What scientific studies would one persue to do research in the paranormal field?

I have been a researcher most of my life, and hold a degree in Audio engineering.

I would like to be taken more seriously as an researcher/investigator, and have decided to persue a scientific study to give credence to my data.

I hope to one day actually work in a Lab at a school or somewhere else, where my research would be funded, and where I would have like minded colleagues. I provide this example as a frame work for where I would like to be, and what I wish to be doing.

I would like to know what hard sciences would lead me down the path.

I would also like to add that I am not so much interested in parapsychology, as that deals with "beyond normal minds" and I have no real interest in psychokenesis or other ESP, not on the mortal plane anyway.

Any information would be helpful.

reply to post by Seagurt


en.wikipedia.org...

Start there. Although you might think im joking... im deadly serious. These people gravitate towards socially acceptable scape goats, ghosts being one of the few left.

Try a good solid foundation in psychology.

reply to post by Seagurt


Sounds like you're already in the field.. the field of sound..

I'm sure you are aware of EVP's, electronic voice phenomena.
Audio recordings are made, typicaly on digital recorders these days, and are played back and listened to later. It's at this point that other voices may be heard that were not audible to the human ear at the time of recording.

This is an important area as nobody can really explain how or why this happens, but from what my team are observing, is that these voices are coming through at different frequencies.

We have just recently investigated Drury lane theatre and whilst there we had three seperate 'recordings going on at one particular point..

Two were digital recorders, one was video. We noticed that the digital recorders would not necesairly pick up the same EVP's at the same time. Same problem with the video camera. But the video camera would pick up EVP's that the digital recorders did not.. so what's the deal with that?

There is also the possibility that audio analyses is not yet fully developed into a deeper science. We had some results that when put through analysis, we found images...as though the face of the person was behind the voice of the person but in audio form..

I'll try to dig up the link for that later..we got it online somewhere..

so there is just one field you could evolve into..

There is also the video world and lighting.. IR, UV and full spectrum..
Then there is the electromagnetic world.. Can it be possiblt that ghosts could be more visible if we had the kit to 'see' EMF fields?

The problem is, there is so much to get into, it's quite a deep topic..

I suggest stick with what you know until you've gained more experience and knowledge on the paranormal.
I am into the video side of things.. I use a full spectrum camera.

will try to dig up that evp face..
back soon.,

Ok, found it
www.ghostfinder.co.uk...

reply to post by Seagurt

i would recommend, to look for already practising paranormal scientists and what they are doing in this field.

reply to post by disgustingfatbody


Do excuse me if I'm wrong... but the OP did say that parapsychology was out of the question... so how is pyschology any help?

The other problem with this is that pyschology has absolutely no way to measure the evidence the psychologist says is right/wrong with a person..

Whereas, video or audio recordings as well as temperature and photographic etc etc, have physical evidence with which to record, analyse, reference from and be used at any point in time in the future as to what paranormal event happened..

Most of us are able to use psychology at any time of the day.. when you're on an investigation you use psychology to realize that one of your team is ***t scared...

hard science
 
noun
any of the natural or physical sciences, as chemistry, biology, physics, or astronomy, in which aspects of the universe are investigated by means of hypotheses and experiments.



soft science
soft science
 
noun
any of the specialized fields or disciplines, as psychology, sociology, anthropology, or political science, that interpret human behavior, institutions, society, etc., on the basis of scientific investigations for which it may be difficult to establish strictly measurable criteria.

dictionary.reference.com...

I think if you could specify what you mean by paranormal investigation it would help us. Since there are so many disparate topics that fit under the umbrella paranormal, there could be many disciplines that could help.

reply to post by Extralien


I am fully entrenched in EVP work, I even clean up and analyze others EVP recordings. I have also done some of the image/soundwave analysis, and you are quite right, there are things there sometimes. I would be interested to know what program you are referring to, and await with great excitement!

I suppose delving deeper into psychoacoustics and such would help, see the problem is that i am a jack of all trades, and I tend to do everything myself, what i need is a focus. I believe the sound field is definetly there, as is physics. And I do believe that you may be onto something with the EMF vision , perhaps you know a mechanical or electrical engineer, i dabble, but only enough to make EMF pumps, and repair my tube and solid state equipment.

I am also in the midst of a Instrumental Transcommunication project, which has been very promising thus far, but without the credentials, I am just some "crazy".

This is why I want to get the paper which says "Yeah this guy sounds crazy, but he has a respected degree!".

THanks for your input though!

This is just an opinion, please take it as such.

If I had to recommend fields of study it would be Physics and Electrical Engineering. Physics exposes the student to nearly all basic forms of physical phenomena, it is a grand overview that covers the fundamental governing equations and concepts. Though it may be lacking in the details necessary to actually build or analyze phenomena in detail.

Electrical Engineering focuses primarily on Electricity and Magnetism, if you decide to do an internship you will learn how to actually build and analyze electronic components. The advantage is that you will learn E&M in detail, you will learn much of the mathematics, physics, and computer programming that goes into analyzing electrical phenomena. Furthermore since much of the equipment used is electronic it will allow you can use this knowledge to analyze the equipment, signal to noise ratios, detector sensitivity, etc. In fact since nearly all detection equipment in nearly all fields is electrical you will be able to analyze equipment in other fields like acoustics, optics, nuclear, sonar, space dynamics, etc. The disadvantage is that it is limited only to E&M, so even though you may be able to analyze the equipment, you may not be able to understand the physics of the phenomena itself.

This may require two degrees one in Physics the other in Electrical Engineering, though some universities may offer a combined degree. Also, if you do decide to get a degree, be sure to get some research experience, this will show you how to set up experiments, calibrate detectors, take data, analyze data, use physics and EE to filter data to look for the phenomena in question, and to come to some kind of conclusion.

reply to post by deloprator20000


This is the exact problem we all face.. we got the kit, although it is not as good as we would like it, but what we capture with the kit is still a question waiting to be answered..

I'm kinda glad this thread popped up as it delves into the side of things that we all want an answer to..
how to capture something paranormal, measure it in such a way that we can explain how and why it happened ..

One thing I tend to keep remembering is how nearly every contact with the 'spirit world' not one has given any real details as to what it is like on the other side.. It's like their is some unwritten law they all have to stick to so as not to let the living know.. just inm case the living decide it's better over there and top themselves..

reply to post by Seagurt


If I remember correctly, our sound guy was using Audacity on MAC.

You mention pyschoacoustics.. which made me think about the sounds that animals can hear that we can't and how animals can react to these sounds.

As for EMF pumps, I'm not that much of a fan of them due to what they can do to you.. the last thing you need on an investigation is more EMF to play with your senses and create false positives.
Yes, it could be used in a controlled way for such times, but IMO, not as a tool for use in close proximity to investigators. We know EMF plays tricks on your brain..

I feel you already have the 'paper' you seek.a degree in Audio engineering. . being recognised for what you do takes time and patience and hard work. You also gotta expect the odd failure or three

As far as education goes, you got more paper than me, yet I too am a jack of all trades. I think what is important in this field is experience.. I feel the study of the paranormal is in it's teenage years and we have a long way to go yet in order to fully understand that which millions have people over the years have experienced. People like us are the driving force in the new devolpment of kit.. I might not have the tech skills, but occasionally i come up with some reasonbly good ideas
I am capable with tools though.. and other things

Originally posted by Extralien
reply to post by deloprator20000

 

One thing I tend to keep remembering is how nearly every contact with the 'spirit world' not one has given any real details as to what it is like on the other side.. It's like their is some unwritten law they all have to stick to so as not to let the living know.. just inm case the living decide it's better over there and top themselves..

I have a pet theory on this topic, free will, perhaps with the presence of "others" in another place, they can only guide, and can't truly answer, Like the blanket statement that New Agers use with ET's "That they are our space brothers, and will come to save us". Perhaps they cant answer these questions because of a Universal Will, if you would, that prevents them from solving our mysteries for them. Kinda like using cheat codes in a game, if you beat it, you feel cheated, becase so many others have acheived what you have but actualy worked for it. I think its about self discovery and internal communication as much as it is about outward communication (in other words, enlightenment, and not in the "jesus saves" kinda way).

As I said, purely a pet theory.

I do still attempt to ask philosophical questions, and other questions about their laws of physics, and spirituality. The only concrete answer i have gotten is "we do not experience, what you call serial time, we are unaware of it (time)"

I still wish to publish a volume of such questions and answers if I am graced with the knowledge.

Thank you by the way for the link as well, I am definetly going to try this program out, and see if I can find any thing striking.

Regards,

p.s. I am adding you to my friend list, and feel free to send me material if you would like some audio work done! It would be my pleasure!

I am a little confused and would like you to clarify a little. Your title is "What scientific studies would one persue to do research in the paranormal field?" yet in the post you state

I would also like to add that I am not so much interested in parapsychology, as that deals with "beyond normal minds" and I have no real interest in psychokenesis or other ESP, not on the mortal plane anyway.

So which is it? The reason I ask is that they go hand in hand. If you count out parapsychology you count out half the paranormal understanding. By my own experience I would say 89% of what is experienced is explainable, but that other 11% needs to be identified and it takes a knowledge of parapsychology to do that.

As you can see in my thread here Paranormal Research Training Center? I know a little about the research and how things tend to work. I will give you an example of what I did while learning the ropes in the sound department. I created a long sound clip and learned how to break it apart piece by piece and layer by layer. Here is how I created it.

Find an old empty house, I used an old farm house. Get yourself a mixing board that allows for several microphones and multiple stereo speakers. Place a right and left speaker into each room along with one microphone. Set the microphones to record on one series of tracks and play through all the speakers. This will give you every sound of every room mixed and amplified, be careful of feedback. I warn you ahead of time, even though, chances are, there will be nothing paranormal, it will be one of the most disturbing sound files you will ever hear. Next, take your sound file and break it apart separating the sounds.

Another tactic is learning how to separate out frequencies found in white noise. You probably already know how to collect it but I would not suggest it being a creation of your own, as this will taint your out come.

Obviously both of the examples above require a knowledge of mixing board usage and frequency separation therefore any courses in both are highly suggested. From there you will have to prove your work. Take jobs as you can and volunteer with your local paranormal teams, News teams, etc. anything that requires sound editing or analyzation in order to build a name for yourself because THAT is what really gets you in the door. Then stay on top of the newest tech on sound analysis to keep you in the running.

Another thing to do, and it is so important you might as well call it a hobby, is to form a massive collection of known sounds. Don't collect them off the internet as you can not verify that the sound is actually what it says it is. ie., there are many ways to make the sound of a pin drop or the sound of a freight elevator.

It will take time to build it all up and put the pieces into place and once you are in you have to keep it but it can be well worth the effort.

Originally posted by Extralien
reply to post by Seagurt

 

As for EMF pumps, I'm not that much of a fan of them due to what they can do to you.. the last thing you need on an investigation is more EMF to play with your senses and create false positives.
Yes, it could be used in a controlled way for such times, but IMO, not as a tool for use in close proximity to investigators. We know EMF plays tricks on your brain..

I absolutely agree, which is why my rig consists of a faraday cage, in which the microphone and EMF pumps are placed, they give off a frequency of their own, and to be honest, they are hit or miss, they do sometimes help with capturing evps, other times they create more of a wash, to say they increase the noise floor, which is very easily picked up by ribbon and condenser mics, especially in figure eight patterns.

I have done some research on direct EMF contact as well, and have to say that it does produce interesting phenomena, one thing I have noticed is that someone wearing the device (its a type of band that has the pump on the temples) and someone not wearing the device in a completely seperate location, will have the same experiences at exactly the same time, now this raises additional questions, Do electro magnetic fields create a stronger form of quantum entanglement? Or Is this a question of experiential bilocation? It could be many other things as well, and I refrain from using such a device regularly as there are side effects (who knows what it does to the pineal gland, or what types of chemicals it may release!) Theres something more I need to look into!

reply to post by Agarta


I'm an audio engineer...

I have studied Live sound reinforcement, psychoacoustics, production, field recording etc etc, I have done the experiment you are talking about, as a matter of fact, I do it quite often, especially when recording a band in seperation booths, as for the layers in white noise, pink noise, brown noise etc, they all have the same equal frequency content through the spectrum (with brown and pink having hi pass and lo pass respectively to a degree). What you are talking about in essence is taking the Frequency content (30hz, the threshold of hearing,) and seperating, hz by hz, ie, 31hz, 32hz, 33hz, otherwise if your using chunks (30hz to 100hz) you are coloring the sound subjectively, while it is noted that certain frequencies work better for EVP phenomena or ITC, they tend to be a doubling of the hz, or a third of the hz/khz. Seperating each frequency is also subjective, because a 30hz sine wave sounds different than a 30hz square (rectified) wave, in the end it all comes down to oscilations. Also, if you remove frequency content, you are damaging the recording (for evp's the frequency tends to be below the 30hz mark).

As for parapsychology, I do understand your point, but i am looking for tangible data, measurable with equipment, like a spectrograph for my sound waves, things that are empirical evidence. Another reason I want to avoid going into the psychology field is that it is not a true science, and it deals primarily with the effects of the environment on the mind, when in fact i am attempting to research the environment as a primary goal. Experience is subjective, but if we can quantify it, and make it into tangible data, then we have something concrete, that can be referenced, and reproduced (hopefully).

I do appreciate your input and experience, but i dont quite see the relevance.

reply to post by Seagurt


I apologize for my basic post dealing with sound recording/analysis. Having only your Initial post when I began writing my reply I did not have your experience as you posted further in the thread. After hitting reply and then reading the rest of the thread posted during the time I was replying I have a much better understanding of your experience and again I apologize for treating your knowledge like a newbee. It is obvious you are well on your way. One thing though, I have found, sometimes you have to break the sound to understand it, not that you don't understand that as well.

As for my reference to Parapsychology, as you know it deals with, telepathy, clairvoyance, etc. There have been experiments done and confirmed that thoughts, conscious or subconscious, can leave traces of sound on both tape and digital devices. If an investigator is in the alpha state of mind while preforming an investigation it opens up the possibility of effecting the recording equipment giving a false positive, for example a question is asked and the investigator thinks yes while in the alpha state and projects it out. This projection can be caught as evidence. Can this be confirmed? No, as you can not know what a subconscious mind its projecting and what it is not. As much as I believe and as much as I have experienced this is something that I try to keep in mind as not all "voices" are paranormal in origin. Same too with objects moving, as an investigator is projecting through hope sometimes the projection is strong enough to cause effect. This is what makes investigations so difficult to analyze.

I have found that if each person of a team is carrying their own EMF detector you can pin it down to this explanation, because they spike at the same time if the energy is originating from a member. This is overlooked in almost all cases because parapsychology is also overlooked.

Here is where you are stuck. The "paranormal" field you are referring to is about consciousness. You look at the word, "conscience," and find the clues within it.

Conscience; Con = not science. Science deals with certain areas of our reality, but not ALL areas. The problem here is folks are using the scientific method for proving things outside the scientific realm. This is a conundrum that genuine people try to end by saying, "I'll find a way to prove (via scientific method" things that are not proven by the scientific method." Sadly this leads to the silliest of efforts, as there is no way for the two to mix in the way the observer wishes. Think of it kind of like this, there are folks who will speak with a reporter "off the record." which means, they never said what they said, only the reporter knows what was said, but cannot "prove" that it was said, so, per the scientific method what was said did not happen. Much of one's dealing with things not measured by the scientific method occur outside that system because both the observer and the observed want it this way - off the record.

Things of consciousness are most often meant to be observed by the observer alone, not meant to be played back via the scientific equivalent of a videotape to others. Example: Life after the leaving the body is not meant to be shown, but understood by the observer of the experience, as to "view" it rather then to experience it, is to change the experience entirely.

Much of what folks view as paranormal, is energy of consciousness expressing itself in ways beyond the scientific method, but NOT beyond the ways of human connection via the systems we are born with.

The answer to your question, from my point of view, is to not spend anytime on it as a pursuit or a way to "show" others, as you will fail - by design. Instead use the tools you have as a way to learn more about yourself, and through that process, you'll learn all you need to know. Don't try to prove anything to others, this is a recipe for pain of all kinds, but simply use your expertise in each area of expression to learn more about yourself.

Regardless of what field, what is your ultimite goal ?
Because the field does not matter. What you need to find is a field that supports the status quo, the paradigm that most accept and believe.Because that is where you will find endless funding and you will get the most support from your peers and big named accredited leaders, colleges and Universitys in that field.
Don't buck the system.

Originally posted by crankyoldman
Here is where you are stuck. The "paranormal" field you are referring to is about consciousness. You look at the word, "conscience," and find the clues within it.

The answer to your question, from my point of view, is to not spend anytime on it as a pursuit or a way to "show" others, as you will fail - by design. Instead use the tools you have as a way to learn more about yourself, and through that process, you'll learn all you need to know. Don't try to prove anything to others, this is a recipe for pain of all kinds, but simply use your expertise in each area of expression to learn more about yourself.

This is exactly what I am trying to do, expand my consciousness, not flatter my ego, I do this as a service to mankind. At least if I find that every word that you just wrote is true, there will be some form of equation to explain the outcome, but it still needs to be researched.

I also am not looking to be the Einstein of this field, I just feel that it deserves investigating.

Psychology, technology, and religion.....specifically religious dogma.

Thats what you would need.......after all of that......you may actually find somethings you cant explain.