have gone unnoticed. When we are setting up for an investigation we are continually busy working out the layout of the building and discussing the positioning of cameras etc. There is much talking and many things to see and think about. It is very easy at this time to ignore or not even notice smells and sounds. Our ignorance to these can lead to misleading evidence when the investigation begins.
MemoryAs we get tired our ability to concentrate decreases, many of us would have discovered that when trying to drive a car or operate machinery when we haven’t had proper rest. Along with a lack of concentration comes a decrease in our ability to remember things as precisely as we normally do. The problem this raises for investigations is as follows. Much of what we report on in investigations relies on the memory of the people involved. We rely on people remembering their experiences precisely in order to get a true record of events and in order to compare them with the experiences of others. Time can appear to go more quickly or slowly in a location and yet it is important that people remember the time and order of events so we may again compare them with the experiences of others at that time, or be able to check where other group members were at that point to rule out any of them as possible causes for sounds/sightings etc.
EmotionsMost of us know that as we get more tired our emotions can sometimes take over making us react to things in a totally different way to how we normally would. This can lead us to become more frightened at small incidents, become downhearted or even slightly hysterical producing laughter or tears. The difficulty this causes is that it becomes difficult to determine whether person’s reactions in a particular place are down to paranormal influences or our own emotional state. Our emotions before an investigation are often a little heightened anyway, whether through nervousness, excitement or fear the added impact of tiredness can often lead people to behave in a way that could be described as “out of character” taking these other logical factors into consideration is essential before putting these behaviors down to paranormal causes.
Section Two – The Influence of OthersThe best known example of this is the phenomenon we know as “mass hysteria”. This phenomenon is well evidenced in the confusion and hysteria that resulted from the release of the radio broadcast of Orson Wells’ “War of the Worlds”. Although very improbable the belief of a few that we were indeed being attacked by aliens spread to a vast number of American citizens and confusion and chaos ensued. The fear of a minority began to influence a much larger number of people. In this way we have to be careful in investigations that fear does not become contagious and make some members of the group feel emotions they would not usually feel. However, there is another side to this theory. Sometimes our natural instinct to protect those around us who we are close to as family, friend or colleague can lead us to overcome our own fears. Parents have been known to put themselves in danger to protect their children and people have forgotten fear as they fight off intruders or possible attackers. In a much less serious example people with a fear of spiders will remove them from their home if their children are afraid and only afterwards realise what they have done. So sometimes the fears of others will infact make us braver. Laughter of course is also contagious and can also lead people to feel that something paranormal is happening. Again it is important to consider this when members of the group start to have fits of laughter at the same time, especially taking into consideration the effects of tiredness.

Section Three – The EnvironmentThe environment (location we are investigating) also has a huge part in the way our mind works before and during an investigation. There are a few ways in which this can impact on us.
Preconceived IdeasThe more we know about the location we are due to investigate the more chance there is that our expectations will be altered. For example, if we go into a building where we know people have been murdered, hung etc we are more likely to expect to feel an oppressive atmosphere or let our imaginations convince us that we feel this. If a group has been told a woman in Victorian clothing has been seen this could lead us to imagine we have seen the same or at least lead us to look out for this maybe missing other things around us. This can also influence the way we feel physically and emotionally. If a group is told that in a particular room of a building people feel sick or dizzy, there is a risk that the expectation of this will actually lead people to take on these symptoms, the same applies to emotional states.
The Type of BuildingAs mentioned before the events that have occurred in a building can influence how we feel. If a group goes into a building that used to be a prison for example, they will to some degree expect to feel certain types of emotion, if they visit an old hospital there is the possibility that some members of the group may expect to feel physical symptoms and this could lead to them truly feeling these. Where murderers have been known to have stayed people expect negative energies or even to see or feel the evil person. This can make fear worse or again make people believe they are seeing or feeling things that in truth they are not. This is not to say of course that at the time any of these feelings, physical or emotional, are not very real to the person involved. It is not an effort to mislead or be untruthful. The question is about the possible causes of these feelings not about the honesty of the person reporting them.
The WeatherThe weather on the night of an investigation can impact on how we feel and therefore on what we report and the way we perceive things. If we are very cold, for example, we tend to feel more tired and sometimes more uncomfortable therefore affecting our emotions which can then affect the way we see and feel things. One thing people often look out for when investigating is a drop in temperature, this is very difficult to prove as paranormal when the temperature itself is very cold or the building has draughts. Thunderstorms are often used in horror films and the like as a way of adding to the atmosphere. This link between thunderstorms and the paranormal can make us more likely to expect things to happen if we are investigating during a storm; the same can also be said of the influence of moon phases, with many people believing that the best time to investigate is during a full moon. This increase in expectation can make people imagine more or make them less willing to look for logical explanation in the events that do happen. Returning to the subject of the Thunderstorm, there are natural changes that occur during a storm that can affect the environment around us and the way we ourselves feel. Many people get headaches or get very tired during a storm and the humidity and EMFs’ in the area can on occasions be affected. It is very important that this be considered when carrying out an investigation under these conditions.

Orbs,spirit essence or dust particles?

Whenever we look at reports from investigations the word “orb” is one of the most widely used. But what is an “orb” ? In its true sense it is a circle of light, however we tend to use the word to describe moving lights caught on camcorder and unexplainable lights caught on digital camera, basically any light source that cannot be explained. Therefore maybe the term “light anomaly” would be more appropriate. So, what are the theories about these strange lights? I would like to start by saying that were I to discuss all the theories at this time this report would turn in to a trilogy therefore I will attempt to give a basic outline of this vast subject.
The Believers TheoriesFor many who believe in spirit a light anomaly is thought to be the early manifestation of a spirit, the early stages of it trying to show itself if you like. They are also in some cases believed to be life forms that travel in groups and are believed to be the human soul or life force of those that once inhabited a physical body here on earth. By some, it is also believed that ghosts prefer the form of an Orb (ball of light) because it takes less energy than full manifestation, moving objects etc.It is considered possible that small orbs take up the least amount of energy and apparitions and other fuller shapes take up the most. It is thought that more small light anomalies are caught on camera in the warmer months as in the colder parts of the year ghosts find it easier to take on shapes other than orbs. The thinking behind this is that in the colder months there is the most static electricity in the atmosphere which spirit can use to help them manifest or show themselves in different ways.
The Theories AgainstIt has been proven that certain logical reasons can explain some light anomalies caught on camera. The best known of course is dust. Dust is 3 dimensional and therefore able to reflect light. At the right angle, a camera flash or infra-red light will bounce off a dust particle and create an “orb” effect. Insects too can create this result as can spiders webs. When you consider that much investigating is done in old buildings there is usually a fair amount of dust and insect activity. Moisture in the air can also create “orbs”. On a recent photograph we captured what appeared to be thousands of orbs, however, when we got a similar result at a later date a common factor was noted, the air was full of moisture with a light mist. Another thing to bear in mind is how light can reflect off a camera lens. On some photographs what are initially thought to be light anomalies are discovered to be nothing more exciting than the flash bouncing off a surface. When using camcorders it is important to note that one camcorder will pick up infra-red glare off another even though this is not visible to the human eye, this can cause the effect of strange lights on the screen.
Where does this leave us ?As investigators this leaves us with an obvious problem, when do we consider “orbs” to be paranormal. As a group we all have our own thoughts on this however there are some things on which we all agree. If we have been in a room for some time and no light anomalies have been caught and then, with no environmental changes, we have “orbs” appear we feel it is unlikely to be dust as if dust was in the area it would be fair to suggest that it would be picked up regularly in that area. We have studied dust particles caught on camera and they are usually very hazy and move in no set direction therefore when we get very bright lights that move virtually in a straight line horizontally or vertically we tend to rule out dust or indeed insects This also goes for certain orbs we get on camcorder that actually flash as they move across the screen. Insects tend to be easy to distinguish because on close inspection it is actually possible to see the wings, also the flight pattern of an insect is easily recognisable. Of most excitement to us is the light anomaly that seems to go one way across the screen and then return following the same vertical or horizontal line, this would be impossible for an insect or dust particle.Another example of when investigators get particularly excited by orbs is when they seem to appear on request. Many groups, including ours, have had instances where for a long period of time no light anomalies have been caught, and then, seemingly in response to a request for a sign, an orb is captured on film. For some, this will be seen as coincidence, for others proof that it is a sign from spirit that they are there with us.
As with most paranormal topics the light anomaly issue is one which may never be fully explained. We can find many situations where “orbs” can be disproved as in any way linked to spirit, however proving those times when they may be is almost impossible. What would it take to answer the question for once and for all? I guess we won’t know that until it happens if indeed it ever does.