Thoughts and Prayers

Where next? I asked myself as I scrolled through the P.I.G.S website. My head was still running over the events at Tonbridge Castle. All the feelings, emotions and equipment; being in the castle after dark, the feeling of community – a group with a shared intention of proof of life after death.

But what did I find out on my first field investigation? Firstly it is bloody exciting when stuff happens. The cat ball illuminating before we had even begun felt like such an easy start. Secondly not all tools and equipment work for everyone, and thirdly I can understand how you can be swept up in what you are experiencing, disengaging rational thought because things are happening and control is needed to ground yourself.

It would be easy for an unscrupulous ghost hunting company to provide the experience, slight of hand, remote controls and host performance – not that I am accusing P.I.G.S of that at all, I spent my evening with a company where integrity and honesty were more important than faking for thrills. But in moving forward I must remember that a shared desire for a ghost to communicate is infectious and having an open mind is of utmost importance.

A key point during my investigation at Tonbridge Castle was when using the spirit board. Our team leader and myself were the only ones left on the planchette. In a demonstration of openness our leader rolled his finger over so the nail was on very lightly in contact with the wood whilst also looking away from the board. The planchette continued moving with no alterations to speed or direction, and knowing how lightly my own finger was in contact could only conclude that whatever was causing this feat was our illiterate spectral friend.

SLS Image ign.com

One of the criticisms of the SLS camera is that the technology is designed to pick up moving shapes within a horizontal and vertical vertices and convert that into a video game’s control. This could lead to false positive results being generated from the uprights of door frames as the software searches for something to match its algorithm. Interpretation of the results provided by technology regardless of what it will visually display always requires a level of scepticism – disprove through the normal to prove the paranormal.

My experience at the castle was fantastic but there was so much to take in on my first outing that I am sure I must have missed something. Only practice and repetition and increasing my knowledge and experience will make investigation second nature so I can focus on the results rather than the process.

My finger hovered over my next adventure, let’s try again to go to Slough Fort. Click, pay email confirmation received. What to do now whilst I wait for the event to start? Research.

I have discovered If you search for paranormal courses on the Internet - there are loads. How to be a Paranormal Investigator, Demonology for Beginners, How to Run your own Paranormal Events. But I wanted to get back to basics – and also not pay anything. I enrolled on a parapsychology course hosted by Alison.com – an online CPD provider.

Alison.com

The course itself was very informative in providing a brief outline to what parapsychology is. How the human mind works. The sceptics view of investigative techniques and tools. It also touched on some case studies including poltergeist, UFO’s, Atlantis and Crystal Skulls. As much as I enjoyed the couple of hours continuously professionally developing myself, I was left a little deflated when I discovered that in order to get a nice certificate of my accomplishment that I had to pay nearly £50 for the privilege. The daily advertising emails also taught me a new lesson – how to unsubscribe from a mailing list.

However as the course completion being a stipulation from Mrs J for me to continuing adventuring into the world of the paranormal I ticked it off my to do list and continued to search for a local paranormal group who I could conduct impromptu investigations and chat spirit with.

Social media was my starting point in trying to find likeminded people near me who wanted to properly investigate haunted locations, uncover the history of the people who remain and hopefully obtain some evidence of ghostly happenings.

What I found was a long list of companies offering ghost hunts, forums that had not had any activity since 2011 and groups who were more interested in likes and clout than actually taking things seriously – and therefore raised my suspicion of fakery.

I am sure there are a lot of groups out there who do what I want to do, but I just haven’t found them yet. One thing I know I don’t want to do is, known to those that do as urban exploring, – I just know it as trespassing.

Trespassing is the civil offence of entering land or property that doesn’t belong to you and that you have no permission to be within. But aside the thought of a court summons – it is bloody dangerous.  The abandoned building seems to be a draw to some paranormal enthusiasts and some of the You Tube videos I have seen have had some interesting results. However abandoned locations pose a greater risk of you being asked to light up a cat ball or REM-Pod, than being the one asking the questions.

The risk of falling, drowning, poisoning, cutting, being crushed, being trapped are far higher than the risk of being possessed by a deranged spirit – and that’s just the risks from the building! There could be alive humans who don’t want to be disturbed that add the risks of assault, burning, injecting, stabbing, shooting, kidnap, abduction, sexual assault or stealing your expensive stuff.

If you are contemplating on your next nocturnal adventure; How to get in? How to avoid the CCTV cameras? Or Am I going to fit through that window? Then maybe have a think about what you are actually setting out to do – is it to find the truth or is it to get some likes on Tik Tok. I’m not up for that but whatever your decision is please be safe.