Antietam Paranormal Society

In the world of paranormal investigation, residential paranormal investigations are possibly the hardest and most rewarding. While not every team does residential paranormal investigations, it is a good idea for every team to know what you are up against if you decide to take on the investigation of someone's home. Above all remember that you as the investigator get to go home and put their case out of your mind, they live there and it is a safe space for them. Don't make their situation worse! Here are somethings that I like to make sure people understand and think about prior to diving into an investigation. Do you have the time? People experiencing paranormal phenomena in their home can be terrified, especially if they have children. Be prepared to have messages in your inbox, texts, and phone calls all hours of the day and night. While we may understand a few things about what may or may not be paranormal, they look to you for answers even at 3 AM. If you can't commit ...

  CODE OF ETHICS AND PROTOCOLS FOR THE PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR AND RESEARCHER PREFACE: A paranormal investigator’s (the “researcher”) goal is to obtain objective and detailed data to support or invalidate paranormal phenomena. Researcher’s maintain that the process of cases involving paranormal phenomena include personal property, historic significance, religious interests, opposing opinion, and public image. In reaching the goal of objective and detailed data the researcher has certain obligations to the client, the paranormal research community, their team, and their own individual character. The researcher should consider their work to include other avenues outside the paranormal case which include; education, community outreach/ service, continuing education, and public inclusion. The following Code of Ethics outlines the principles and protocols researcher should maintain; during the paranormal case, in social settings, and beyond. These principles include integrity, r...

There is only so much information you can gather from a potential client through phone calls and  emails, so it can be really important to do a pre-investigation walk through a week to a few days before the investigation itself. While it isn't always possible to schedule a walk through, it is a great way to be fully prepared the day of the investigation. If you can't do it in advance of the investigation day, use this guide on the day of to do a walk through when you arrive. As with every step and stage of the pre-investigation process make sure that you are only gathering information and not offering any type of conclusions for the client. While you may have a hunch of what may be happening it is easy for the client to misinterpret your communications or even for the case to switch directions when new information comes to light. During the walk through make sure you present yourself and your team in a professional manner, the client is looking to you for help and I am sure the...

Are you having paranormal phenomena in your home or business? Are you wanting to find a team to investigate your property? It can be a huge leap when deciding to ask some strangers to enter your private space and to share the unusual experiences you may be having, but I created this blog specifically for you. Remember one thing, you are not alone. I have had many potential clients reach out with the age old "you are going to think I am crazy" but rest assured, we have heard it all before. This blog will give you the tools to decide what team will be the best fit for you and even how to approach your case. Each step, stage, question, and guideline on this list is there to keep you safe, assuage your fears, and potentially find you answers.  FINDING A TEAM TO INTERVIEW There are THOUSANDS of paranormal teams all over the globe, so it should be easy to Google teams in your area. Here are a few simple details to look for: *Find a team with a website that is transparent. They shar...

I am going to start this particular blog with a bit of a warning, because this may not be your cup of tea. The opinions, thoughts, theories, and views in this blog have been developed by years of observation, experimentation, first hand accounts, and case studies. While you may not agree or even subscribe to the information within this blog, there are many that do agree and fully accept these philosophical theories. This blog is informational, however it should never replace the educated opinion of a medical professional. Please contact a medical professional if you are experiencing any mental or physical illness. SPIRIT ATTACHMENT If you have been interested in the paranormal for any length of time or you have watched paranormal television you are aware of the potential of spirit attachment. If you have seen one of the most popular and probably controversial paranormal television shows, you'd know that lead investigator is always getting possessed. But what if I told you that thro...

It is a truth universally acknowledged (in the paranormal) that if we had indisputable evidence of the paranormal, well it wouldn't be paranormal would it? The tug of the skeptic and the believer is probably never going to go away, but I find myself still wondering what words to use to both sides of the argument. They say the burden of proof is on the claimant, however that works both ways to say it exists or doesn't. I have personally been a paranormal investigator for over 15 years and in that time I have seen so many changes in the paranormal field and a lot of them in myself. I used to be grounded in logic and fact, this was what we were searching for wasn't it? Proof that spirits or ghosts, or the paranormal exist? Even if the proof was to myself, I find that over the years my purview of everything has shifted. While I still seek logic and facts, there is another facet to my research. In the early days if you had asked me I would have said that the things that go bump ...

One of the first unspoken rules with ghost hunting or paranormal investigation is to always obtain permission to access a property. This statement and ethical line brings up a host of other concerns about exploiting locations with purported paranormal activity. When it comes down to it, there are too many people who lack the moral obligation to obtain permission to access or explore these properties. If we look at the situation from a broader view to include others who have no interest in the paranormal, this isn't just an ethical line for a questionable field of study, trespassing on property is a criminal act. They don't see it as a passion for the study of paranormal phenomena, they see it as a nuisance and potentially harmful. The epidemic of accessing locations without gaining permission doesn't just involve the physical presence for paranormal investigation or ghost hunting, it also includes urban exploration and sharing these locations publicly for self-interest. Let...

Anyone who has done their research knows the premise of the Stone Tape Theory is that certain rock or stone has retained or captured an energy or memory of some event from the past that will replay like a tape recording. These experiences have also been labeled as residual hauntings as if the energy of the event has been left or absorbed into certain objects or places. These spirits or ghosts have been seen or experienced by multiple witnesses to be doing the same actions completely unaware of people or objects in their vicinity. They have also noted some of these spirits or ghosts do not follow the layout of the current structure but follow a different route that some speculate could have been a former layout or structure in the past. Recently I came across a note from a Facebook follower asking how my team or myself viewed the Stone Tape Theory and whether we had any experiences or data that demonstrated the validity of the theory. While I cannot refute those who have hypothesized th...

One of the most important parts of any paranormal investigation is revisiting an area for the purpose of attempting to debunk paranormal claims. During the initial stages of our investigations we do interviews with the client and others who have experienced paranormal phenomena in the location. These interviews will involve a predetermined list of questions we always use, then we build on them as we get more information. In most cases we get more detailed information regarding what is occurring in the location and we use this information to try to debunk the experiences. While some may say that by attempting to debunk the claims, we may seem like we don't believe the client, but that is the furthest from the truth. When you are a investigator or researcher, you are attempting to find the truth to any situation and in most cases the simplest explanation is the right one. If we can debunk the claim, it means that we can assuage the fears of the client for that experience and it may c...