From early days to the 1990s if you were a "ghost hunter" then what you did was visit the location of a haunting or paranormal activity. You sat down in the room or corridor said to be haunted or even slept in the haunted bedroom and waited to see what might happen.
Normally nothing.
You might carry an oil lamp with you. Later some took cameras and later still tape recorders (you never knew). The QuiJa Board was a toy so not much good they could do.
If you suspected hoaxing then a fine layer of talcum poweder on the floor would reveal any footprints. Other "fraud detectors" could be used. One dressed up as one should for the warm or cold. If there was a VERY strong feeling that "something" was there then you asked "Who is here?" (the tape recorder was useful just in case it picked up any vocalisation ). If you heard an odd noise you tried to track it down and see what was causing it.
If you observed an object clearly move then you went and examined it and checked where it had fallen from (as I did). If you did see some form of "form" you either spoke to it or got closer (as I did).
You never went to locations dressed head to foot in urban combat gear with the "merch" on full display. If you wore a hat you certainly did not wear it inj someone's house -manners buyt today no hat means less "merch" on show. You never took fake "psychics" with you who could fill you in on what had (not) happened in the past at the location.
Up until the advent of the fake TV paranormal shows there was NEVER talk of "portals"/"portals to Hell" and where the nonsense of every ghost being a "demonic entity" started from...well, we know the culprits. "It looked exactly like my mother before she died. She stood there, smiled then vanioshed".....oh no. Now that was a demon attempting ti lure you in by pretending to be your late mother.
Elliott O'Donnel noted how he had stayed at a supposed haunted location all night but come dawn he decided to leave after saying "good morning" to the red haired cleaning lady when she arrived. A wasted night. Until he was told that there was no red haired cleaning lady.
I once stopped, at just after Midnight on a very quiet suburban shopping street as a police officer stepped from a doorway. I noted he wore a big, clunky Gloucestershire Constabulary badsge on his helmet and even a old style police cloak. It was cold and we had a chat about the weather putting off burglars and I even mentioned he was a long way from home (Bristol was covered by City of Bristol Police) and he told me he was covering the area. I walked on and next day I saw someone who worked in the police force and mentioned the Bobby I had encountered. He did some checks and later told me that no one from Gloucestershire Constabulary should have been in "our area". Was it a ghost? Seemed pretty solid to me and not everything was freely available in pre computer age 1970s so he might well have been a constable from another force covering an area.
An elecxtro Magnetic Field detector I feel might be handy. The only time I felt any fear and retreated from a location (slowly, walking backwards up the stairs NOT running) I feel it may have been due to an EMF field -I was only told after my experience that someone else had a similar experience.
Today you have to have your "merch" as well as social medias and You Tube channel and swear like a docker while picking nasty arguments with other paranormal groups or alleged fakers. Once a faker was exposed that was it -it was made very clear publicly. These days you have to keep going back to expose thembecause it pushes up your views.
It is not about getting evidence and answers these days as much as getting celebrity status and making money. If I see one mopre so called "ghost hunter" team scream and run away because a piece of debris has fallen in a dilapidated building or there is a sound somewhere I will scream (not likely as I have now given up watching these things).
Rather like cryptozoology and UFOs the field of "paranormal invcestigations" is now a money making enterprise with a bit of entertainment added. And in each of those fields there are serious researchers whop are ignored because they are not publicity hunters but real truth seekers.
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