Ransburg, CA

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I’ve posted. What happened to 2016? Where did it go? What happened IN 2016? Well, lets see…life and yeah politics happened. Yup. Pretty busy. But what has always keeps me from leaving my daily life and living in a cave is investigating our beloved spirit world. Somehow, what floats above us keeps me grounded. Something I’ve just now realized, I’ve done a few investigations last year, but for some reason I didn’t post anything about them. Hummm, that is very curious.

I will say though, that it feels like the paranormal world has become quieter. Last year, investigations were sort of uneventful in a strange way. They were fun, great people, new sites, and there were some experiences, but it just didn’t feel right, or it didn’t feel the same. Something has changed and I can’t put my finger on it. Locations once very active were now dead silent. Why is that?  Is it possible for locations to become over saturated with investigations/investigator? Are the spirits sick of us? Should we leave them alone for a while?

Or is it us? [Insert dramatic ‘bum, bum, bum” music here]

Me! 2012 Ready to investigate!

Do you remember when you were a fresh, new ghost hunter? Starting out with a new, or a seasoned team? Think about how you felt, how your body vibrated with excitement. Could that be what is now lacking?  We are now the experienced investigator. Perhaps our bodies are no longer sending that astral signal of “hey, I am a glowing beacon, come see what this light is all about”.  Perhaps like a moth to a flame spirits were more drawn to us with our body buzzing with electric pulse. Something we couldn’t control or know we were even doing at the time. Some sort of fresh, and uninhibited, un-jaded, indicator (kind of like a child’s purity) that was curious to the spirits. So maybe our weathered experience has not really made things impossible, but maybe a little more difficult. How do we regain our childlike excitement?

Do we need to change our investigation style? Is what we’ve done in the past no longer working?  Perhaps we should add more tangible, less technical techniques, like music, or written words? Would it be easier for them, on them, if they could read instead of trying to hear us through the barrier that separates our world from theirs? Or the vibration of the music being played in the room can be felt or hearing the music of their time with us is an enjoyable reminder. Worthy enough for them to express themselves to us. Or maybe it’s not US, but our tools?

This really says it all! Doesn’t it?

I’ve spoken about this with fellow investigators, and we reminisced about the good-old-days. When things were simple and more exciting. Not because of the investigation or the scary location, but simply because we get to figure stuff out!!!  Search for answers to long awaited questions about the spirit world.  Investigations were about using our wit and ingenuity and curiosity. And lately it seems to be about gadgets, and phone apps, and odd trigger objects. We’ve all done it (and still do). Lets mix it up! Lets try everything, and anything, and see what sticks! And it used to. Right? Those things worked, right? Or maybe they never did.  Maybe we were so caught up in the new, best thing, and hoped it worked, when really it wasn’t. To be completely honest, our best investigations where when we were curious of our surroundings, and listening to the building, feeling the space around us. Not watching our gadgets for red dots that supposedly appear when a spirit in attendance.

Me, years ago, after a long investigation. Exhausted, hair a mess, bags under my eyes but still smiling!

We were more creative with our EVP sessions. The questions asked were more thought out based on how the space around us was responding. Not how our equipment would alert us with blinking lights and whirling sounds. Other investigators and I have wondered, could all this ghost hunting technology be causing this lack of spirit response, disrupting the spirit world, not really inviting it?  In our talks (over many dinners and margaritas. Best discussions are always over chips and salsa), one thought is the equipment is sending out so much interference into the environment, that it’s not pleasing for a spirit to come forth and visit.   Or maybe they just want to talk to us. Our energy, our aura, our being simply in their space.  Simple, little, human, us.

For those of you that have been at this a LOOOOOONG time, do you remember the days of sitting quietly, no phones or fancy toys lighting up the room, (totally ruining your night vision)? Remember when you were in tune with your surrounding, with your own body? Remember the way your body would react, hairs stand on end, that buzzing in your ears, not alarms going off on your iPhone sitting in your lap? It’s so distracting and we don’t even realize it. We can’t be connected to the space when we are constantly watching a device. We can’t be connected to our own bodies, which is an amazing tool if you use it!

I miss those days. Don’t you? So I am going to try a new-old approach. Go old school! Just me, my colleges, our intuition, our inquisitive problem solving intellect (and of course our video and voice recorders).  And just BE.  Be one with the space, with our teammates, with us. Remember, spirits have been around forever. They have been visiting us without the help of technology. Maybe we are over thinking it?  Maybe it’s more primitive than we think.

I’d love to hear the best methods that work for you and your team. Please share! We can only grow and learn when others share our experiences in this field.