Generally doing a paranormal investigation is harmless, as long as there are no malevolent entities present at the location.  Ghosts or spirits of the no longer living found in a house or building other than a prison or abandoned asylum are usually harmless.  About half of them just want to be left alone and often some will hide from the living either in an attic or basement or sometimes a closet.  Some ghosts are so quiet they can haunt a location for years without the occupants being aware of their presence.

There are rules to everything and paranormal investigations is no exception.  Before you begin understand the basics.  The first basic rule is spirit = energy and some energy can not be destroyed.  Energy exists in many forms around us all the time and most of it exists unseen to our human eyes.  The moving wind is a form of energy that you can feel and see the effects of but generally you can't see the air moving, unless there's dust or smoke being carried by it.  Heat is a form of energy we can feel but generally can't see.  Light is also a form of energy we can see but generally can't feel.  The visible light spectrum is tiny compared to the wide range of invisible light that exists both higher and lower than the visible spectrum.

Energy can be altered and converted from one form to another.  We can use solar panels to convert light into electrical energy and we can use windmills to convert wind to electrical energy.  We use chemicals to convert metal and it's components into electricity and we all know batteries do go dead and lose their energy.  Our bodies run on chemical energy that requires being fed and renewed every day.  Spiritual energy however is different.

While the spirit is within the body it exists synonymous with that body.  When the body no loner functions the spirit will separate from it and become astral or free floating.  These spirits it is believed can feed upon other sources of energy, heat, light and flowing water are among some of the energy formats we believe spirits can and will feed upon.

The two most familiar types of haunting are the residual and the active AKA intelligent haunting.

Residual hauntings are the sounds spirits imprint upon the fabric of their surroundings.  These sounds may remain in a given location for hundreds of years.  They do not respond to the living, they will not answer your questions.  How does this happen?  Simple, the living having spiritual energy will go thorough a routine frequently and as such leave the sounds they made in life upon the fabric of their surroundings.

Some media record these sounds better than others.  Wood was once a living thing and so is limestone.  Building materials that were once alive tend to record the energy of the living better than other things that were never alive.

Active hauntings will sometimes respond to questions put to them by the investigator.  These can be recorded as EVPs or spirit box or other electronic devices used to allow the spirit to communicate with the living.

If you go into a haunted location with a large team of people as Ghost Hunters (TAPS) does your chances of making contact with the shy ghosts are reduced more than 50%.  When you drive half way across the country to investigate a location with shy ghosts and bring a large team of people and camera crews and such you are making a mistake.  If you get no evidence you have mostly yourself to blame.

TAPs teams frequently split their group into smaller teams of no more than 2 or 3 in an effort to cover more ground and not be as intimidating to the ghosts.  There are two very good reasons why larger teams should split into smaller teams of 2 or 3 members.  This allows them to cover more ground, reduces the intimidation factor as well as the chances for contamination of a site.

Contamination of a site is caused by the human factor.  The more people you have in a location the higher the odds that someone will create a false positive whether by accident or intentionally.  Cell phones and other electronic devices not used for the actual investigation can contaminate a site and cause false positives on your EMF and EVP equipment.  Communications systems, radios, and TV transmitters emit radio signals which can be read in EMF ranges. The fewer of these things a team has on them the better their chances are for making contact without creating a false positive.

Cell phones on an investigation are the worst source of random EMF a paranormal investigator can deal with but when detected on a K2 meter it's easy to see that it's a cell phone causing the signal because of the rapid pulses that set off the LEDs.  This is a data burst and unless your phone is in airport mode or turned off it will occasionally make connections to a cell tower even when it's not being used.  Turn it off.  Make sure everyone in your group has their cell phones turned off.

Everyone has a spiritual energy signature.  Spirits and some people can see this energy as an aura.  People who have aggressive signatures will frighten the shy ghosts away.  You can be assured the ghosts can see your aura and are better aware of your personality than you are.  Shy ghosts will naturally move away from unfamiliar people and watch them from a distance.  Some don't watch, they hide and will try to avoid you if possible.

Shy ghosts will become accustomed to familiar energy in a house and will lose their fear.  Remember they were people and their curiosity with the living is at least as great as ours is of them.  People may report ghostly activity and when the paranormal team arrives the ghosts will return to their hiding places.  The paranormal investigators leave with the occupant's story as their only evidence the location is haunted.

How many times have we watched as the Ghost Hunters (TAPS) investigated a haunted location to find nothing?  Yes sometimes they find other explanations for what the occupants report as paranormal activity.  The part that's sad is when there really is paranormal activity and they can't capture any evidence of it.

A good paranormal investigator will look for the simple easy non-paranormal explanations first.  In homes where people live there are things that can cause what appears to be paranormal activity.  There are theories for and against certain things like areas where high EMF is detected inside a home.  It is a scientific fact that areas of high EMF can produce anxiety, hallucinations, feelings of dread, and what might appear to be something of paranormal nature.  Anything that draws a high amount of electrical current produces high EMF.  Another thing we consider is the possibility that spirits may come to feed upon that type of energy.

I've been investigating the paranormal and UFO related phenomena since I was a teenager.  I grew up in a haunted house and the house next door was also haunted.  Dad bought it and my investigations began shortly after.

We officially began paranormal investigations in 2002 in Virginia City, NV.  This was the first time we began using cameras and digital recorders for gathering information about the paranormal.  Previous to that we used our own instincts and for 3 months straight I would go OBE and walk among the spirits around our very haunted house.  There's nothing quite like walking among the spirits to become familiar with what's out there and what it does.

In 2003 I was asked by Victoria Monroe to return to Virginia City and help her do a show called Ghosts of Piper's, which we did.  The show is available on DVD from the Spooky Places website.  It still airs on cable in Reno and Palo Alto, CA.  In 2008 our daughter Laura and I returned to Virginia City to work in the series Haunted Nevada.

Our house (where we live now) was so full of paranormal activity no one could live here.  Doors opened and closed, water would turn on. Lights would go on or off, the TV would come on in the middle of the night and even change channels sometimes.  The toilet would flush and one night even flooded the house!  When my fear became anger I asked God to let me go in spirit to investigate and God answered, "Yes."

I began waking in the night in spirit, get out of my body and see myself and my wife asleep in bed.  I would then walk the house and as I did I found "things" of various kinds coming out of the southwest bedroom and invading our home.  These things came in various forms but all of them were small, not more than 3 feet tall.  Some were like dwarfs or little monkeys while others were more reptilian.  As I threw these things out of the house I saw 3 ghosts gathered in the street watching me.

Generally when someone has an extraordinary experience like this they tend to seek answers and evidence to help explain not only to themselves but those close to them.  It is exciting when we are able to either capture that evidence or find someone else who has and can show you what they saw.  This is a video clip of one of those little "things" that were haunting our house.  The segment is called "Creepy Sleep."  There is no audio on this clip. Pay close attention to the cat like monky that messes with the woman at the side of the bed then runs across the bed.  This is a species of sub-demon.

In time I got out of my body and saw a shadowy man standing in the hallway between our bedroom and the bathroom.  He was tall and thin.  At first I thought someone was in the house then I saw myself in bed and realized what I was seeing was not physical.  I asked him what he wanted and he said, "Leave my little friends alone or I will kill you, your wife, and your children."

When someone speaks like that I know they don't intend to be my friend.  I jumped on him and we had a knock down, drag out fight but in the end he was the one who left.  Now I had a connection.  That thing was a demon and his "little friends" as he called them were of an evil nature.  After all they did come up out of the ground into my house.  I have a document on this site that refers to the little entities.  These things are bad, they can mimic people or animals, and they have been called by different names by different people around the world.  Sub-demons, gremlins, and gravelings are three of the names. They are to demons what angels are to God.

After kicking his tail about a week or so later another entity showed up that was powerful enough to jerk my spirit out of my body, spin me around, and slam me into the ceiling and wall.  Then like the previous demon it said the very same thing also threatening my family.  This thing looked part human, part animal and dark red in color.  The head and hind legs were some kind of hoofed animal.  The upper torso arms and hands were human looking except for the claws.  It had horns. It had considerably more power than the one I had fought previously.

I told the thing it had no authority over me. I bound it in the name of Jesus and commanded it back where it came from never to return here again.  In a flash it dropped through the floor and was gone.  The next thing I knew I was waking up.  I jumped up and stood at the foot of my bed where I had seen the thing vanish. I realized we were dealing with a portal to the underworld and for me and my family to be safe and happy here I had to close that portal.  That's exactly what I did.

These are the things paranormal investigators need to be aware of and on guard for.  Sub-demons can and will be offended if you communicate with ghosts in a building or area they consider their territory.  They can and will lie to you, trick you, and they can and will follow you home and make more problems for you than you might imagine.  If a sub-demon knows where you live you can be sure the demon that holds its leash also knows.

The more experienced paranormal investigators will say a protection prayer over their group before they enter into a paranormal investigation.  Be sure to be specific in your words and include that no spirits are allowed to follow any of you to your homes.  Spirit has energy and prayer has energy when used correctly.

You ask a mountain climber why they climb the mountain they may answer, "Just because it's there."

Just because a place may be haunted is not always the best reason for you to go there, yet many do just that.  If a person lives in the haunted location and has indicated a desire for your help then you have their authority to do what you can to find out what it is that is haunting their home.

Do not try to clean a home or location without expressed authority from the owner.  On rare occasions God may send someone to clean a location and in that case you have His authority to do what you need to do.  If you go into a location with "good intentions" thinking you will send all those ghosts into the light like it or not then you are asking for trouble.  Odds are good you'll anger something and it may not be a ghost.

Those little things I mentioned previously, some of them literally keep ghosts.  Ghosts don't like them either.  Those little things don't want people to communicate with the dead, some for obvious reasons.  They don't want the living to know what goes on in the spirit world.  The less we know about them, the more power they have to influence our lives.  They are territorial.  In some cases they claim not only locations but spirits of the dead as their property.  You are the intruder into their world when you go there.

While doing an investigation of an apartment in Fort Smith, AR our daughter Laura (psychic medium) was speaking to the ghost of a little boy and his dad who were haunting the location when a shape shifter appeared.  The dad kept warning the boy not to speak to the living when this other spirit entered the house and also warned them not to speak to her.  The boy wanted to talk.  The third entity then warned Laura not to speak to them and she said she would speak to anyone she wanted.  She said, "It looks like a ghost but it isn't."  Then it shifted into the form of a large wolf and jumped at her landing face to face. She laughed and said, "You don't scare me.  Get out of here!"  Her simple command caused the entity to depart with haste.

Your spiritual presence and continuity will convey your power in the spirit world.  Just as Laura's confidence in her abilities caused the evil entity to flee in haste just the opposite is true of a paranoid, fearful, or unsure person on an investigation. Paranoid, fearful people all ready have a bad spirit within them that attracts dark energy for feeding.  Fear gives off a special kind of energy in the spirit world.  Energy that a hungry dark entity can sense and is attracted to.  It's like an open wound giving off spiritual energy.  The best thing in the world to attract bad spirits is a fearful person.

Generally when a ghost or spirit of the dead cannot enter into the light and sometimes can't see the light until they understand they are dead and if they have unfinished business they need to deal with it.  Sometimes their unfinished business on earth is a quest to know the truth.  Some of them don't know they are dead.  Many of them do realize something happened that changed them but they may not know why.  Some of them are acting as guardians for some other spirit and in some cases the living. Some of them may have died a wrongful death and seek justice.

For the average and above paranormal investigator the history of a location is very important.  Anything that you can know about a location before you enter is very helpful.  It tells you what kind of energy might be found in an area or structure and where in that location certain kinds of energy might exist.  I teach "be ready for anything" but knowing the history of a location can tell you if you need to be wary of entities that may take your presence as a threat.

If you are investigating a prison or asylum where people have been murdered or abused you can certainly expect dark energy to be present.  In these locations you can also expect that you will find the energy of ghosts, those who were once living who have died and remain to haunt the location.  You can expect to find energy of the non-human variety who don't want the living nosing around in an area they consider to belong to them.  These entities can hit, scratch, burn, and do other aggressive things to the investigators.

Even an investigator with a strong spirit who has protection from these things might be attacked by dark entities and sub-demons. I prefer to take nothing for granted.  I know evil spirits can see that my energy is considerably different than most of the living.  I know that most of them will prefer to keep their distance from me but I am also aware that some of them are more aggressive than others and will desire to scare me into leaving a location if they can.  I'm saying that some of them may realize that frightening me out of their territory may be worth a try.  This is why sometimes even the more experienced paranormal investigators may be attacked by a dominate entity.

Even though you have protection it is spiritual energy and as we understand it all natural energy has its limitations.  The more experience a person has with the paranormal the greater their energy signature.  The greater their energy the stronger their protection prayer will be.

What we are doing when we ask for protection is to assign energy angels to shield us from dark energy.  The more experience we have, the greater our energy signature becomes.  Like any kind of energy, the more we use it in various circumstances the more that energy will be depleted and need to be recharged.  When Jesus performed miracles he expended spiritual energy and would become weak.  When this happened he would move away from the general public to be with his close friends and would pray, rest, and meditate to restore his spiritual strength.  Humans are no different.  The stronger our spiritual energy, the stronger our presence is in the spiritual realm.

An experienced psychic medium will call down what they refer to as "white lighters."  This is also known as "white energy" from the Cosmos.  Christians refer to this as the power of/or angels of God the Father.  No you don't have to be a Christian to access this type of spiritual energy.  Experience calling this type of energy down around you is very important.  I call this energy "white fire" and it is in fact an angelic form of energy.  Some say they are calling angels to protect them and this is also a valid term for the use of this kind of energy that exists in and around all of creation.  The living carries this kind of energy around with them.  All living things have some format of this kind of energy.  It is the same type of energy that Jesus used to perform miracles with.  His ability to access this type of energy has been unmatched.

It all comes down to this.  The more powerful dark entities will sometimes challenge a paranormal investigator's spiritual protection and courage by striking at them.  This is when the scratches, burns, and bruises occur as a result of an entities attack upon the living.

After doing Haunted Nevada with Bill Brown and his team, our daughter Laura's psychic medium abilities began working overtime. She could see the dead and speak with them very clearly.  We did an investigation at the Chester House in Chester, AR.  She made contact with several spirits and revealed things about the ghosts and the building she could not have known otherwise.

Later we were called to help a lady with a haunted house in Van Buren, AR.  I was sick so Laura offered to do it alone.  She came back to say there were more ghosts in that woman's house than at the Chester House!  She said most of them were transients.  They would come and go from the house as they chose.  One of these was the ghost of a teenage girl who went to Van Buren High.  The girl was killed in a car accident.  A teenage girl living in this house and going to that same school was an attraction for the ghost so the ghost not only followed her home she would visit now and then.

The information below came from another set of files that I have used to help explain what goes on among people who deal with the paranormal and what a person may have to deal with while investigating the paranormal.  This older info keeps being pushed to further pages as I continue to edit, revise, and write this guide.

Warning: If you think you need to call in a team of paranormal investigators find out who they are before you let them in your house.  As a general rule people with nefarious motives will take advantage of any opportunity to get into your house or business to see what's there.

Choosing a paranormal team to deal with a problem can be a challenge especially if you don't know what your looking for in a team.  Not only that there are so many teams out there now who claim to be paranormal investigators the average person is at a disadvantage from the beginning.

Thanks to TV shows about the subject there are groups literally coming out of the woodwork with no real knowledge of the subject.  I've been investigating the paranormal for more than 40 years and those who know me trust me to tell them the truth not only about the paranormal, spiritual, UFO related and everything else I have experience with but concerning people who deal with such things as well.

I've been asked to look in on certain groups in the past but more recently I was asked to look in on three of these groups and two of those were on Face Book.  The name of one group was "Dangers of the Paranormal." They teach their members that people can get an infestation of demons in their homes by watching TV shows like Ghost Hunters!

I told them 3 times that demons do not come through the TV sets they are attracted to fearful paranoid people like a shark is to the sent of blood in the water.  They say they are trying to warn people of the dangers!  What they are doing is causing people to fear things that wouldn't otherwise be a threat to them.  They are in fact creating a problem where there shouldn't be one.  They are creating the problem they say they are trying to resolve!  In other fields of work we call that job security.  Like the exterminator throwing the bugs and rats into the house in the first place.

Me trying to explain it to them got me booted and blocked quick along with me being accused of "playing with demons" and "sending demons after people!" If you find someone like that go the other way as fast as you can!  These people do not want help, they want to be frightened and they want to accuse the innocent for causing their problems with such things.

The more a person feels the need to puff themselves up to appear important the more full of hot air they are.  The worst people in the world love to use titles to indicate to others just how important they are.  Calling himself "The Godman" is one of those kinds of titles, and should be the first warning to any intelligent person the guy is full of hot air.

The leader of that group claims he's clergy and claims he's a demonologist and I can tell you from over 40 years of experience, I'm turning 60 this year, that man doesn't have a clue what's really going on.  The Bible warns against "seeing demons in every tree" for good reason.  That's how the devil/evil gathers angry frightened mobs to hurt innocent people in God's name!