Last Meeting

Background

Human beings are drawn to a good ghost story. Human beings also are continually reporting situations in which they believe ghosts are playing a part. What are the methods for investigating and some of the possible explanations for these experiences that people have been having for thousands of years?

In this presentation, Professor Loyd Auerbach will examine methods and motives of field investigators who look into reported incidents of ostensible apparitions, hauntings, and poltergeists. It will be a guide to ghost hunting, and attendees will gain the basic skills and understanding for investigation of ghosts, poltergeists, haunted places and related psychic experiences.

The class will include the models of what these things are (from the field of parapsychology), how the scientific and psychic approaches can mesh together, and how to assess a situation, investigate it, and resolve the case to the satisfaction of the people having the experiences (and hopefully to the satisfaction of the ghosts, when they’re involved).

Finally, using some of his cases, he will discuss the role of the parapsychological investigator as "solver" of the cases (as opposed to "gatherer" of data) - the ghost buster.

Some of the questions that will be addressed are:

· Who were the early ghosthunters, and how did they go about their investigations?
· What has been learned about apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists since the start of the field?
· How do scientific investigations differ from ones focusing on “busting” ghosts?
· How does what parapsychological investigators do differ from what’s portrayed on TV?
· How do psychics and mediums fit in to case investigations?
· How do normal events sometimes get labeled as paranormal ones?

Outline of the Seminar

· What do we “investigate” and Why? Basic Concepts
   o Apparitions (ghosts), Hauntings and Poltergeists
   o Approaches
     § Scientific Conceptual Framework
     § Psychic Conceptual Framework
· History: 130 years of Field Research and Investigation and how modern pop culture (thanks to TV) has altered the public’s view of what paranormal investigation is all about.
· Skills and more needed for investigations:
   o Interviewing Skills
   o Background Research Skills
   o Observation Skills: Perception, Magic & Fraud
   o Intuitive/Psychic Skills. Techniques for psychic self protection will be given.
   O Environmental Sensors: Equipment/Technology
· Technology:
   o What’s the purpose of tech?
   O What kind of technology can be used, and where do you get it?
   O How does one interpret the data?
   O What tech has been useful?
   O Correlations between the environment and phenomena
   o Non-tech “tech”: Ouija Boards and other “occult” trappings
   o Orbs! And other photographic issues
   o Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) /Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC)
· Psychics, Mediums and Sensitives: The Human Detectors
· Perspective: The Problems with Tech (or, Tech vs. Human Experience)
· Science and Paranormal Investigation
   o How Science does/does not relate to Technology (and its use)
   o How Science is applied outside the Laboratory
   o What makes an investigation “scientific”?
   O When should it not matter whether the investigation is/is not scientific?
· Psi and Paranormal Investigation: where the phenomena and investigations fit into the broader spectrum of psychic experiences and abilities, and why one cannot separate ESP and PsychoKinesis from the phenomena being investigated.
· Resolution Techniques: A short primer on techniques that have worked to “bust ghosts.”
· What I’ve learned from my own field work.
· What I see for the future of investigations of the paranormal.
· Summary: Dos and DON’Ts for investigating the paranormal.