People who hunt ghosts, search for Big Foot and attend UFO conferences are not geeky nerds sitting in their parent’s basement wearing a tin foil hat – they’re everyday people.
That’s according to SFU geography professor Paul Kingsbury, who is studying paranormal investigators and what motivates them to work in a field many don’t believe in.
He and three grad students are halfway through a four-year project and have come to the conclusion that paranormal investigators are just like anyone else, in terms of their socio-economic backgrounds, education levels or psychological well-being.
“It’s a very diverse group of people,” Kingsbury told the NOW. “Their passion is very strong.”
They usually belong to non-profit groups, and ghost investigators, in particular, don’t charge money for their services.
Kingsbury has taken part in eight ghost investigations, two UFO conferences and one Sasquatch hunt.
He likened the UFO conferences to an academic forum.
“There are keynote speakers, Q&As, break-out sessions, late night hotel lobby bar conversations about different theories,” said Kingsbury. “These conferences are very much centres for teaching and learning. I’m interested, as a (cultural) geographer, how the conferences bring people together in these relatively small places.”
Gatherings also attract a fair number of skeptics, he noted.
“Renowned skeptic Robert Sheaffer will be at the front of the audience asking trenchant questions to the keynote speakers, but nonetheless, he’s part of the scene. He’s very much welcomed there. He adds to the theatre,” said Kinsgbury.
When it comes to ghostbusting, not all investigators work on the premise of proving their existence. Some try to debunk the client’s claims. Kingsbury pointed to investigators finding mold underneath the kitchen tile that explained a blood-like leakage, or poor electrical wiring behind a bed that explained flickering lights.
“The paranormal object, it’s a perfect object of desire because it’s always sort of out of reach; the blur in the image or the sound,” he said, adding some ghost investigators have mediums work with them so they can communicate with the dead.
Often, ghost investigations are very structured. There are preliminary interviews with the client and liability forms are signed. There’s “a great deal of trust fostered between the client and the group,” Kingsbury said.
Asked whether he believes in the paranormal, the professor said he believes in the investigators and the stories of what happened to them. Kingsbury said it would be “irrational” to rule out the possibility.
“Primarily because of the amount of evidence that is there. Scientists are saying there are multi-verses, other universes out there. My position is one that is open to believing in such things.”
