Your interests in paranormal activity has peaked to the point that you have decided you want to join the search for answers. Whether you are searching for concrete evidence to prove to others or just verifying your own beliefs you will find suggestions here for starting a successful paranormal investigation team.
It Starts With You
Since this is going to be your paranormal team, by default you are the leader. So the first thing to decide is what your reasons are for starting this team? Is it to get a TV show, make money or become famous? Is it to better understand the energy of spirits and record their presence? Is it perhaps to validate a personal paranormal experience? Other than the first reason, which at its very best is a long shot; these are very valid reasons and now you have one more item to clarify.
What are you going to be able to do for this team? Are you willing to keep expanding your knowledge about ghosts, learn photographing methods and how to collect EVP’s, develop procedures, expand on techniques and especially train new members? As a leader of the team you have to be knowledgeable in a lot of areas but knowing the boundaries of what you are willing to commit to will help you find team members to fill in the missing pieces and form a strong base to grow off of.
Finding Paranormal Team Members
NOTE: Remember to always be aware and cautious. For the first meeting with perspective members, always meet in a public place and never go alone.
When looking for new members create an announcement (nothing flashy) stating that you are looking for new people to bring on board and for them to email you if they are interested. It is easy to find people interested in the paranormal but its hard finding people who are dedicated in this area.
You find that many groups fizzle out after becoming discouraged and not finding evidence especially within their first few investigations. With that in mind, try not to get discourage with a high membership turnover in the beginning. With that in mind we suggest keeping your initial team members to about 4-6 people. Establish a solid team core before trying to expand membership, you may find that those 4-6 people are all you ever needed.
Since you will be spending a lot of time together during investigations and examining evidence, it is important that you take the time and build your team on people that will get along together. Interview the people who want to become members of the team. You will be able to weed out people with only a casual interest and can narrow the search to the ones that seem dedicated. The mix of members is up to you and Anna at the S.I.T.E. group has graciously allowed us to print her questionnaire she uses for this purpose:
This article was written in part by Anna Gass, Founder & Lead Investigator for The S.I.T.E. Group. In no way could it have been done without her insight and knowledge.
In Starting a Paranormal Investigation Team – Part 2 we will discuss promoting your team, team image, going about an investigation and whether to charge for your services.
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If if would be so simple… Unfortunately, here in Poland such article would turn into 200 pages long book. On the other hand – yep, right here I will be first, heh
I like to research by myself and with a group that i formed many years ago. It’s not for money or to be known, it is because we are interested in it.
It is not about the money or fame. I have numerous experiences since I was a kid, my intentions of joining to educate myself and others and to understand why spirits are still here.
Seems easy to word it. But the process is so long-going, and hard.
I have been a paranormal investigator from the age of about fifteen working solo for many years. I am now twenty five and have just now been able to put together a crew that is knowledgeable and reliable enough to work side by side with me on my investigations. Now I am not saying that A team will always be as difficult to put together as the one I have founded but choose wiseley based on personality, know how and willingness to learn and also know what your needs are and use your membership candidates streanths and specialities to your advantage. If you have a person who is highly trained in electronics they are of course best for tech. managment, also if a person exells in history and that is where there interest lies that would make for a good case study managment ect. good luck to all in finding the anwers you seek. MMW