Using Psychics on Ghost Hunts
Psychic abilities can be helpful tools. However, as with any tool, there is a right way and a wrong way to use them. When used correctly, psychic abilities can be an asset. If ghost hunters do not understand the nature of psychic abilities, the process is a waste of valuable time. The information gathered from a true psychic can be beneficial or worthless depending solely on how the ability is utilized.
Psychics should ghost hunt in a separate control group. An impartial person should stay with the psychic to take notes and record what the psychic experiences. Psychics should enter a ghost hunt with only their abilities. No one should provide the psychic with information about the haunting. This process is the opposite for a regular ghost hunter. Unlike regular ghost hunters, it is important for a psychic to know as little information as possible about a haunting before conducting the ghost hunt. Too much information can contaminate the psychic’s thoughts or lead them to false impressions. No one should answer specific questions that the psychic might have about the haunting until after the ghost hunt is complete.
It is not a good idea to put psychics close to equipment such as EMF detectors because these devices tend to create sounds and flashing lights that could be misinterpreted by the psychic as the presence of a ghost. The power of suggestion can cause the psychic to determine subconsciously that something paranormal is happening. Psychics and ghost hunters are not immune to having the outside interference distort their rational sensibilities.
Psychics have limitations that need to be examined. Psychics rarely crack the 50 percent ratio, which means that in controlled testing the psychic is wrong more than half the time. However, true psychics do tend to have a higher percentage of correct hits over someone who is guessing. This is an important fact to note because it shows that there is increased accuracy beyond an average guessing percentage.
Psychic abilities tend to fail in confusing environments. Scientific experiments done at the world’s leading parapsychology organizations have shown that heightened human emotions decrease the accuracy of psychic abilities. Nervousness, excitement, depression, anxiety and fear have negative results. Heightened emotional states happen to everyone, psychic and non-psychic, while conducting ghost hunts. The key to a successful psychic is to remain in emotional control, which in many ghost-hunting circumstances may be an impossible task.
There is also a chance that the psychic misidentified the emotions felt. A psychic can be at a murder scene and experience feelings of hatred and violence. Often, there is then a misinterpretation that the ghost is filled with dark feelings of rage. However, the ghost can actually be one of the innocent murder victims and may not be malicious toward the living. The problem is that the psychic is reading the residual energy that remains imprinted from the murder and not the emotions of the ghost. When a psychic feels rage, it does not necessarily mean that the ghost feels this rage. The psychic could be reading the leftover energy from a past event.
Another limitation of psychics is that many psychics do not understand their own abilities. Psychics usually see images in an abstract manner. The psychic will see colors and shapes or feel emotions. Then the psychic will interpret these random mental flashes. This process causes misinterpretations because it is based on the psychic’s personal assumptions. Personal interpretation can create an enormous amount of room for error. The following is an example of a real psychic test that shows how interpretations can ruin a psychic’s ability:
A psychic is asked to sit in a room while another person, the subject in this experiment, travels around outside of the room. The psychic is not given any information about where the subject is going. The psychic is asked to use their abilities to determine where the subject is traveling and what is happening around the subject.
The subject decides to go downtown to a local dog show. The psychic feels that the subject is walking on a hard surface like a sidewalk, which the subject is doing at the time. The psychic then sees a vision of bright colors and giant words on a large banner at the same time the subject is approaching the dog show. The building has large colorful banners draped across the front. The psychic senses the presence of animals as the subject is walking next to the dogs. The subject orders some food and the psychic explains that they can taste food. The subject leaves the dog show and buys some roses from a street vendor to give to his wife. The psychic smells fresh flowers. Up to this point, it would seem that the psychic was incredib1ey accurate. However, the experiment is not over.
In the second stage of the experiment, the psychic is given a folder containing twenty-five photographs. The photographs are random places throughout the city. The psychic is told that one of the photographs is the location where the subject has spent the day. The psychic is asked to pick the correct photograph from the folder. A photograph of the dog show building is in the folder. The photograph is a plain-looking building without the fancy advertising banners and dogs. After carefully examining the photograph and reflecting on the sensations that were experienced, the psychic incorrectly chooses a photograph taken at the local zoo.
The psychic did not select the correct photograph because they were not using their psychic ability. Instead, the psychic relied on interpretations of the mental images. The psychic felt the subject walk on concrete, look at a colorful banner, enter the presence of animals, eat food and smell flowers. After looking at the photographs, the psychic determined that those experiences could be found at the zoo. The psychic did not consider the other photographs because the photos did not seem to meet the criteria of the psychic visions. Remember, the psychic did not see an exact image of the subject, but small abstract glimpses. The final photograph choice had nothing to do with psychic abilities and everything to do with the natural assumptions of the psychic.
There are specific things that ghost hunters should not expect from a psychic. Ghost hunters should not expect psychics to enter a location and automatically have psychic visions. That is not how psychic abilities work, except in movies. No one should rush or force a psychic through the process. Psychics should be given the appropriate time needed to complete their assignment. If the psychic experiences something that is too disturbing for them to handle, someone should safely escort the psychic from the location before continuing the ghost hunt. The safety and feelings of the living should always come first.
After a ghost hunt is completed, the psychic should give the team leader a complete account of everything experienced. The team leader should evaluate the information provided by the psychic and try to match the information to other known facts about the haunting. Look for a correlation or link between the psychic’s details and the known facts.
The team leader should interview (not interrogate) the psychic after evaluating the information. The interview should follow proper interviewing guidelines. If a psychic reports details that cannot be verified at the time, it does not necessarily mean that those details are incorrect. These details may prove to be accurate and valuable at a future date when more information becomes available. It is extremely important for ghost hunters to understand psychic abilities and the psychics that use them. A ghost hunter will develop their own intuition about when and how to use psychics to aid the investigation process.