20+ Years as a Paranormal Investigator

[Fitznow2026]

My wife and I belong to a dedicated team of paranormal investigators. While my wife and I have been into this hobby for over 20 years, we've been in this particular group just over 5 years.

We have a psychic and 2 empaths on the team, who have proven themselves time and again over the years. We also utilize a host of equipment.

We are all of like-mind and go into each investigation with a healthy dose of skepticism- attempting to debunk all experiences we encounter. It's when we aren't able to find logical explanations that we get excited that a piece of evidence is indeed paranormal. We love the process and we love exploring locations.

We book sessions at famous locations, as well as assist residential homes when called upon.

I'm curious as to the experiences of the members of this forum.
What's your thoughts on the paranormal? Ghosts? Investigating?

Thanks, everyone!

 

[KjEno186]

I've read Patrick Harpur's Daimonic Reality, Colin Wilson's Beyond the Occult, and Guy Playfair's The Indefinite Boundary. That being said, I have no recollections of actual experience with paranormal manifestations like ghosts. I even worked in an old house that was converted to a business for a couple of years that supposedly had a ghost. It was a pleasant place to be, but that was at a time in my life when I was quite a rationalist-materialist in my way of perceiving the world.

 

[A.Nox]

Genuine question — are you collecting experiences for a YouTube channel, podcast, book, blog, or any other project? No issue if you are, but people tend to be much more open when they know how their stories might be used.

A little transparency usually gets better responses than a general request for experiences.

 

[Fitznow2026]

Genuine question — are you collecting experiences for a YouTube channel, podcast, book, blog, or any other project? No issue if you are, but people tend to be much more open when they know how their stories might be used.

A little transparency usually gets better responses than a general request for experiences.

No, this is purely a pursuit of the big question: what comes after this? We aren't seeking any media. It's a hobby... good times with good people. Thankfully, all of the team (8 total) feels the same.
Excellent question. Thanks.

 

[Digiquo]

You say "paranormal investigators". What does that term mean to you, specifically?
I only ask because there is a gigantic wealth of occult concepts that can produce supernatural results, but "paranormal investigator", at least in my mind, conjures up images of ghost hunters and scenes from 'Poltergeist' for me, and perhaps more modernly 'The Conjuring' which in many ways is based on true events (the first film anyways).
I've never known anyone who calls themselves a "paranormal investigator" to dabble with anything of the occult that didn't specifically involve ghosts or spirits, I guess is what I'm trying to say. And the latter of those there are many individuals on this forum who regularly commune with such entities through ceremonial magic and other esoteric methods.

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To answer your question about my experiences though: I utilize magic to assist me in accomplishing my goals. I think the modern term is Chaos Magic, which essentially says "if it feels right, it is right". In practice for me, that's a combination of focused meditation, visualization, and abstinence from pleasures and luxuries for periods of time to fuel a magical intention, and eventually it comes my way. Very simple, and quite effective.
My only "definitive" (definitive being used loosely here) experience with spirits were a couple of terrifying moments as a child. I've had other experiences, but too much of those can be blamed on drugs or fever to say one way or another.

 

[HoldAll]

Do you want to become a paranormal investigator?

Not the kind who relies on gadgets, the kind who uses real magick. You’d go to haunted places and work your magick on site. A lot of the time, things happen so fast you won’t even have time to cast a circle or start a full ritual before something kicks off. But you’d learn something from every...

wizardforums.com

 

[FireBorn]

I always wanted to accompany some paranormal investigators somewhere. I’d be genuinely curious to compare what I pick up through discernment/trance against whatever their equipment records. Then if something is there, try to contact it, or see what the fuck it is for myself. No running, no screaming at it, no commanding or any of that other stuff. Just genuine contact.

I wonder why the biggest deal seems to be measuring, rather than contacting. I mean not everyone is going to 'see' or feel something, but to me the real juice is in the contact itself.

I wont be so bold as to dismiss all of those investigations, and I admit some of my skepticism comes from bullshit I saw on tv a decade ago. I guess thats why I want to go experience it with them myself. Note, I did not say I would auto trust some other occultist either. This topic, like working with demons, angels, and deities is very subjective, but that doesnt make it any less real, or interesting.

I’ve seen what I would call ghosts walking around outside my cabin in the past, but I’ve had far more encounters with parasites, shadow people, mimics, demons, angels, and deities than ghosts. So obviously, I’m no expert on the human dead/ghost side of things. We have a few members here who work in the necromantic current who are way more well versed on that subject than I am.

One thing I wonder about is how many things people label as “ghosts” may actually be something else: parasitic entities, mimics, land spirits, thoughtforms, demons, or other beings acting in ways people interpret through a ghost framework.

Question: Do you as an investigator have methods for discerning between a human dead/ghost, a parasite, a mimic, a demon, or something else entirely? Is that distinction something your team actively considers, or do you mostly classify based on the type of evidence and activity observed?

I’d be interested to hear your experience with that if you’re willing to share.

 

[Keldan]

Question: Do you as an investigator have methods for discerning between a human dead/ghost, a parasite, a mimic, a demon, or something else entirely? Is that distinction something your team actively considers, or do you mostly classify based on the type of evidence and activity observed?

I honestly can’t take an investigator seriously when they show up with a bunch of equipment and a whole team. To me, a genuine investigator works alone and relies on psychic senses only rather than gadgets. If I brought anything at all, it would be herbs for spellwork.

The real juice is not the contact. Contact is the easiest part. You don’t have to travel anywhere to make contact, you can do it from home, in whatever room you feel like doing it. The only time going on site really matters is when you need the full context of the location. You have to speak to the spirit there to understand the backstory of the location and why they are there in that place in the first place.

A lot of what people label as “ghosts” is just paranoia. A genuine practitioner will refuse those cases because they already know what the problem is. Other times, it’s ancestors who haven’t crossed over and need help moving on. Occasionally, it’s a situation where someone has been doing banishings month after month and nothing changes, those are the cases you’ll want to help when someone else couldn’t resolve it. And very, very rarely, you’ll be dealing with a real spirit.

I talked about my method of discernment awhile back in a different thread, and it’s because I work with so many different types of spirits over the years. If it’s a spirit, I can tell what type they are, and of course no equipment needed. The “evidence” people bring is garbage, it’s usually what they think will help the case, but it doesn’t actually help.