As an investigator, I can honestly say that not all places are active all the time and that a large amount of what people say online cannot be trusted. This came up recently as one of my teammates noted that we weren’t “getting as much activity as we used to.” So I thought it would be good to explore why this might happen. What are some of the reasons why a team may not consistently get activity at places that are known for high levels of “paranormal activity”?

Let’s start with the most obvious reason: your team has gotten better at learning the difference between anomalous phenomena and everyday phenomena that just appears to be paranormal. You understand that orbs can be dust, water vapor, bugs, and so on. You have observed the way passing cars change the shadows inside buildings. Your team has tested many times how opening one door in a house can affect all the other doors. You have reviewed enough hours of video or audio evidence to be able to tell the difference between cars on the road vs steps in the house, a cat outside vs a child crying, a teammate talking in another room vs disembodied voices and so on. The more experience you have, the less you fall into the simple mental traps that a new excited investigator interprets as paranormal phenomena. 

In addition, if your team has started to pursue theories based on environmental factors, you will find yourself also able to tell the difference between your equipment responding to something anomalous or just reacting to normal environmental triggers, even a malfunction. REMpods and K2 meters are great examples of devices that can be misinterpreted. REMpods can be triggered by radio waves so if you are using walkie talkies or there are police driving through the neighborhood, you will likely get false positives. K2 meters are very imprecise devices that will respond to any EMF (electromagnetic field) fluctuations and modern life is full of them (ex. microwaves, refrigerators, cell phones, electric boxes, and unshielded wiring just to name a few). Attributing every blip from either device to paranormal phenomena can make an investigation feel active when there is nothing really happening. 

Another often overlooked factor is that the more you do this, the more your brain gets used to the idea of having you walk around a creepy, old, haunted building and you are less likely to have the same level of startle response you had when you were new to investigating. New investigators respond to EVERY change in the environment because their body is on high alert. After doing this for a while, I can honestly say that I worry far less about taking a nap in the middle of some of the most “haunted” places in America. I’m just used to it. I’m also more likely to walk into a dark room to find the source of a strange noise than I was ten years ago. Recently, I had the experience of hearing footsteps in a hallway (which scared the crap out of me just 3 years ago) and just stood there as if it was a common occurrence. Don’t discount these experiences just because you are now used to them, remind yourself that strange things do happen but you are reacting differently now. 

After removing the obvious reasons, let’s jump into some of the other reasons why you may not get as much activity. 

• Popular locations can be over investigated and you can’t expect every night of the week to be popping. 
• New locations may contain phenomena that don’t immediately respond to investigation. I have a friend who says that “spirits” need to be trained to interact. Perhaps.  If the phenomena has a consciousness, it may be curious, scared, unsure, or just not interested in interacting with new people. 
• You or your team may be dealing with a variety of psychological issues that can affect your ability to perceive and/or interact with phenomena. (ex. stress, depression, anxiety, anger, illness, and exhaustion) 
• You are bringing in too much equipment and creating a stressful environment. 
• You have gotten stuck in a rut of using specific techniques during every investigation. 
• You are using techniques that are over complicated. This field started with some simple knocking on the wall, don’t forget the simple investigation methods.
• Your language, demeanor, or general appearance is in some way hindering the investigation. Imagine trying to use sexualized and/or colorful language in front of an elderly woman from the 1800’s; how does that go for you? 
• You have become lax in reviewing your evidence and the “good stuff” is hiding on a memory card you never downloaded to your computer. 

The final and most important reason to remember is that anomalous phenomena is not common. Most people can go their entire life and only have one or two strange experiences. You will likely have far more experiences because you go looking for them but that doesn’t make them less rare. Don’t get discouraged when things get a little “slow”. This is a good opportunity to review your methods and check-in on the team’s overall wellbeing. I recommend encouraging team members to read books about different techniques or research from one of the parapsychological journals instead of watching YouTube videos. The videos are meant to be entertaining and therefore not the best way to gauge actual experiences/research. 

Keep learning and keep growing your investigation repertoire. What worked when you first started investigating likely will not work ten years down the road. You are a different person and your mindset is different. That isn’t bad, it’s actually good because you are likely more precise now but that means you must also adjust how you work. Don’t get discouraged and try to see the opportunity in the problem. 

Until next time, Happy Hunting!