It’s never really over!
In real life paranormal investigating, not TV life paranormal investigating, we are never really completely done investigating a site. Some shows hint to the viewers that they keep an open dialogue with their clients and we truly hope this is the case. When a team leaves a building the activity does not just stop because evidence has been found to justify the clients claims. It’s not easy living with a spirit roaming your home when you can’t see them. For our team we hope our clients feel like they can call us up any time to let us know what’s been going on or if they are still having problems. We have even begun the practice of leaving a journal for our clients to keep a log of activity. It helps in better understanding what is going on in their home or place of business.
For our team personally, and maybe for most paranormal teams, just because you file away all your video and audio evidence no way does this mean you are done with them. Sometimes a new investigation will trigger something that happened in a previous investigation so we go back and review the recordings. Then, perhaps we felt as if we were missing something during analysis, the nagging feeling that something important was there and you missed it in the blink of an eye or a distraction. Or as in a recent trip for us, you go back to the site of the investigation during a different time period or the light of day to take a look at the site from a different view point to see if it answers any of the questions you had during the investigation.
This is what a few of our members did last week. During our lifetimes we have had many odd experiences, for some of our members this is an understatement. However, the incident with the black dog experience at the Athens Battlefield, has to be one of the oddest experiences of a lifetime. We can’t say we were scared or frightened as much as we can say that we were totally bewildered by the chain of events that led up to the visit by the black dogs. With so many questions in our minds about what really happened and if there was in any way that this can really be classified as a paranormal event, we decided to check out the area during the day.
The Athens Battlefield State Park is a beautiful location. Our first time there we arrived at dusk so didn’t get to view all of it’s wonders. We have been meaning to go back but did not find the time until last week. With still an abundance of snow on the ground and temperatures rising close to 40 it was a perfect day to view the park. First of all we had stopped at the office at the State Park to ask a question but were given a delight instead. The caretakers of the park have started setting up a small room with remnents of the war and pictures of the men who fought in the war. Before we only had the historical account to lead us during the investigation, now we had faces to put to those names. What a wonderful idea this was to do this. This helps make it all that much more human for anyone interested in this war.
As we left the office we were able to view the park in the daylight and get a better understanding of the lay of land. We had hoped to look for a pair of dog tracks traveling the same route they did that night. This might possibly make the dogs seem more real than surreal, for us and help us in understanding what happened that fateful night. We did not find any pair of dog tracks. We did find many tracks of every animal imaginable. We could see the coyote tracks going in and out of an abandoned home on the property. By the church where there were two trees we could see the tracks of raccoons and opposums that hurriedly scurried up those trees, perhaps in safety from the coyotes. Deer must travel the park extensively although we did not see one that night and we quite expected too. Rabbits, geese, perhaps a single dog, but no matching pair of dog tracks, the kind that would have been left the night they visited us. This doesn’t really prove or disprove what happened to us but it did give us a better understanding of life after dark at the park.
Another experience we wanted to check out was the sound of hearing a team of horses pulling a wagon down a asphalt road. We clearly heard this the night we investigated but with it being so dark we had no idea of our bearings and what laid around the park. Was it possible that the residents were driving down a road at 11:00 at night with a wagon pulled by horses while they said “ye haw!”? What we found is that the park is surrounded on half of it’s property by a river. We did see neighbors with one or two horses and an Amish wagon or two, but the sound would have had to travel a mile or more over the river. That night it sounded as is they were just around the turn from us.
We can’t really say any of our questions were answered last week as we walked through the snow and enjoyed the splendid weather and the even more splendid views. We have decided that we do need to go back once again and we are. A true paranormal investigator does not believe that they know it all when they leave any site they investigate. True investigators will have more questions because this is what propels them into further research. To believe you have all the answers after you investigate anywhere is irresponsible. We can only go back to our main page and think of Harry Price. When he left his first investigaton of his first haunted house he did not come out saying he had all the answers, he came out wanting to go back and to many of the places he did go back, time and time again. So when you watch the TV shows please don’t believe this is how it happens, it doesn’t. It’s never really over and there is much yet to be discovered.
Comments
Les and Greg (Jan 19, 2010)
Wonderfully said! This is so true. So many people do think that it ends, but it doesn’t. It takes a lot to really look into an investigation. Day and night is really helpful for a true investigation. The better you know your surroundings and all the possibilities the better “true” outcome you will have.
Investigations do not all have to be in the dark of night. Lots of things happen during the daylight too. Many folks think you have to do investigations with the “lights out” routine. Most of my best shots were during the daylight.
Les and Greg