Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Need a Paranormal Team? Here’s What to Look For…

Paranormal teams seem to be a dollar a dozen these days. So many have jumped on the bandwagon in hopes of getting their own paranormal reality TV show. So how do you know what investigation team is best for you?

1.) You will want to do some investigating of your own. There are certain things you need to watch for. Things that are not bad, however not a good idea to base your decision on. Don’t pick your team based on Facebook friends. Just because they have over 1,000 Facebook friends doesn’t mean that they are qualified. That just means that they stay busy making friend requests. Also, look for a team that shows experience, not based on how many team members. A team with 10 investigators shown in their group doesn’t mean they are qualified. What isn’t common public knowledge is that it doesn’t take a crew of members to investigate a home. It also doesn’t take thousands of dollars worth of equipment to verify a haunting. What you want to look for is a team who has experience and knowledge of the paranormal field. You don’t want a team that only has experience with haunted locations such as Mansfield Prison, Waverly Hills, Penn State Prison and other well-known locations. Look for experience in private home investigations. A qualified paranormal investigator has one on one experience with the public. Doing a public investigation at a place such as a prison and doing an investigation for a home owner is handled a bit different. The person must be people friendly and trust worthy. Also, if they have pictures of famous reality paranormal stars on their site, that doesn’t mean they are well known or qualified. Some groups put these on their sites to try and name drop or make a name for themselves.

2.) Some ways to protect your self and help determine who is a qualified group is to get testimonials. Ask the group you are interested in to provide testimonials or ask if you can be contacted someone they have investigated for. A well-qualified team will happily provide you with the information you need. Find out how long they have been investigating for. Where and how they became knowledgeable of the paranormal and what made them want to be an investigator.


3.) Many teams charge for their services and some do offer their services free of charge. Make sure to watch for the teams that do charge. Investigating is not an exact science and there is not always a way to prove the work that has been done. Some teams are out to make a quick buck and over charge for what they do. It does cost money to buy the equipment and travel so those that charge at a lower cost or request donations normally go toward gas and equipment costs. However that cost should not be high. Do some research and check out the options and cost for various teams.

4.) Groups who stake claim to libraries and other locations strictly giving presentations or seminars are normally just talkers and not doers. Make sure to research these groups if they have actually done investigations. If they talk about a location, make sure they have been to those locations and not just taking information from what they have read from others.


5.) Something else to watch for is Ghost Hunting classes that charge. Again paranormal investigations are not an exact science, therefore charging to learn about it is not respectable and certificates and/or licenses are not legally legitimate. Again, many accept some type of donations for these but paying a large fee for you to learn or get a certificate is not ethical.

The main thing to remember is when you choose a team to investigate with or investigate your home, choose wisely and do your research. There are many good teams out there and unfortunately some are not and give the good ones a bad name. Our group Western Reserve Paranormal has been a team for almost four years with combined experience of thirty years. We pride ourselves in how we handle investigations determined to help not only the haunted but those doing the haunting. We do not charge for our investigations or classes; however we do request donations for a local charity for our classes and donations for gas for investigations. We have investigated not only seminaries and prisons on public investigations but also local homes and have been successful in cleansing these homes when requested. To view comments that have been made, a guest book is located on our website. www.westernreserveparanormal.com