How I Deal With the Unethical Side of Our Community

Recently, I was asked how I dealt with people who were willing to fabricate evidence.  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 have to start by saying the one thing I hate is when people try to show me their ghost photos.  I’m not trying to be presumptuous; it’s just that most of the time I don’t see what they see.  When this happens, then a debate ensues.  Also, not everyone in the community is unethical.  People take a photo and really think they've captured something.  It could be something that an experienced investigator can easily explain away.  This doesn’t make the individual unethical, just mistaken.  They’re not trying to deceive; they just deeply believe they captured something.  There is nothing wrong with this in my opinion.  I’ve said this in several different blog posts: they may have experienced something paranormal and just took a shitty photo of it.  The problem with photographs is that they capture only a split second of a paranormal experience.  That is not a lot of time to bring everything that is occurring into focus.  Making a mistake doesn’t make you dishonest.

When I am trying to determine if someone is fraudulent, I have to look at their motivations.  Do they stand to profit if their evidence is deemed legitimate?  Is there something of significance they’re trying to gain?  If there is, then I have to question their ethicality.    I also question it if their claim is too good to be true, or sounds like something from a Hollywood movie.  In my experience, their story is usually fraudulent.

These days, I turn down residential investigations.  The last dozen or so that I participated in were just downright disheartening.  For example, one client planned to open a haunted Airbnb.  They wanted me to say their property was haunted and they wanted to advertise that the St. Louis Paranormal Research Society had conducted an investigation.  When I didn’t capture anything and disagreed with their plans, they got highly upset.  They brought in another team that was willing to say, “This was the most haunted house they had ever investigated.”  They also rewarded the team with the chance to do ghost tours at the house.  The other paranormal team became combative with my organization and tried to instigate a paranormal pissing match on social media.  I didn’t engage.  

So when I encounter people engaging in fraudulent or unethical behavior, I generally don’t call them out.  I don’t make a scene and try to embarrass or shame them in the community.  I walk away and avoid the situation.  I found this to be the best and easiest course of action.  Is this the right thing to do?  Probably Not.  But anytime you try to get involved in a mud-slinging contest, you’re going to get dirty too.  Unfortunately, people tend to remember you for your perceived negative actions rather than for your positive attributes and contributions.