Submitted by Holbrook PSI on
I would like to share some of the questions I was asked when I was writing a column for the Galactic Press a few years back, I also will include the answers that I gave.
Dear John Holbrook, Holbrook PSI: In your opinion and based on your experience, which part of the US would you say has the most paranormal activity? I would also like to know the best way of checking the credentials of a paranormal investigator.
Thanks. Jake, MS Thank you Jake for your question in regards to where in the US has the most paranormal activity. I do not think that anyone area, that is a geographic location, has all the type of paranormal activity. Paranormal activity can involve ghost, alien’s and one or more of any of the large number entities that are not human. Many of these entities will pretend to be ghosts or even an alien, if it suits their need at the time. But this is a discussion for another day. Some of the most haunted places are areas that have had a large number of deaths, sudden deaths and violent deaths and one location that fits this criterion is a battlefield. One of the most haunted battlefields is the Gettysburg Battlefield, Gettysburg Pennsylvania, the location of the Civil war’s most bloody battle with fifty-one thousand deaths. The haunted area is quite large due to the large size of the battle and the deaths that happened latter due to the battle. If you can’t go to Gettysburg you may look into the are that you live to see if any battles happened near you. Here in Georgia there are many historic markers that let you know that a battle was held at a location. Now as for UFO and other paranormal activity you may want to go out west to Arizona or New Mexico. Take Sedona Arizona for example, according to some the new spiritual Mecca of America, many UFO groups head out to the secluded areas to see if they can have a sighting of a UFO. Many go to Sedona for the alleged healing energies that are said to come from many areas around Sedona and its red rocks. New Mexico has Roswell and still has a lot of activity in the area that is not from Area 51(groom lake or whatever it is called now) or any other military base. If your looking for the other type of entities that are earth bound you need to look in the areas that man has not yet tarnished with our garbage. In the Pacific North West, Washington State and Oregon, there are areas that man or should I say modern man has yet to lay claim to. The old forest that can hide many of the different entities from lore and also things that the Cryptozoologists may come to look for like the Sasquatch(aka Big Foot) and other things that man may not be able to see. So the key for paranormal activity that is not related to ghost is to get away from highly populated areas and for ghost areas that have had many sudden and/or violent deaths and even suicides. Now for the other part of your question reference "checking the credentials of a paranormal investigator". Credentials come in all shapes and forms but for the mast part they are nothing like a license. There are several web sites that offer, for a fee, classes that when you finish you will be a certified paranormal investigator, whatever that means. A class is good but to my knowledge there are no states that offer a license to be a paranormal investigator, like a private investigator license. There are organizations and societies that will let you join their group, this will let you say that you are affiliated with them. A lot of these groups offer classes again and like I said a class is good, but you can only get so much from a class. To my knowledge there are no background checks to become a member of many of these groups. So when credentials or certificates are offered to show that someone is a paranormal investigator you need to take it with a lot more than a grain of salt. Many of the paranormal investigators I know that have taken the classes to get some of the certifications that are out there have said that they did not get much out of it. But they have been doing investigations for a long time. Most of the investigators I know, when someone comes up to them and says that they are a certified paranormal investigator will not take them seriously. For example I have no credentials for paranormal investigation. If there is some type of credentials in question you could contact the issuer of them and see if it is legitimate. So if they say they have a diploma or any thing else from a school you can contact the school to see if what they say is true. For me personally I like experience over credentials, it is not as easy to fake or buy experience. Thank you again Jake for your question, I hope I helped you a little.