You Always Expect the Spanish Inquisition

 If you go to a haunted location you expect to see the paranormal.

What drives us to seek evidence of the paranormal?

Is it to find proof that after we leave this mortal coil a part of us still remains? Is it to debunk its existence? Or is it to find solace that our loved ones have passed through the veil and are reunited with family and friends who have already passed on?

Whether you are Team Believer of Team Sceptic the seeking of evidence or explanation to the unexplained is required to assert your view.

The difficulty surrounding investigations into the paranormal is that it is not tangible. There are only theories that spirits can interact with Rem-Pods, can move a planchette on a Ouija board or having a full spectrum camera can capture the disembodied spirt on film. These theories are then ‘debunked’ by the sceptic as errant UHF signals providing misreadings, micromotor reactions in the sitter’s fingers passing messages or pareidolia – your brain making order out of a fuzzy shadow.

What makes this fragile evidence so much more difficult to frame as substantive is the amount of fraud utilised in claims of contact with the paranormal. This is occasionally deliberate fraud to boost TV ratings or financial reward, but often we defraud ourselves through our expectations.

For example you pay money to attend a professionally organised ghost hunt, at a location that has a reputation for being haunted. If you are from the Team Believer camp, your expectation is that during one of the many experiments you will find concrete proof that you have somehow made contact with a paranormal entity. On the other side of the coin, the member of Team Sceptic will expect to be able to wholly disprove, debunk and make claims of a natural, logical explanation as to what has caused the occurrence.

Our expectation in these situations is often an unconscious bias based on our beliefs, experience and known information that can transform and manifest itself into a desire of validation – and render any evidence obtained inadmissible.

So how do we avoid the impact of expectation during investigations? It is easy to say we journey into the unknown with an open mind and a Vulcan-like appreciation of emotions. But this is never the case. The evidence gained is always subjective, based on emotions and influenced by what we want to see or experience and is presented in a way so as to demonstrate our expectations to others.

Guides on paranormal investigations appear to always suggest never to investigate alone, never to investigate when you are feeling unwell or depressed and never to investigate whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The rationale for this is often presented as a cautionary tale for the investigator who may unwittingly stumble into a demonic possession. However if you break down the advice practically:

-              Never investigate alone – always have someone to bounce ideas off of or corroborate the phenomena. An increase in the number of people witnessing the same event adds credibility and removes the subjectivity of the account. This could go further as always take a sceptic with you (or at least someone with a polarising expectation) as this would minimise the contamination of the evidence by your expectation.

-              Never investigate when unwell/depressed – your senses are affected, your expectations become a desire or a cure. You are less likely to take steps to provide a rational explanation and will settle that your expectations have been met.

-              Never investigate whilst intoxicated – investigating whilst drunk or high throws any evidence gained straight in the bin. It is unreliable, your perceptions are skewed and you are more likely to follow the path of your expectations than not.

Clinton Baptiste is getting a word...

 A clear example of how a person’s expectations can influence their experience is that of a public Clairvoyant Event. The stereotypical view of a middle aged, softly spoken psychic asking leading questions of a large group of people before zeroing down on one member of the audience is only part of this story. These events are often ridiculed by the sceptic community and feature in many Parapsychology course with titles such as Psychic Fraud. The reason for this is the expectations of the audience. Generally you will attend one of these events because you expect that one of your departed loved ones will cross over the vail to give you a message of support or that they are ok in the afterlife. Because you expect this to happen you are more likely to respond to the claims made by the psychic:

“I am getting a woman” – My mother was a woman

“She has a name that begins with a C or an S” – my mother was called Connie

“But that was not her real name” – no she was actually called Coniferous

“She had problems with her abdomen” – yes and then some indication to her chest

“She had breathing problems.” -  Yes she stopped breathing when she died.

“She wants you to know that she is with her family and is looking out for you” – That’s good I was worried she would be burning in the fiery pits of hell.

This is not to say that all Clairvoyants are frauds but the sceptics view that you take a group of people, all suffering loss and having the same expectations of contacting their dead relatives it is more likely than not if this is your expectation you will be sucked into the performance and your expectations will be met if there is time as when you buy a ticket you want to get your monies worth.

So Golden Ticket in hand – or at least an email confirmation of my booking - I found myself driving towards the unknown, following my Sat Nav to my first investigation and to Tonbridge Castle in Kent.

There is no I in Team… but there is in P.I.G.S

From a crossroad you must take one path to move forward. 

The choice as I saw it was either to be like Batman – dressed in black, broody and solitary or as Nick Fury did – assemble a team of the mightiest heroes.

I looked at other famous investigators,

Richard Estep – works with a team

Zach Bagans – works with team

Brad and Barry Klinge – born as a team

Most Haunted – are a team

 The Warrens – married as a team

Scooby Doo – had a team and the Mystery Machine

 The conclusion was simple ASSEMBLE!!! - And also Batman eventually worked in several teams.

Having checked my email and not finding any with ‘Lonely paranormal investigators are looking for you in your area” in the subject line, I thought I better start with finding a group who already had the equipment, were open for business and had somewhere haunted to look at. The obviously solution would be a ghost hunt, and after working out what I wanted from this experience I set about trawling page after page of exciting offer.

There are many companies that organise events at famously haunted locations for the public to assist them on an investigation for a price. I will discuss the problem of monetisation of the paranormal in a future post. I wanted somewhere local, someone trustworthy and with a proven track record of investigation over theatrics.

Like Mary Poppins answering the Banks’ children’s wish I found 4 letters – P.I.G.S - which now stands for Paranormal Information Gathering Service but when they were founded in 2006, after 3 ex-police officers discovered they had a shared interest in the paranormal, it meant Paranormal Investigation Group Sussex. A group started by coppers who know how to investigate the normal (and the sense of humour to call themselves the PIGS) ticked the box to find out more. As I scoured their site I saw how they conducted their experiments, that they looked for rationale answers before calling ‘ghost’ and named their teams using the NATO phonetic alphabet.

The offer of a night in a local haunted fort castle was what I went for, I paid my money and now all I needed to do was wait…

Force Ghosts

It’s a dark misty morning, the full moon slowly merges from behind a cloud as a low rumble of thunder angrily vibrates the air after the explosive flash of lightning forking through the pre-dawn sky. Slowly a violin plays a sombre, mournful melody – adding to the tense atmosphere  - as your view pans to the lonely house on a hill, set next to the jagged outline of a graveyard. A car crunches up the gravel driveway the sound louder due to the silence of the thunder. The brake light illuminate and the engine is silenced. The driver opens his door, alights, and walks toward the cavernous portal that is the front door of the house. Opening the door with a squeak he walks in and…

If this were a horror film this is how the birth of a paranormal investigator would be presented. In fact the start of this journey starts with a question – “Have you listened to Uncanny?”

www.dannyrobins.com/podcasts

The first thing I have learned is that podcasts are a thing. The second was that I can get them on my phone. The third (and Mrs James will no doubt look smug) is that I don’t actually mind wireless headphones. If faced with that question again I can now answer “Yes, have you listened to The Battersea Poltergeist or the Witch Farm or his earlier one Haunted?”

So yes I have now listened to Uncanny and I am now definitely a Danny Robins fan. 

To catch you up

-           -  a podcast is an audio recorded programme about a topic or topics of interest

-           -  you can listen to a podcast through a podcast provider like BBC Sounds or a podcast catcher like  Spotify

-           -  wireless headphones are pretty convenient – especially if they charge magically when you leave them with your wife.

Danny Robins in Uncanny takes a paranormal case and views it from both the believer and sceptical perspectives, assisted by guests. He presents the case with quality production values (Thank you BBC) that immerses you for 30 minutes into the story. The only criticism I have is that supply has outweighed demand and having completed it I needed more.

A quick search of ‘Paranormal’ in my Podcasts app led me to The Dark Paranormal and We Need to Talk About Ghosts, both coming ‘Live from Liverpool’ and presented by Kevin Eustace. Both telling the real life ghostly encounters of his audience, the latter being more light-hearted and conversational including Kevin’s partner, Becca, and the Neighbours Cat, where The Dark Paranormal is… dark. 

Having already known what a book was, the next learning revolution was Kindle Unlimited. A book – but on my phone! Now I wouldn’t get those sideways looks that scream ‘Weirdo!’ when sat in public and they see the cover of a spooky book. This new superpower led me to grow my team of trusted advisors as I discovered the real life haunting experiences of Andrew Hopkins and the adventures of paranormal investigators Richard Estep, Chris Whitehouse and Peter Underwood. I will go into more details of my paranormal Yodas in later posts.

Lucas Arts

I discovered through their experiences how they conduct investigations, the tools of the trade, the pitfalls and traps and most importantly that the key quality for any paranormal investigator is patience. 

Having completed this research phase I encountered The Enfield Poltergeist, The Black Monk of Pontefract, the occupants of Shepton Mallet prison as well as many not so famous hauntings through normal people’s real life tales. I felt it was now time to suit up and get out there and actually investigate something supernatural.

They say to bury the body of a murderer at crossroads so that its spirit cannot find peace. However, having never murdered anyone. I found myself at a similar location - How do you actually, practically investigate ghost?

It Begins...

What happens when you die?

Do you join the choir invisible, descend the circles to Hades or just blink out of existence?

We can only know the answer when we have shuffled off this mortal coil and find ourselves wherever we end up. – so where do ghosts come into this?

From our earliest collective human memory there has been the normal and the paranormal. The real and the mystical. The atheist and the believer (whilst not forgetting the agnostic). Our ability to understand some of these phenomena has grown as we as a race have developed and improved our critical thinking and ability to examine. But there still remains much that we cannot comprehend.

We have all heard stories of hauntings and happenings. The phantom horsemen and hitchhikers, disembodied knocks and of course free-floating, full-torso, vaporous apparitions. Are these stories just something to be told around a campfire or to immerse yourself in in a dark cinema with a bucket of popcorn? Or is there some truth to these tales of the strange and wonderful? – When you die you can return as a ghost?

It would make sense, as science tells us that energy cannot be destroyed, only converted. And that is all we are – energy – electricity contained within a meat suit. Is this what our souls are? The final spark that leaves the shell behind like a hermit crab, moving on to hopefully a better existence.

But if we cannot move on, do we just remain to interrupt, assist or just plain terrify the living or is there something more ancient and sinister lurking in the shadows and under the bed? Or is it simply a yes to both?

I feel that I have to choose a camp. Am I Team Believer or Team Sceptic? Right now I think I can be both. I believe that ghosts are a possibility but I am sceptical of the evidence that supports that belief.

The supporting evidence is purely subjective and our brain and imagination are working against us. We are very good at making sense of chaos, pictures in the clouds or hooded monks in the shadows. We crave order and will naturally try to rationalise what we see and hear. This is called pareidolia and something I am sure will come up in future posts – mostly because it is difficult to say (and type). Our imagination can also latch on to what other people tell us they are feeling - much like the contagious yawn – if they say they are feeling colder then you are more likely to feel colder too.

Our brain can ally with our muscles to betray us as well, a well establish sceptical response to the Ouija Board is the ideomotor effect where the player non-consciously gives responses from the other side. But questions over the tools of the trade are nothing compared to the vast abundance of fakes, lies and special effects that plague this paranormal realm. Fraud and the paranormal is something we will look at later. 

So you have got this far and probably wondering “what’s the point?” 

In this blog I will be documenting my quest to obtain some evidence of spirit. Giving my personal account of experiences, looking at famous cases and giving my honest opinion of what I find on my way.

So now it is time to leave the Shire and start on the rough and potholed road – I just hope you have had second breakfast.