Modern North American Ghost Hunting
Ghost hunting, also called paranormal investigation, seeks to interrogate unexplained phenomena and construct a narrative of the past. Ghost Hunters may be solitary of form a group to carry out investigations. Ghost hunting attempts to reconstruct what is lost, desired, or otherwise obscured from the greater historical narrative. Investigators create meaningful coincidence from patterns and anomalies, creating richly detailed narratives.
Methods
An investigation begins by collecting eyewitness accounts, legends, and history. This research will become the lens with which ambiguity and analogies are interpreted. Exploration of the phenomena or site in question blends science and spirituality. Through the use of EMFs, EVPs, night vision cameras, and folk methods like talc powder, mediums, and Ouija boards, investigators conduct their own investigation using what they have learned from the history, eyewitnesses, and legends (Bastion 2016: Holloway & Kneale 2008).
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Paranormal investigation blends theology, science, superstition, an important facet to the ghost hunting and paranormal investigation experience is “the debunk''. After attempting to replicate previous unexplained phenomena though explainable means, investigators either be able to debunk an experience or not. An inconclusive finding will often be interpreted as vetted proof. Debunking and skepticism play a major role in investigation and in the entertainment value of that investigation. Skepticism raises the stakes of a paranormal investigation and gives a sense of legitimacy to any findings (Potts 2003).
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Using these findings and information, Ghost Hunters construct a narrative of the past. The clip below demonstrates the way a narrative is constructed through interpretation.
That the findings are ambiguous as a function of ghost hunting. It is in this empty space that Ghost Hunters create meaning.
