Antietam Paranormal Society

You've just hung your shingle and you are ready to take on cases, but you don't know where to start. If you are reading this blog and you have never read any of my blogs, stop. Go to the main blog page and read the blogs that start with "The Paranormal Team Starter Checklist". There is information on how to get started, confidentiality and liability, sharing your team, finding and adding members, and important documents. I firmly believe that every team or individual that is taking on cases needs a good foundation and needs to be organized. Once you have gotten some field experience, your mission set, you have developed protocols, and you have put your team out there; you are ready to take on clients! (Disclaimer: Just because our "hobby" is considered a "hobby" doesn't mean you shouldn't take necessary protocols to protect yourself physically or legally. When you accept or take on a paranormal case, you are taking on the responsibility to ...

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...

I have been the Case Manager of Antietam Paranormal Society since its conception in 2008. I was instrumental in creating the foundation of our team and all the protocols for case management (and pretty much all the other formal guidelines for the team). In the early days I scoured the internet and books for how to investigate the paranormal, how to document the paranormal and more. I had no idea what to look for or what to document in those days, so I just created a document for pretty much everything. I will say that some how to books on paranormal investigation had a section that included some of the documents recommended for a paranormal case file, Troy Taylors Ghost Hunter's Guidebook was probably the best, but in all things you have to adapt them to your particular cases. These are a few of the documents that are used the most on our team, but there are a ton of others. We have kept track of all of these variables since we started private investigations in 2009. I have adapted...

One of the most asked questions we get is "What do you do?". While this question can be answered in many ways, we know that many people just want to know what we do on our investigations. I wrote up a description years ago that I shared on Facebook and this blog includes a lot of that information. Each paragraph represents a step, stage, or just a little tid bit of information about how Antietam Paranormal Society approaches investigations. While ghosts and spirits know no time, A.P.S. investigates during the evening and night hours. Our decision to do our investigations in this time is due to our members availability and the decreased contamination during the night hours. When we first arrive at a location we like to take the team on a walk through so that they have a good lay of the land so to speak. We are able to point out camera/ voice recorder locations and familiarize them with any hot spots or safety hazards. Once this is complete our members break off into teams: equ...

When starting your paranormal team you may already have a few individuals that help out with investigations, but at some point you may want to add more members. When adding new members or investigators take your time and make sure they are a good fit. Not everyone has your best interests at heart and sometimes instead of building the team, they will create chaos and drama. This can end in heartbreaking and destructive situations that either destroy your team or your reputation.  MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION There are many applications out there that you can get inspiration from to start a paper or on a free form site. think about the criteria you have for your team. What do you want your members to have to make your team efficient? APS has created a criteria through the years that forced us to create an application that is relatively detailed, it's like a job application. But consider this, you are responsible for the team, you have to make sure that everyone on the team is willing to ma...

If you are experiencing potential paranormal phenomena, start a journal. When you experience something you cannot explain write down the date, the time it occurred, how long it lasted, the area it occurred, detailed information on the experience, items that may have been involved, percipient(s) (individuals that experienced the phenomena and those who were in the location/home at the time), and any feelings that were present at the time. Taking the time to make notes such as these when the experience is fresh will allow you to go back at a later time and reevaluate the experience. Sometimes when you experience something you can't immediately explain, it causes fear and stress which can cloud your critical thinking. We have had many clients and individuals in the past that have been able to explain the occurrence with a natural event they had not considered at the time. Additionally if no immediate answer to what could have caused the the phenomena is discovered, it can help build a...

To be objective is to not be influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts. Cognitive bias is a systematic thought process caused by the tendency of the human brain to simplify information processing through a filter of personal experience and preferences. So what does that mean? Here are a few pieces of advice and information of real situations where objectivity may be compromised and cognitive bias enters the chat.... One of the first things that occurs with any paranormal case is that the paranormal investigator or team communicates with the client. During this period of time the client is interviewed, questions are asked and answered, and a lot of information is shared. In your first line of communication, you may have already had compromising information shared with you that can influence your investigation. I have always documented these interviews well and created a plan to validate the information. A client's personal experiences are impo...

Collaboration. The idea of working together for a specific goal. It seems like it would be a no brainer and would probably push the field further than by just doing it alone doesn't it? Well the main component of collaboration is bringing people together and in today's world that is a mean feat. There are a lot of components to consider when you collaborate with a free lance investigator or another paranormal team, you can't just jump into it with no forethought. First, not everyone has similar goals. While this is probably the excuse or example given by many either side of the debate, it is an important subject to ponder. If you are in the field of paranormal investigation simply to experience paranormal phenomena and you have no interest in documenting any variables, working with a team that does document everything may not be in your wheelhouse or in your best interest. Does the free lance investigator or team create documentaries or do lives? Not everyone is interested...

While I can't speak for others in the paranormal community, I can definitely say that creating a case file to reference for every location is extremely important. Each step and stage of the investigation brings with it experiences, knowledge, and data that in the end will help you form an educated opinion or theory. The hard core skeptics in the field will refuse to subscribe to much of the qualitative methods that are used by paranormal investigators, however at the end of the day if the client is comforted; you have done your job. Paranormal Investigation has not just been a hobby of mine, I consider it part of my life's work. I enjoy all aspects of paranormal research that give me insight into the unknown. I have created a comprehensive list of items that can be found in every case file for formal investigations*. Note: Each of these items will be expanded on in future blogs. Keep an eye out! INTERVIEW One of the first steps of any paranormal case is to interview the client....

Every paranormal investigation team has a way of approaching their investigations that allows them to determine a conclusion for their clients and even for their team. Sometimes it is easy for the case to become personal and as such investigator objectivity becomes questionable. At the end of the day a paranormal investigator is there to determine the validity of the claims and should always do what they can to find the facts. Here are a few tips to approaching a conclusion for any 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 wit...