Paranormal Unity is a Farce

Also, this approach of tearing down and trash-talking turns the concept of paranormal unity into a farce.

I was at a paranormal event recently, and I overheard members of a paranormal team completely trash-talking another team and its leader.  So I listened quietly while standing at a vendor table, and they were making some pretty horrific assertions.  I even started thinking this person and this team were actually horrible people.  As I continued listening, I realized they were talking about my team and me.   So I turned, walked over, and asked them, “Do you know this, Dr. Mark Farley, personally?”   They all claimed they did.  Then I asked them, “Is he here now?” They said, “ He doesn’t have the balls to show his face here.”  That’s when I introduced myself.  

Jealousy is a major problem in the paranormal community.  The St. Louis Paranormal Society is a successful paranormal team, but success comes at a price.  That price is being burned in effigy and vilified by our so-called peers.  Far too often, when I talk to members of other teams, the trash-talking starts, and the tales of paranormal drama are told.

My greatest wish for the paranormal community is to be accepted as a legitimate field of study.  Unfortunately, this will never happen if we can't reframe our approach from tearing down fellow teams and community members.  Also, this approach of tearing down and trash-talking turns the concept of paranormal unity into a farce.  If we can’t unite as a community, we will never be able to establish standard practices and procedures or sanction ourselves for wrongdoing.

Members of our community are far too willing to trash talk.  Some members have a real zeal for tearing down other members and teams.  I fully believe that this eagerness among members of our community to destroy reputations makes us seem like a joke to outsiders and cheapens the efforts of those who are doing some really good work.  For my team and me, this end-fighting has turned us into isolationists.  We don’t want to engage with other teams out of fear of being vilified, and I’m not the only investigator who feels this way.  If we can’t come together to share information and debate issues that affect our community in a civilized manner, we will be perpetually relegated to pseudoscience and never be taken seriously.