Investigators, when you are called on to investigate a "haunting" of sorts, how much "pre-investigating....

Question

do you do after the initial meeting of the clients?

Answer 1

>If there is no urgent need, it could be months of prep. Getting to know the people well before hand, having them keep a log book of everything that goes on so you know what, when, and where something is happening. Doing background checks on them, yes, background checks. I even will go to the next door neighbors and ask them if they know anything of a home that is potentially up for being investigated. I use my background in tracking down criminals in my investigating, so I like to know as much as I can about those who are reporting anything. You need to check the geology of the area. Very easily done. Water sources. Above ground and below ground electrical sources. Well over 90% of the time you go in and find nothing what so ever worth saving or saying the place is interesting. Considering the costs involved in doing serious research you want to do as much up front investigating as you can before you ever go into the spot. You need time to bring everyone up to speed , allocate who is doing what. You need to feel comfortable with who ever your going to spend a night or two with. Its not very fun to trapse around someones house who your not comfortable with and who is not comfortable with you. To do a proper investigation, you have a lot of upfront work to do before you ever take your first pic.

Answer 2

I have been investigating for 8 years.  When i get a call to go somewhere, I meet first with the person and hear what they have to say.  Then I do a historical study of the property to try and find some realistic answers to the things happening.  For instance.  An investigation on Ghost Hunters International tonight, there was a place that was said to have housed 7 monks who brought the holy grail to that house for hiding.  The story is documented all the way back to 1800.  After the historical investigation, they found that it never happened.  someone made to storie up around that time and it kind of just stuck.  So, for these reasons, I look into the history.  Then, I still ask questions with EVP relating to the stories and see if there may be any evidence show up supporting the stories.  If not, or if there is evidence, we go from there.

Answer 3

I get all the info from the person making the claim & talk to them before we go out. I then do a history check on any info they give me. Research how many times property sold and how quickly things like that.(it may later be needed)

Upon arrival for the investigation I talk to the person/people again asking same questions differently just to see if the story differs to much.

I don't tell any of the team anything of the history, just the basics. That way they can find sources of supposed activity on their own or the logical reason for noises by themselves.

After the investigation wraps up and we review the evidence or lack there of, & If we get real evidence or have some real experiences then we do some research for names of previous owners, land history and so on.

Answer 4

We have one person contact for pre-investigation interview. Sometimes we also have a researcher investigate the history of the place.  Everyone else goes in cold with no knowledge of  the site, people or what we are looking for.  We also do post investigation research on anything that we get like names or information our psychics get.

Answer 5

Parts of my team did extensive interviews with all witnesses and another part of the team would do extensive history investigations of all things like published accounts. These two (at least) different investigators never shared information with one another. Then these 2 teams would provide at least 2 locations for an investigative team to set up (one was where activity was reported and one was a control site). Thus, 4 locations in total. Which was which was kept from the investigative team and non of the people on each of the first two teams was allowed at the on site investigation.

Psi