A world in Lockdown
Whilst many out there with an interest in the paranormal would likely associate the term ‘Paranormal Lockdown‘ with the popular TV series with Nick Groff and Katrina Weidman, where they spend 72 hours at various haunted locations investigating their ghostly claims; at the time of writing this post lockdown means something very different. In fact it has a meaning that I personally never thought I would have encountered in my lifetime, one in which we are all taking part in a lockdown of our own.
I am of course referring to the COVID-19 pandemic that has swept across the world, so far claiming 202K deaths and 2.87M confirmed cases worldwide (at this time). Whilst I have read of such devasting pandemics sweeping across the world in the history books, I never thought I would witness one in my lifetime. That said if you take notice of those history books, then it is likely to assume such an event as this was inevitable and perhaps we should have invested more time in being more prepared. However, we should not dwell on what we could of or should of done now, we are where we are and making the best of a poor situation.
Getting a ghost hunter fix
One thing that has taken centre stage during this global lockdown is the internet and social media. Remaining connected to our family, friends and colleagues has been essential to us all keeping going. As with anything it has generated the classic good, bad and the ugly effects, but most has been pretty amazing. As someone working in technology and communication, its phenomenal how so many are finding new ways to make it work, getting their social fix whilst remaining isolated in our homes.
If like me you have an interest in the paranormal then there are still many ways in which you can manage to get some kind of paranormal fix and as you are craving that fix, there are also a few out there trying to help you out by providing content still. Some of which is actually really good and worth checking out, whilst other content could be classed as somewhat unhelpful to our current predicament.
There are of course many TV shows still running over various channels. Some are even only just starting new series, so new episodes to endulge yourself in. There have been many good pod casts and youtube lives too that have been fun to watch – Jeff Belanger Speak Easy is always good.
Of course you don’t have to cosume online content, you can go a little old school and return to books. Books on the paranormal are an excellent way to grow your knowledge and understanding of the paranormal world. If you don’t have a large collection of books, then don’t panic. You can always read plenty of ebooks or even order from the likes of Amazon, as they still appear to be delivering. If a book is a little too much old school for you, then there are many really good blogs out there on the paranormal too. Obviously this being one of them – I hope!
The question is though, what does a ghost hunter do once they begin to run out of books, online content to watch or listen to?
Assumptions around visiting a haunting location
One of the greatest assumptions in the paranormal field, that I have encountered even in these trying times, is that without visiting a haunted location you’re not going to experience anything paranormal. A claim that is highly incorrect, the only thing you’re not going to experience is that location itself. Also, if you take into consideration the recent popularity around haunted objects, then it is logical (cheers Spock) to assume that a haunting is not simply connected to a place, it can move when associated to an object.
In my opinion as we still know little about what a haunting is in reality, then we could all be living in a haunted house or own a haunted object, without even realising it. So, we should not rule out the possibility of performing some home investigaitons of our own.
Obviously I am not stating that we should all roll out our ghost hunting kit, shut off the lights and start a full on investigation of our homes. Unless of course your home is a place you wouldn’t mind conducting a full on investigation in.
However, there are still lots of other things you can do whilst at home in order to experiment from a paranormal perspective. Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) has become very popular in recent years during ghost hunts, but this is also something you could experiment with at home. You could conduct your own experiments right from your living room sofa or perhaps your garage if you wanted to change that into a temporary laboratory. Audio is a great thing to experiment with whilst isolated at home, as you can begin to develop good methods that you could repeat to test your results.
It is wise to keep in mind that as far as I am aware there were no reports of the location originally used for the Scole Experiment being haunted before they experienced the activity at the location. This could be said to be the same of a few cases and certainly of some Victorian sittings. So, sometimes it is not the location that is important, but the method that is used.
The point here being that we often find ourselves repeating the actions we are used to, but it can take something drastic to make us change those patterns. William James would have seen this as a good time to look for a third way and I totally agree, if you’re truly passionate about the paranormal then you will use this time to investigate within, rather than without.
So, during these fearful times when it seems like your living paranormal lockdown, potentially missing Zak Bagan’s or at least realised that he’s disappeared a little, and your climbing the walls for your ghost hunter fix; remember there are other ways you can approach the paranormal. Plenty you can still do from home, from learning to experimenting.
Hang on a minute, you’re probably wondering about the Demon House aren’t you? Well no one wants to find themselves in one of those, especially during lockdown. So, no summoning evil spirits please! Personally I don’t think there is a chance of any of us stumbling across a demon house, but you never know right!
Look out for those other ways of fulfilling your ghost hunter fix during your paranormal lockdown and please share them in the comments below, as that may give others ideas to try. Also, if you’ve read any good paranormal books, blogs or articles, please post them in the comments too. Let’s do our bit as a community, stay home, stay safe and stay well.
Ashley Knibb 