Investigation Techniques: Let's Communicate

It is a Saturday night at your favorite historic location and it's been hours with no responses. What now? Paranormal investigating and ghost hunting can be difficult if the spirits aren't interested or just aren't finding "connection". There are a few things that we have used through the years that have helped us get things moving.

USE HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Having a basic historical write up on the location with legitimate documentation can be extremely valuable when you are doing your sessions. One of our first steps in the paranormal case is to validate the information given to us by the client. They may state that someone hung themselves in the attic, but until we have proof it is just a story with no documentation to prove it. So jumping in with this information without documentation could be chasing your tail or you could create a tulpa. We usually do a basic timeline of property owners by searching deeds, surface level genealogy on the owners, and details about the location that link it to historic events. A lot of really great information can be found in newspaper archives, historical societies, and at the local court house. If you found documentation about something that happened in the past, you can always ask general questions to determine if you get a response. I don't recommend blurting the details out, but by asking questions in a round about way that may validate your responses. Using the history to form your questions is extremely valuable, just be careful how you formulate your questions and don't lead the team or the possible spirit in the wrong direction.

USE TRIGGER OBJECTS

Through the years we have collected a lot of really cool items to include in our "trigger" box. Dolls, miniature cars, balls, balloons, and other toys for kids. Miniature bottles of whiskey or bourbon, cigars, cigarettes, and nude cards (don't judge) for the discerning male. Confederate money, Civil War era cars, a military bible, and other Civil War items in case the location is linked to the Civil War or that era. Music, whistling, singing, targeted sounds for the history, and more can get reactions a lot of times. We used sounds of horses and chants in one location that immediately had a response. By offering these items during our sessions we a lot of times generate a connection with the spirits and in turn they begin to communicate with us.

LEAVE IT ALONE

If you are capable of having an investigation at a location where you have total control, try leaving your equipment alone. You would be surprised at how often we have responses in one area of a location that seems to correlate to what is happening in another. While this isn't going to be experienced first hand, it will still give you more potential of yielding results for a quiet investigation. If you do leave equipment "stationary" in one area make sure that you are tagging where everyone is at every moment and you should tag ambient or variable sounds that can be heard in that area (especially of your team in other areas that could carry to your equipment). Video and Audio can be contaminated very easily by rogue IR lights, car lights, flashlights, echoing voices, distorted sounds on low quality recorders, wandering investigators who don't say anything when they are near, or sounds carrying from other areas of the location. It is imperative for the quality and validity of your audio and video to make sure that you follow these types of protocols to legitimize your data. 

DON'T TALK

Use pre-recorded questions or cue cards during your sessions. Pre-recorded questions and cue cards can allow you to just silently absorb the environment and focus on the potential responses you may be getting. You can also leave the pre-recorded questions on a recorder or small device that is playing and leave the area. The same rules apply from above however about making sure to have a protocol to keep your data clean and limit the contamination.

JUST CHAT

Many years ago during an investigation at a Masonic Temple we were not getting any responses and we were at the point that we may have called the investigation or fell asleep. The team began discussing sex, religion, and life. An immediate shift to the dynamic of that investigation told us that we were on the right track to getting more responses than ever before. Spirits definitely enjoy interjecting their opinion or comments into our discussions. It's been an invaluable approach for many years.

DO A LITTLE THEATER

One of the funniest situations we have ever had was when we reenacted a doctor cutting off a leg at a Civil War Hospital location. (It was all acting, no one was harmed in this skit.) Even though that wasn't successful, we have experienced times where we act out a few scenarios and it has elicited a responses. Dress up, create a skit, or just ad lib something that may align with the history of the location.

GO ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS

Don't forget to begin recording during your walk through, set up, and baselines. The discussion you may have or just the interest they may have in what you are doing might be the thing that elicits a response with the spirits in the location. They may creep out and make a few comments that give you some insight later on about who may be in the location. During several of our investigations we have captured EVP before the actual investigation even started. They were fascinated with what we were doing.

GENDER SPECIFIC TEAMS

For as long as I have planned investigations we have separated into multiple teams. One team is all male and one team is all female. We have had three teams in the past but only rarely, this team was male and female. It is surprising at how often spirits would rather talk to one gender rather than another, or that they speak to one gender differently than another. Unfortunately lately we haven't had an even amount of males and females so we haven't been able to do it continuously but it still is a valuable technique.

INTRODUCE YOURSELF

While many people introduce themselves when they begin investigating, sometimes it is cool to take it one further. Create a flow to the conversation like you just met someone and you are making small talk. Introduce yourself and your friends. Talk about your life, likes and dislikes, your favorite color, your favorite foods, smells, etc. Interject with questions occasionally and allow for time between discussion topics to let them respond. 

It can be very interesting to note how different each location and spirit may be in regards to what gets them chatting. Sometimes there just aren't any spirits, but you never know until you try.

Rebecca Boyer

Co-Founder/ Case Manager

Antietam Paranormal Society