Paranormal Investigation and the Like

Use of Psychics and Other Spiritual Investigative Techniques

First, I need to say I do not believe in psychics, but I am open to the possibility of their existence and powers. I do not wholly deny their abilities.

Psychics are a huge no-no for groups who wish to conduct investigations based on logic, reasoning, and tangible evidence. The reason for this should be really obvious. Psychics, along with any other spiritual tools based on illogical means, are very unreliable. Anything they say can be wrong, or even fabricated. In addition, you have no way of analyzing it. Reliable forms of evidence, such as audio and video recordings, can be reviewed. The entire group can look at them, give plausible opinions, find reasons to toss it aside as nothing, and thus, you're left with no chance of presenting something wrong to the client. With psychics, the only thing you have to look at is their word. 

Makes a lot of sense. Say you're investigating a location. You only have a psychic and a digital voice recorder. The psychic "feels" something, and "picks up" that the spirit is named John. Upon later review of the audio, you find that an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) was captured. During a moment of absolute silence, when no one else was around, a random ghostly voice said its name is Anthony. Which is the more reliable? Which one should you keep as possible evidence? Obviously, the recording. 

Personal experiences also should never be counted as anything, and we rarely even mention them to a client. Like psychics, they can be extremely unreliable. The only thing that would make us consider a personal experience is if there's tangible evidence to go along with it. An investigator says they got touched on their shoulder... Well, that's wonderful, but unfortunately we can't use solely that statement. Add to that statement some video footage of a shadowy figure lingering next to the investigator's shoulder right about the time they claim to have been touched. If we have that tangible evidence to back up their testimony, we could definitely use it. 

Oddly enough, our group has a medium on board. We do not use him for regular investigations. Actually, there's only ever been one time where he came in handy and was completely necessary. It was a terrible case out here in Western Massachusetts. As rare occassion as it is, we deemed the house haunted. The spirit was a terribly mean one, what some may call "demonic", and it was scaring the client so much. Our medium was called in immediately and was ordered to perform a cleansing of the house. The client was religious and asked that part of the ceremony be that way. Luckily, our medium is also a Roman Catholic priest, and he happily did a blessing over the house. When all was over, the entities were gone. We still keep contact with the client, who reports that she is no longer tormented by anything in her house.  I do think our medium and the religious intervention rid the house of the bad spirits.

So, in some very extreme cases, the use of psychics and other spiritual things is okay. They can be highly beneficial in cases like those, where an "evil" spirit must be directly spoken to or be gotten rid of by religious means. But I need to reiterate that they should never be used as part of the main investigation, as they can and do contaminate evidence.