What matters most?

Let’s say that you’re part of a paranormal investigation team and have just received an email or phone call by a person that is asking for help.  They have told you the claims of activity, that it has been occurring for quite some time, and everyone has finally reached a breaking point – they have asked your team to come in to investigate and get rid of whatever it is that they feel is haunting them.

What your team does next should depend on what type of team you belong to.  However, this isn’t always taken into consideration when the idea of checking out a place that may be haunted presents itself; perhaps it is too tempting to take a case rather than pass it up.  This is something that a lot of groups don’t consider when they form, but it is something that most groups will often have to come to grips with down the road.

A paranormal team may only figure out what type of team they are as a result of being called in to a situation, because it is easy to want to help someone who is asking for assistance before contemplating what type of assistance they may need in the first place.  Its human nature for most to want to help someone who is reaching out and asking for it, and many people that are involved in the paranormal have faced their own situations – so they have empathy for the person on the other end, who doesn’t know who to turn to or what to do.

Is your team one that offers advice, who will try to help someone rid their place of a supposed entity so that they (the living) can continue on in peace?  Offering advice or giving information to a person seeking help can do a lot of positive things: it can empower them, let them know that they are not alone, and can give them some basic insight – not only about what has worked for others, but also what has not.  Being aware that there are things that have worked for others (and those things might work for them too) may help a person enough to be able to face their situation with authority and no fear.  If a team offers some information about a similar situation and it does not work, no self-respecting team just shrugs and says, “sorry.”  They approach the situation from another angle and try something else.  It may be a period of trial and error, but its a commitment that a team must be willing to make – to put their toes on the line, to give it their best effort, to stick through the thick and thin with a person or family from start to finish.

Or is your team more concerned with attempting to capture evidence to verify a place might be haunted or not?  There are many people who feel the best help is to not offer any advice at all, because it may make matters worse for the very people who are experiencing something.  By simply verifying or “debunking” their home as haunted, this is as far as they are willing to go.  This way, the people who asked a team to come in cannot hold it against them if “it” doesn’t simply vanish after their investigation.  Indeed, if having something substantial to show someone they aren’t crazy is all they are after, or simply showing them what is actually creating the bumps and knocks will end their sleepless nights because it proves it isn’t the spirit of Great-Aunt Mildred, upset because her house has been remodeled recently, then that is a good thing.

There can be some issues between those who believe the former way is the best way, and those who think the latter is always more appropriate.  On the one hand, teams from one viewpoint have already had their turning point and for them, offering advice is not an option.  On the other hand, there are teams who feel their responsibility lies beyond simply coming to a conclusion about whether they feel a place is haunted or not.  And let’s face it – it really doesn’t matter if there is any such thing as ghosts or haunted houses, but whether the people who think they live with them or in them come away from the whole experience feeling better off after they’ve contacted you than they did before.  That is what matters, isn’t it?

What is at the heart of this controversy should not be whether someone feels it is taking an easy way out because another feels it is best to offer no advice at all beyond agreeing that a place is haunted (or giving reasons why they feel it is not), nor should it be about giving advice that may not work because it could have an adverse reaction.  It should be about what is best for those asking for help, and whether your team is the right team to help them.  Neither approach is wrong; sometimes, the best help can be not trying to find a solution at all, and sometimes the best help can be giving it your all to find a solution.  Either way, every team ought to realize that once they pack up and head on out, there are still going to be people left dealing with the situation.  If your team’s goals or ideals are not best suited for the needs of those who called upon you, then passing up a case is not a bad thing.  But there should not be any animosity toward a team who has an opposite viewpoint, nor should it mean that two teams with opposing viewpoints couldn’t work together.  In retrospect, it could be the best help you can give without even trying.