Sean Paradis

When visiting a popular location, it becomes difficult to keep an open mind while investigating. Generally, the top three things that happen in people’s minds at locations that are well known is that they either think every noise is paranormal, they are waiting for something epic to happen because of the locations reputation, or they are in such awe about the location they miss everything.

Generally, when a person believes every noise to be paranormal, it is often because they have heard stories about the place they are visiting, and want to see something so much that they create evidence in their mind. A creaking floor board will be evidence to them, and it is difficult to convince them otherwise. This can happen to anyone. A simple way to experience similar phenomena for yourself is to sit for a minute, and start to think you have a headache. Imagine actually feeling it. A lot of times, the pain of a phantom headache will develop.

This is what happens on an investigation. People hear the stories of the place they are walking through, and they want to see something so bad, they take a normal noise, and believe it is paranormal. They will see fake shadows, or think they are hearing things. The other side of this is when a person discredits everything anticipating larger evidence.

If the stories are of a grand scale, including full body apparitions and hearing voices right next to you, they may be so excited to experience the stories, that they brush off smaller evidence like cold spots, gentle taps on the walls, or footsteps. They may blame someone in the other room making the noise, or blame the cold spot on a draft. Granted, these may be the cause, but not always. Most times they will not even consider it to be paranormal. The third most common thing to happen is for a person to be completely unaware of any evidence.

A person is in such awe about the stories that a majority of their consciousness is focused on the story, trying to wrap their brain around it, and the fact that they are actually there in the location. The best way that I can describe this, is when you are driving and listening to the radio. When you get to your destination, think about what happened during the drive. A lot of times, I do not remember any details except the major ones. This is what happens a lot at investigations. The major portion of their attention is on the story, that evidence that may happen becomes the minor details that they will forget in the end.

The best way to have a balance between looking for evidence, and being able to tell the difference between what is real and what is not, is a few days before the investigation, put the stories away. Do something else that does not involve the location. A highly effective method is to meditate each night and morning for a few days prior to the investigation. This helps to filter and balance out your mind, and will make it easier to investigate without judging evidence too quickly.