SPIRT of PA gets asked a lot of ques­tions from prospec­tive clients, other para­nor­mal inves­ti­ga­tors and peo­ple who are inter­ested in the para­nor­mal. We have col­lected a list of the most com­monly asked ques­tions and answered them here…

Click on the cat­e­gories below to jump to spe­cific sections

Gen­eral Ques­tions ~ Ques­tions about our Group and Inves­ti­ga­tors ~ Ques­tions about Inves­ti­ga­tions
~ Ques­tions about other events ~ Ques­tions about Evidence

Gen­eral

• How do I tell if my loca­tion is haunted?

  There are a lot of dif­fer­ent signs that a loca­tion may be haunted includ­ing (but not lim­ited to) unex­plained noises, move­ment and shad­ows, object move­ment and lev­i­ta­tion, doors which open and close with­out rea­son, unex­plained voices, unex­plained smells and unex­plained mood changes in spe­cific areas.

• I think my house may be haunted, am I crazy? What should I do?

  If you have rea­son to believe your house is haunted, we rec­om­mend that you doc­u­ment your evi­dence. This will give you good details to share with a para­nor­mal team if you reach out to them for advice. It will also allow you to review the evi­dence and look for com­mon pat­terns and recur­ring sit­u­a­tions which will help to rule out “false pos­i­tives” and com­mon house set­tling and sim­i­lar nat­ural situations.

• What will a para­nor­mal group do to help with my situation?

  A para­nor­mal group will help you sort through the occur­rences in your loca­tion to help deter­mine if you truly have a haunt­ing or some­thing that may be solved with a lit­tle home main­te­nance. Groups should also be avail­able to offer you advice and guid­ance on how best to approach and deal with a sit­u­a­tion and ulti­mately will inves­ti­gate the case to deter­mine the specifics of what is going on the in location.

• Are all “haunt­ings” the same?

  All “haunt­ings” are not the same. Each case is unique and needs to be dealt with in a per­son­al­ized and unique fash­ion. Some cases may require a more hands-on inves­ti­ga­tion while another may require the loca­tion owner to sim­ply stand up to the spirit and demand their home back. An ini­tial interview/meeting with a para­nor­mal group should help you deter­mine the best course of action for each unique case.

• What natural/household events can cause “false pos­i­tives” so I think I have a haunting?

  “False Pos­i­tives” can be cause by any­thing from bang­ing pipes and leaky valves in plumb­ing to ungrounded and old wiring and high EMF to high con­cen­tra­tions of mold and mildew in a loca­tion. Shad­ows and move­ment can be caused by pass­ing cars or reflec­tive surfaces.

• How do I get into the field of Para­nor­mal Inves­ti­ga­tion and Research?

  The first step for any poten­tial inves­ti­ga­tor is to read. Pick up books on the sub­ject and get as much knowl­edge as pos­si­ble. There is a lot more to this field than stand­ing in the dark and ask­ing EVP ques­tions. You need to learn to deal with clients who are some­times in des­per­ate sit­u­a­tions and at their wit’s end. You need to know basics about elec­tri­cal and plumb­ing sys­tems and have a pass­ing knowl­edge of gen­eral con­struc­tion and his­tory. You need to learn how to do his­tor­i­cal and genealog­i­cal research as well. A lot of this infor­ma­tion can be found in books on the para­nor­mal. Knowl­edge about the equip­ment and inves­ti­ga­tion tech­niques will come later. Once you have done some back­ground read­ing, you need to look into all the local groups in the area. Each group has a dif­fer­ent method­ol­ogy and man­ner of inves­ti­gat­ing. You need to find the group which works best with your own thoughts and opin­ions on the para­nor­mal. Once you have found a group, apply to become a mem­ber. Each inter­view, train­ing and mem­ber­ship process is a lit­tle dif­fer­ent so be sure you know what they expect before you apply or accept mem­ber­ship. Once you have been accepted into a group, you will go through their train­ing process and become a para­nor­mal investigator.

• How much do you get paid as a Para­nor­mal Investigator?

  Para­nor­mal Inves­ti­ga­tors do this as a hobby (with the rare excep­tion of those on TV!) and do not get paid for what they do. We do this out of a pas­sion for the para­nor­mal and a per­sonal drive to dis­cover answers to our own burn­ing questions.

• Can a ghost fol­low me home if I visit a haunted house?

  While this is not unheard of, it is very rare. For a spirit to fol­low you home, they must form a very strong and unique bond with you – often because you remind them of a loved one, or friend. More often than not, spir­its in a “haunted house” will not even notice your pres­ence if you are just a casual guest. It is only after repeat vis­its or pro­longed stays in a haunted loca­tion that they would notice your pres­ence. And no, the old wives tale about “don’t trip on a grave­stone or the spirit will fol­low you home” has never been proven as true.

• Can objects or peo­ple them­selves be haunted or is it only land or buildings?

  Any­thing can be haunted. While the most com­mon haunt­ing is of a build­ing or spe­cific piece of land, spir­its have been known to attach them­selves to objects which had great per­sonal and sen­ti­men­tal value to them in life. These spir­its travel with the object no mat­ter where it goes. Spir­its can also form attach­ments to peo­ple (This is not pos­ses­sion. That is a dif­fer­ent thing), often because the per­son in ques­tion either reminds them of a long-gone loved one, is a fam­ily mem­ber, has lived in the loca­tion for a long time and has had direct fre­quent inter­ac­tion with the spirit or if the per­son has strong psy­chic abil­i­ties. This sit­u­a­tion is the most rare.

SPIRT of PA

• How do I become a mem­ber of your group?

  We are always accept­ing appli­ca­tions for ded­i­cated and pas­sion­ate inves­ti­ga­tors. If you feel like SPIRT of PA might be a good group for you, please sub­mit an appli­ca­tion here.

• How long has your group been around?

  SPIRT of PA was formed in 2002 as a stu­dent orga­ni­za­tion at the Uni­ver­sity of Pitts­burgh. After sev­eral years as Pitts­burgh Night and a relo­ca­tion to Philadel­phia, the group for­mally became SPIRT of PA in the fall of 2008.

• How expe­ri­enced are the mem­bers of the group?

  Col­lec­tively SPIRT of PA has over 50 years of expe­ri­ence in the field of the para­nor­mal. Many of our inves­ti­ga­tors have over 10 years expe­ri­ence in the field, while some of our newer mem­bers are just start­ing out. We have mem­bers who spe­cial­ize in tech­nol­ogy and equip­ment and have over 15 years of audio and video experience.

• What areas does SPIRT of PA cover? How far will you travel for an investigation?

  SPIRT of PA offi­cially cov­ers east­ern Penn­syl­va­nia, New Jer­sey, Delaware and east­ern Mary­land. We have trav­eled as far as New York and west­ern Penn­syl­va­nia for inves­ti­ga­tions. While we do not have an offi­cial “bound­ary” estab­lished, we base our accep­tance of cases on drive time. If we can get to your loca­tion in under three hours, we will most likely accept the inves­ti­ga­tion. If, for some rea­son, SPIRT of PA is unable to accept the case due to dis­tance, we will gladly refer you to a para­nor­mal team which we are asso­ci­ated or friendly with which may be closer to your location.

• How do I sub­mit my loca­tion for SPIRT of PA to come and investigate?

  We have an online sub­mis­sion form for a loca­tion which you believe to be haunted. You can sub­mit this form here.

• I would like to help the group, how and what can donate? Does SPIRT of PA accept sponsors?

  SPIRT of PA is a not-for-profit orga­ni­za­tion. We do not charge for our ser­vices, nor do we sug­gest any kind of dona­tion to our clients. How­ever, if you wish to help sup­port us in our para­nor­mal research, we will gladly accept dona­tions. Please click on the SPIRT of PA logo off of the main page’s right nav­i­ga­tion box. It can be found under the “Sup­port SPIRT of PA” header. We do, how­ever, offer spon­sor­ships for our annual char­ity event. Thank you in advance for your sup­port of our group.

• What makes SPIRT of PA dif­fer­ent from other para­nor­mal groups?

  SPIRT of PA prides itself on being 100% client ori­ented and pro­fes­sional. We approach each case with the intent to help the client get the answers and res­o­lu­tion that they need, some­times at the expense of our own para­nor­mal goals and answer-seeking. All of our inves­ti­ga­tors are ded­i­cated to this field and have demon­strated a pas­sion for what we are doing. We believe that this sets us apart from other para­nor­mal groups.

Inves­ti­ga­tions

• Do you charge for investigations?

  All ser­vice of SPIRT of PA are free of charge – this includes our lec­tures as well as investigations.

• What hap­pens once I con­tact SPIRT of PA with my haunted location?

  Within 24 hours of reach­ing out to SPIRT of PA, you will be con­tacted by a mem­ber of our client rela­tions team who will dis­cuss your per­sonal sit­u­a­tion with you and set up a time when we can meet for a more in-depth meet­ing. After that meet­ing, we will deter­mine if an on-site inves­ti­ga­tion is right for your situation.

• Will SPIRT of PA come get rid of the ghosts in my house?

  It is impos­si­ble to promise that we will come in and com­pletely clean out any spir­its in your home, but we will do our best to make sure that the sit­u­a­tion we leave our clients in is one where they feel 100% com­fort­able in their own home. We will do every­thing in our power to inves­ti­gate the claims and come up with the best solu­tion pos­si­ble to resolve your spe­cific claim. We have resources and con­tacts in the clergy and other places if the client wishes to have a home cleansed or blessed for their own piece of mind after our inves­ti­ga­tion is complete.

• Why doesn’t SPIRT of PA use Ouija boards or do séances?

  It is our belief that these objects and cer­e­monies can cause more harm than good, espe­cially when used improp­erly. You can­not fully pre­dict if your ses­sion will result in con­tact with the already present entity or if it will con­jure up a new entity and draw it into the home. That unpre­dictabil­ity and uncon­trol­lable open-endedness puts our clients at risk, which is some­thing we can­not do.

• Will mem­bers of your group pro­voke and stir up the ghosts in my home?

  As a rule, SPIRT of PA does not use the tech­nique of “pro­vok­ing” (pur­posely ril­ing up a spirit in the hopes of get­ting a more active response) dur­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion of a client’s home. In the rare case when pro­vok­ing might be an option, it is only done with the client’s con­sent and by trained and expe­ri­enced Team Leads. At the end of our inves­ti­ga­tion, whether pro­vok­ing was used or not, we will make sure that the client is com­fort­able in the loca­tion before leav­ing the site.

• I don’t want my per­sonal infor­ma­tion all over the inter­net! Will you keep all the infor­ma­tion about my loca­tion private?

  SPIRT of PA has a strict con­fi­den­tial­ity agree­ment that all of our inves­ti­ga­tors are bound by. Dur­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion, a client has the option to choose between three con­fi­den­tial­ity options which allow them to set the ulti­mate level of infor­ma­tion which can be shared after an inves­ti­ga­tion. For pri­vate res­i­dences, it is our strict pol­icy that no per­sonal infor­ma­tion, includ­ing street addresses, client names or loca­tion details which can be traced back to the loca­tion or client can be used in any capac­ity. All pri­vate res­i­dences will only ever be iden­ti­fied by city and state.

• What type of equip­ment do you use on investigations?

  For a com­plete list of equip­ment used on inves­ti­ga­tions please visit our equip­ment sum­mary page found here.

• If SPIRT of PA comes to do an inves­ti­ga­tion, how long does it take for them to come back with the results of their investigation?

  Each case is dif­fer­ent. For a loca­tion with a lot of area to cover, or a loca­tion where we spent more time than nor­mal we may take a lit­tle longer to review all the evi­dence col­lected. As a rule it will take us about a week to review every­thing and reach out to a client to sched­ule a wrap-up meet­ing. Based on sched­ules, the wrap-up can occur any­time between one and three weeks after an investigation.

Other Events

• Does SPIRT of PA offer any work­shops or Ghost Hunt­ing 101 classes?

  We do! More infor­ma­tion will be com­ing on our web­site soon about the classes we offer and where they are being held.

• How can I book SPIRT of PA for a lec­ture at my location?

  At this time, book­ings can be emailed to our Lead Inves­ti­ga­tor Rebecca at rebecca@spirtofpa.com.

• What is the “Char­ity Ghost Hunt” event?

  The char­ity ghost hunt is an annual event started in 2003 as a way for SPIRT of PA to give back to the com­mu­nity which has sup­ported it through the year. Each year a char­ity is cho­sen as a bene­fac­tor and we host a pub­lic para­nor­mal inves­ti­ga­tion. We sell tick­ets to allow the pub­lic to come and explore a famous pub­lic haunted loca­tion while being led by an expe­ri­enced para­nor­mal inves­ti­ga­tor. It is also a chance for the pub­lic to get some hands-on expe­ri­ence with equip­ment we use dur­ing inves­ti­ga­tions. All pro­ceeds and dona­tions from the event go to our cho­sen char­ity. For more infor­ma­tion about this event, please visit the char­ity page on our web­site.

• I am from the media, how do I get an inter­view or appear­ance with the group?

  We are glad to talk to any mem­bers of the media or sched­ule appear­ances and lec­tures for any­one. Please con­tact our Lead Inves­ti­ga­tor Rebecca by email.

Evi­dence

• I think I’ve got­ten evi­dence of a ghost! Will SPIRT of PA review my pho­tos, audio, or video clips?

  We would be glad to review any­thing you have and give you our hon­est opin­ion on it. You can sub­mit it by email to evidencereview@spirtofpa.com.

• I think I have pic­tures of some orbs! Are they spirits?

  Every para­nor­mal inves­ti­ga­tor has a dif­fer­ent opin­ion on orbs. Most orbs are sim­ply dust, bugs, water vapor, cig­a­rette smoke or breath. Some­times things like loose hair or a cam­era strap get into the photo and cre­ate what inves­ti­ga­tors might mis­take as a Light Rod. If you have a true orb and not one of the above nat­ural occur­rences, then we believe that what you have is a photo of energy in the air. It is not nec­es­sar­ily a spirit or entity but it may be a sign that one is gath­er­ing these pock­ets of energy to man­i­fest itself. But on the other hand, they could be pock­ets of energy which occur nat­u­rally in the area. If you have photo you’d like us to review for pos­si­ble orbs please email them to evidencereview@spirtofpa.com.

• What does SPIRT of PA do with the evi­dence you col­lect on investigations?

  SPIRT of PA has a strict con­fi­den­tial­ity clause for all inves­ti­ga­tions which may limit what we can do with evi­dence. As a gen­eral rule, our evi­dence is given to the client and stored in our archives. Select evi­dence might be used on our web­site or dur­ing lec­tures as exam­ples and only with the client’s per­mis­sion. All of our evi­dence might be used for inter­nal exper­i­men­ta­tion and sta­tis­ti­cal research.

• I hear a lot of para­nor­mal terms on TV and on your site. What is an EVP? What is an EMF?

  We have a com­plete glos­sary of para­nor­mal terms and def­i­n­i­tions avail­able here on our website.

• I have a ques­tion that is not on this list, how do I con­tact you?

  If you have a ques­tion which was not addressed on this list, you can con­tact us via any of the meth­ods found on our Con­tact Page. For the fastest response, please email us at contact@spirtofpa.com.