I often tell people that I have enough curiosity to kill a stampede of cats. In my opinion, that’s the only way to survive in the paranormal field. You have to be curious.

I went on my first “ghost hunt” with my parents when I was 15. We really just walked through an old farmhouse praying and putting holy water crosses above doors to banish a bad thing from the house. Not exactly a scientific endeavor. Although, I didn’t knowingly venture into another haunted house for another 14 years, the experience did peak my interest. As I got older, I would often be found reading books about the paranormal and consuming all forms of paranormal entertainment. At one point, I was convinced I could join the FBI and work on X-Files type cases. I had a deep desire to be Scully.

My first real investigation as an adult was in 2010 at the Old South Pittsburg Hospital. Did I see a ghost? No. Did that make it any less impactful? No. During the investigation, my team was sitting in an operating room and everyone claimed to be seeing a shadow dart in and out of the doorway. Of course, I didn’t see it and said as much. That’s when someone told me: “The more you do this, the more you will see.” In that moment, I wondered, do we start to see things because we have spent all this time and money going to haunted places that our brain decides that we need to be rewarded for all of this “work”? Or is it just that as we increase contact with “paranormal” locations, we increase our odds of encountering something paranormal?

And thus, my analytical brain began to churn.

Today, I feed my curiosity by putting my analytical brain to work when investigating the paranormal. Each investigation is a new opportunity to learn something and challenge what I already know. Do I believe in ghosts? I’m not sure. I do believe people experience frightening things in their homes and workplaces that can often cause stress and anxiety. My job, as an investigator, is to use all of the available information to help people understand what is occurring. It is through understanding that we often lose our fear of the paranormal. This involves listening to the individual experiencing the activity, collecting environmental data, investigating the location with video and audio devices, researching the history of the location, analyzing all of this information, and utilizing current published research to create a clearer picture of what may be occurring.

I hope to use this blog as a space to share my experiences and information learned with others who are looking to feed a wild curiosity. Feel free to send me questions or topics you are interested in learning more about. This will be a space for learning, reflection, and often humor as I fumble through the paranormal world.