Quite often I find myself getting into discussions about the paranormal on certain paranormal beliefs or claims. Things such as 'people say that paranormal activity is at it's greatest 3 days after a full moon' or 'there is likely to be more activity if a thunder storm is charging the atmosphere'. Sure they make a lot of sense and I am sure you have probably heard them as well. My question is, how do you know this to be true? You can see them on a lot of different paranormal sites as almost common knowledge but more importantly, what you are not seeing along with this claim is any data to back it up. Sure we all do seem to think that the moon cycle does affect things (just look at a hospital emergency room during a full moon), but is anyone actually investigating every day for 3 days before and 3 days after a full moon and logging the results? What if the activity is at it's most 2 days after or what if there is no change in activity at all? How do we know if we are not recording the data.
Data logging should be an essential part of investigating
The paranormal field is very tech heavy at the moment. Instead of adapting common tools to use for an investigation, we are now having equipment specifically built for paranormal investigating. Whether there is any merit behind the equipment we are using is for another post, but are we focusing on the wrong things? Yes we can use a ghost box and scan through radio stations and argue if we are actually getting a voice. We can use a EMF meter and argue if it is a spirit or the power point behind you. In hindsight, what are we really achieving by doing this?
A couple of years ago I attended the Klinge Brother's all day seminar on the paranormal. It quite seriously changed my life for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest things I took away from this event was that with everything they did, there was a method to their madness. They didn't do things just because it is the way everybody does it. They do things the way they do it because they found it gets results. How do they know it gets results? The log their findings and they collect their data. They were not just looking for spikes on K2 meter. They were logging things like temperature, humidity and looking for fluctuations. Were these fluctuations consistent with activity being reported at the same time? They also do a lot of sound experiments and would often make loud noises before recording EVPS. Why? Because they try new things and when something works they take note of it and keep doing it. When something works, they keep doing it over and over to see if that technique is what is getting results or if it was a once off. From all of this data and experience they are able to confidently make some claims or theories about why certain things are happening because they have the research and data to back up what they are saying.
Experimentation is key
There is no set way to investigate and there are no set rules on how to collect your data. You don't have to do things a certain way because that is how the Klinge brothers do it or because all the websites list the same steps. Deviate from the program. Think for yourself and think OK so people are saying the moon cycle can affect paranormal activity, what data collection or experiments can I do to see if this is true? Personal experiences are great, but they are just that. They are personal. I have had things happen to me that I cannot explain. People around me can easily come up with their own reasons but I myself know they are wrong because I know myself and what I experienced. I know how I work, but I cannot convince anyone of that otherwise because what happened to me was personal. I can't back up a paranormal claim using a personal experience. No one can. I can tell you all about it, but the only thing that is going to really start a discussion and open someone's eyes is if I have the data to back up my claim. If I tell someone I feel a bit strange when there is a full moon so it must mean there was more activity that night, it isn't really saying anytihng. If I say well I have investigated these last 3 days and I noticed on this particular day I had higher energy readings than on the other days, perhaps it can be attributed to the fact it is 3 days after a full moon. If I had done this over several cycles and found the same readings on that 3rd day, well it just makes the claim all that more believable and credible. There are a lot of claims out there, it is important that we as investigators educate ourselves so that we can make informed claims. We know these popular claims and theories so lets do some work with them to see if there is any merit to them.
Don't just accept everything you are told. Go searching for your own answers. You are not collecting this data to prove to the world the afterlife exists because realistically that is probably never going to happen. If you come across something works, keep doing it an build on it. Most importantly, you need to be patient. All of this takes time and to build a really good database, sometimes you need weeks/months and sometimes years depending on what it is you are looking for and wanting to achieve. With experience comes knowledge. A lot of people can bullshit and we have a lot them in the field, but it usually in situations like this they can become undone. Next time someone makes a claim, ask them what work they have done with this claim and how they have come to that conclusion. You don't need to see all of their data, but you will realise very quickly if it is just a common knowledge claim they are touting or if they have actually tried to work it all out. Just remember at the end of the day, you are searching for your own answers and by going out there and actually looking, you never know what you might find.
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