"With great power comes great responsibility." Every true comic book fan knows that these are the words of wisdom that Uncle Ben gives a young Peter Parker to make him the hero Spider-Man. This saying stuck with me from the first time I ever heard it. Responsibility is such a strong word. Its a burden of obligation. Now how does this powerful word relate to our little field you ask, just hang with me, I'm getting to it.
We have quite a few responsibilities as investigators. We have a responsibility to our field to be honest and not fake evidence. We have the responsibility to be careful with how we collect our evidence. We have the responsibility to try to teach others how to collect evidence and investigate in the proper way. Too many of us watch a tv show and think we know everything we need to know. Doctors go to school and spend years to actually become doctors. They don't watch a few episodes of House and hang out a shingle. We need to read and try to work with people who have an understanding of this field. We also have a huge responsibility to not try to run before we can walk. There are too many teams going out to investigate and "clear" homes of their pesky ghosts and they have no clue what they are doing. A couple of Novembers ago, my team and I had to fly to upstate New York to help a family with a haunted home. They were at the end of their rope and just needed some help. Unfortunately, we were the fourth team to come out. Out of the previous three groups, one was a witches coven and the other two groups were completely new to all of this. All three groups had a different goal which was also a problem and to be honest it just made things more cloudy and active. These people didn't need an evp session or someone to come in and say their home is haunted. They needed help dealing with a huge and very real problem. We helped them, but thats because we knew they were our responsibility. See how I brought it back there?
I'm not going to tell anyone to not do something that you love. I am going to give you some "Don'ts" though.
As always, I encourage you to get educated, then get out there and collect some ghost stories and evidence. If you need help, we are always there for advice and tons of other teams are too. Be smart and be safe.
Happy Hauntings,
Ray Couch
We have quite a few responsibilities as investigators. We have a responsibility to our field to be honest and not fake evidence. We have the responsibility to be careful with how we collect our evidence. We have the responsibility to try to teach others how to collect evidence and investigate in the proper way. Too many of us watch a tv show and think we know everything we need to know. Doctors go to school and spend years to actually become doctors. They don't watch a few episodes of House and hang out a shingle. We need to read and try to work with people who have an understanding of this field. We also have a huge responsibility to not try to run before we can walk. There are too many teams going out to investigate and "clear" homes of their pesky ghosts and they have no clue what they are doing. A couple of Novembers ago, my team and I had to fly to upstate New York to help a family with a haunted home. They were at the end of their rope and just needed some help. Unfortunately, we were the fourth team to come out. Out of the previous three groups, one was a witches coven and the other two groups were completely new to all of this. All three groups had a different goal which was also a problem and to be honest it just made things more cloudy and active. These people didn't need an evp session or someone to come in and say their home is haunted. They needed help dealing with a huge and very real problem. We helped them, but thats because we knew they were our responsibility. See how I brought it back there?
I'm not going to tell anyone to not do something that you love. I am going to give you some "Don'ts" though.
- Don't start a group until you have at least a couple of years of experience.
- Don't just join a group until you have a chance to ask questions and research the group.
- Don't investigate a home until you know beyond the shadow of a doubt what you are doing.
- As a homeowner, if you need help, don't just call the first investigative group you find. This field can draw some weirdoes. These people will have access to your home and family so be careful.
- Don't stop investigating or learning. Just work smarter and learn everything you can. If you are new to the field, try to work some other teams and get some experience.
As always, I encourage you to get educated, then get out there and collect some ghost stories and evidence. If you need help, we are always there for advice and tons of other teams are too. Be smart and be safe.
Happy Hauntings,
Ray Couch
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