What's not a Ghost?

Despite what is shown on television experienced ghost hunters know that 80% of homes, places etc. that are reported as being haunted are not. 

The television industry demands shows be entertaining so it is understandable why they don’t show the real side of ghost hunting. 

But in the real world it is important for people interested in ghost hunting to know the real statistics and use a process of elimination before they pronounce a place haunted.

Ghost hunting teams need to be sure a place is really haunted, before they pronounce it as haunted. The worst disservice they can do to themselves and their clients is to make this kind of mistake. 

It can ruin the groups' reputation and sometimes harm the client.

My team addresses this issue by the following. We actually do not pronounce places haunted, we instead give the evidence, if any, we find to our clients and let them draw their own conclusions. 

This way allows them to decide for themselves based upon their beliefs and values as opposed to ours.

Keep in mind that just because something out of the ordinary is happening does not mean it is paranormal in nature. 

Remember only 20% or less of what is encountered is truly paranormal. Finally, keep it simple—what I mean by this is the simplest explanations are often the best.

Here are a few suggestions on how to follow a process of elimination so the wrong conclusions are not drawn. 

Take a Carpenter Level to investigations, so if something moves on its own you can determine if the floor, table etc. is level or sloped. 

If the item that moved is lightweight make sure there wasn’t a draft that moved it. Also make sure none of your team was in the room at the time. Sometimes things move because they are bumped.

When you hear things, such as, footsteps during an investigation try to duplicate them before you make up your mind. 

For instance, my group heard very loud banging noises as we listened to an EVP recording, these noises occurred throughout the twenty-five minute recording. But what surprised us was we did not hear these sounds during the session, in fact, it was a quiet, peaceful night—no wind etc. 

But before we made up our minds we went back and tried to duplicate the sounds, we couldn’t. This made what we picked up on the recording even more interesting.

It is best to always check a place out during the day before you do a night investigation. You can spot natural causes better in daylight. 

For example, one of our clients complained of lights turning back on after she had turned them off and locked her store for the night. 

We found an old switch and frayed cords were the cause. It was easier to spot this in the daylight. 

If you find or experience something during an investigation you feel is paranormal always return to the site you investigated so you can check for other causes.

Happy Ghost Hunting!