Many paranormal groups approach cases with a “debunking” attitude. They intentionally try to disprove an incident before they will admit it may be of paranormal origin.  However, others think this is absolutely absurd.  To dedicate so much of one’s time, money and energy to disproving a case seems a waste of resources. This is especially true concerning the paranormal, since it’s already a field that has little, if any, physical evidence to support it. Why would anyone waste their time proving something doesn’t exist, especially a field that hasn’t even been remotely proven in the first place?  

 

This approach may have come about out of a fear of ridicule.  No one, especially serious ones, want to been considered crazy.  Because of this, they may feel that they must mask their work in the guise of a negative attitude in order to appear more “scientific”.  In this way, they can protect themselves by giving the message, “Oh, I don’t really believe in this stuff!!”. In addition, when and if they do come across hard physical evidence to support their theories, their attitude only further enhances the appearance of objectivity and thus strengthening their findings.

 

Unfortunately, this is not how true scientists approach research.  The goal is to be completely objective, with no leanings either way. We believe at Eerie that one should approach any case completely unbiased. This way, one is more open to possibilities.  We believe that a negative attitude could seriously impede one’s “luck” in capturing evidence of the unknown.  Yes, one should always look for logical explanations for any occurrence, but do not go into a case already assuming nothing paranormal could be going on at the location. This is as bad as presuming that the paranormal is always responsible for unexplained activity.

 

In short, do be cautious and analytical, but don’t wait for a spirit or other entity to come out, shake hands and pose for pictures before you accept that the paranormal may be present.  If you do, you’ll probably be waiting for a long, long time… and who knows how much you’re really missing out on by closing your mind.  Besides, if we did not realize that something out of the ordinary co-exists with our organic world, we wouldn’t be out there looking in the first place.

 

                                                                                                            April

                                                                                                            September 1st, 2005