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Mind To Mind
By
Loyd Auerbach
Just Say No to Demons!!
Frankly, I’m troubled. I’m troubled by the kinds of training (or lack thereof) people who call themselves “ghost hunters” have received (or not received), especially when they offer their services to people who claim paranormal problems in their homes – people who are often scared by their experiences, and experiences that may or may not have a paranormal cause.
I am troubled by the perpetuation of misinformation about ghosts, hauntings and poltergeists on the internet, and amongst ghost hunting groups – who have completely missed the over 130 years of field work and investigation of such things from the earliest days of psychical research through the inception and work of folks in the field of Parapsychology.
I am troubled by the sentiment that using technology is the same as doing science -- it’s not, especially when the equipment is not even used properly (I’ve seen this first hand).
But recently, I have been troubled by the rising tide of “demonology” connected to investigations of the phenomena which exists and is experienced in connection with consciousness, and the suggestion that studying demons is somehow “scientific.”
Many use the word “demon” to refer to apparent non-human entities that have “evil” intentions, and the word “angel” for those entities who have “good” intentions.
It has not been established (scientifically) that human beings have consciousness, though the opinion is that we do. It has not been established (proven, scientifically) that consciousness is separable from the body (ghosts and such), though the evidence certainly points that way.
The idea of non-human disembodied beings is one step even further removed. Only living people’s perceptions, what they experience, points to disembodied consciousness and only those perceptions and interpretations of those perceptions might suggest “non-human” beings (other than ghostly pets, of course). We’ve got enough to deal with human consciousness without leaping to conclusion that some entity or other is “non-human” for whatever reason.
Further, what is “good” and what is “evil” is subject to our interpretations, biases, and beliefs. Is a shark evil when it attacks someone? The result of the attack is certainly not a good thing, but the shark is what it is: hungry.
Is an earthquake “evil”?
Things can be very dangerous without being “evil.” That label attributes motive – a conscious motive to do harm merely for the sake of doing it (see most DC and Marvel Comics super-villains).
There are two questions here: are there non-human entities and are they malevolent or evil?
The answer to both depends on looking deeper into the perceptions, psychology and experience of the folks encountering things they believe fall into these categories.
From the Parapsychological perspective, while there might be non-human disembodied entities (essentially, beings of pure conscious energy), they falls into the realm of belief and speculation even more than ghosts do. The experiences with such things can be explained by other psychic models (apparitions, hauntings, poltergeists, telepathy, etc.).
If there are such beings, are they evil?
Using the word “demon” to describe them already puts them in that category, regardless of what their intentions are or who they are. But more dangerous than that, using the label “demon” puts a religious spin on the entity and experience.
If one takes the word “demon” to mean those entities which started out as angelic beings, caught up in some rebellion against God (losing side) and thrown down to the “region” that became known as Hell, and perhaps their progeny, then we have a simple problem: God, or gods, and beings of that hierarchy, including the "low" (demons) are seen as unknowable.
How do you prove God exists? If you can't prove the existence of God, how do you prove the existence of lesser yet associated beings such as angels? How do you prove the existence of a Devil, whether you call him Satan, Lucifer, Ahriman, or Loki, when he is said to be part of God's (or the gods') hierarchy?
Not all cultures or religions have a “hell” as part of their beliefs in an afterlife. Many do not have demons or angels – though they do have gods who may do good or bad things. The existence of demons and evil entities is relative to our belief systems.
Gods, demons and other supernatural beings have always been held responsible for the events of the natural world, whether we're talking about the weather or the functioning of the human body. Most of such explanations derive from the sense that humans have a hard time with the unknown, so we have come up with some forms of explanations, however groundless in fact. So, in some cultural belief systems, drought occurs because people have offended particular deities or demons, while rain comes when they are again pleased. An individual gets sick because of the direct influence of a magic spell, an evil spirit, or a demon.
Most of us do not still believe demons are responsible for drought, pollution, disease or a simple headache. Why? Because science and medicine have learned otherwise.
Demonology, studying demons, is inherently non-scientific. Approaching such experiences and supposed entities from this perspective IS religious, and a particular religious approach.
For ghost hunting groups to incorporate such things into their “investigations” means approaching the experiences of people from a religious perspective. Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many websites for groups that do include demonology, and in the same site profess to be going about their investigations “scientifically” with no acknowledgement that demonology is inherently from religion (and generally the Catholic/Christian religion).
More than that, it can mean that you are going to scare the s**t out of people having paranormal experiences (telling them they have a demon attacking them). This is inappropriate and does not respect the people one is trying to help, or the phenomena/experiences which need explaining.
I have had cases over the years (and know of many more) where people had a “ghost hunter” tell them they had a “demon problem.” They got more frightened than they were, the ghost hunters were unable to help them (other than to refer them to some clergy who could not help them), and the experiences continued. In too many of those cases, there was NOTHING paranormal happening – the people (and I assume the ghost hunters) had misinterpreted normal occurrences as “supernatural.”
In the cases where something paranormal was happening, not everything they reported was paranormal…just some things. We dealt with the experiences, we dealt with the fear they felt, and the phenomena stopped. But they needed counseling because of the stress and fear the “demonologist” ghost hunter had put into them.
There is also another danger which keeps rising in my mind.
Several people have been either killed or allowed to die during “exorcism” rituals in many places all over the world. By demonologists (usually clergy doing the exorcism).
Other people have been killed by individuals who attacked them because they (the killers) thought the victim was either possessed, WAS a demon, or was a witch. I was involved as an expert in a homicide case in 1984 where the couple had killed one woman for apparently casting a spell on them, and another man because he was a demon.
If you are truly interested in the human spirit – in ghosts – and whether it survives in some form after death, drop the demon angle. Too much confusion, too much bias, and too much religious mythology (which I acknowledge may be religious fact to you, but not to Science) can lead to pain and suffering.
It certainly doesn’t lead to understanding what these experiences are that we link to apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists.
It certainly doesn’t lead to any sort of application of Science – which is the search to understand how we and the Universe works.
But most of all, looking for evil demons where there are other, non-religious explanations will send you off track and create emotional problems for those who report their ghostly encounters.
Just say No to demons!
Things That Go Bump in the Day...
Turn on most ghost hunting shows
produced over the last 10 years or so, and you can expect to see the ghost
hunters running around in the dark, portrayed via nightshot camera work.
Yes, it looks cool.
But it's not the way someone educated
in parapsychological field methods -- which is what the original ghost hunters
learned (or pioneered) --would conduct their investigations, for two reasons:
1) Psychic experiences (that includes
experiences with apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists) mainly happen when
people are awake and aware.
2) Most psychic experiences (that
includes experiences with apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists) happen with
the witnesses able to see -- meaning either in daylight or with the lights on.
Plus there's the issue of conducting
the ghost hunt (since much of what we see out there is hardly an
"investigation") late at night even without considering whether the
pattern of experiences/reports indicates some other time of day.
The folklore of ghosts and haunted
houses (ghost stories) naturally put the activity late at night. Let's face it,
ghost stories are meant to scare us, and the dark of night is that time when it's
often so quiet as to both notice things we normally don't, but also when
people's minds are quiet enough to be suggestible.
Parapsychologists take each case
separately. We consider the reported experiences of the witnesses, and try to
nail down patterns that show when the phenomena is most likely to occur.
Most people who live or work in
ostensibly haunted places are not even awake in the wee hours of the
night/morning, so there are few reported experiences at those times. In some cases of hauntings, there is some
imprint of past activity that happens late, or very early morning -- but the
witnesses have to be awake enough to experience them in order to make them part
of a pattern of activity. Or the activity has to be "loud" enough to
wake them up. Yes, this does happen, but
it's the exception not the rule.
For some cases, especially those with
apparent ghosts (apparitions -- conscious deceased people), the
"pattern" is really at the whim of the ghosts. If they want to be around and make themselves
known at any given time, they do -- or don't. Several of my apparition cases
(see my book A Paranormal Casebook (Atriad Press, 2005) such as the Moss Beach
Distillery, the USS Hornet Aircraft Carrier Museum, and the Banta Inn, have
apparitions that appear to folks, move objects or otherwise make themselves
known at all times of day and night.
In fact, how can one say a ghost is
active in the middle of the night at a place that has no witnesses present to
experience/report this? In a bar or
restaurant, this is possible because there are often people working well after
But again, most people are either
asleep or not present during the hours we so often see TV ghost hunters running
around with nightvision cameras.
Poltergeist phenomena is the result of
the unconscious activity of living people, and as it is unrestrained by
conscious impulses, tends to be much more dramatic (bigger activity, and often
destructive) than the activity caused by apparitions. Poltergeist activity
tends to occur when people are awake, and with the lights on (otherwise, how
could you see it?). There are some cases
in which it appears some activity occurs when the poltergeist agent is in the
dream state, the activity an extension of the metaphors of the dreaming.
Hauntings are replays of past events
-- the "recordings" very much in a pattern. If the recorded activity
originally happened at
Such activity can certainly occur late
at night -- murder, suicide and such seem not to follow the normal day-flow of
most people. Perhaps some troubled
person living in a home paced up and down the upstairs hallway at
One of my favorite cases involved an
imprint replaying at
In any event, witnesses constantly
report experiencing the same imprints whether their lights are on or off.
In other words, why investigate in the
dark when the vast majority of repeated ghost and haunting (and poltergeist)
experiences occur in the light of day or under artificial lighting?
Okay, so many people find it cool to
walk around in the dark. But it's not necessary. Nightvision cameras will still
throw their infrared light and work just fine in full light (well, people's
eyes won't glow as much in regular light, so that's an artistic downside).
It's much safer to walk around with
light.
It's also more possible to observe
what's going on -- say, if someone felt something touch them, or there's an odd
sound, it's easier to immediately consider alternative explanations for those
events, which is essential in a real investigation. One must always eliminate
as many "normal" explanations as humanly possible in order to be able
to understand what is and is not paranormal.
This is very hard to do in the dark.
Most ghost hunters don't even know the
history of infrared photography in psychical research (later parapsychology) --
and that it was necessary mainly to catch both fraud and potential
"real" phenomena in the old seance rooms of the later 19th and early
20th centuries. Significantly more fraud was caught with infrared film, by the
way.
I advocate using every tool possible
-- both human and technological -- and this does certainly include
nightshot. But it's more important to
find the patterns that indicate the best time to "hunt" the phenomena
that's been reported. Focusing on late night and working in the dark, nightshot
or not, generally misses the pattern (if there is one -- if not, you need to
conduct investigations at
If the pattern (from the witness
reports and prelim investigation) says the activity occurs right after
In general, keeping the lights out
when this is unneccessary and often unsafe is, really, only for
"effect." Darkness is spookier, so it may make the "hunt"
more atmospheric. But there is little place for such atmosphere in an
investigation if you're really interested in finding out what's going on and
why.
Of course, if you're into the fun of
running around a spooky place in the dark, that's fine too. But be honest about
what you're doing.
THINGS TO DO (and Not to Do) WHEN
GHOSTHUNTING
More and more people seem to be interested in ghosthunting. There’s a lot of good and bad information out there on the Internet and on TV, which is where most people tend to get their education on the subject. Investigating reports of ghostly phenomena can be easy or hard, depending on the case and on what the goal of the investigation actually is.
Most amateur ghosthunters can actually be placed in the category of “thrill-seekers.” They’re out there with cameras, audio recorders and other gizmos to try to get an orb or vortex picture or a voice on tape. They head for spooky old buildings and cemeteries, and come back with all sorts of pictures and recordings. Unfortunately, that’s all they usually get, and their interpretations that they have captured “proof” of spirits are misguided, usually by paying attention to other misguided sources. Their photos and recordings are taken at face value, often with little understanding of all but the most obvious non-paranormal causes of what they’ve “gotten.”
They also have gotten their “proof” at locations that often prove to have had no actual experiences or encounters with apparitions or hauntings. While there are a few ghost encounters on record in graveyards, they are extremely few and far between (if you were a ghost, would you hang out in a cemetery?).
Unfortunately, the thrill-seekers have missed the most exciting parts of such investigating: the experiences of witnesses (the ghost story) and the potential to have one’s own experience. That plus the often satisfying, sometimes frustrating, mystery that can come with the situation.
So, I thought I’d provide the readers of the Psychic Reader with some tips I’ve learned over the last quarter century of my own investigating and the more than 100 years of investigations by other parapsychologists and field researchers. These tips are adapted from my forthcoming book GHOST HUNTING: How to Investigate the Paranormal (Ronin Publishing, fall 2003). But first, a few basic definitions so we’re all on the same page.
Apparition: An apparition is our personality (or spirit, soul, consciousness, mind or whatever you want to call it) surviving the death of the body, and capable of interaction with the living (and presumably other apparitions). This is the true definition of a ghost.
Haunting: A location (or object) holds/records information about its history. Our own psychic abilities allow us to pick up certain play-backs of this history, including sightings of people. However, these are recordings, not conscious beings. Referred to as “place memory,” “psychic imprints” and “residual hauntings.”
Poltergeist: Physical effects, such as moving objects, in a situation caused by the subconscious mind of a living agent, generally someone in the household undergoing emotional and/or psychological stress. Effects are caused by psychokinesis (PK), or mind over matter.
GHOST
HUNTING: TO DO
1. Do learn some basics of what parapsychologists and psychical researchers have learned about apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists. While some of the amateurs dismiss parapsychologists and their literature with a “well what have they learned with their methods over the last 100 years…it’s time to make a change” attitude, there is actually quite a lot to learn from the existing literature. If nothing else, one can read accounts of a variety of people’s experiences and the investigative techniques applied to the cases. There are good ghost stories here, but more than that, there are descriptions of techniques that can actually help resolve the problems people often have with such experiences.
2. Do learn about psychic experience and abilities. The very basic model of ghosts requires that some form of psychic communication and perception is happening. Hauntings may rely on some form of clairvoyance (besides some new explanations of how the human brain may pick up on imprints). Poltergeist cases (and any ghost cases involving physical effects) cry out for an understanding of psychokinesis.
Understanding
3. Do learn about the concepts of physics if you’re going to buy into some amateur’s pronouncements that spirits exist in other dimensions or that Science has even proven parallel universes exist or there is proof that there are other dimensions where beings live who can cross into ours. It is speculation, since nothing of the sort’s been proven. Understanding physics (including quantum physics) can help sort through the morass of bad information presented as fact.
Speculation is fine, as long as it’s stated that’s what it is. Hypothetical models and theories are fine, as long as they’re not presented as facts. For example, the definitions presented above are a consensus accepted by most parapsychologists and paranormal investigators (and many psychics), but they’re only working definitions. They might change as we gain further understanding.
4. Do learn about what technology’s place in an investigation is. Learn how to actually use the technology ghosthunters so like to trot out these days (myself included). Learn what the devices are designed to detect (it’s not ghosts), and learn the limitations of the technology. Learn about false readings. Learn what sorts of things can give you unusual (non-paranormal) images on film and digital media when taking photos and video. Learn what sorts of things might cause unusual sounds on audiotape.
Also take the time to think through what the readings, photos and recordings actually represent. Because you have an anomalous “something” doesn’t lead to any sort of definite conclusion that it’s a spirit, or something from some other dimensional plane.
Remember that using Technology does not mean one is doing Science or even proceeding from a Scientific model. Technology is tools. Chimps can use tools, even be taught to take pictures (though maybe not good pictures, though what’s “good” is a quality judgment).
5. Do learn interviewing skills so you can question the witnesses appropriately. The very definition of apparitions and hauntings requires the experience and observation of the phenomena by a human being. Therefore, you need to focus your attention on the perceptions and experiences of the witnesses in the situation. Getting information out of people can require the best interviewing skills you can muster.
6.
Do look for non-paranormal explanations for both the overall case you
investigate and the individual events reported by the witnesses. Question everything. Look
around carefully. Be observant. Keep in mind that cases are rarely so cut and
dried that everything reported or experienced is either paranormal or normal.
Often the witnesses get so freaked out by an encounter that they become
suggestible or may misinterpret normally caused noises and movements in their
homes that they simply didn’t notice or learned to ignore (like learning to
ignore road noise).
Learn about how human perception
works, and a bit about the psychology of suggestion and deception. Perhaps pick up a book on sleight of hand
magic and stage illusions (and on optical illusions) to learn how people’s
perceptions can be misled and their attention misdirected, leading to them
making incorrect assumptions about what they experienced.
7. Do realize that some explanations can be rather bizarre without being paranormal. Look for unusual and rarely seen “normal” explanations. Of course, before being able to do that, you’ll need to read up on such unusual explanations. Parapsychological field and lab researchers have found old and uncovered new unusual explanations, such as the impact of magnetic fields on the brain (causing hallucinations) and the affect of low frequency sound (causing uneasy feelings and things seen out of the corner of the eye). The more you know about what it isn’t, the better skilled you are at determining what it might be.
8. Do take note of people’s experiences and perceptions. Consider working with psychics or sensitives, as long as they are “team players” and are willing to be questioned about what they experience. In other words, work with psychics who can admit they are not always right, and who are willing to discuss their perceptions. It doesn’t hurt to ask the psychics if they can perceive any non-paranormal causes for individual events or even for an overall case.
9. Do pay attention to what you experience yourself, but always look for alternative explanations. Once you start considering your own experiences, you also need to consider your expectations. If you get too lost in your own experience, especially if you desire to encounter something psychic or spiritual, you may find yourself misinterpreting what’s really going on. Take your perceptions apart, and don’t immediate label a perception or experience…take the time jot it down, and then go over it later in context with everything else going on.
10. Do take special note of instances
when the technology
11. Do combine all data from technology with the experiential reports of the witnesses and any perceptions of psychics/sensitives, your teammates and yourself before making a final judgment or pronouncement of what’s going on, and how much is/isn’t paranormal.
12. Do consider that cases can be mixed. In other words, a number of cases I’ve had included hauntings (imprints) and an apparition, sometimes related to each other. I’ve had poltergeist cases in which the stress that caused the PK was in turn caused by the experience of a haunting or an encounter with an apparition. I recently had a case with an apparition visiting in a house with a pretty strong imprint of a past inhabitant, causing lots of stress that led to PK (poltergeist) activity.
In all cases where something paranormal is occurring, I find some misinterpreted normally-caused events (sometimes a lot).
13. Do ask lots of questions and be
observant.
14. Do respect the people in the location you investigate. Most of the cases involving private homes revolve around the family need to “get rid” of the phenomena. If you are called in to help, do not leave without providing them some kind of help, even if only referrals to other qualified individuals or groups. Spend some time educating the family about psychic experience and apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists. Put their needs above your need to “get something.”
In public settings, while you are certainly freer to simply gather data
and make assessments, do respect the owners and do respect the witnesses. Consider that while most people in such
settings may have no fear, a few might have been affected adversely by what’s
going on. Offer them information and
referrals.
GHOST
HUNTING: NOT TO DO
1. Don’t go to any location without full permission of the owner/person(s) leasing or renting and inhabitants. Don’t “investigate” a public location (restaurant, museum, or hotel, for example) without permission. Don’t trespass in cemeteries (or anyplace else for that matter; you might get thrown in jail).
2. Don’t go alone. There are two factors here: Observations and Danger.
As for the first, having a second person (or more) with you will provide you with different viewpoints, perceptions and another set of eyes to look for causes of the experiences and phenomena.
From the danger perspective, this has less to do with the paranormal or the dead than concerns about the living. There’s little the paranormal can do to someone in the physical world who doesn’t allow something to happen. We have our own psychic defense mechanisms, and ghosts or hauntings can’t affect us if we remember that – although one can still be affected emotionally by the experience. Poltergeist phenomena, while physical in nature, have so rarely been directed at people other than the agent (the agent often harms himself) that it’s almost not worth mentioning except for the following: Never duck into the path of a flying object.
Remember, though, that your cases involve living people. Sometimes, while they may seem okay to begin with, they might turn out to be emotionally or psychologically disturbed. Remember that ghosts don’t carry guns and knives, but living people do!
Finally, consider the physical location and any dangers associated with it. Rats, snakes, rotting timbers, and the like may figure in to some investigations.
3. Don’t jump to conclusions. Always consider all possibilities, normal and paranormal, before coming to your conclusion about what’s happening.
4. Don’t believe technology over human perceptions (DO remember that none of the tech has been designed to detect “ghosts” or anything else paranormal). This may be repetitive, but it’s VERY important, given the heavy importance given to tech by so many amateur groups. Again, you may get something anomalous, but don’t jump to the conclusion that a reading or photo relates to a spirit simply because you can’t think of any other explanation.
5. Don’t scare people with pronouncements of ghosts unless a) you’re sure of what’s going on and b) they can handle such news. You could be exacerbating an already bad situation, leaving the folks to find someone else to help them, and leaving a more psychologically disturbed group for the next investigator.
6. Don’t leave the situation and the people without some kind of resolution or referral for further help. Don’t leave without giving them good information about psychic phenomena.
7. Don’t involve the Media without discussing all that encompasses with the people involved at the location. You don’t want to be at the center of a media situation that only causes the folks more stress.
8. Don’t tell them you can get “rid” of the ghost or haunting or poltergeist for sure. You can provide possible resolution, a likely understanding of what’s going on, and certainly referrals and information, but no one can guarantee the removal of paranormal phenomena.
I hope this has been helpful to potential investigators and to people who may consider bringing in a ghosthunter.
One last point for
anyone seeking to consult with other paranormal investigators or
parapsychologists: Check their
credentials, especially if they claim to have a Ph.D. in Parapsychology (only a
couple of individuals with such degrees even exist from accredited
universities). Visit the website of the
Parapsychological Association (www.parapsych.org)
for their membership list and send off an email to them to check out anyone not
on the list. Also check with the
Paranormal Research Organization (www.paranormal-research.org)
or with one of the other reputable research centers such as the
The new
PARANORMAL RESEARCH ORGANIZATION
The Paranormal Research Organization Brings Professionalism to Paranormal Investigators and Ghost-Hunters
The Paranormal Research Organization: Supporting the serious and knowledgeable paranormal field researchers and investigators, while providing educational resources for the snowballing number of well-meaning, but sometimes misguided enthusiasts.
The Paranormal Research Organization had its inception at a two-day
meeting held in August 2002 in
The invitation-only meeting was convened by well-known parapsychologist and paranormal investigator Loyd Auerbach. The event consisted primarily of experienced investigators and researchers of psychic and ghostly phenomena from around the United States. Auerbach explained "the stated purpose of this meeting was for a number of us to get together and trade 'war stories,' discuss investigative methodologies, and really take a hard look at how we're doing what we do, the tech that's now available, how psychics work into this, best methods to help people, and what we really think is happening in cases of apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists."
While starting a new organization wasn't high on the agenda, it became a primary focus of the meeting as the attendees began discussing the rise and proliferation of the hobbyist ghost-hunting groups.
"It is clear" said Auerbach "that while the interest of these folks is generally sincere, the investigative and assessment techniques they are learning and using are primarily those conjured up by not-so-knowledgeable amateurs and other hobbyists, and have a primary focus on technology that was never designed to capture 'ghosts. They have lots of bells and whistles, but no real understanding of the process of a scientific investigation of psychic/ghostly phenomena. They also miss the mark when it comes to actually helping people with their experiences."
He added that "there are, of course, many knowledgeable people out there with a lot of good experience and a professional attitude and interests and who conduct themselves in a professional manner. They may not have an academic background or experience in the field of Parapsychology, but in many respects they are 'professionals' in this area as well."
The meeting attendees discussed the media's role in promoting the perspectives of the hobbyist groups, and concluded that something had to be done to separate the serious field researchers and investigators - and their opinions and conclusions - from the hobbyists and less-than-knowledgeable amateurs.
The solution was to form the Paranormal Research Organization, a guild of sorts that includes a variety of experienced and knowledgeable parapsychologists, paranormal investigators, counselors, and experts in other fields. The focus would be on those who have an interest in understanding what the phenomena and experiences are and what they represent to both human experience and the physical world, and who also conduct themselves in a professional and ethical manner.
[Note: psychic experiences and phenomena include apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists, otherwise called "ghosts"]
Who will be invited to join the Paranormal Research Organization?
Individuals who have displayed knowledge of parapsychological field investigation and research methods, who have shown they have concern both for separating the normal from the paranormal and an overriding concern for the clients in actual cases, and who understand the real differences between claiming one has evidence and claiming one has proof. Members of professional parapsychological and related organizations and laboratories with an interest in field research and investigation will also be invited. Some may have been considered "amateurs" in the past, but because of their knowledge, background, experience and professional attitude and conduct, they will be invited to join.
Eventually, the organization will likely take applications to and conduct interviews for membership that will allow an assessment of the knowledge, skill and experience base of an applicant, his or her intentions and motivations for conducting field research and investigation, and his or her willingness to abide by the code of professional ethics and conduct that is drawn up.
Currently, there are members of the organization in a number of states around the U.S., with interested field researchers and investigators expressing interest in being part of the group in several countries around the world. U.S. members of the organization currently have a number of contacts throughout the world.
The purposes and goals of the Paranormal Research Organization (P.R.O.) will be:
· To create a network of knowledgeable and ethical field researchers and investigators who conduct field research and investigation of psychic and so-called "paranormal" phenomena and experiences. This network will be one that the average person can contact easily for help in assessing any perceived paranormal/psychic experience or phenomenon occurring in their home or place of business. The network will also be one that the Media can feel confident can provide credible, knowledgeable and fair-minded experts.
· To create Ethical Guidelines for field researchers and investigators, covering how they conduct their work and how they deal with "clients" (people with the experiences)
· To create Guidelines for Working with the Media
· To create Guidelines for Working with and Mentoring those interested in learning how to conduct appropriate field research and investigations. Provide mentoring/internship situations and eventual educational programs.
· To create a World-Wide Referral Network of field researchers, investigators, counselors, scientists, and even skeptics who may not be part of P.R.O. but are in fact seriously interested in the solving the mysteries paranormal experiences present
· To create a Website that will provide the following:
1) An online forum for serious researchers and investigators, to include both members of P.R.O. and those seriously interested in the phenomena and experiences, to share their data from investigations and field research
2) A resource for hobbyists and enthusiasts that allows them to learn from the collective experience of the members of P.R.O., and provides an opportunity for them to ask questions/receive answers and advice from the professionals
3) A resource for the general public where they can gain access to good information on parapsychology, psychic experiences and even read case reports of the P.R.O. members (and other researchers and professionals contributing to the site). Furthermore, it gives them a way to ask questions and receive answers and advice from many of the experts in the field. The website will also include a listing of the P.R.O. members and their contacts, and the P.R.O. referrals to other professionals who may be of assistance in various situations.
4) A site for the Media, where journalists, reporters, TV and radio producers, hosts and personalities, and even writers can go for reliable information and resources.
· To publish materials for the general public dealing with reported experiences, actual investigations and opinions and conclusions of the P.R.O. members.
· To provide seminars, workshops and courses in various formats -- in-person attendance, online, telephonic and on video -- dealing with paranormal field research and investigation, psychic phenomena and Parapsychology in general.
· To find and/or create sources of funding and financial support for paranormal field research and investigation, and related laboratory studies.
· To provide services to allegedly haunted public places (such as restaurants, hotels, bed & breakfasts, historical sites), including full investigations of the location and reported phenomena and written assessments of the findings that can be made public.
· To conduct regular meetings for the P.R.O. members at which they can continue dialogue on the phenomena and research and investigation techniques, their findings and discussion of opinions and conclusions.
Naturally, each of the individuals who make up P.R.O. has his or her own main focus of investigations and research, and will also be contributing diverse skills from fields other than parapsychology.
The Paranormal Research Organization is dedicated to understanding what is or is not happening in individual cases, to the experience and perception of the people involved in cases. P.R.O. members understand that in order to study what we call psychic or paranormal, one must explore and exhaust other more normal physical and psychological explanations.
To this end, P.R.O. members will not focus solely on the experience of the witnesses, or the physical situation at the location, or the perceptions of a psychic, or the readings from various technological devices. That P.R.O. will include experts in various technologies as well as those who have evidenced psychic abilities is a testament to that perspective. All angles must be covered if we are to learn about what the experiences represent.
While there was discussion at the meeting to make P.R.O. a non-profit organization, the decision was to run the organization on a for-profit business model, at least to begin with.
A second meeting of the initial members of the Paranormal Research Organization is being planned for sometime mid-2003.
For more information, CONTACT:
Loyd Auerbach at
A Brief Interview with Loyd Auerbach
Recently, I
(Loyd Auerbach) was interviewed via email by a Bay Area high school student.
Here are his questions and my answers.
1. Do you have to go to school to become a paranormal investigator?
There's no formal training or education for a "paranormal investigator." In fact, there are currently very few courses in Parapsychology, the field of study that includes apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists, and really only one place to get an advanced degree in the field. In general, it is imperative that an individual who wants to be a paranormal investigator receive a good education, especially one that includes some education in psychology, anthropology, and the physical sciences. It is also essential that a paranormal investigator be well read in the literature of the field of Parapsychology and understands how psychic experiences and research are connected to ghostly experiences and investigations. [Note: See article on "Education in Parapsychology" below]
2. What made you want to become involved with parapsychology?
I've been interested in psychic experiences and abilities and in ghosts
since I was very little. You could say it's because of watching too much TV
(like THE TWILIGHT
It was really the daily soap DARK SHADOWS that pushed my interests into reading more about parapsychology, psychic abilities, and supernatural folklore.
I was lucky enough to have a couple of teachers in high school also interested in the subject, one of whom sponsored a group of us for a Parapsychology club. Even better was the fact that in the New York area, where I grew up, there were a number of parapsychologists for us to meet and talk with.
3. What would you consider as scientific evidence of a ghosts existence?
The best evidence comes from people (witnesses). A ghost is consciousness, and unfortunately there's no physical evidence for consciousness among the living other than our own behaviors and thoughts. That means that while we're trying to confirm something unusual with technology, the only way to study consciousness, whether it is consciousness of the living or dead, is by the experiences of people.
Parapsychology is primarily a social science, though we try to bring in measuring tools of the physical sciences.
The best cases are those where there are multiple witnesses and information provided by the ghost that can be later verified.
4. I am sure you get asked this a lot, but have you ever seen a ghost?
Most people think that the only ghost encounters are visual. But people also hear ghosts (voices, movements, footsteps), smell scents associated with them (like perfume, cologne), and even feel something (cold, a presence, or even the feeling of being touched). Some people experience one of these, but many experience more than one at a time.
I have not seen or heard a ghost, but I have been "touched" by more than a couple, felt presences on occasions where others have seen a ghost, and even smelled a scent associated with a friend who'd recently died.
5. Can a ghost harm you?
Their appearances can frighten people because people think ghosts are dangerous, which can lead to people hurting themselves.
Ghosts are just consciousness -- mental energy -- and when we perceive anything (see, hear, feel, smell), it is just that -- a perception. Think of it this way: the ghost "sends" the information about himself or herself into your mind. Your mind makes sense of it -- perceives it -- and converts it into sights, sounds, smells, or feelings. But nothing a ghost does directly can hurt you.
6. What is the worst spirit you can come across?
Somebody with a bad personality, the kind of person who'd bug you or you would find offensive or even unlikable if he or she was alive. They can annoy, but not harm you.
7. How
do you get rid of ghosts exactly?
This depends on the situation. See my article "A Ghostly
Review" below, go to the Office of Paranormal Investigations
section of this website (http://www.mindreader.com/opi)
for more in depth info on apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists and how we
deal with them.
8. What
skills do you think are most valuable when working on a paranormal
investigating team?
Interviewing skills and counseling skills -- in other words, the skills needed
to deal with the witnesses. Also knowledge of how the world works (so you can
eliminate unusual but normal explanations).
9. What do you use to detect ghosts?
The best detectors are actually human beings. When a person senses or perceives something unusual, we can ask questions about those perceptions, and categorize the experience.
We do also use some technology, such as magnetic field detectors (magnetometers), temperature sensors, microwave detectors, infra-red detection devices of varying types, cameras, tape recorders and the like.
But, for anything unusual on any technological detector to be considered evidence, we must question the reading (like we question people's experiences), look for other sources/causes of the reading (which we do with people's experiences) and consider a couple of other factors. An unusual reading or picture in the environment is just an anomaly. It's just "unusual" and can't be considered related to a spirit or ghost or to a haunting unless 1) the location is one where human beings have experienced things we call apparitions or hauntings, OR 2) a human being (preferably more than one) is having an apparitional or haunting experience at approximately the same time as the readings/photos are showing as unusual.
10. What is your favorite haunted site?
I have a few in Northern California: the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in Alameda, the Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant in Moss Beach, CA and the Banta Inn in Banta (Tracy), CA.
11. What do you enjoy most about your job?
The great ghost stories I hear and the unusual experiences I sometimes have. Also, figuring out the mystery: what's really behind the encounters.
12. Do
you think that phrase "seeing is believing" is true?
Sometimes.
When people see a ghost, whether they believe it or not will depend on many
other belief factors and the emotional state they're in when they have the
experience. I know many people who, when they experienced a ghost, began
believing, but these were people who were somewhat open to the idea of life
after death and to the concept of apparitions.
I know others who so strongly disbelieve that if a ghost appeared in front of
them and tried talking to them, they'd completely ignore what was going on or
later would toss the experience away as "a trick" or "a waking
dream" or some such "nonsense."
13. What
is the worst part about your job?
Two things: 1) That there's no funding to doing research on apparitions,
hauntings and other phenomena that happens outside the laboratory and 2) many
of the people who call me for help are psychologically disturbed and there's
little I can do to help them other than to refer them on to psychologists.
A Question
from TechTV
Early in
2002, I was asked to appear on a TechTV program.
Along with that, they asked me to write
something up on
Technology in Paranormal Investigations.
Here it is.
TECHNOLOGY
Loyd Auerbach
The field of Parapsychology has done much investigation of experiences of apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists. Part of the research process has been to try to find technologies that can provide more data than what we get from human witnesses.
Technology and the Science behind it have a ways to go before anyone can say for sure that this reading or that photo conclusively indicates a ghost. People who offer up their photos as "proof" of the existence of ghosts or who rely purely on technology are ignorant of what constitutes scientific proof (versus evidence). More importantly, they are generally uneducated as to what decades of research and much discussion has led us to understand ghosts and hauntings might be.
Apparitions (ghosts) and hauntings are phenomena defined by human experience.
An apparition typically represents an experience of a deceased person being seen, heard (a voice, footsteps), felt (a presences, a touch) or smelled (perfume, cologne) by a living person. Our model of an apparition is that he or she is the consciousness (or personality, spirit, soul, mind or whatever you want to call it) that survives the death of the body.
Apparitions are capable of interaction with the living. This interaction happens through mind-to-mind communication (telepathy), not through the ordinary senses. When one "sees" a ghost, it is through the perceptual processes (think data processing) rather than through the eyes. Just like a computer can convert digital information into a picture, the human mind can convert received information from the mind of a ghost into images, voices, smells, and even feelings of being touched.
Hauntings, also called "place memory" or "imprints", seem to represent information recorded into the local environment by actual happenings. When one perceives something like a walking-then-disappearing figure in a haunting, one is actually picking up historical information (even recent history) from the location and converting it into an image. Hauntings are much more common than apparition cases, as every place where people have been and emotional events have occurred has the potential to be haunted.
Both have one important factor in common: unless something is perceived and experienced by a witness, there's nothing to indicate a "ghost" or "haunting" is present. We define hauntings and apparitions by the human experience of the phenomena.
The major differences between apparitions and hauntings are around interaction and source. A ghost or apparition is capable of interacting with a living person and vice versa, like two people at either end of a video conference call. In a haunting, you only perceive a recording, like watching a video or listening to an audio recording of someone or events in the past.
Typically, when we conduct investigations, we do use detectors of electromagnetic fields to provide additional sensors to anything unusual in the environment. Such equipment does not detect ghosts per se, but are useful in looking for physical correlates to the perceptions / sensations / experiences of the witnesses (including psychics). Do human beings have the capacity to detect anomalous magnetic fluxes in the environment? Or are these magnetic (and other detectable energetic anomalies) somehow "footprints" left behind by apparitions and haunting "imprints"?
We're still working on that, just as many scientists are working on the major question of Consciousness itself. After all, if technology cannot be used to detect consciousness IN the body, where we assume it is, how can it be used definitively to detect consciousness after death?
If you are going to use detection gear of any kind (and that especially goes for cameras, both still and video and audio recorders), a single reading (or photo) must be looked over with care. There should be correlation to something else; at the very least someone (witness or psychic) having a perception of the "ghost" or a connection to a spot with a history of reported paranormal phenomena or experiences.
Always know the limitations of your equipment and how "false" readings (or photos!) might come up….false in the sense that they are otherwise explainable and NOT paranormally connected when you look closely.
Do not rely on technology to tell you a place is haunted or a ghost is present. It's clear by what's up on the net that people make incorrect assumptions about places and their evidence. Just the fact that people hang out in cemeteries to get spirit orb photos makes me cringe.
Ghost sightings in cemeteries are extremely rare. Just because a body's buried somewhere doesn't make the place haunted (think of the catacombs in Rome and Paris and the thousands of bodies down there!!). And if you were a ghost, would you hang around in a graveyard?
Parapsychologists do use technology to try to find any environmental anomalies that can be connected to the models we're building of apparitions and hauntings. But at present, what we have is some little evidence, and some leads that certain technology, including detectors of magnetic and geomagnetic fields, can help us better understand what's going on when someone sees a ghost.
But it will take a lot more research and investigation with all sorts of technologies, including computer systems that can take in the readings and correlate them properly, before we can point a gizmo at a spot and say "we got one!!" Unfortunately, it will also take research money to buy the technology; funds which researchers do not have.
In the meantime, if you wish to "detect" a ghost, spend more time interviewing witnesses than taking readings. A reading is a lot less exciting than a good ghost story.
For more information on some of the equipment used in ghost-hunting, go to http://www.lessemf.com .
A
GHOSTLY REVIEW
LOYD
AUERBACH
From FATE
MAGAZINE
February 1999, December 1998 & August 2000
"Psychic Frontiers" by Loyd Auerbach
In light of the growing interest in amateur paranormal investigation and the mountains of "ghost" photos appearing on the Internet and elsewhere (see below), I thought it was time to review some basics definitions and concepts of ghostly happenings.
There are three basic categories of experiences/phenomena that have become grouped as "ghosts" in the past: apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists. The three are different conceptually, but events around each can appear similar and can even indicate unique combinations of phenomena.
THE STRESS VALVE
Poltergeist, while it literally means "noisy ghost," has come to represent a different model altogether from a parapsychological perspective. In poltergeist cases, physical effects are the central theme. These effects can run from movements and levitations and appearances/disappearances of objects to unusual behavior of electrical appliances, from unexplained knockings and other sounds to temperature changes, with all combinations possible as well. Rarely are ghostly figures or voices seen or heard (though not out of the question).
The poltergeist model is that of a situation caused by the subconscious mind of a living agent, generally someone in the household undergoing emotional and/or psychological stress. The agents are people who typically have no method of dealing with the stress on any normal level, so the subconscious takes advantage of the psychokinetic (mind over matter) ability we all have to blow off steam. In other words, you can think of the poltergeist scenario as a telekinetic temper tantrum.
Often the physical things affected in a poltergeist case can be used as clues to determine what's bothering the poltergeist agent (who can be divined, typically, by looking at who is around during all the events). The objects affected may belong to one particular individual in the household, or representative of a role of one of the family. For example, if a husband doesn't want his wife to work, instead asking her to stay home with the new baby (and effectively "in the kitchen"), kitchen appliances may act strangely when the subject is brought up in discussion. Water bursts may be representative of pent-up guilt.
Poltergeist cases have, on rare occasion, also provided visual apparitions, though these are generally distorted, archetypal or even monstrous. In other words, you don't get a basic human ghost, but some other projection of stress, guilt, anger, fear or frustration from the subconscious, a projection that is telepathically sent out to others in the household. (Note: For an ultimate expression of a "monster from the Id" rent or buy the fantastic science fiction film FORBIDDEN PLANET; it stars Leslie Nielson before he was funny).
In poltergeist cases, unlike hauntings and apparitions, we don't typically get unusual photos or effects on a magnetic field detector (magnetometer). However, because we are dealing with psychokinesis, and because PK works on many levels, it would not be unlikely for the agent's PK to affect film (like the photo-psychic abilities of Ted Serios) or the magnetometers themselves.
A HAUNTING REFRAIN
Like the Poltergeist, a Haunting relies on the living. Unlike a poltergeist case, where the phenomena are caused by the agent, a haunting is received by the experient (witness who has the experience). Hauntings actually show that we are all psychic receivers (clairvoyant) to some degree.
Ever walk into a house and get a feel for the "vibes" (the house feels "good" or "bad")? Of course, that feeling could be because of normal perceptions, the décor is nice or "off," but you may also psychically perceive emotions and events embedded in the environment. There are other possibilities besides psi, which I'll get to in a moment.
One ability proffered by many psychics over the ages is psychometry: the ability to "read" the history of an object by holding or touching it. Objects, we're told, "record" their entire history, and some can decipher that with psi.
But what is a house if not a big object?
In haunting cases, people report seeing (or hearing or feeling or even smelling) a presence (or several) typically engaged in some sort of activity. It could be a man's figure walking up and down the hallway, or footsteps heard from the attic, or a man and woman physically fighting until one is dead, or even the sounds of two people making love coming from an adjoining room (for this one, see my October 1994 column for the story of "The Sexorcist").
The events and figures witnessed in hauntings tend to be repetitive both in what's experienced and when they occur (at approximately the same time). Speaking with the "ghosts" tends to do no good, because they just continue to go about their business, as though you're not even there.
Some claim this is because the ghosts are "stuck" in some sort of cursed time loop. However, hauntings have occurred on many occasions where the "entities" are representative of living people, so there's certainly no one to be "stuck."
What does appear to be stuck is some kind of environmental recording of events and people. Like the small object "read" in psychometry, the house or building or land somehow records its history, with the more emotion-laden events and experiences coming through "louder" and "stronger." That people mostly report negative events and emotions (around suicide, murder or other violent crimes, or emotional fights) is likely due to a reporting artifact rather than any unbalanced ration of negative to positive events.
If you experienced a haunting in which generally good feelings are picked up and one in which you sense something bad happened in the house, which would you report? Which would lead you to ask for help?
You might think of a haunting as a loop of video or audiotape playing itself over and over for you to watch. Trying to interact with it would be akin to trying to interact with a show on your TV (sure you can turn it off or change the channel, but I wouldn't expect the actors to suddenly stop and talk to you directly).
In haunting cases, researchers have found that people oblivious of the phenomena when they first walk in will very likely pick up something in the same spots in the house as the primary experients. This indicates that something in the environment at those spots exists on some level, physical or psychic.
Using magnetometers, others and I have found a consistency from haunting
to haunting. The magnetometers measure magnetic fields that are given off by a
variety of sources, including technology in the house. There is a general
background reading in the location, and readings will increase when you bring
the magnetometer near anything from a
Considering that, what's so interesting in haunting cases is that the spots where people experience the phenomena tend to have higher than background (sometimes much higher) magnetic readings, even with all household power turned off.
Is the magnetic field indicative of the "recording" itself? We're not sure yet, since the use of magnetometers in haunting cases is still fairly new. Is the magnetic field an indication of something that causes an individual to be more psychic, and so pick up the "recording"? Again, we're not sure, but research by Michael Persinger and others around the connections between the Earth's magnetic field and psi abilities, as well as the use of such fields to cause people to have hallucinations, are particularly promising.
One important thing to consider in haunting cases is whether the content of the "replay" is related to what’s gone on in the house on the land. It is often possible to track the "story" back to events in the current or past inhabitants' lives.
But there are other factors that may cause haunting experiences with no tie to history. One is the possibility of fluctuations in the geomagnetic field causing hallucinations that are interpreted as ghosts. Other environmentally present conditions, including standing infrasonic (low frequency sound) waves affecting the eyes (see my column in the October 1998 FATE). Natural plasma effects such as ball lightning and earthlights can lead to conclusions of hauntings (and apparitions). I had a case a number of years ago in which a number of environmental conditions, from slightly angled doorways and floors to leaking methane gas from a landfill behind a hillside, caused all sorts of havoc with a family's perceptions, making them think their newly rented house was haunted.
In some haunting cases, after a time physical objects may begin to move. How can a "recording" move things? In these cases, it would appear that the PK of the experients' subconscious starts acting in play. In other words, your subconscious mind, undoubtedly picking up even more than your conscious mind is, begins to help the story along because of your expectation of what occurs in ghost cases. By expecting more to happen, more happens.
What about ghost photos in such cases? Can you take a photo of a haunt?
The same rules apply in hauntings as in poltergeist cases. Your expectation of getting something on film may allow your subconscious to use PK to put something on film.
THE "DEAD GUYS"
Finally, we come to actual spirits: Apparitions of the dead (though there are thousands of reported cases of apparitions of the living). An apparition is our personality (or spirit, soul, consciousness, mind or whatever you want to call it) surviving the death of the body, and capable of interaction with the living (and presumably other apparitions).
What separates an apparition from a haunting ghost is that idea of interaction. If a haunting is a replaying videotape, an apparition is a video conference call. While speaking to the videotape brings no response, the conference call allows for two-way communication.
Apparitions would appear to have no particular form other than what they themselves conjure up as their own self-image. In other words, the how the entity thinks of/visualizes him/her is how the rest of us "see" the ghost. Try this: close your eyes and get a picture of yourself in your mind's eye. That's probably how the living would see you if you were a ghost (and by the way, did you visualize yourself with clothing? That's why ghosts don't appear in the nude: their self-images include clothing).
The apparition communicates on a telepathic basis, our psi processes picking up this self-image and adding it to the information received by our "normal" senses. Some of us can process this telepathic input better on a visual basis, others auditory, through feeling or even on a more olfactory basis (smell). Many can experience a ghost on more than one sensory level (seeing and hearing the apparition).
The number of good apparition cases is far surpassed by the number of haunting cases, and it would appear that several things are true about apparitions.
The sheer majority of apparitions are seen once by a relative or friend or loved one within 48 hours of that person's death, as if the person is coming to say goodbye.
Most don't stick around as a ghost for more than a day or two. Longer-term apparitions tend to have a psychological/emotional need or stron