Paranormal Research Training Center?

I would like to begin this thread with a little of my Paranormal background before I get into the true purpose of this thread being a Paranormal Research Training Center.

When I was young, between 5 and 8, I lived in the Bentwaters/Woodbridge area in England(unfortunately, I moved away a few months prior to the famous UFO case occurrence). There was an abandoned house I used to play in with the other neighborhood children that was the basis for the story the movie "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark"(original) was based on. Of course I was unaware at the time but, there were many strange occurrences I experienced while playing in this house. The main thing I remember was that it looked like the owners just left one morning and never returned.

When we moved from England we moved into a house on Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City. After a few months of living in this house we began to see the spirit of a little boy about 10. He appeared quite often and we never had fear of him. I remember him coming in and sitting at the end of my bed at night from time to time. After a couple of years, it was not an odd occurrence if he came down and laid on the floor watching TV with us and he became more and more visible to the point where we could tell he was wearing Dallas Cowboys pajamas. I have no memory of him talking or making sounds or moving objects, only appearing visually. My Father did some checking into the house and found that a 10 year old boy was killed when a tornado ripped the roof off the house about 3 years prior to us moving in.

After living in Oklahoma for 4 years we moved to Ramstein Germany and lived off base in the village. The house we were in was brand new so no stories there, however, touring around Europe we visited many ruins and castles as well as WWII sites such as Hitler sites and bomb shelters. I saw many unexplained things in so many places it got me interested in paranormal research which I began when I was 14. I began studying strange and unexplained stories from around the world.

Over the next 28 years this interest has never diminished and I have been on thousands of investigations. During this time, I obviously continued to learn and study as well as debunk and discover hoaxes in many cases. I found explanations as well as how to reproduce many of the accepted unexplained occurrences. Before you begin to think that I have lost my belief in the paranormal, I will let you know there have been many times in which I could not and still can not explain away what was experienced and have done cleanings and even a few (what I believed to be) demonic exorcisms.

Now that I have given you a little back ground I will begin with the purpose of this thread. As being a herpetologist does not pay the greatest, I have been thinking of a new career path. Paranormal research doesn't pay much either unless you enter into contract with some TV company(which I am not interested in doing). I decided that doing something you love is what actually brings happiness and the Paranormal is a life long joy, I began to think about how researchers learn. It's all hands on in the field training meaning a training facility is an untapped market as there are none in existence.

I have access to a building that used to be a mental hospital. There is only one room in the the building that has been confirmed to have paranormal activity and it is located in the basement. There have never been reports about anywhere else save this one room. SO, by turning the upper level into classrooms for education on history, equipment, how tos in the hoax department, etc. and turning the many rooms of the basement into a testing area, due to the fact that I know how to hoax many occurrences, I can recreate phenomena from shadow people to images, from sounds to objects moving, as well as EVPs and EMFs. (Edit to add: and Infrared and full spectrum photography, as well as temperature changes and pressure)

Knowing what and how many I have set up and not disclosing which room is "active" I can then test for thoroughness of investigation, critical thinking and debunking skills. Grades would be based on how many were captured as physical evidence, how well they are explained as well as their skills as an investigator with bonuses given for experiences captured and documented in that single room.

Anyone who successfully completes the training would be certified as an investigator, which would give clients peace of mind knowing they are not being taken or misled due to the knowledge the investigators have in reproducing and hoaxing, not to mention the heightened quality of investigations, as well as better quality in reported findings in the paranormal community.

The purpose of this thread was to give you an explanation of what I am attempting to do and get your thoughts on it. Thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments.

Wow, what a cool idea!

I have nothing else to add!
I will be following the thread to see what you come up with.

Great idea op. An untapped market in need of tapping. My suggestion. Put together a very concise business plan and do a write up for www.kickstarter.com... this will help you raise the capital needed to start the business.

Also if you have any money i would also advise doing a short course in training and assessment. This will help you to layout your class plans etc.

Hi Agarta,

Your idea gets a thumbs up from me.

I've not heard of a training centre before, there are courses you can do to become a parapsychologist on paper, home study ones, but you can acheive that without having gone on any investigations at all. My ex did one, it was interesting, but a very broad overview of all things paranormal and certainly wasn't anything to shout about.

I think it would be very popular, especialy among the many people who want to take this further than just a hobby.

Yes you will probably get a lot of flack as well from already established investigators, but only because they haven't thought of the idea themselves lol.

Do you have pretty much all the subjects you will cover thought out, or would you accept ideas from the floor?

Good luck with your venture anyway.

CX.

reply to post by Darkblade71
Thank you for the kind words.


reply to post by Scaledown
Thank you for your reply I will definitely look into your suggestions.

reply to post by CX


Thank you for your reply. I have hundreds of ways to fake all kinds of equipment from flowing water infused with copper in a lime stone chamber in order to amplify electromagnetism without detection to clear flexible monitors that can be placed over glass and mirrors for computer generated images without detection, but I will never state I have all the ideas. Feel free to add ideas as you wish.

Great

Well if i were to go on a course like this, i would love to learn more about the debunking of paranormal activity. Bit like what TAPS do with the plumbing pipes being responsible for half of the bangs. You could have a professional come in (say in this case, a plumber) and give a brief chat on the types of noises and things that can happen with pipework. Ok that probably sounds really boring lol, but it would help students understand that half of what they will react to will be normal stuff.

Do you believe in mediums and psychics? Do you trust them enough to get some info to pass on to students about what to do if things start going wrong in an investigation?

Telling students how EMF meters can be affected by other things than just "ghosts". I've met so many people who have bought EMF meters purely because they thing they shown signs of a ghost, nothing else, just ghosts.

The process of applying for permission to investigate sites. Might just be a chat, might be more to it if it's an important or historical building.

Can't think of any more right now, and i'm sure the above are already something you'd pass on anyway.....i'll keep thinking though.

CX.

Originally posted by CX
Great

Well if i were to go on a course like this, i would love to learn more about the debunking of paranormal activity. Bit like what TAPS do with the plumbing pipes being responsible for half of the bangs. You could have a professional come in (say in this case, a plumber) and give a brief chat on the types of noises and things that can happen with pipework. Ok that probably sounds really boring lol, but it would help students understand that half of what they will react to will be normal stuff.

Yes, plumbing as well as shifting buildings are very common mistakes. Weather and time of year can be very influential on both. As pipes heat up or cool down they tend to clang and creak and moisture and barometric pressure levels can create noises such a creaking that can sound like footsteps. Houses shift more often in the Spring and Fall creating false positives. Another thing to remember is that glass is not a solid. It is a very thick liquid that gravity effects especially in very old windows. If you go to an old house and look at its windows you will see what I mean. The glass will be drooping, rainbow colored from the oils coming together, and obviously thinner at the top and thicker at the bottom. This can cause windows to break, the frames to creek from pressure as well as swelling or shrinking. Doors are much the same in that if they have been hanging for a long time will have unbalanced amounts of moisture and dryness as well as being off balance due to the metal warping from its weight. Even a slight unfelt shift of a house can slam a door or window.

Do you believe in mediums and psychics? Do you trust them enough to get some info to pass on to students about what to do if things start going wrong in an investigation?

I have a couple of trusted friends interested in teaching classes on altering your brain frequencies to enter into the alpha state in order to pick up on emotional levels, visuals, and sounds. Residual energies of anger, pain, suffering, depression, etc. can alter a persons perception and create fear. fear can alter a persons perception of what they are experiencing therefore being able to distinguish the residual energies of the area will make the investigator aware of the energies they are working with. Also, being able to enter the alpha state at will will allow one to be open to communication if it occurs.

Telling students how EMF meters can be affected by other things than just "ghosts". I've met so many people who have bought EMF meters purely because they thing they shown signs of a ghost, nothing else, just ghosts.

Correct there are many reasons for EMF meters to go off from electromagnetism created from electrical wires to high barometric pressure. Also the geology of the rock below the structure or area has a lot to do with it as well. If there is a high quantity of granite, limestone, quartz, heavy metals, flowing water with high metal content, etc will be effected and surges in ambient energy within the atmosphere can give false positives within a structure as well. they will appear to shift, move, or come and go. It is the same with motion detectors.

Cool....looks like you know your stuff, certainly a lot more than me anyway.

Learnt a few things there, cheers.

CX.

I have a couple of trusted friends interested in teaching classes on altering your brain frequencies to enter into the alpha state in order to pick up on emotional levels, visuals, and sounds. Residual energies of anger, pain, suffering, depression, etc. can alter a persons perception and create fear. fear can alter a persons perception of what they are experiencing therefore being able to distinguish the residual energies of the area will make the investigator aware of the energies they are working with. Also, being able to enter the alpha state at will will allow one to be open to communication if it occurs.

I am glad you are taking this route. I think a lot of people leave it out just because they don't understand what the brain and mind can do. Most communication between humans and spirits takes place in the mind, although also a physical feeling of sorts. There are plenty of people who are sensitive to energies who would do very well with some specialized training for it.

May I suggest doing some research into schizotypal personality disorder.

I have this personality disorder, and have been investigating for a while. All who know me would have never guessed, and think that I am a bright, logical lad.

The reason i bring this up is because most people ( not all ) who are interested in such things may have a preconception to this personality disorder, while they range in usefullness in the field (some being extremely gifted, and others just in a constant state of psychosis ) it is something that needs to be watched. People who experience the psychosis may influence those who are more stable, as this "personality" may end up merging with their own, kind of a facade overlying on their normal personality.

While their is benefit in having these types around, there can also be too many. I hate to be a selectionist, but perhaps you should have a certain "standard" for behavior an rational, not to say dont think outside of the box, but these types can make or break a team, especially if everything is "a ghost, or aliens or their spidey sense tingling". The difference between a controlled schizotypal and an uncontrolled one is a quantum form of logic, this may be hard to grasp, but what it means is that if their ideas of reference have no relevence, besides to their psychosis ie (That dog just smiled, it is posessed, and must be exorcised) then it is taking a step back, and damaging credibility.

Another point I would like to add, is that negativity breeds/attracts negativity. One must be positive, non offensive, respectful and assertive in order to not be negative in any way, But I am sure that you know this, i list it more as a service to those who don't know.

I think your idea is brilliant, but I have always been weary of such groups, as often they want you to list the equipment you have, and require a fee, then when you complete your course, its all a bunch of talk, and no one ever does anything.

There needs to be a collective mind, that has the same orientation and goal in order for research to continue.

Good luck with your venture!