Where to Begin?

Sasquatch76

Howdy folks.

I've always had a passing interest in the paranormal, but I confess that my major interest would be cryptozoology (which I personally don't class as paranormal per sé). However, having recently talked to a couple of people who claim to have had "ghostly" experiences themselves, I'd like to learn more about this subject in particular.

So with that in mind, where do I start? While some reading suggestions would be of course, very welcome, I'm ultimately hoping to do more than just read up on the subject. I suppose what I'm asking here is how does someone progress from having an interest into actively taking part in the paranormal community (if that makes sense?). How does one get involved?

Any advice/pearls of wisdom/words of warning would be hugely appreciated by myself (and I'm sure quite a few others who find this subject fascinating).

Riamfada

Well the first thing most people do now is

• come up with a name for a "team" just like you see on TV
• buy some electrician's equipment that you see on TV
• get a branded cap just like you see on TV

Congradulations you are now an expert in the paranormal.

Sasquatch76

Cool. Delighted I asked now. :rolleyes:

maccored

Grimes wrote: »

Well the first thing most people do now is

• come up with a name for a "team" just like you see on TV
• buy some ghost finding equipment that finds real ghosts just like you see on TV
• get a branded cap just like you see on TV

Congradulations you are now an expert in the paranormal.

there, fixed that

Riamfada

Sasquatch76 wrote: »

Any advice/pearls of wisdom/words of warning would be hugely appreciated by myself (and I'm sure quite a few others who find this subject fascinating).

What I said is closer to reality than most things you will hear but judging by the :rolleyes: its not the reality you were looking for.

Sasquatch76

Grimes wrote: »

What I said is closer to reality than most things you will hear but judging by the :rolleyes: its not the reality you were looking for.

Closer to reality, as in that's how most people are doing it, yes?

The fact that I asked for advice, including recommended reading material would have (I assumed, perhaps wrongly) indicated that I'm not most people.

Your response assumed I was looking to join a team as seen on tv? Well, I don't watch tv, but whatever. I asked for advice, and got a smart arsed answer. Just close the thread.

pokerface_me

Sasquatch76 wrote: »

Closer to reality, as in that's how most people are doing it, yes?

The fact that I asked for advice, including recommended reading material would have (I assumed, perhaps wrongly) indicated that I'm not most people.

Your response assumed I was looking to join a team as seen on tv? Well, I don't watch tv, but whatever. I asked for advice, and got a smart arsed answer. Just close the thread.

And that guy is a MOD, what a complete you know what. Stick around some great people on the forum here and will give you all the advice you need. Check back tomorrow.

Sasquatch76

pokerface_me wrote: »

And that guy is a MOD, what a complete you know what. Stick around some great people on the forum here and will give you all the advice you need. Check back tomorrow.

Ah, I understand where Grimes is coming from. Just was hoping to find a bit more support I suppose.

Anyway, I'll be reading the forum regularly.

Riamfada

Grimes has been involved in the paranormal in Ireland for going on 6 years now so is pretty qualified to talk about the realities of paranormal investigating.

So while my previous post was a true reflection on how a number of paranormal groups start. There is no recommended reading material, you will find that anything you google search or decide yourself can become your point of view, for example when Most Haunted was on we were all going around saying Orbs are the first manifestation of a spirit, then we were all infrasound crazy.... Which is of course complete balderdash. A lot of people still maintain however that Orbs are the first manifestation of a spirit along with a multitude of other self deluding arguments to support the existence of ghosts.

But again in all seriousness most people start because they watch GHI and model a "group" with equipment and various titles based on the TV show. That's the way it works.

PS: Ive done the investigations and put the time in and Im pretty sure ghosts are not real.

Im not sure what pokerface_me wanted me to say ... groups dont have homogenous names based on TV shows? Groups dont wear branded clothing?? Groups dont use equipment designed for the construction industry as ghost detectors?? Sorry but that still stands. Not that Im being negative, each to their own. Sure I have enough trouble trying to censor any pictures of me in ghost hunting equipment from surfacing on boards or facebook as I would be "scarleh".

Im sure that was not what you were expecting, again but is a true reflection of what you are to expect if you want to get into paranormal investigating in Ireland.

maccored

as much as I agree with grimes, i think its easy to get jaded in this game. Many people get interested in the paranormal due to experiencing something - or in my case, quite a few things in the one place - rather than TV .. though in the past few years there has indeed seemed to be many who watch telly, and then say 'oh i want one of them too' and form a 'paranormal research group'. Ive often asked 'where is the research?'.

Im not too sure ghosts dont exist. I think dam near all of the things people report as paranotmal arent, but I have lived for years in a house where inexplicible things - including voices and stuff moving - have happened so I'll stick with healthy skeptism and say I just dont know for sure.

Educate yourself as much as possible is, I think, one of the most important things. People say orbs are ghosts - research that and make your own mind up. People say emf is caused by ghosts, others say naturally created emf c`an cause people to think they see ghosts - thats something you need to research and make your own mind up on. Infrasound is meant to do much the same thing. Its up to you - ifd you want to try and understand whats classed as the paranormal - to read up on it, read up on the various theories behind the causes and go from there. Only when youve done all that and you have your own opinion based on learning, should anyone really go looking to do any 'investigating'. Personally I'm much more into the research side and trying to understand how our environment can trigger paranormal experiences. i dont thin there are too many places that warrent investigating.

That said, as a group we do get contacted quite a bit by people who *think* they are being haunted, so sometimes you end up providing almost a form of social service where you go to their house and show them whats *really* making those noises upstairs etc etc, rather than going there to find ghosts. Obviously you do that in the hope that some day you might actually find some evidence or the paranormal, but outside those personal experiences, i have to agree with grimes and say ive never seen any evidence of ghosts existing that I could document.

steddyeddy

Well beleive it or not cryptozoology has precedent in ireland with legends of the dobher chu and peistes you could investigate things like this also.

Oryx

Where to begin?

1)Read this forum.

2)Research what groups are currently active at the moment (many of them are mentioned here). See if any are doing open investigations. Tag along to one of those. You may not see any spooks, but its a good introduction to how the groups operate.

3)Dismiss completely any 'investigating' you see on tv. Its hyped up for the cameras and bears no relation to what actually goes on.

4)Educate yourself on how paranormal phenomena are faked,(which they often are) and how people can unwittingly fool themselves. It is a fascinating area to look at anyway and gives great background to what you want to study.

Im not sure what to recommend, reading wise, as a lot of the books such as Haunted Ireland seem to report the stories anecdotally, and its impossible to tell sometimes where or how the story originated.

maccored

google is a fantastic book

6th

Grimes nowhere did the OP mention ghost hunting or even investigating. Theres more to the Paranormal than running around castles you know.

Sasquatch76, its really hard to start off because most books are either aimed at "believers" or "skeptics".

I think Oryx advice of reading here is good because you get to see the clash (for want of a better word) and it gives you the opportunity to get you're on ideas and thoughts (as they stand now) clear before you start off on your road trip into the world of the paranormal.

Basically, know what you think and be open to changing that before you let someone else tell you how it is.

SkepticOne

A good knowledge of standard zoology and field skills would be the place to start, I would imagine.

steddyeddy

SkepticOne wrote: »

A good knowledge of standard zoology and field skills would be the place to start, I would imagine.

Thats it, if its unknown animals your searching for get to know the various reported sightings and the various areas they originate from