Responsibility in Ghosthunting

by: The Haunted NC/Seven Team

Although people and groups involved with ghosts and the paranormal consist of everything from the hobby ghost hunter armed only with a camera and a desire for something spooky, to the true dedicated researcher, there is one thing they should all have in common - Responsibility.

One of the most obvious factors in this is trespassing on private property. All too often we receive emails or read web sites that have encouraged this by their own actions (i.e. stating how they climbed fences, or ignored no trespassing signs or warnings in order to 'ghost hunt'), and worse we have seen people post directions to clearly private property with no prior permission to do so, and openly encourage large groups of people to visit these places.

While this kind of behavior certainly makes the perpetrator look immature, it is also a poor reflection on those that pursue this in a more professional manner. It is difficult for a more reputable organization to obtain access to a location that has already been the victim of would be ghosthunters who break the rules in a destructive manner, and often these locations have already been the victim of vandalism as well.

People…come on. If a place is clearly marked private or not accessible in some way you DO NOT BELONG THERE without prior permission! And it would not only serve you right to get a ticket, you can also land in jail if prosecuted. What floors us even more is that some people will repeatedly return to a clearly non-welcoming location even when they've been told to leave before. We have begin to wonder sometime if some people are simply that dense in the thinking department. Or perhaps it is a misplaced sense of self-entitlement that allows them to think that only THEY are important and THEIR cause is more important than a property owner's posted signs or direct requests.

Since we cannot stop these actions when conducted by others, what can we as reputable and professional oriented teams or individuals do? Our best bet is to be very careful that we take full responsibility for our actions. Permission should be obtained from the owner or if in a location that is not clearly private, respect requests to leave regardless of who makes the request. If it's that important for you to be there, you can go home and find out who's in charge and get permission from that person or organization. When in a location, we can take extra care to do no damage, leave no trash and better yet - leave it a little better than we found it. Take the time to meet and talk with people in charge, the owners or local law enforcement. Explain what you do and why you are doing it. Respect the requests to have information withheld if you are asked. If you are serious about contributing to this field, then you are serious about your research work. And that means it should be about the WORK not about your desire to look cool, so to speak. If you're in this to look 'cool' or hang with your buddies, find another hobby.

What about other responsibilities? One is maintaining confidence when asked. The volume of information in our files that is absolutely NOT available to anyone else is high. It is because we can and do maintain this confidence that we are still able to continue this work. Many times someone contacting you is unsure of what is going on, how or if it can be resolved and who can best help them. They may NOT want anyone to know for any number of reasons - personal (what will people think? Am I crazy? Will it affect the price of my house if I sell or affect my business if public?) or otherwise. Not everyone wants his or her information plastered all over the Internet, and today that's where most of it goes. Again, if it's about the work then these requests should not be a problem. If they are, perhaps it is better to confine yourself to places that do not put any restrictions on what you publish.

Another factor is RESPONSIBILITY in your methods. There are standard protocols for every activity you can perform on an investigation, from photography and audio/video recording to keeping detailed logs. Learn them by heart and live by them. These protocols exist for a very important reason. Since we don't operate out of laboratories, these protocols are our only means of "sanitizing" the observed environment (any evidence collected, no matter how good, is considered "contaminated" if the protocols were not followed). Often they are the ONLY things that defend this field of research against its numerous attackers. One of the most frequent arguments used by our critics is that what we do is not "true" scientific research. We can vouch that our group firmly stands behind and practices the scientific method. Lets not prove our critics right by being sloppy with our methods or being too quick to proclaim proof of our findings.

While we're on the topic of methodology, we should address one very important distinction. Paranormal research does involve the study of psychic phenomena, and in that regard intuition and "feelings" can be useful tools on an investigation. Often when deciding where to set up recording equipment, if no better indicators exist, we will go on "hunches" or "gut feelings" as to whether to set up in room A as opposed to room B. HOWEVER, these "feelings" are not scientifically valid and do not in ANY WAY constitute EVIDENCE! Think of your intuition as the headlights on a car, they can help you see where you are going, but they won't get you there by themselves.

Overall, it is very much up to the hobby ghost hunter and serious paranormal researcher alike to act in a responsible manner. The ability to wave an infrared thermometer around does NOT equal instant status as a paranormal researcher. It is unfortunate that too many self-proclaimed ghosthunters are out there NOT behaving or gathering data in an responsible manner, and equally unfortunate that these activities put a damper on the credibility of organizations that ARE working in serious hopes of contributing something useful to this field. While the hobbyist to the professional may have useful information to further the information available in the field of paranormal activity, it is up to each individual and each organization to begin showing those not involved with this field that it IS a serious field through our own actions and methods.