Finding A Logical Conclusion for the Paranormal Case
Never force facts to suit personal belief, bias or opinion. We all have opinions that are deeply influenced by our personal belief. Religion, learned bias, and more can skew our perception of events and information we receive. As a paranormal investigator you basically have to forget everything that could compromise the data. No case is ever the same and no data is ever as clear as you would hope.
Do interviews to collect personal experiences and eye witness accounts. Personal experiences and eye witness accounts are usually the reason for us to be investigating a location and as such they are very valuable for our investigations (and case files). Remember that while you are there to soothe the client, you aren't there necessarily to give false hope that their experience was paranormal. Some personal experiences can be recreated and explained, this includes our own personal experiences. Sometimes the assumption that something is paranormal is simply because of a misinterpretation of natural events. Not every investigation yields a paranormal conclusion and you have to prepare your client for that possibility.
Research the history of the property, geology of the land, and individuals that are associated. If you've got one shot, make it count. Many investigators have differing opinions about whether to do historical research before or after an investigation because of the potential to have a bias for certain information that you may be receiving. For example you know that Joe Smith owned the house and was an interesting character. Maybe he shot someone, pushed his wife down the stairs, or was just very eccentric. Some investigators feel knowing this information may make them more susceptible to hearing a male voice, his name, or any associated terms. While this is possible I personally feel if you have one shot at the investigation have a group that knows the history and can use the information (Use it after generic questions if you don't get responses.) and another group that has no information. Don't miss out on the possibility of triggering a response with information that is easily collected prior to the investigation. Additionally all of this information could help you create a conclusion, if the location is in fact exhibiting paranormal activity, of the why or how. Making these correlations to history, geology, or a person who lived in the location is amazing.
Attempt to recreate or debunk personal experiences and research any information given during interviews to find supporting documentation. Unfortunately perceptions can be skewed when you are afraid or not really paying attention, and this can make personal experiences extremely subjective. You never want to go into a location set to debunk everything and tell the client that it's never paranormal, but you also don't want to go into a location with the mindset that everything that the client experienced is paranormal. A lot of experiences can be recreated or explained. Attempting to find logical explanations are an important aspect of any investigation and the methods you use should be just as important. I always recommend documenting with video to review for later. This recreating also includes for any experiences during the investigation. You don't live in the location and in a lot of cases you may have never been there before so you have to learn it's characteristics. Additionally if a client or interviewee gives you information about the history, always, always, back that up with documentation. Stories tend to end up like a game of telephone and don't always come out the way they really happened.
Document everything. In this day and age there are so many ways for us to document things that it should be second nature for a paranormal investigator. Use paper, pen, digital voice recorders, video, and anything else you can. I personally feel there is never too much information you can track. Know where the investigators and any other guests are at any time, know where pets are, temperature, EMF, take pictures of the rooms to know where items are, keep track of visual responses on equipment verbally and visually, document time and experiences on audio, and whatever else that feels right to you. All of this information helps you analyze your data and gives you a clean, uncontaminated conclusion.
Gather extensive data on the entire property when investigating. Check and double check all results. While you may be prone to only investigating one spot, you know the spot where the client saw a shadow? Don't do that. Investigate and collect data EVERYWHERE. Spirits hide. When you analyze your data use multiple perceptions so that you have a stronger conclusion on what an EVP is saying or whether the data is compromised. You can't just wish that it's paranormal, you have to make sure that the findings are without a doubt clean and will stand up to scrutiny.
Like a good detective or investigator, go back to any location to do additional investigations when possible. There are going to be many cases where you can only go to a location once. Not necessarily because they won't let you come back but because you may not be able to afford it. Pay to play locations are expensive. But on the off chance that the location is only giving one shot, make sure you have all your ducks in a row before you investigate. If you can go back, do so repeatedly. Conclusions that the spirits are residual, I find, are in locations that were only investigated once. If we had investigated Odd Fellows only once or twice I may have had the same conclusion. The spirits there are slow to warm up to people and as such would give you the impression that they are not intelligent spirits. Over the past 6 years we have undoubtedly communicated with quite a few spirits there. Another reason to go back to a location is to test your theories or conclusions, and even to try to recreate or debunk them. Car lights through windows, bad camera angles, or ambient sounds on audio; can all seem like potential evidence.
Be prepared for any outcome. I always ask my clients their goals for us investigating their home or business so that we know up from what they want from the investigation. An unfortunate truth is that we don't always gather any findings that validate their experiences or support that they have paranormal activity in their location. It is important to not push for or guarantee a certain outcome. Clients are emotionally and mentally invested in the outcome of your investigation, so always mention the disclaimer that no outcome is guaranteed.
Creating the conclusion for a paranormal case is more difficult than placing a label on the type of paranormal phenomena that it is exhibiting on first glance. When we do our final conclusion we take every investigators perception into account, the data that supports our perception or analysis, and what will actually help the client. In almost every case a second investigation or more is required to adequately form a conclusion for the client and the case file.
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