My calling

[dyingenglish]

Sponsor Messages

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what i want to do with my life. I remember when i was a tot we had a career day at school. You think about what you wanted to do when you grew up and draw a picture of yourself doing said profession. Of course you got the typical responses you would expect from a class of first graders. Police officer, Doctor, Fireman, etc. My crazy self said "Paranormal Investigator". My picture of me was myself wearing a black coat standing outside of a spooky house holding a flashlight. Due to some family problems i stopped thinking about things like that and didn't think about it for quite some time. Now as a take a sabbatical from college life I've been spending some time reading up on a long time passion of mine; ghost stories, urban legends, folk tales, superstitions. I love reading up on the stuff. Without saying these old stories have re awoken a thirst inside me, a thirst to find the truth, to scour the unknown for signs of a life after death, for signs that there are things out there the human mind cannot comprehend. Dark, beautiful, amazing and horrible things. I want to be a paranormal investigator. I'm marking maps, researching previous cases, and recruiting some friends who share my love of the dark and unknown. I'm going to get a job and start saving everything i can to fund a sort of trip. Maybe I'll document it and post it here if i can. Wish me luck.

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When i wake up everything will be all right...

[D B Sweeney]

Very best of luck to you dyingenglish although I firmly believe to a large extent you make your own luck.

As a former 'investigator' myself the most informative and practical book I've recently read on the subject is:
Scientific Paranormal Investigation by Benjamin Radford

Keep us informed of your progress.

DB

[K2M]

I wish you the best of luck and hope you can find some answers in your quests. Just a warning before you start your journey, we tend to get very involved in the other side as we search. Once you open yourself up to the darkside you have to be prepared. As im sure you already know, entities can attach themselves to you as you investigate.

Be very careful, as you may find out things that you would have rather left alone. On the positive side, you may find out things about yourself that you never knew or understood in your younger life.

I feel as if you are a natural healer, and this is something you may want to work with. Try to stay on a positive note, and be very careful with the darkness. Dont look for trouble.

In my younger days i opened up to many cans of worms you could say. Now i pay the price for being ignorant about what i was doing. I am glad you are doing your research.

Something to remember, you wont get answers to all of your questions and this can drive you nuts at times. Make sure you always have your bubble of protection around you ( thats what i call it) protect your personal space, and make sure the others with you can do the same.

I have such a strong feeling that you will learn so much about yourself and this will be positive. You will help many in your life, and now is the time to find out what your gifts are. You are a born leader, if you know this or not. You will guide many in the right direction.

You must remember, helping others is very draining, take care of yourself, plenty of rest, eat good organic foods if at all possible. You will find a person inside yourself that you never imagined was there. Its your time to fly, enjoy this journey and please let us know how things are going.

There are many here that can help you with your personal protection. I can see you now, in your long black coat and flashlight and its very exciting......

[scarygirl67]

DE, I'm in my forties, and I just now started reaching for my dreams instead of just reading about what other people did. Now as far as a career...paranormal investigating is something that we who are on teams are researching and learning about every day. For me, it is not a career..it is an educational experience all the way. Because it is a field that is constantly changing, with new information being brought to light every day...most teams do not charge for their services.

The most important thing to do is read read and then read some more on what can cause things to appear paranormal. We are finding out more and more about people's reactions to high EMF's, as well as toxins and chemicals that a person might be unknowingly exposed to. Carbon monoxide leaks have caused people to hallucinate, become ill, and any number of symptoms that can make a person feel as though they are being attacked by something. Learn about infrasound, (very low frequency sound, between 1 and 20Hz (Hertz), which has been studied as a potential explainable cause for some hauntings. Here is some quick reading on that http://www.suite101.com/content/infrasou...ts-a114832

I am currently taking a course in basic photography and home safety so I can learn more about what shows up in pictures naturally (that appears paranormal) as well as things around the home that cause seemingly unexplained sounds. I recommend this highly as we need to know all things that can cause people to think they are experiencing paranormal. I am also learning about 'audio matrixing' or sounds that have an explainable cause but when heard through an audio device are matrixed by our mind to sound like a voice. That is why all sounds made (stomach rumbles, cars going by, chairs across the floor, anything) should be announced by the person while the session is being recorded.

There are of course considerations to be taken when speaking with a client initially. Make sure that the hard questions are asked, such as medications being taken and any illnesses to be considered. There are reactions to medications that can cause a person to believe they are experiencing paranormal as well as symptoms of certain illnesses.

I know you have read a lot here about the process of investigating, so you know that a lot of it involves tedious work of reviewing audio and video, often with little real results. The truly exciting part is researching the property because then even more causes can be examined. Toxicology reports should always be pulled as well as geological surveys, to see what connections there may be to high levels of poisons in the air or water as well as minerals underground that store energy. And of course, putting the pieces of the past together for the property itself as well as the surrounding area is an exciting part.

I don't know if I would think of it as a career choice..but it is definitely a calling that I am happy to have answered. I won't make money at it, and I won't get famous..but I may find the truth, and that is what makes all the work worthwhile.

Quite sorry to have rambled here..as you can tell, it is a subject I am very passionate about. I do wish you luck, DE!

[1TxLady]

My best wishes to you in your new venture and obviously and old calling. SG has some great advice....as usual.

[dyingenglish]

Thanks for the support guys. I'm not too concerned about being killed by the blair witch. I have a unique blend of insatiable curiosity combined with basic common sense. I'll go into the haunted house and investigate as long as i have to but when the wall's start to bleed that's my cue to runnoft. Though by then it may be too late...
I ain't going in half cocked either. If we do check a place out i want to know everything i can about the alleged hauntings, maybe be able to identify what kind of ghost it is before we even see if it is haunted. Even if the supposed apparition isn't "violent" it may turn that way just by our presence. That's why you bust out the charms and bring a shaman along for good measure. The latter, i am actually capable of doing. (remember kids, always have a shaman in your party when adventuring) I know to be careful not to bring anything home with me and negative emotions can "feed" a spirit. There are lots of things to consider but events in my life had led me to be less of a skeptic than i was a few years ago.

[UglyNRude]

Forget excitement. its boring and lots of hard work. Know when dealing with a client you or a member of your team will need to spend hours on the telephone asking them the same question in many ways. You do this to weed out thrill seekers or people making up a story to lure you in. Expect people to try and trick you and fake evidence. When you go in person to continue the interview you need to re ask the questions yet a different way. Still looking to see if what they initially reported are the same. If they pass these then you can start gathering more information. Start pulling toxicology reports for the area. look at maps to see how far a superfund site or factory is from a clients home. Then look to see if the toxins involved were neurotoxins and if they were waterborne or airborne. Airborne can travel thousands of miles. Waterborne can pollute an entire towns water supply or travel down a river or stream and be drank by a farmers cattle later to be put in your milk or foods you eat. See neurotoxins being produced? Well you may have discovered why a person is seeing things, or acting strange.

Then expect to do 40-120 hours in research of a location so you know everything before you set foot in a house. Find out if the home was original or replaced, see if the town or even county changed names over the years. Look for deaths surrounding the home, disasters, or other stories. This is the fun part of an investigation, where you actually enjoy it.

Now you go do the investigation, your constantly scanning the home for things out of place like large quantities of liquor bottles, or crack laying out next to bed. You set up all your cameras in strategic places to not only debunk what you do but to watch a client isn't doing things. You look for high emf in areas where they report fear or being watched. You test the toilet or pipes if they make claims of strange knocking noises. You study the neighborhood and its layout to see if the voices they hear could be from outside. You look the home over for molds, toxins stored in the home. look for quantities of prescription bottles, especially if the client tells you know one is on them. Find out about sleep disorders, what they do for a living, what chemicals or sounds they are exposed to at work. Looking for anything that may be causing them to experience their claims. You ask hundreds of questions to an unseen person in hopes you will get an answer.

You take hundreds of pictures that must be gone over with a fine tooth comb. Hours of videos must be looked at. If you think you captured something then you must tray and debunk yourself, look at the time and see if an investigator slid a chair or bumped into something. This is so boring but there isn't a fast way to do it. If you ran 5 video cameras for 4 hours you now have twenty hours of video to poor over, it may take thirty hours by the time you replay areas. You look at pictures, why did that picture look that way, you then look at the exif to see a flash didn't fire or someone had a wrong setting. Evidence review is more boring then the investigation.

Now lets look at equipment at least one GOOD digital recorder
A decent security system with large hard drive and at least 4 good cameras. A few sony video cameras with night shot. A good trifield meter, a few laptops with data loggers. Lots of flash lights, equipment cases to protect your equipment, lots of duct tape to secure wires. This is just the basic equipment some like to add carbon monoxide detectors, external probe thermometers, and on and on. Now how long will you use this equipment? You will need to change as the field does. More and more people are not talking pictures as so many false items show up.

Paranormal investigating isn't fun its really boring, doing hundreds of investigations to show a client a loose pipe, explain sleep paralysis, show them a superfund toxic site. Find fear cages, and on and on. Most teams last 1 to three years then get out of it. Others will fake evidence or almost as bad tell a client they are haunted because they don't know how to use a camera or meter. So if it still is a life dream go for it just remember if you have other teams near you you may be attacked and slandered because of the competition for placers to investigate.

[Ishamael]

(01-29-2011 04:17 PM)UglyNRude Wrote:  Forget excitement...

Well, aren't you a killjoy. Hahaha. I think it goes without saying that the job is going to be hard work. Who are you to say what is and isn't excitement for her? She is about to embark on another chapter of her life, delving into the unknown of a new hobby/career. THAT is exciting.

Ignore UnR, English. Sure, much of what he said would be good to take into account while you are in practice, but be excited for your new path. Especially in the beginning, excitement is what pulls you through any "boredom" and tedious work. It helps you develop rhythm, purpose, a sense of self-worth. All of these are integral to a career or path for anything in your life! Congrats!

[UglyNRude]

Some exciting moments from paranormal investigations.
A bat .... these are always exciting
A rat .... can catch you off guard as well especially if they jump on you.
A cat can surprise you especially when told they don't have pets.
A mannequin can catch you off guard if you missed it in pre investigation. I stumbled on a family of indians sitting around a campfire at moundsville prison. All not real but at night with out a light can can supply excitement for a few seconds.
A step up or down can cause excitement if its you missing it, the same can be said for a foot stool.

So are there some exciting moments yes.
I will add many people have quit during or after one investigation so I will recommend trying a few before you spend a bundle.

Oh and the two things I left off that is probably most important, an open mind and common sense.

[Ishamael]

I'm surprised there's been no, "Ishamael check profile genders before committing to a pronoun." My apologies, English. I do not have issues recognizing genders, just hard to see over the internet, and too lazy to check your profile, apparently.