What if i want to start investigating the paranormal and forming my own group?

Question

What if i want to start investigating the paranormal and forming my own group?

Answer 1

Hey Spencer Christmas Jr..  I think you forgot to credit the authors and source of your reply, mainly Wikipedia..

As to the question, which Spencer must not have read, Do it.

That is how GSI got started about 3 years ago.  We searched for a group to join at first, but after we didn't find any that we believed to be of the quality we wanted we started our own.

Answer 2

Paranormal is an umbrella term for a variety of anomalous phenomena. In parapsychology, it is used to describe the ostensibly psychic phenomena of telepathy, extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, ghosts, and hauntings. The term is also applied to UFOs, some creatures that fall under the scope of cryptozoology, purported phenomena surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, and other non-psychical subjects.[1] Paranormal is often used to denote unusual experiences that lack an obvious scientific explanation.[2] Stories relating to paranormal phenomena are widespread in popular culture and folklore, but the United States National Science Foundation has stated that mainstream science does not support paranormal beliefs.[3]

Approaching paranormal phenomena from a research perspective is often difficult because even when the phenomena are seen as real they may be difficult to explain using existing rules or theory. By definition, paranormal phenomena exist outside of conventional norms. Skeptics contend that they don't exist at all. Despite this challenge, studies on the paranormal are periodically conducted by researchers from various disciplines. Some researchers study just the beliefs in paranormal phenomena regardless of whether the phenomena actually exist.

This section deals with various approaches to the paranormal including those scientific, pseudoscientific, and unscientific. Skeptics feel that supposed scientific approaches are actually pseudoscientific for several reasons which are explored below.[4]

[edit] Anecdotal approach



Charles Fort, 1920. Fort is perhaps the most widely known collector of paranormal stories.An anecdotal approach to the paranormal involves the collection of anecdotal evidence consisting of informal accounts. Anecdotal evidence, lacking the rigour of empirical evidence, is not amenable to scientific investigation. The anecdotal approach is not a scientific approach to the paranormal because it leaves verification dependent on the credibility of the party presenting the evidence. It is also subject to such logical fallacies as cognitive bias, inductive reasoning, lack of falsifiability, and other fallacies that may prevent the anecdote from having meaningful information to impart. Nevertheless, it is a common approach to paranormal phenomena.

Charles Fort (1874 – 1932) is perhaps the best known collector of paranormal anecdotes. Fort is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 notes on unexplained phenomena, though there were no doubt many more than these. These notes came from what he called "the orthodox conventionality of Science", which were odd events originally reported in magazines and newspapers such as The Times and scientific journals such as Scientific American, Nature and Science. From this research Fort wrote seven books, though only four survive. These are: The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931) and Wild Talents (1932); one book was written between New Lands and Lo! but it was abandoned and absorbed into Lo!.

Reported events that he collected include teleportation (a term Fort is generally credited with coining); poltergeist events, falls of frogs, fishes, inorganic materials of an amazing range; crop circles; unaccountable noises and explosions; spontaneous fires; levitation; ball lightning (a term explicitly used by Fort); unidentified flying objects; mysterious appearances and disappearances; giant wheels of light in the oceans; and animals found outside their normal ranges (see phantom cat). He offered many reports of OOPArts, abbreviation for "out of place" artifacts: strange items found in unlikely locations. He also is perhaps the first person to explain strange human appearances and disappearances by the hypothesis of alien abduction, and was an early proponent of the extraterrestrial hypothesis.

Fort is considered by many as the father of modern paranormalism, which is the study of paranormal phenomena.

The magazine Fortean Times continues Charles Forte's approach, regularly reporting anecdotal accounts of anomalous phenomena.

[edit] Experimental approach



Participant of a Ganzfeld Experiment which proponents say may show evidence of telepathy.Main article: Parapsychology

Experimental investigation of the paranormal is largely conducted in the multidisciplinary field of parapsychology. Although parapsychology has its roots in earlier research, it began using the experimental approach in the 1930s under the direction of J. B. Rhine (1895 – 1980).[5] Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of using card-guessing and dice-rolling experiments in a laboratory in the hopes of finding a statistical validation of extra-sensory perception.[5]

In 1957, the Parapsychological Association was formed as the preeminent society for parapsychologists. In 1969, they became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. That affiliation, along with a general openness to psychic and occult phenomena in the 1970s, led to a decade of increased parapsychological research.[5] During this time, other notable organizations were also formed, including the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine (1970), the Institute of Parascience (1971), the Academy of Religion and Psychical Research, the Institute for Noetic Sciences (1973), and the International Kirlian Research Association (1975). Each of these groups performed experiments on paranormal subjects to varying degrees. Parapsychological work was also conducted at the Stanford Research Institute during this time.[5]

With the increase in parapsychological investigation, there came an increase in opposition to both the findings of parapsychologists and the granting of any formal recognition of the field. Criticisms of the field were focused in the founding of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (1976), now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and its periodical, Skeptical Inquirer.[5]

As astronomer Carl Sagan put it, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"[6], and experimental research into the paranormal continues today, though it has waned considerably since the 1970s.[7] One such experiment is called the Ganzfeld Experiment. The purpose of the Ganzfeld Experiment, like other parapsychological experiments, is to test for statistical anomalies that might suggest the existence of psi, a process indicating psychic phenomena.[8] In the Ganzfeld Experiment, a subject (receiver) is asked to access through psychic means some target. The target is typically a picture or video clip selected randomly from a large pool, which is then viewed in a remote location by another subject (sender). Ganzfeld experiments use audio and visual sensory deprivation to remove any kind of external stimulus that may interfere with the testing or corrupt the test by providing cues to correct targets. A 'hit' refers to a correctly identified target. The expected hit ratio of such a trial is 1 in 4, or 25%.[8] Deviations from this expected ratio might be seen as evidence for psi, although such conclusions are often disputed.[9] To date there have been no experimental results that have gained wide acceptance in the scientific community as valid evidence of paranormal phenomena. [7]

[edit] Participant-observer approach



Ghost hunters taking an EMF reading which proponents say may show evidence of ghosts.While parapsychologists look for quantitative evidence of the paranormal in laboratories, a great number of people immerse themselves in qualitative research through participant-observer approaches to the paranormal. Participant-observer methodologies have overlaps with other essentially qualitative approaches as well, including phenomenological research that seeks largely to describe subjects as they are experienced, rather than to explain them.[10]

Participant-observation suggests that by immersing oneself in the subject being studied, a researcher is presumed to gain understanding of the subject. In paranormal research, a participant-observer study might consist of a researcher visiting a place where alleged paranormal activity is said to occur and recording observations while there. Participation levels may vary. In studying a supposedly haunted location, for example, the researcher may conduct a séance or participate in other activities said to cause paranormal activity.

Criticisms of participant-observation as a data-gathering technique are similar to criticisms of other approaches to the paranormal, but also include an increased threat to the objectivity of the researcher, unsystematic gathering of data, reliance on subjective measurement, and possible observer effects (observation may distort the observed behavior).[11] Specific data gathering methods, such as recording EMF readings at haunted locations have their own criticisms beyond those attributed to the participant-observation approach itself.

The participant-observer approach to the paranormal has gained increased visibility and popularity through reality-based television shows like Ghost Hunters, and the formation of independent ghost hunting groups which advocate immersive research at alleged paranormal locations. One popular website for ghost hunting enthusiasts lists over 300 of these organizations throughout the United States and the United Kingdom.[12]

[edit] Debunking approach



James Randi is a well-known debunker of paranormal claims.Main article: Debunking

The debunking approach is a response to claims of paranormal phenomena, and consists of finding a "normal" explanation instead of a paranormal one to account for the claims. The basis for this approach is Occam's razor, which suggests that the simplest solution is the best one.[13] Since standard scientific models generally predict what can be expected in the natural world, the debunking approach presumes that wha

Answer 3

do some spiritual growth the paranormal will become normal. The paranormal is always there so we need to get to it's level by working through some of our concepts to see it or feel it or discern it or know. if your interested in groups why not become a trance medium healer. you get to be in the paranormal as well as being of service. in a group.

Answer 4

Unless you already have investigating experience I would suggest starting with an established group if there is one near you.

I have included a link below that might assist you in finding a group.

I have started and assisted in establishing several groups in several cities it is not an easy task to do well please feel free to contact me if you want to discuss it.

Psi

Answer 5

You can start your own community and dig yourself into tunnels and then kill each other and come back as ghosts and prove that there is existence on the other side.....

ORRRRRR>..

YOu get a nice room with nice cotton wall linings and a jacket you put on back to front.

ORRRRRRR

You go for it and get a late night tv show..

ORRRRR RRR

you find god and discover he is a wheat farmer in Iran.

ORRRRRRR

You get on with it and enjoy your own quirky life.. I know I would.

Answer 6

Then do it.  There's nothing illegal about it.

Answer 7

If you have any paranormal skills you have a good start.  Read everything you can about it.  Find local people in your area to pal up with.  Be ready to spend a lot of money on equipment. Net work with people at psychic fairs and the like.  You'll have fun and find new friends. Good luck!

Answer 8

My suggestion is to find a reputable group to join. After you have some experience then look into starting your own. Of course you may already have the experience-you didn't say!

Answer 9

I agree with psiexplo, if your not already, establish yourself in a group first and see if you like it.

Answer 10

Educate yourself as much as possible... There are many books you can read to help like

    Encounters with the Paranormal Science Knowledge & Belief   By: Kendrick Frazier

    Encyclopedia of Ghosts & Spirits

             By: Rosemary Guiley

    A Paranormal Investigators Handbook

             By: Valerie Hope

If you do not have any experience investigating then yes contact an group in your area and see if you can tag along or apprentice... this will be good because you learn all about the equipment and analsis.

This link has a state by state list of groups

http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/groups.h...

If you do have experience, then maybe start or join a meet-up group and go from there. That is what I did and  we are starting off very slowly but we're getting there.

feel free to e-mail me if you need and good luck

Answer 11

You should start talking to a good therapist, one grounded in science and reality.  There is no such thing as ghosts.  It's fiction.  Watch the X-Files all you want, and enjoy it, but when the TV get's turned off, welcome back to reality.