So if we’re not there to get rid of whatever may  be haunting a location, what exactly are we there to do? Our job as investigators is to research, investigate, document, and support the client. 

Research: After we’ve completed the pre-investigation interview with the client, our historian Joel conducts thorough research into the address and surrounding area.  This helps us find any possible reasons as to why there is paranormal activity at the location such as deaths, accidents, or other history of the land itself.

Investigate: When it’s time for the investigation we begin by discussing the activity with the clients, including any changes since the pre-investigation interview.  Based on our discussions we then place our equipment in the areas that the client reports as being the most active.  An investigation usually lasts approximately 3-4 hours and our investigators will conduct EVP sessions, try to find non-paranormal explanations for reported activity, and get an overall feel for the location. We will often involve the clients in our investigations and give them the opportunity to participate in an EVP session.  

Document: The PI-Team sets itself apart from other investigation teams as our goal is to investigate and research.  We document all aspects of the investigation.  This includes base readings such as temperature and EMF so that we can see if spikes occur during increases of activity.  We also save all video and audio evidence.  All evidence is reviewed by numerous members of the team in order to save only the best possible evidence and discount anything that could have a non-paranormal explanation.  All of this documentation is put together into a report that is given to the client.  It will cover everything from the history of the location to the findings of our investigation.

Support:  After our investigation is complete and all evidence is reviewed we will present our findings to the client.  There are times when we investigate and come up completely empty handed.  It happens. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the location doesn’t have paranormal activity, it just means that we weren’t able to document anything during our investigation.  Then there are the times where we have a very active location.  While we’re not able to clear the location of any activity we’re there to support the client in whatever way possible.  It might simply be the reassurance that they’re not crazy and there really is paranormal activity, or maybe they just weren’t sure what approach to take when it comes to dealing with the activity. Or maybe they’d like a referral to a reputable psychic.  This is where we really step up.  We don’t just investigate and then leave.  We’re there for the client in the days, weeks and months after the investigation to offer advice and answer questions.

So while we’re not able to guarantee that we can “get rid of” anything, we do everything we possibly can to make sure that our clients are educated about what’s going on at their location and what their options are.

This massive, abandoned structure hidden on the hillside in Utah County was a perfect opportunity to bring along The Captain, our K-9 investigator. Perfect other than the fact some vandals had smashed a fair share of windows in the building leaving some areas off limits for Captain keeping his safety in mind. The PI Team was almost at full strength and we broke up into three teams to effectively cover the entire structure with minimal chance for evidence contamination.

For those who may not know, The Captain has been trained in a revolutionary new concept that as far as I can tell has not yet been done before. Yes, dogs do have that crazy 6^th sense, can see better than us in low light, and hear things outside of human hearing capability however we took it a step further. With lots of thought and countless hours of training The Captain “smells” electromagnetic fields and alerts the team of their presence. A dog’s primary sense is that of smell and is so advanced it’s almost beyond comprehension. Through our training the Captain has time and again identified these fields flawlessly. (Click here and here to read about Captains training)

The jail was an excellent opportunity for Captain to do his thing as there is no electricity at all in the structure. The only electricity present was that from the generator we brought to run the static IR cams and a couple lights around our control center. The Captain preformed his duties flawlessly as he swept through the facility with that nose going non-stop. Unfortunately, as you will find at times with paranormal investigating, it was a “quiet” night in that aspect and there was not a lot of EM spikes for him to hit on. None the less we have a few things that we have captured and are finishing up our review shortly and will be able to report our findings.

We will be bringing The Captain on another investigation this Saturday night at a notorious local haunt and we expect better opportunity to showcase what this little 85 lb. lab can do. Ghosts are on notice! Stay tuned!

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The following are scientifically proven facts that be easily confirmed with a simple internet search. Dogs can smell diseases in humans, detecting cancer in patients before the multi-million dollar pieces of medical equipment are able to. Cadaver dogs have located drowning victims that were over 80 feet below the water’s surface. The Military, Federal Government, local law enforcement, and the medical field all rely heavily on dogs. Dogs in these fields will detect and sniff for bombs, drugs, people trapped under rubble from disasters or feet of snow after an avalanche, fugitives or missing persons, and so much more making the world a better place for us all. Again I will reiterate a scientifically proven fact; dogs can smell electromagnetic fields and the ozone which is emitted. That being said I’m not sure how this simple concept could seem so improbable.

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My methodology was also attacked by this individual. This is understandable as someone with no experience training dogs might not understand how it works. Again a simple internet search will reveal the basics of K-9 scent work. This is the foundation of any training in related fields such as search and rescue, bomb/drug sniffing, cadaver recovery, forensics, medical alert / detection dogs, and so on. Every one of these dogs you might see in action started in the same place. Formal training always begins with the dogs looking for hidden treats and being rewarded by a handler thus building the understanding that the task at hand is. This tells the dogs that we want them to sniff out and locate a predetermined item, and then let us know they’ve found it. That is the first step, not the endgame. Training is a process and you move on until you get the desired result without the crutch and continue training well after that. Due to the language/species barrier, we can’t reason with dogs, no matter how hard you try. We communicate with dogs through training.

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It’s a simple fact that the better understanding one has of the field they are going into, the more successful they will be. I have done a tremendous amount of work to make sure that The Captain’s field presence is nothing less than an asset to the team, our clients, the paranormal community, and both Captain and myself. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother spending a large chunk of my free time training and researching the subject. I am confident in the science behind my hypothesis, but am not too proud to recognize there is an alternate viewpoint. If you have anything (scientific, not opinion) that contradicts ANY of the work I’m doing, please feel free to bring it to my attention. I’m able to admit when I’ve made a mistake and would acknowledge it publically if proven wrong.

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-Josh

Here are some facts. With humans, the primary sense used is sight, with dogs it’s the sense of smell. While generally speaking dog’s brains are much smaller than humans, however the part of the brain that deals with scent is 40 x larger than ours. A human has about 5 million scent glands, as compared to a dog who will have anywhere from 125 million to 300 million depending on the breed. This give dogs a sense of smell that again, varying by breed, will be anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000,000 x stronger than that an average person.

A dog will get an entire story from a smell. Dogs can smell pheromones which will tell them another dog’s (or humans) gender, what they ate, where they’ve been, reproductive stages, and mood just to name a few. They can even smell cancer and diabetes in humans serving as an early detection and actually saving lives (which I have witnessed personally). Where a person might smell salsa, a dog will smell each ingredient individually. Dogs can even move their nostrils independently thus being able to identify which direction a smell is actually coming from.

Dogs are not colorblind contrary to popular belief. Studies have shown that dogs see in colors of various shades of blue and yellow. A dog’s vision is at its best in lower light where they have much better sight than their human counterparts. With the contrast of a moving object dog’s vision is much better. Stationary objects are much more difficult for a dog to see and the will revert back to using their nose.

A sixth sense? Dogs have it. They can actually feel energy or emotions in other animals and humans. You might be able to hide what you’re feeling from a person, but a dog will always know what you’re feeling and will react according. It’s also been widely documented that dogs can sense forthcoming disasters, and will behave erratically up until the event itself actually happens.

In summary I took all the aforementioned information into account when developing a curriculum to train the Captain to be a paranormal investigation dog. Part II will identify the specific methods and ideology used.

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-Josh

For more information about The Captain, please visit him on Facebook!

Captain is the very definition of brains, brawn, and beauty. He is a 2 year old purebred “Show” or “English” Labrador that participates in multiple venues. He is accomplished in conformation where he is is about half way to obtaining champion status. In canine weight pull, this 87 lb dog has pulled as much as 2,395 pounds, over 27.5 x his body weight. Now he’s well on his way to excelling in the world paranormal investigation, hopefully paving the way for more dogs to enter the paranormal field.

Captain’s owner is one of our newest members, Josh.  He has recently begun training Captain in paranormal investigation. We’ll be posting more about his progress, so check back often.

You can also visit The Captain on his Facebook page!

Over the years our team has changed in many ways.  People have come and gone, the team has grown in skill and reputation, and we’ve merged two teams into one (now that’s drama!). It’s inevitable that people are going to leave the team whether it’s because they are unhappy, are moving out of state, aren’t interested in the paranormal anymore, or are asked to leave. And I’ll be the first one to admit that there have been instances where I probably did not handle certain situations in the best possible way. But when it comes to people leaving the team, or being asked to leave the team 9 times out of 10 they react extremely badly. And most surprisingly to me, it is often the ones who I have considered to be my friends that react worst of all. Why is this?

It’s well known that unless you have a TV series, or you conduct ghost “tours”, there is no money to be made in paranormal investigation and research. In fact it can be quite an expensive hobby!  But this also means that the majority of people who are on the team have full time jobs, during which they undoubtedly have to deal with many different people who come from different backgrounds, difficult customers, management, bosses, etc. These are all people that should have the life experience (most of our team is 30 years of age or older) to deal with difficult situations, have the skills to handle minor (and major) disagreements, and to sit down and discuss any differences they might have as adults. Or so you would think.  Why then, is there so much paranormal drama? Is it unique to this field?

It takes a lot of hard work and commitment to have a successful, busy, respected paranormal team. It’s not something that happens overnight, and it’s not something that you can just sit by and expect to happen without any effort.  Are people so quick to burn their bridges when they quit a team because they think that they’ll just start up their own team and in no time it will be bigger and better than the team they just left?  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about people who handle this as adults and leave on good terms, I’m talking about the ones who quit by sending you a nasty email and then talking as much trash as possible to anyone who will listen, or those who you would expect to have the decency to discuss with you their reason for leaving but instead you get a text message and then no communication after that point.

I guess my point is why bother to put the time and effort into something only to destroy any possible chances of continuing to work together at some later point, or having someone to talk to about team management or just paranormal investigation in general? What is it about the paranormal that brings this out in people? I can’t believe they all act this way at their place of employment because if they did none of them would have jobs.  Is it because this is a non-paying “job” that “doesn’t really matter”?

I would love to hear from other teams that have experienced this to find out what their views on it is.  And for those of you who are on a paranormal team, remember that even though these aren’t paying jobs it is always a good thing to remain on good terms with as many people as possible.  You never know when someone you used to associate with could assist you in the future!

I’ve been a paranormal investigator for only the past 5 years, but I’ve had a lifelong fascination with all things ghost related.  My love of ghosts and hauntings can be directly attributed to two things that happened before I was 10.  The first was when I saw a shadow person in my childhood home, and the 2nd being the movie Ghost Busters.

Since doing this professionally I’m amazed at how almost every person I’ve talked to that is also drawn to the paranormal has a similar story about their interest starting in the first 15 years of their life.  Most of them say their interest was sparked after the death of a loved one, then there’s those that experienced something they couldn’t explain, and then those that became interested after watching a movie or reading a book.

So, why are you interested?

1. What methods do they use?

• Are they based in science, do they employ psychics, or is it a mixture of both? While the PI-Team takes a purely scientific approach and we look to debunk all claims before we state something is paranormal, we realize that not everyone shares our approach, including potential clients.

2. How long have they been a group?

• Due to the growing popularity of paranormal investigation, new teams are starting all the time. Unfortunately, many of them are only in it for the thrill and will provide nothing to the client.  While being new doesn’t always mean that they aren’t good or dedicated, it is something to keep in mind.  Maintaining an active group takes a lot of hard work, and a group that has been around for 5-10 years shows the level of dedication the investigators have.  It also means that they have years of experience behind them.

3. Do they run background checks on their members?

• If you are letting a group of strangers into your house or business what type of assurance can they give you that they don’t have extensive criminal backgrounds?

4. How professional is their website?

• In my opinion you can tell a lot about a paranormal investigation team from their website.    Are they using a free website provider or  have they invested the money into creating a quality site for their team?  Are there are lot of spelling / grammatical errors? How often is the site updated?  Do they have cheesy music or animated graphics?  Do they promote learning more about the paranormal or just talk about themselves?

5. Do they charge for their services?

• This is very important! The answer to this question should always be NO! Any team that charges for their services are nothing but scam artists.  If you need help, and are having trouble finding a qualified team in your area, please go here.  None of the highly qualified teams on that page will charge for their services.

6. What type of follow up services do they provide?

• This is also important.  Make sure you ask what they will do for you after they have finished their investigation.  Will they provide you with a report of their findings? Will they give you a copy of any evidence they capture?  Be sure to clarify what exactly they will do for you before you invite them to investigate.

These questions can help you find a team that you feel will best fit your needs and situation.  Don’t ever be afraid to ask the team a question, even if you feel it’s silly.  If at any time during the process you feel uncomfortable with the team you have been dealing with, don’t hesitate to find another team.