There is so much we can learn from a paranormal investigation. That should be our main goal when we go to a location to investigate alleged hauntings—to learn more about the paranormal, to help those in need, to find answers to the unknown, and to further paranormal research. From these investigations, I learned quite a bit about the paranormal.
Spirits can travel. Much like we move from place to place, spirits (most of whom were people at one time like us) move from place to place. This was evident through spirits like Harvey. Harvey did not merely stay in the Straits Lodge or the theater of the Mission Point Resort, he moved between those places, between rooms, between floors. The same thing occurred with the spirits of the First Ward Schoolhouse. The little girl I heard in the second-floor room was the same one I heard in the basement. I found through speaking to other investigators like Jason and Grant from Ghost Hunters, that it was more than possible for a spirit to roam. Perhaps some of the spirits that reside in that building are buried in the two nearby cemeteries and found their way back. Spirits can move from place to place through attachments to places, objects, and people.
Spirits have emotions. At the private investigation, I left with the sense that the spirit who was there at the house felt compassion for the family and cared for the children. The spirit at the Paulding Lights had the ability to find humor in the situation at that moment going as far as to laugh at my brother and me. Many intelligent spirits have the same types of emotions they had when they were living people.
Spirits can physically manipulate objects. They can move balls, potentially turn on and off flashlights, and touch a person so that a person can actually feel the unseen hands on their body. They can turn on and off lights.
I learned that you should always own multiple digital recorders, and keep one on your person at all times because you never know what you may miss when investigating if you don’t have one with you. Because I now know spirits can touch you or move objects, or roam from place to place, I’ve learned the importance of protecting yourself before and after an investigation and making sure you let spirits know they are not allowed to follow you when you leave.
All of these lessons tell me a little bit more about the paranormal, and give me an outline of new questions I can research. How can spirits physically manipulate objects when they have no physical form? How much energy does it take to move an object or turn on a light? When it comes to emotions they display, are these emotions genuine in the way we feel emotions, or are they remnants of their humanity; memories of emotions they re-create?
These are new questions I developed from the answers I found, which I can research in upcoming investigations. The more answers I find, the more questions pop up. Then finding the answers to those questions leads to more questions, discoveries, and research. And I will keep researching till no more questions remain. When that time comes, that will mean the paranormal has finally found a way to be proven to the world, including to skeptics, and it will become a science. That is what paranormal research is all about—helping people and finding answers until we know the unknown and learn to see what can’t be seen.
Much like alchemists and physicians went on a quest to figure out what those spots inflicting so many people were back in the day of measles and small pox, and how to stop them, we continue our quest to learn, to discover the truth, and help people along the way.