Investigating paranormal phenomena

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

It was written by Jacob Woods

Created on: October 08, 2010

It is a common and very appropriate belief that investigating the paranormal is a waste of time and energy. The reason this is so is because the field is not approached in such a way that it adds any value to the human purpose other than some entertainment. The area of paranormal investigation is approached unscientifically and generally for entertainment purposes that attract a profit. However if those working in the area were to approach the subject in which they study spirits systematically through science, they may find some interesting activity that may enlighten its viewers as to what happens when we die.

It would not be a surprise to see on the Discovery Channel a documentary on the process of death or something similar. But what is striking on the Discovery Channel is the show A Haunting. More and more on television there are these genres in which cross-sectionalize their boundaries. For example Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel and Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel. It would be more appropriate if these shows appeared on proper channels like science fiction ones. But the reason why this occurs is because these channels need to be drawing viewer traffic so they can stay on air and make more profit off from advertisements. In essence they are trying to find more entertaining shows that appeal to a broader audience. What better to do this than a show on ghosts, ghouls, and psychics who read minds.

Now that there is a reason to why there are so many entertaining paranormal shows with these seemingly scientific paranormal investigator groups “studying” the bizarre; what makes these people phony? Simply put, they don't follow the scientific method in which they make a hypothesis based on past knowledge, they don't test it systematically accounting for variables, they do allow their emotions to impede their ability to approach the field unbiasedly, and they get a paycheck to entertain as compared to find true discoveries.

In order for any true scientific discovery to take place in the field of paranormal research, the scientific method needs to be put in place. Short stories do not count as scientific. However what would count as scientific would be comparing a spirit neutral cemetery to a cemetery that has been reported to have lots of spiritual activity. In order to account for variables the cemeteries would have to be the same in size or at least close. Or another possibility for this would be that a small cemetery is compared to a large cemetery. The hypothesis being that a larger cemetery, because of its size, would contain more paranormal activity. Only once someone approaches life after death with this approach and captures consistently similar results can anyone believe or claim the existence of ghosts as compared to just coincidence, poor judgment, and pure entertainment.