Adults Only

I am both young, and small. I stand at barely 5'2", and I have been told that I have a "youthful appearance". While I may appreciate this when I hit middle age, at 20, it is quite the inconvenience. There is nothing enjoyable about feeling like a child compared to the other people I work with. Even when I find myself in the company of friends, I feel the weight of my youth on my shoulders. In the last year, I have felt more hindered by my age than ever before. I have literally been unable to participate in events, investigations or other opportunities because I was under 21, though I am happy to say soon this will no longer be an issue. But, this burden is much more than legal restrictions. Because of my age, I often question whether or not  it is appropriate for me to do many things, I do not yet feel established enough or worthy of many of the dreams I have. I am constantly seeking the keys to adulthood, something I  feel I have not yet earned. Every day, I carefully consider my actions, and whether or not they serve the purpose of making me an adult. I am sure, that these concerns live for the most part within my own head, and that the feelings I experience of immaturity, unworthiness, and discomfort, are more the product of my own over anxious mind than the result of the treatment I receive from those I encounter. But, I have found myself in situations where I, and my work were belittled because of my age. For example, as I mentioned in previous blogs, I started seriously working in this field at the age of eighteen.Shortly after joining a local team, I attended a Chip Coffey event in Portland, I was ecstatic about the opportunity to meet other local investigators. But I was disappointed to be met by people more interested in a pissing match rather than genuine conversation. There, I met "Bob", yeah lets go with Bob, a middle aged investigator from Oregon. Bob rattled off some impressive stats about his team, claiming they processed dozens of cases each year, and that they had expanded all over the state. When I shared with him my own experience, he responded with something along the lines of "That's nice, Kid" followed by a condescending pat on my shoulder. While that was my first encounter of that sort, it certainly wasn't my last.

Over the years, I have struggled most with trying to make others comfortable with my age either by attempting to never make them feel the age difference , or by weak attempts of humor to mask how uncomfortable I often feel. I have spent far too much time trying to win the approval of others, and too little on trying to work on myself. I let my age became my weak spot, and I have recently realized how ridiculous this can be. I can no longer give others that kind of power over me, and I have to own the fact that I am more often than not the youngest person in the room. While, I may not have as many years under my belt, or have been through the same life experiences others have, I still consider myself both relevant and knowledgeable. I have to let go of my concerns, and put myself out there so others can realize that even at 20, I have a lot to offer this field. Most importantly, I have to realize that myself.

Death.

Death is fascinating. There is no denying, that we all on some level are fascinated by not only our own mortality, but by the demise of others.  In this field, I spend a lot of time talking death, what happens we die, and how people have died. I am unapologetically comfortable with death, it doesn't frighten or disgust me, and I will probably at some point make you feel uneasy with my openness and desire to talk about it. However, it should be understood that I am disconnected emotionally, and find it important to remain respectful while discussing the life and death of another human being.

It is a personal struggle of mine, to find an appropriate balance while doing my own research for my History degree, or while working on research for a paranormal investigation. I never want my interests to make me look like a sadistic sociopath. But sometimes, its hard to discuss tragic events that have occurred at a reportedly haunted location without appearing offensive, or disconnected from the events. Recently, I was listening to another investigator discuss the history of a location we would be investigating. In part of his speech, he relayed the story of a homeless man freezing to death on the exterior steps of the building, which he described excitedly as "cool", and even confronted with some negative reactions from the crowd, he persisted that he thought it was great because it was a more recent death than the others.

 It was an eye opening moment for me, because I knew I could have unintentionally said something just as offensive.  It's too easy to cross the line in paranormal investigations, we all need to make an ongoing commitment to evaluate our investigation practices to make sure we are not only serving our clients in the best way possible, but also that we treating the spirits we encounter with dignity whether that is in our communication with them, or our research of their lives. Tragic events can be intriguing, fascinating, and downright entertaining but we can't forget that they were also life changing, awful events that caused heartache.

Love, Light and all that crap.

I sometimes find myself wondering how others must perceive me, the sometimes foul mouthed, outspoken, godless young adult in a field full of so many spiritual people waving Sage and crystals. I'm not entirely a lost cause, I enjoy reading up on the spirituality, and learning about other peoples practices, you just won't find me meditating in a room that reeks of patchouli anytime soon. I'm just not good at expressing myself that way, I am not one to talk about white light on Facebook, or post statuses proclaiming my love for the universe, instead most of my social media is cluttered with cat pictures and me bitching about my commute. So, I began to worry.

My new years resolution was to be a more positive, loving person. I wanted to let go of my judgments of other people, humble myself as an investigator, and "rebrand" my image. But here it is, practically November and while I internally changed my thought process, I don't know how well that has translated to the public. I thought about how I could emulate the behavior I saw that others seemed to appreciate and enjoy, then I stopped myself, I want to my original self, not a copy.

So here it is, I don't think that you have to be into New Age music, work with white light, or smudge with sage to be a positive person. I have given up on trying to fit other peoples ideas of what I should do on investigations, with clients, or anything else paranormal to be considered "positive". I'm not one to sing kumbaya while holding hands, I won't be reciting a prayer to open or close my investigations, and when I mediate, I don't do it sitting cross legged on the floor, I'm usually laying in bed listening to a Nirvana album. But at the end of the day, I'd like to think I still manage to be a pretty caring person, I will always be honest with you (brutally honest at times), and I will treat you how I'd like to be treated. I'll still say f#ck way more than is socially acceptable and make slightly offensive jokes, but that just comes with the territory of being my friend.

No Trespassing

Halloween is my favorite time of year, as someone who doesn't practice religion, I miss out on all the winter holidays, and Thanksgiving just isn't a big deal in my house. During the month of October, I get more attention from friends, family, and coworkers all suddenly more interested in the paranormal during this time of year. There are countless events, parties, and "ghost hunts" being promoted, as the public falls all over themselves to get in on the spooky action. There is a lot of fun to be had around Halloween, go on a ghost tour, partake in a local team's public investigation, tell spooky stories, just don't go messing around where you shouldn't be. On a regular basis, people will come to me with an invitation to join them at an "abandoned" location, be it a hospital, insane asylum, cemetery, home, whatever. I feel bad as I watch the glee in their eyes about the possible adventure fade as they notice the sour look on my face. Often, this is the moment where I go into a short rant about how locations aren't "abandoned", trespassing laws, etc. I am the wet blanket on Halloween mischief.

I am not the first, and I surely won't be the last to talk about ethical investigating, but never the less here we are.

I thought it went without saying that as adults, we should not be trespassing on private property to conduct investigations. I mean, seriously? I expect mischievous teenagers to hop cemetery fences, with cheap beer and a oujia board in tow, not grown men and women.

I have seen countless teams talk about "respecting spirits", and the importance of maintaining the "sanctity of their resting place" but to me, it doesn't even need to go to that place. It's really simple, you should not be breaking the law. If there are posted hours, you only investigate during those posted hours, if there is a lock, don't pick that lock, if there is a fence, don't hop it! You are an adult, you should not be risking your job, your family, and jail time in order to "ghost hunt". 

But sometimes, the boundaries aren't always as clear. For example, here in Oregon, there is a chain of popular hotels, restaurants, and bars that have several ghost stories associated with some of their properties. This company has made it clear that they are not interested in hosting paranormal investigation teams at the majority of their properties, but because they are "accessible"  to the public through renting a hotel room, eating at one of their bars, etc I often see local investigators posting pictures of their teams at these locations. These investigators aren't necessarily breaking any laws, but this is still unethical behavior. This company has made it clear they don't want investigations, or teams publicizing their "haunting", so why disrespect them by going ahead and doing it anyway? Its one thing to take your equipment while visiting these locations, and another to go public with your excursions and evidence collected.

If you aren't sure about the rules regarding a location, you should always take the time to find out. If you aren't willing to call, that means you probably already know that you shouldn't be there.

This isn't about being a professional investigator, or respecting spirits, this is about being a responsible, law abiding member of society. By drawing attention to accessible not abandoned locations, you do nothing other than increase the possibility for damage, vandalism, and other illegal behavior. There is nothing more frustrating than visiting my local cemetery and finding 100 year old headstones in pieces, and beer bottles littering the grounds. Do yourself, and your community a favor by being responsible.

All Work and No Play...

I have been a busy lady! I am back in class for Fall Term, and taking a Digital Photography class. I am hoping to better my own skills for both personal, and paranormal use.

Photographic evidence is one of the most heavily faked types of evidence, and I am hoping that over the next year I will become better educated and able to better review my own evidence.

But for now...

I have been having fun playing with my Full Spectrum camera, and thought I would post a teaser! 

Full Spectrum Cat Pictures...I mean this IS the internet after all...


Katie

My two cents on social media use by paranormal teams...

Today, I am going to talk about social media marketing and the paranormal. While that may sound boring, and maybe it is to most, it is something that has had my attention for years. It seems that everyone involved in paranormal research has a Facebook or Twitter account, and why not? Sites like Facebook provide a free, easy to use service that reaches millions of people each day. For people like myself, who have little to no experience in website design, its a great alternative (or addition) to a standard website. But there are some drawbacks, like Facebook's recent cuts on the audience a page will reach without paying new advertising fees. Not to mention, the interaction with others on such a widely public forum can both help and hurt your organization's reputation. My hope for this post is to discuss the trends I have noticed, my personal experiences (and horror stories), and my pet peeves for social media marketing.

First off, I would like to preface this all by saying that I have worked with arguably the biggest nightmare in social media marketing that a paranormal team can have. I know what it is like to get the wrong kind of attention drawn to your team because of the misuse of these tools. Because of this, I am probably more cautious about how I use Facebook, Twitter, etc with the team I now work with. I still struggle today with the reputation I received based on the actions of another under the name of a team I was once affiliated with, and I don't know that I will ever be completely free of that stigma. 

The ability to reach millions of people instantly, easily, and from the comforts of your home is a double edged sword. You can bring down the reputation of your entire team with a single post that only took seconds to write. I don't want to over dramatize the weight of the responsibility you carry by running a Facebook or Twitter page, but I also think that everyone should take these things seriously.  The most important thing to keep in mind when posting is the intention of your page, and whether or not the content you've prepared serves that intention. A discussion must happen between all members of your team about what you plan on using the page for, what you hope to achieve by having the page, and how you hope to reach those goals. Your social media outlets are representative of every member of your team, and should reflect your team's core values, goals, and mission across the board- no matter which administrator is posting.

It would be impossible to put together a group comprised of people who all hold the exact same opinions on the wide range of subjects we encounter as paranormal investigators, like minded maybe, but never unanimous agreement on all things. Because of these differing opinions, it is important to keep personal opinions clear and not portrayed as coming from the entire team. I am not suggesting that you avoid opinion, or taking a stance on your page- you don't need to please everyone all the time but you do need to consider the other members of your team. I can say from personal experience that it is very frustrating when a very hard stance is taken by the team you work with publicly and you don't feel the same way. I more than once found myself reading along on a blog, or Facebook with the public about the new opinion I supposedly held as a member of that team. These were not small issues either, these were posts that used harsh language, were often offensive, and caused a large chasm to grow between "us" and the local paranormal community. While I wasn't the author of these posts, because they came from a collective source I received the same mistrust and judgement. These are the types of situations in which you should carefully consider what you post, and the responsibility you have to your team to protect their reputation and to maintain the trust you have. These situations can be avoided by saving that type of content for a secondary page whether it is your personal Facebook, a Twitter or a blog.

Speaking of differing opinions...by putting your team out for public consumption you will be unable to avoid people who hold different opinions, and people who will voice theirs on your page. Personally, I don't think this is something to avoid, and I believe that teams who dismiss all differing opinions or "bullies" are setting themselves up to look weak. I can't even begin to think that I have an advanced education in this field, or that I have enough experience to be able to do everything independently without the assistance of others with different strengths or experience than my own. If you have a public page, where you post evidence, you should plan on hearing from people who don't hear that EVP the way you do, or believe they have a different way to explain a photograph. If you don't want to hear/see or handle these comments-you shouldn't be posting evidence for the public to see. You don't have to take nasty comments, or engage every skeptic you come across, but the way you handle these situations says a lot about your team. If you become defensive, angry, or fight with people on your social media sites, whether the other person was in the wrong or not, you look unprofessional. But you also look unprofessional if you refuse to accept or consider any other opinions on your practices or your evidence. If you claim to be a scientific research team, or to use scientific methods how can you justify avoiding any form of peer review? Every situation is a lesson, and a opportunity for growth and you're missing the opportunity to learn from others by calling those who question something respectfully the "bullies".

Save the drama for your mama. But really, quit it with the dramatics. We are not teenagers, OK maybe I was when I started doing this...but still! Much like unprofessionally engaging in heated exchanges with those who reply to the content on your page, airing your dirty laundry is a quick and easy to lose all perceptions of professionalism. I wont deny that there are people in this field who I find laughable, annoying or completely disagree with. However, I would never drag that out on a team's Facebook page that I worked with because that seems ridiculous and immature. But it happens, and I am always amazed. I know that there are frustrating situations in this field- a client cancels last minute after weeks of research, there are disagreements within the team, someone leaves the team, two teams are in a territorial argument over a location, etc. but none of these situations are going to be resolved by venting on the Internet. If you really feel the need to talk about it on a public forum, you can take the lesser risk of posting it on your personal profile. Again, every post should serve the ultimate marketing intention of your page and I doubt that drama is high on any one's list of aspirations for their team.

Facebook, unlike Twitter, offers its users a variety of page formats within the site. Each format serves different purposes, and has its own uses. In order to make an educated decision about which format(s) best suit your team, you must have first established what you plan on using the page for, what you hope to accomplish, and what kind of interaction you want with others.

A personal pet peeve of mine is the use of a personal profile under the name of a paranormal team. This is the standard profile we all use on Facebook, but in place of an actual name like Jane Doe, there will be some sort of variation on a team's name in order to bypass Facebook's policies regarding profile names. Why does this bother me? I will no longer add users like this for a couple reasons. The first, these profiles allow users to act anonymously to some degree, because these profiles aren't under their name, do not include their personal information, and they aren't using their photographs. I don't see the motivation to add these users, giving them access to my information, only to follow their team. Fan pages do not have access to their fans personal profiles, which limits their ability to comment on their personal posts, pictures and activity. Paranormal teams that use personal profiles often make the mistake of commenting and interacting with other users under the name of their team. I honestly cannot think of a situation in which a personal profile would be beneficial for a team- no matter what they hope to accomplish with social media marketing.

Facebook offers a much more convenient service to users with business pages, and I would recommend this style for most teams, or organizations. It's a great tool for those looking to advertise their services, their team and to share content with those interested. I would consider these pages the "face" of a team, and should at all times be the best representation possible. These pages should not be used for team communication, for example, I often see teams posting on their business page things like "Team Members, please call me by Friday about whether or not you will be attending Saturday's investigation". This is an unprofessional use of this tool, and I honestly quickly "unlike" pages that do this. Why? Because, to be perfectly honest, I don't care about your team management. Another business page faux pas, is the desperate pursuit of "likes". There seems to be a misconception spreading like wildfire through the paranormal community that your success as a team, or as an organization is measured by the number of people who "like" your Facebook page. When I created a business page for the first team I worked with, I immediately began watching others both locally and internationally. It was obvious that many pages were working for one goal, to get as many people as possible to "like" that page. They posted on each others walls, bartered deals with other teams to promote one another, and held giveaways. But, I just sat there scratching my head, what was really so important about how many random people out there "liking" our page? These random users wouldn't be the source of our cases, they wouldn't really create that much of a networking opportunity, and they probably wouldn't even interact with us on the content we posted. It was then that I knew that I had to worry about quality over quantity when it came to the users we engaged. If you want more users to like your page, you should have an idea of what kind of users you're looking for. I kept my intentions pretty general with my first page, I was simply looking for others in the area with an interest in the paranormal. In order to find these users, I created a Facebook ad that only appeared to those in the area that "liked" similar content. It is simple changes in mindset like these that can really take a typical page to a new level of success and productivity. This is your tool, make it work for you. 

If you're looking for a way to hold discussions, group together like minded people, or manage your team, you should turn the Groups available through Facebook.  These Groups have varying privacy settings that you can manipulate to better serve your team, or your purpose. For example, you can create a public group in which the existence is public and so is the content or you can go as far as to create a secret group, where the existence is concealed, and content is private.As mentioned above, business pages are not always the best place to share evidence for public consumption and critique. However, these groups offer more opportunity for you to publish photos, documents, etc and a better platform in which to discuss these items. You can also avoid my pet peeve of using your business page to communicate with your team by creating a secret group, where you can securely share case information, meeting dates using the events within groups, etc. But, for the love of all that is holy, do not get "add happy" and add every single person on your friends list to your new group. This goes back to quality over quantity, find those who have a genuine interest, or simply post an invitation. I believe there is a special circle of hell reserved for those who add their friends to random groups on a regular basis. 

Well, I must say that this post has become much longer than I intended! I guess I really just love hearing myself talk...you can look for (hopefully much shorter) follow up posts  in the next week with more information about Twitter, Instagram, etc! 

This is where I'd write about the Singapore Theory...if there was one...

In my second blog post, I mentioned my guilty pleasure of watching Ghost Hunters and now I am going to write about an investigative practice I enjoyed on Ghost Hunters International. Now before someone freaks out about paranormal investigators emulating TAPS and other yada yada, hear me out.

In 2008, on an episode of Ghost Hunters International. Barry used the phrase "The Singapore Theory" in reference to the practice of using period music as stimuli during an investigation. For years since, I have kept this theory in the back of mind, as I myself enjoy the use of music on investigations.  When I decided to start a blog, I made a list of topics that I wanted to cover and The Singapore Theory was one of the first on the list, but this post has taken an unexpected turn.

I don't try to pass this blog off as any form of academic writing, or a professional venture, it is simply a side project for fun. However, I do try to do a fair amount of research before I post anything and I must say that my research on "The Singapore Theory" surprised me. 

The first thing I looked for was a published copy of the theory itself and any corresponding experiments/research. What I found was disappointing, just a lot of other teams, organizations and blogs talking about the application of paranormal stimuli under the name "The Singapore Theory". I never found a published theory of any kind, and no explanation of why Barry assigned this name to the use of period music on an investigation. I hate to say it, but I think this is yet another example of paranormal TV shows messing with our heads. It seems that the "Singapore Theory" is nothing but a buzz word that spread like wildfire after its use on TV. This isn't the first time that the Ghost Hunters franchise, or TAPS have gotten themselves in a bit of hot water over renaming common practices to take some sort of "ownership" over them. It's a shame really that we all (myself included)  get so caught up in the faux science so often associated with paranormal research. Why call something a theory that doesn't even resemble a true scientific theory? So often what is passed off as "scientific research" in this field is nothing more than loosely organized ideas. But that's a rant for another day...