Have you ever thought about becoming a paranormal investigator? This article explains the differences between a true investigator and the hobbyist ghost hunter. It also explains what each member of the investigation team does. Where will you fit in?

Before you decide to quit your day job to become a paranormal investigator there is one thing you need to know. Calling it a career is kind of misleading.  Unless you are a member of one of the highly televised paranormal shows or one of the very select few, you generally won’t be getting paid for your services.  Most teams if not all are strictly volunteers.  As a matter of fact most members of these teams spend a portion of their own monthly income buying and repairing their own equipment as well as funding their own trips and investigations.

Paranormal investigators come from all walks of life, doctors, lawyers, firemen, housewives, and as we all know, plumbers.  They all have one thing in common, an interest in the paranormal.  Lets examine for a moment what exactly a paranormal investigator is.  The typical paranormal investigator is different from a “ghost hunter.”  A ghost hunter is usually someone who does it as a hobby and typically sets out to find a ghost.  They usually assume that any unexplained activity is the workings of a ghost and can be found exploring cemeteries.  The paranormal investigator systematically explores all possibilities and attempts to prove natural and scientific reasoning’s for such activity.  They gather and compare evidence collected ranging from photos, video, electronic voice phenomena, also known as EVP’s and personal experiences.  Paranormal investigators are generally open-minded to the existence of ghosts but do not automatically assume that the activity in question is a ghost or paranormal.  Once evidence is gathered they painstakingly try to recreate the activity in question to rule out the possibility of paranormal activity or in short, to “debunk” the claim.

While many of the operational responsibilities such as fundraising and promotion of the organization are shared by the group, the typical investigation teams consist of five key rolls.  The case manager who is usually in charge of client contact, finding and accepting cases and maintaining client files.  Second is the researcher.  The researchers job is exactly what the title infers.  While they may also be involved in the on-site investigations, their main responsibility is researching the case.  Checking and cross checking deeds, titles, geological maps and many other public records as well as conducting interviews with clients and others who may have insight to locations. Ultimately it is their job to investigate and validate the background of the case.  Third is the team’s tech manager, which is in charge of purchasing, maintaining, set-up, and monitoring of equipment such as video camera’s, motion sensors, and other monitoring equipment.  Finally, come the investigators and lead investigators.  The lead investigator while not an expert in any particular field, he knows by experience how the investigation should progress.  The investigators themselves are the “grunts” of the operation.  During an investigation they spend most of their time walking through locations with digital cameras or video cameras while asking questions out loud trying to get responses either in the form of object movement, knocks, or voices that are usually only heard during replay of digital voice recorders. They also spend hours on end after the investigation, analyzing the data collected, looking at all the possibilities for a particular occurrence or debunking. While it isn’t required most teams also rely on outside consultants or experts in a particular field such as demonologists, parapsychologists, and mediums. 

As I stated before, the vast majority of paranormal investigators don’t get paid for their services but, if your interested in becoming a paranormal investigator there are a variety of jobs that need to be done and each person performs a key role in the investigation.  If you’re like me gaining a greater understanding of the paranormal and ultimately finding out if the paranormal really exists, is payment enough. Where do you see yourself fitting in?