12 hours of video and audio, hundreds of still images, countless cassettes full of EVP work and you find…. Nothing! What a discouraging thing to happen. Take it from me, after over 10 years in the field this situation is going to happen again and again and again. This is where the line between ghost hunter and paranormal researcher is drawn. The ghost hunter will look at this type of case as a waste of time and resources. Whereas the paranormal researcher will look at it for what it is, a learning experience.
These cases can be a bit of a letdown, but they are very important to our field. They give us practice in setting up and breaking down gear as well as actual investigative practices. It is best to be prepared for cases such as this and not look at them negatively, but as a positive influence. My team uses these types of cases to better ourselves as investigators and people. There are things that need to be remembered.
No Activity
Remember the absence of evidence isn’t the evidence of absence! Despite what some teams (and they know who they are) have stated, not capturing evidence does not mean a house is or isn’t haunted; it just means that you did not manage to capture evidence. A researcher should never take the absence of evidence as a scam or fraud on the client’s part unless other reasons support that accusation. Ghosts do not work on a schedule and should they not present their selves during the visit than that is something you must deal with.
Also never tell a homeowner their house is unhaunted unless you can support that by debunking the first hand accounts they have. If you cannot reproduce their accounts than you cannot say 100% that a location is void of haunting activity. If you fail to find evidence simply tell them that you did not capture anything but you would gladly come back if needed. The well being of the client should always be the prime objective in any case.
So in short use these cases to better your skills and fine-tune yourself. It is very easy to get discouraged and let down but try to see these cases as sessions in which the team gets some first hand practice and you will feel better about the case regardless of the evidence that you did or didn’t get. I hope this article as helped you in some way. Thanks for your time and happy hunting.
