Suggestions for Professional Client Interviewing,
Investigations and Paranormal Team Guidelines
by Pam Preston
• At some time in this field of study
everyone is going to be either doing the interview,
be a part of the team doing the interviewing,
or be in the presence of the client of the
location being investigated. Everyone needs
to be as professional as possible while in
the presence of the client as this not only
says a lot about you but also reflects back
on your group. Many people feel that how one
acts is how you all will, be even though this
may not be the case.
• The client has contacted you with a
specific problem or something that has affected
their family and their personal lives. Usually
the client has dealt with the situation for
quite a while and has finally decided that the
events that have been transpiring can’t
be explained away with the every day typical
reasons. Many times the client is almost to
the point of thinking that all the ones involved
with the incidences are losing their minds or
are a little crazy. The interviewer needs to
be reassuring, but also keep an open mind so
that their views aren’t tainted without
the proper evidence to support the client’s
complaints.
• A good tip (or habit that should be
practiced) for interviewing is to request to
run a tape during the initial visit with the
client and throughout the interview. Many times
EVP’s are captured through the conversations
with the client and while asking the questions
about the activities they are experiencing.
While interviewing, observe everything around
you and take note of things that you might need
to check further into during the investigation.
After the interview, be sure to make notes of
anything you felt and/or observed so that it
can be thoroughly examined with the investigation
team.
• During the interview and the actual
investigation always remember the client called
you about their problems not any of the paranormal
experiences the team has experienced in their
own lives. The only time that personal experiences
should be brought up is only if the client explicitly
asks about any similar activity or if the client
needs assurance they aren’t the only one
that has had things like this happen to them.
If this is required, briefly tell them of past
happenings for an example. Always remember:
we are there to listen to them, not for them
to listen to our past experiences and life events.
HPI's Shannon
McCabe investigating a haunting in Southern
CA.
• If your team has personal conflicts
within the group, be a good team leader, nip
it in the bud before you start your investigation.
The negative energy from the problem will
affect not only your other team member’s
attitude, it will effect the evidence of the
investigation and if you are not careful (depending
on the entities of the location) you could
be opening your team and client up to danger.
Negative energy has a tendency to bring forth
negative paranormal results. A good team leader
will either get the problem resolved prior
to the investigation or will select a team
that doesn’t include the people with
the problems. Negativity has no place in a
professional paranormal team and it doesn’t
provide a professional appearance for the
client that you are working with/for.
• While on location everything that is
going on in your personal life should be left
outside. Keep your attitude light so you are
open to experience whatever occurs at the site.
You are there to investigate the location for
anything out of the ordinary but also to be
objective to what might be causing it. This
includes activity that is caused by non paranormal
means.
• Don’t reveal anything to the
client until the team can review, discuss,
and determine the evidence that every team
member collected. The team needs to realize
and accept that while on an investigation;
yes, they took the photo; yes they took the
video; yes they did the tapings for the EVP’s,
but the evidence belongs to the group and
to the people involved with the investigation,
not to individuals involved in the investigation.
All evidence is supposed to be kept confidential
within the group that did the actual investigation
and the people the paranormal activity is
affecting. Even though you might have gotten
the most fantastic video, photo, EVP, visited
the most haunted location, etc. always remember
that without proper information release you
could be laying yourself open for a lawsuit.
The people involved graciously allowed the
team into their lives to experience and research
the unusual happenings they have endured.
By doing so they are showing that they are
trusting the team to keep all the information
and evidence confidential within the team
that was on site. No one on the team should
rush home and start telling and showing their
evidence to everyone they come in contact
with afterwards. If they have a problem with
their equipment to secure the evidence for
the team then they should contact a fellow
team member to get help, not an outside source
that will have privilege to confidential information.
If a team member has personal problems from
data and evidence they have collected they
should never destroy it prior to turning the
evidence over to the team leader! All evidence
should be turned in to the team leader within
a few days so that all the evidence can be
reviewed, confirmed, then complied to submit
to the client and the people the paranormal
activity is affecting. When this isn’t
done the information collected is not only
incomplete, but also shows the team leader
which ones on his or her team that he can
depend on for future investigations to perform
in a timely professional manner needed in
all investigations that they are requested
to do.
• People should realize that many that
don’t believe or accept what we do scrutinize
our field of study harshly. We need not have
our own personal performances make us look unprofessional
on top of that. We have to always be honest
with everyone on our team as well as the public
because if we aren’t able to always be
honest then how can the evidence we collect
be accepted as legitimate and factual?
• There is no room in this field of
study for drama. Our field of research is
well known for how intense it can be at an
active location. The professional team members
will get enough of a “rush” from
the evidence collected from an active location
without causing undercurrent “drama”
within the members of the team. If a team
member can’t be honest, can’t
abide by the regulations required to be a
professional team member, can’t keep
information confidential, then to keep the
team a professional group and to insure that
the integrity stays intact, the team member
creating the problems should be confronted
and cut from the team. Though it is great
when all team members can become friends,
but just like any job, sometimes this isn’t
possible. Conflicts of personalities, beliefs,
unable to follow professional guide lines,
some that make it a practice to use others
for their own gain, those that back stab other
team members to produce drama and excitement
in their lives, that make agreements that
once have gained access to a location or information
then they don’t adhere to their agreements,
those that set up other team members with
false statements and foremost those that only
say “I” instead of “WE”
or “TEAM” have no place on an
elite professional paranormal team. If other
team members can’t accept the decision
for the good of the team then they have the
right to resign from the team because all
teams have to accept what creates a good elite,
professional, credible, and honest team that
is able to work towards professionally collecting
the most credible, scientific and never before
obtained evidence to offer to society to confirm
what we are researching. If we can do this,
then our team will be one that is sought out
by the public to investigate on a continual
basis.
Written and submitted by: Pam Preston, Haunted
Voices Staff
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Voices and its respected authors.
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