The Risks and Dangers of Paranormal Investigation

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This article was written by The North East Paranormal Society.

It seems that ghost hunting has become quite a popular endeavor over the last several years. Whether it be a historic location, public venue, or a private residence, what could be more exciting than going to a supposed haunted location to seek out the paranormal? Some people say cemeteries are very notorious for sightings of spirits, and many people hoping to get a thrill by going to such places to catch a glimpse of these spirits, ghosts, or entities.

Real Dangers

The metaphysical dangers of an investigation are real and should be taken seriously. If it were only the physical and emotional things to worry about, then this field of study could be done by almost anyone ... but that's not the case. Sometimes things we are looking for are there, and more often than not these things can and do follow us home at the end of the night. This is where the dangers come in.

Yes, ghosts, spirits, demons, and any other entity can attach themselves to you and follow you home. You need to keep in mind and be open to the fact that if there are good spirits, then there are bad ones as well. Most times the evil entity starts out claiming to be the spirit of a deceased person or someone who died tragically. This way the evil spirit can sucker the unsuspecting ghost hunters into believing that they are helping a spirit by communicating with it. This gives the demonic or negative being more energy to manifest into something that the unsuspecting did not count on. The act in itself is to trick you into thinking it is friendly, and this can go on for some time, or at least until the negative entity or demonic force feels that it has your full trust.

Mental Effects

Mental breakdowns can occur from paranormal investigations. We took on a case a few years back of a person who started watching all the ghost hunting TV shows and decided he was going to go out to a few claimed haunted locations to try and capture a few EVP (electronic voice phenomena). To his dismay, when he listened to the recordings he discovered that he had actually captured a few interesting voices. Well, one thing led to another and he became so obsessed with capturing EVP that he started doing it in his own home and, again to his dismay, he was capturing voices on his recorder.

After a while, he actually started hearing voices with his ear and not on his recorder. This is when we were called in. We did our best to help the individual and we came to the conclusion that it wasn't his house that was haunted—it was him. We told him to stop recording the EVP and to have a cleansing done on the home, but he refused to listen and continued with his obsession.

It eventually got so bad that he cut off communications with his friends, family, and us as well. To this day we have been unable to contact him, but his family has told us on occasion that he is not the same person he once was and that he spends most of his time alone talking to whatever followed him home. Could this be a pre-existing mental illness, an obsessive personality, or an evil entity that found a new victim?

How to Be Aware

We believe it is our duty as skilled and experienced investigators to educate the public about the dangers that exist when investigating the paranormal. Yes, anyone can grab a recorder, ask a question, and get a response. And, yes, if you do not know how to protect yourself, anyone can have their lives turned upside down by unseen forces.

We cannot express enough how important it is, if you want to become an investigator or you want to get involved in the paranormal, that you go with a team that has years of experience and is fully aware of the dangers out there and how to conduct themselves professionally and, most of all, safely.

The North East Paranormal Society offers free information and conducts free investigations. They also provide public paranormal 101 classes through the Holistic Study Institute