Ethical standards for paranormal investigations Part 2

This article was found on http://www.helium.com

It was written by C. Ann Cunningham

Created on: January 11, 2012

In any part of life, you have to deal with people. You should always strive to be the kind of person you yourself would like to deal with in any given situation, someone who is going to be honest, scrupulous and ethical. In personal experience, nowhere is that more necessary than the role of a paranormal investigator.

Dealing with the public can be difficult in itself in an ordinary situation. With the higher stress level of someone who believes themselves to be the recipient of a haunting or paranormal activity, it is imperative that you and the others that are involved make no allegations that will make the situation worse. Don't tout yourself as being a ghost buster of the type from the movie starring Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis. You cannot cross laser beams and suck up ghosts, and pretending or willfully declaring that you can could be hazardous to a potentially fragile mind already disturbed by the goings-on.

Do not proclaim yourself or any member of your group to have "mystical powers" or to be able to use any form of perception that you do not actually have. By all means, if you are one of those that is sensitive to fluctuations in EMF fields, learn to use that to your advantage. If you have a member who is a proven psychic or clairvoyant, then absolutely, utilize those abilities. But do not go around claiming to be a Ghost Whisperer or go into a trance while proclaiming yourself a medium and scare the bejesus out of someone by filling them with falsehoods about their home's history.

It is truly unethical as well to make a confidentiality agreement with someone and then break it, by going and telling others that you conducted a paranormal investigation at a private residence and then spilling the beans about location, persons involved, and personal opinion about the alleged activities. If you are sworn to protect someone's privacy, then keep the information to yourself and make sure that your entire group also signs a confidentiality waiver.

If you do not have an experience in a place, don't make things up to make yourself or your paranormal investigation team look good , either. No one likes to be lied to, and if it comes out that you lied on one investigation, it can call into question everything that happened on every other investigation you have done or will do. That is not the sort of reputation you want to garner for yourself or those that you work with.

If someone is a skeptic, be they a member of your investigation group or someone that is involved with the situation in another way, do not draw them into an argument about what is happening and make them feel small or stupid by using words that are meant to antagonize. Remember, everyone has a right to their own opinion. If their skepticism is of such a magnitude that you cannot possibly deal with them in the course of the investigation, then by all means, find someone else that you can deal directly with, or assign someone who has a different temperament than you to take the forefront of the investigation.

Whatever you do, do not ever call someone at a site names or ridicule them. Some people truly invent occurrences just to gain attention for themselves, and those people can be dangerous. If anything ever feels wrong about a paranormal investigation, then don't do it.

Lastly, there are some groups that use Ouija boards, tarot cards, pendulums and other magical devices on investigations. If you like these methods, then make sure you are knowledgeable about their use and that you do not let a circus attitude take over the investigation. It is your reputation on the line, after all, and even if you are doing something unconventional such as hunting for the paranormal, the least you can do is act like a true professional and keep basic business ethics in mind.