A Glimps of what we do...

Many people think that what we do is easy, mindless, and sometimes pointless. This comes to mind when I think of "Ghost Hunters," the thrill seeking types who try to get involved in this field for the mere thrill seeking aspect of it all or for the sake of jumping on the Paranormal bandwagon and be able to say, “I hunt for ghosts.” Some don't put much thought into the activities that are carried out when entering a location that is claimed to be haunted. They think that all they need to do is go in with a voice recorder, some cameras, and some meters and start provoking an entity to interact with them. There is no true effort in trying to resolve the problems of the people who are seeking help or to try and assist the other hard working and dedicated researchers who share one common goal; to prove the existence of “ghosts.” What's worse is the thought that because of this misunderstanding and lack of knowledge and belief, they could quite possibly make things worse. Though it may not seem so to the lay person, we (HIPRS Investigators & Researchers) take what we do very seriously, and what can't be seen is the thought and emotion that is held within each of us as we seek to assist those in need of help, sanity, and security. For example: When we're conducting investigations, it might seem like we're "hanging loose," talking story and even at times cracking jokes, but in our heads we are always thinking and calculating. What we are doing by carrying ourselves in such a manner is showing any possible presences that we are approachable, and for those possible negative types, not afraid. Another thing for us is, most things happen when people are just carrying on normally. Meaning, people don't always see an entity because they are actively looking for it. They were probably just sitting down watching the T.V., or reading a book, or working on the computer. This is why a lot of times, we go off subject and talk about the activities of our day or talk about past cases or just talk about whatever comes to mind. What you see on video is a mere snippet of everything that needs to be done for research and actual investigational purposes. The research that is done before hand, the review of footage and recordings not just to find an EVP or possible picture on an entity but to compare the different research techniques and their effectiveness, the comparison of the many outlying factors such as the environment, the people involved, weather, geography, the list goes on and on.

Then there’s the equipment. Many think that to investigate the paranormal, you need to have all the fancy gadgetry and bells and whistles. This is far from true. For one thing, the equipment is only as good as the knowledge you have of using them. Its good to have an EMF meter and pick up spikes and stray readings…but do you know what they mean? Do you know what an EM field is and what causes them? Do you know that it may not necessarily mean its something paranormal or ghostly? Many don’t. They just think that because the number goes up to 2.0, there’s a ghost there.

Before we use a “new” piece of equipment, we do hours upon hours of research, studying and reading up on how it works, has it worked for other researchers, will it help us to collect solid “objective” data, what can cause false positives. Then we “play” around with the equipment and actually try to cause false positives, use it incorrectly, push wrong buttons, etc. because we want to know these things before we are actually using it in the field.

I hope this helps to give a little glimpse of what it takes to do what we do because this is, as I stated, a glimpse. I could go on and on about this subject and probably type up a whole chapter. It’s beyond a hobby for us. This is something that we take very seriously as should anyone who tries to get involved in what we do. The majority of us have put in years and years of studying, researching, and more researching. So if you think we don’t know what we are doing or think that we’re “playing” Ghost Hunters, then I’m sorry to say you may be the one who doesn’t know. We are not here to satisfy anyone and everyone…just those who seek our help and who seek to help in our common goals as researchers and investigators. NOSKEDUMWEGETUM!