Paranormal Investigator Magazine Issue I | Page 17

The Road to Paranormal Truth is Skepticism
The group made up a fictional man named Philip along with a detailed history. They insured
there were no real persons that lived previously
avoiding the possibility of conjuring a real person’s spirit. They performed séances and table
tilting experiments that resulted in communication with Philip via knocks, bangs and table tilting.
While this and similar studies are amazing on
their own, they fall short in proving that life goes
on after death. Many times the desire to believe
in ghosts overrides people’s rational thinking
and they end up elevating innocuous events to
the level of supernatural.
Similarly, people associating with groups and
cultures that embrace a belief in the supernatural are likely to experience paranormal events
where others may not. Take for example the
spiritualist of the 19th Century. Some say that
the movement had its biggest growth between
1840 and 1920. Much like today’s interest in the
afterlife, there were no central leaders or organizations. Instead, the movement grew by word
of mouth, media and marketing.

gators are vulnerable to psychological influences and should take precautions to combat these
normal human flaws.
A typical scenario for an investigation goes
something like this. Paranormal enthusiasts and
believers gather at a paranormal location during
the hours of darkness. They walk or sit in quiet,
low visibility environments when natural sounds
are more noticeable. By doing so, they subject
themselves to sensory deprivation, which can
cause mild auditory and visual hallucinations.
There is no proof that darkness is a necessary
element for paranormal activity, but investigators generally insist on doing lights-out investigations. Another point of contention is that entering a darkened, reportedly haunted location
does little to enhance the objectivity of the participants. The result is a group of people who
are going to find something paranormal. Even
a skeptic would find it hard not to experience
something in that scenario.

Unfortunately, there were many who promoted
the use of mediums only for the sake of profit.
With no real source of accurate or trustworthy
information to research, many became easy
marks for the self-proclaimed mystics and psychics.
Even the widow of the late President, Abraham
Lincoln believed her husband was always by her
side after William H. Mumler took her picture.
The resulting pho