Dr. Mark Farley's Personal Blog

I was recently asked during a tour, “Can a place become haunted without anyone dying there?” I thought about this question for a while before I answered, and my answer was “Yes.” A place can definitely become haunted without anyone dying there.

One of the reasons why this woman was so scared is that we are programmed from birth to fear anything paranormal.

You can tell a professional paranormal team from a thrill-seeking team by the amount of preparation they do before the investigation. The actual investigation is only the tip of the spear. Researching the site and interviewing witnesses is the basic foundation of any paranormal investigation. Because without research, how does your team know what they are investigating?

With social media and the chance to monetize, everyone wants to be an influencer, and the chance of becoming famous is a hell of a temptation. Today, it seems the main motivation for people to become paranormal investigators is to gain fame and appear on television. As a community, we need to rise above these temptations.

I was reading a Facebook post on another paranormal page that talked about the problems in our community. I do admit that our community does have its problems

I am rather strict during the investigation because the last thing I want is a team full of thrill seekers. I want professionals; I want standards; and I want quality. If our field is going to be accepted as a legitimate field of study. These are the three traits I feel every team must strive for.

Most members of the community base their reasoning on the apparition’s color. Because black is the color most associated with evil, most investigators think shadow figures are evil. My answer tends to be unpopular because I don’t subscribe to the widely held belief that the color of the apparition determines its nature.