Someone asked me whether there are any genuine paranormal investigators out there investigating seemingly genuine activity?
There are too many gimmicky devices and people hearing voices on digi-audio recorders that are not there -these recorders are not good. I use an old tape personal recorder and holding it three feet (90cms) from a TV I got a clear audio. The digi recorder next to it was awful and just a lot of very odd sounds.
EM meters are useful for practical reasons but so many people use infra red/ultra violet and other light/photo devices and have no idea as to their quirks -one set of photos sent to me two years ago by investigators showed a clear corridor in night vision but IR showed a strange "mass" that moved each frame. I showed the photos to someone who worked on IR photography equipment and he said "Any heating pipes under the floor or walls?" Checked: yes. "Pockets of heat will show up on photographs" I was told. "You can even detect pockets of cold air or cold spots that occur naturally".
In all the years of being involved and following what we used to call "supernatural" then "paranormal" phenomena (I started when I was a youngster and I'm 60 now so quite old!), I have noted that matter of fact accounts seem to have vanished. We have people giving the readings on their equipment, what the 'psychic' told them and ever increasing sensationalism in an attempt to "be like the Americans" and all those fake TV shows.
Most paranormal groups will NOT communicate with me nor discuss cases. Why? Well, I need evidence. I do not say "It's all rubbish!" I say I want to see some form of evidence or discuss aspects of a case that seem strange because it is only by wading through all the chaff that we can get to evidence that we CAN analyze and build up some idea of what is being dealt with. I doubt dead people. However, there are a number of other possibilities that are constantly ignored because it does not involve "Satan", "Demons" or "An uneasy soul".
I am NOT a skeptic -which is what many call me. I am NOT a "believer" and many skeptics think that puts me on their side. No. Through study and knowledge -the truth: per cognitionem veritatis
Sadly, many think plaster falling in a creaky old building, creaking floorboards or even a cold spot is proof of a haunting.
I tend to trawl groups on the internet looking for interesting phenomena but I see nothing. Is this what paranormal investigation and research is now? Based on TV fakery or one night 'investigations' of 3-5 hours?
I really would like to hear of genuine investigations.