GHOST-PA™ Philosophy

Mission

"To provide help to people experiencing alleged paranormal activity, and attempt to recreate and objectively document those experiences to prove or disprove the theories of the cause of the activity."

GHOST-PA™ always attempts to find logical explanations for alleged paranormal activity. There are many natural and man-made things that can cause symptoms that mimic hauntings.

Secondary Mission: To continue to research new techniques and test new theories about how to investigate ghosts and hauntings. We believe there is still a lot to be learned in this field. The surface has barely been scratched. Our goal is to push the boundaries of current "Paranormal" knowledge to the limit, and beyond.

It's About People

We believe that paranormal activity is first and foremost a human experience. We believe the human experience of a paranormal event revolves around the human, not the event. Paranormal investigations should not be strictly about collecting evidence, although it is important. It all starts with people. We are interested in why someone is experiencing something, not just the how. After all, a place isn't haunted unless someone is experiencing it. The people involved are the key factor.

Theories

When you really study the history of human paranormal experiences you discover many theories, some of which are rarely talked about anymore. I believe that is due to to the tendency of some people to simply repeat what they've seen or heard on TV or in the media, without really taking the time to find out the real history for themselves.

Many websites and TV shows talk about "4 types of hauntings" - Intelligent, Residual, Inhuman, and Poltergeist. In fact there are many other types and subtypes of paranormal activity, including dopplegangers, crisis apparitions, stress apparitions, false arrivals / time slips, astral projections, haunted objects like ships, trains, etc., and animal spirit apparitions, to just name some. And there are just as many theories that try to explain them.

GHOST-PA realizes that we simply can't test every theory out there. However, we are open to testing any theory that we can, whether it's Parapsychological / Psi, Religion-based, Metaphysical, Physical Science, or even Quantum Physics theories like Parallel Universes and Zero Point Energy. We feel nothing should be out of bounds to test.

Debunking

Here is the definition of the word -"Debunk":

de•bunk
–verb (used with object) to expose or excoriate (a claim, assertion, sentiment, etc.) as being pretentious, false, or exaggerated: to debunk advertising slogans.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Origin: 1920–25, Americanism; de- + bunk2]
—Related forms
de·bunk·er, noun

—Synonyms disparage, ridicule, lampoon.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

GHOST-PA doesn't "debunk" claims of paranormal activity. To debunk someone's experience means you are ridiculing them. Why would we want to ridicule someone who has asked for our help? We do try to find rational, logical explanations for reported experiences. We just don't say we "debunk" them, because honestly, that's not very polite or professional.

So why do so many paranormal investigators say they "debunk" claims of activity? Again, it's simply people repeating what they hear or see without knowing what the word really means. They hear someone say it on TV, so they repeat it. My advise to other investigation groups - before you jump on the bandwagon, know what song is playing.

About "Evidence"

We don't collect evidence during an investigation, we collect data. We then analyze the data to see if there is any evidence captured. We don't like to say we are collecting evidence, because that's an assumption that there is evidence, and we try to be as objective as possible.

"You be the Judge"

GHOST-PA™ will only publish paranormal evidence that we can say without a doubt that we feel is authentic ghost / paranormal activity. We will never post a picture and say something like "Orb or dust - you be the judge". We feel that if you are not willing to back up your findings with conviction, then you should not be publishing them. This is one of biggest issues we have with many other paranormal groups. We feel it is irresponsible and damaging to the reputation of our field.

In the Dark

We don't believe it's necessary to always investigate in the dark, at night. Investigating in darkness or at night only makes sense if the reported activity you are investigating happens at night. It is our experience that many paranormal events happen during the day, or otherwise with the lights on. We feel there is no definitive reason to investigate in darkened rooms unless it makes sense to the investigation. Ghost hunting in the dark looks cool on TV, but it is not usually required in real investigations. GHOST-PA employs night vision technology for those times when it is required.

About Orb and Vortex Photos

GHOST-PA™ does not view any still photograph of an alleged orb or vortex as valid paranormal evidence. As such, we will not present any alleged orb photo as evidence of paranormal activity. Dust and camera straps are not ghosts, even if they are on the cover of well-known books about the paranormal.

An "orb" would have to be witnessed by at least 2 people, have correlating measureable data like EMF or temp changes, be caught on video emitting it's own light source, and probably hit me in the head, before we would consider it as potential evidence.

About EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon)

GHOST-PA™ will only publish alledged EVP's that fall into the "Class A" or "Class B" EVP category as used by the AAEVP. This is primarily because the classification has been commonly used in the field for many years, and it can offer somewhat relative comparisions to other EVP's captured by other investigators. It is not necessarily an endorsement of the AAEVP, although we do acknowledge all the research they have done in the field.

About Audio & Video "Enhancement"

Any paranormal audio, video, or photographic evidence that we capture will normally be published with no filtering or enhancements of any kind. If and when we find it necessary to perform enhancements, both the original source and the enhanced version may be presented for comparison.

GHOST-PA™ will publish specific details of the enhancement, including the software used, and the exact settings and parameters used.

Investigating Cemeteries and Other "Spooky" Places

We don't believe in performing "blind" investigations (i.e. not requested / no reports of activity). This type of ghost hunting, performed by many other groups, is more thrill-seeking than real investigation. We have investigated places like cemeteries, but the ones we investigate have long histories of paranormal activity reported. We only perform investigations for two reasons. One - If we are requested by someone that is experiencing suspected paranormal activity. Or two - A location has a long history / local legend attached to it, and we can gain legal access to put the legend to the test. We honestly don't have the time, inclination, or resources to just go around and "hunt" for ghosts in random places.