Kentucky Area Paranormal Society

[Phantom]

We have an investigation coming up at a private residence, and the owner is wanting us to bring a psychic along for the trip. I've never worked directly with a psychic before, and I just wondered if anyone else has, and what was your take on it. I appreciate any insight you may give.

[TheresaHPIR]

I think psychics can be a great tool...but just like any other tool we use in this profession, there are positives and negatives.

An important distinction to make note of is that a psychic and a medium are two different things. All mediums are psychic, but not all psychics are mediums...they don't all possess the ability to communicate with the other side. It's important that if this avenue is to be explored...its best to go with someone who does have mediumistic abilities.

It's not that psychics wouldn't be useful...but to those who are sensitive...its very hard sometimes to determine exactly where and when any feelings and impressions are coming from. With the emotional residue of ANY place, you've got overlapping energies piling up...and the psychic may be picking up on something that has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the problem at hand, lol. That just confuses everything, lol.

As far as mediums...even the best will tell you they have their off days...and when you're working with an entity, there is no guarantee that they're going to want to talk...or even if they can--you may just have a residual.

And then there is the big issue...psychic and mediumistic abilities are not scientifically proven. There are just too many variables working against them, and not enough evidence to back up their claims. Since we bill ourselves as a scientifically based group, we generally will not use a psychic unless it is requested by a client...and to date, no one has, lol. Your client is the one inviting you into their property because they need help...and all avenues should be explored in order to best tailor an investigation that suits their needs and wants.

I wouldn't necessarily say they shouldn't ever be used...me personally, I think this field is so misunderstood and that really NOTHING has been scientifically proven, that we should never shut the door on a possible tool. However, just like any other type of data, whatever information is gleamed needs to be taken with a grain of salt...and it NEEDS to be backed up with hard data...hehe, which is where my position comes in. If I can find historical documentation to back up something a psychic/medium says...then we may be on to something.

[zwinders71]

This kinda brushes up on a question i have been meaning to ask. What do you consider evidence? If someone has a feeling or gets "messages" is that really evidence? I mean you can look at pictures and listen to EVPs and analyze them with a fine tooth comb and still be undecided if its true evidence or not. For me its just hard for me to put alot of stock in that. I know we all have some form of it that we need to listen to it esp when investagating but really does it help to have a medium if you have no more evidence to back it up just their feelings? They have to same resouces we do and can look up the same info so they can say nething to increase their rep. Customers are always right and if they what one they get one. Maybe this is one area i am too close minded on because i never meet a good one.

[Phantom]

This kinda brushes up on a question i have been meaning to ask. What do you consider evidence? If someone has a feeling or gets "messages" is that really evidence? I mean you can look at pictures and listen to EVPs and analyze them with a fine tooth comb and still be undecided if its true evidence or not. For me its just hard for me to put alot of stock in that. I know we all have some form of it that we need to listen to it esp when investagating but really does it help to have a medium if you have no more evidence to back it up just their feelings? They have to same resouces we do and can look up the same info so they can say nething to increase their rep. Customers are always right and if they what one they get one. Maybe this is one area i am too close minded on because i never meet a good one.

Good question. My definition of evidence may be different than others, but many times evidence gathered no matter how it is recorded will fall under scrutiny and outright disbelief. My take is that if the evidence convinces ME, then I'm satisfied with the outcome. First-person accounts are certainly evidence, if the source is reliable. After all, an eyewitness can send you to jail if they testify. Physical evidence is the best, of course, followed by eyewitness accounts. As to mediums and psychics, I would consider that they are good for helping you locate an entity or to alert you to possible activity. As Theresa indicated, there are so many things that are a part of an investigation.

[Priest1]

I think it is important to be objective, which demands that any evidences be objective as well. Anything a psychic offers is going to be 100% subjective and most likely tossed out by serious researchers. Thats just my opinion and it might be totally wrong- I'm open to that.

[MattB]

I think it is important to be objective, which demands that any evidences be objective as well. Anything a psychic offers is going to be 100% subjective and most likely tossed out by serious researchers. Thats just my opinion and it might be totally wrong- I'm open to that.

I agree since their words are from one person. It's like if I go into a room and come out saying "I saw a ghost!" you have to throw it out as HARD evidence since it's the word of one person with no one to back it up. Now, if a medium or psychic says "There's a ghost over there in the corner" and go you over w/ EMF, thermometers, etc and they go off the charts and that corner has been checked for baselines then that lends credibility to both sides. So it's back to what Theresa said in that their abilities are to be used as tools.

[Phantom]

I think it is important to be objective, which demands that any evidences be objective as well. Anything a psychic offers is going to be 100% subjective and most likely tossed out by serious researchers. Thats just my opinion and it might be totally wrong- I'm open to that.

Agree with you and MattB, in that their input goes into the mosaic of determining how good the evidence is, not the sum total of it. I had one psychic that visited the thread, and her take was that we were too "biased". The way I look at it, if I suddenly turned around and said "I saw a ghost", and had no other supporting evidence, it would fall into the same category of being an "experience", not evidence.

[Morgaine]

Hi -

I just signed up, but I wanted to comment on the idea that what a psychic provides is subjective. The value of a psychic reading is in providing information that is verifiable through other sources or predicting future events accurately.

In the case of your investigations, a competent psychic could help you direct your attention to 'hot spots' as well as helping the subjects understand how to deal with their phenomenon. Gathering data is fine, but you should also be aware of the safe techniques required to deal with the data you find.

Good luck.

[Priest1]

The value of a psychic reading is in providing information that is verifiable through other sources or predicting future events accurately.

I would agree. Unfiortunately my experience and from everything I've read tells me that more often than not this doesn't prove to be the case. I think one must approach psychics in the way mentioned by the others above and understand that it is sometimes a "hit and miss" technique. Throw it out? No. Use it where it can be of substantial use and to the degree that it provides verifiable leads? Absolutely.

[stoner]

i've been on investigations where psychics out number the normals, i was nearly banned from our forum for referring to them as crazies. We have a smaller tighter group of 5, 2 of which claim to be psychic but they like the scientific stuff too.
I have never seen the two guys back each other up over and above getting a bad feeling. I'm only at this investigation game for 3 years now, I always had an interest for years before that and took some EVPs years ago but with little or no sucess, i've been going on ghost tours for about 8 years now.
You guys out experience me big time, but i have been on purely scientific investigations and investigations with psychics, i have to say that i like having them along, i think it adds a dimension to the night. You can always walk away from them at the end of the day.
I've also been on ones where psychics completly took over the whole show, and this was not really good, i was in a room once with 3 psychics all of who could see something in the room that i could not, i try to keep an open mind, but at the end of the day i am a man of science. There are psychics who i see as very genuine people, who i think are sound people so it makes it difficult to question them and what they say.
Like i was saying we have an investigation planned for Friday night , there will be about 12 of us at it and there will be 5-6 people there who claim to have psychic ability.
I dont like the way some groups dismiss psychics outright, i dont understand it either, for me it makes some sort of sense that others would be better at communication then others, you either beleive it or you dont, if you dont beleive it , why go on investiagtions unless you have some sort of beleif ? thats how i see it anyway.

Once I organised a small investigation in a Dublin industruial park, I had along my friends from a scientific group, I also invited 2 psychics, whom I know and like.
there was a remark from a member of the scientific group about one of the psychics, I didn't like his attitude TBH and I thought he was insulting.
I've no great time for people who claim to know everything, or to be hugely experienced, or who wont try new ideas they way you guys and Brian do etc, people who tink there is only one way to do something and leave it at that.
I also dont like the way some people think they know everything about the paranormal and investigation techniques,. On one of the Irish sites I post in there are some people who practice differing religious activities. These guys can alo be very autocratic and like to correct anyone who might say something like "elemental" instead of "entity" or something like that, they also offer very little regarding advice or explaination, they just assume they are correct because its their religion.
I've also been with some psychic people who i think have little or no skills, I've seen them jump on the bandwaggion and try to piggy back on what another psychic has claimed to see, this is a strange situation to be in from my experience, makes the whole night seem like a waste of time.

but thats my take on it, the right psychic is a great addition, the wrong psychic is a nightmare. No one is an expert, no one has proven anything yet, and it all adds up to a great paranortmal experience.

[Phantom]

i've been on investigations where psychics out number the normals, i was nearly banned from our forum for referring to them as crazies. We have a smaller tighter group of 5, 2 of which claim to be psychic but they like the scientific stuff too.
I have never seen the two guys back each other up over and above getting a bad feeling. I'm only at this investigation game for 3 years now, I always had an interest for years before that and took some EVPs years ago but with little or no sucess, i've been going on ghost tours for about 8 years now.
You guys out experience me big time, but i have been on purely scientific investigations and investigations with psychics, i have to say that i like having them along, i think it adds a dimension to the night. You can always walk away from them at the end of the day.
I've also been on ones where psychics completly took over the whole show, and this was not really good, i was in a room once with 3 psychics all of who could see something in the room that i could not, i try to keep an open mind, but at the end of the day i am a man of science. There are psychics who i see as very genuine people, who i think are sound people so it makes it difficult to question them and what they say.
Like i was saying we have an investigation planned for Friday night , there will be about 12 of us at it and there will be 5-6 people there who claim to have psychic ability.
I dont like the way some groups dismiss psychics outright, i dont understand it either, for me it makes some sort of sense that others would be better at communication then others, you either beleive it or you dont, if you dont beleive it , why go on investiagtions unless you have some sort of beleif ? thats how i see it anyway.

Once I organised a small investigation in a Dublin industruial park, I had along my friends from a scientific group, I also invited 2 psychics, whom I know and like.
there was a remark from a member of the scientific group about one of the psychics, I didn't like his attitude TBH and I thought he was insulting.
I've no great time for people who claim to know everything, or to be hugely experienced, or who wont try new ideas they way you guys and Brian do etc, people who tink there is only one way to do something and leave it at that.
I also dont like the way some people think they know everything about the paranormal and investigation techniques,. On one of the Irish sites I post in there are some people who practice differing religious activities. These guys can alo be very autocratic and like to correct anyone who might say something like "elemental" instead of "entity" or something like that, they also offer very little regarding advice or explaination, they just assume they are correct because its their religion.
I've also been with some psychic people who i think have little or no skills, I've seen them jump on the bandwaggion and try to piggy back on what another psychic has claimed to see, this is a strange situation to be in from my experience, makes the whole night seem like a waste of time.

but thats my take on it, the right psychic is a great addition, the wrong psychic is a nightmare. No one is an expert, no one has proven anything yet, and it all adds up to a great paranortmal experience.

Great post, Stoner. I think anyone or any group who tries to be overbearing in an investigation causes harm to the outcome. I can't say who has a particular gift, or whether they see anything that I don't, so if folks are willing to share their expertise in a cooperative effort to discover the truth, then I'm all for it. Whenever it gets to being an "us vs. them" kind of thing, I don't want to be a part of it.

[stoner]

yep Phantom, well put, much more efficient use of words too lol