Before, During, and After an Investigation

Copyright Front Range Analytical Paranormal Society

Before, During, and After an Investigation By Brian Bullock – FRAPS Founder

To be considered a professional paranormal group, we need to be able to follow set rules and guidelines in all stages of an investigation.  It isn’t just how we look and act, but what we accomplish that makes us professional.  Some things I have noticed about other groups is that there are strict rules and protocols on behavior and appearance.

One thing that I have requested from all team members is that we have and wear a FRAPS team member shirt.  This is not only for a better appearance but it also helps clients and law enforcement know that we are
a part of the group.  Most of the time the client will only recognize one or two people in the group, the rest of us are new to them.  The client will have a lot going on with us there, and will not be able to keep track of all the team members.  To make us recognizable we need to wear our shirts at all times.  There will be options in the future for hats, ID badges and jackets, for now we have our shirts.  There may be times when we are stopped or questioned by law enforcement, identification will help us seem more professional and we are
supposed to be at that location.

Before an investigation, we need to do proper research.  This can be researching archives for the building, interviewing prior residents as well as current residents.  When setting up an investigation we need to have all the facts we can find.  Luckily, we have outstanding researchers that know the processes in obtaining the information we need.  They scour libraries and archives for all of this information.  This is tiring and any help from any team member is welcome.  When interviewing past and present residents of the property we need to ask the right questions.  Some of the most important questions are:

1. How long have you lived at the residence?
2. What paranormal experiences have you had?
3. Do you believe in the afterlife, and ghosts?
4. Are you scared of what has been happening?
5. Who does it affect the most?
6. What would you like to accomplish by FRAPS investigating?

These questions are not the be all-end-all of questions.  From these we can build on what we need to know.  Not only is this type of interview great for understanding the residents point of view, but it can help us know which way to investigate.  It is also for our safety, if there is a violent entity on the premises we can think ahead and protect ourselves and know when we need to leave the building.  While doing the investigation research, we need to act professional at all times.  We need to show respect towards the client.

Prior to all investigations we need to prepare ourselves mentally and organizationally.  It’s best to be in a good state of mind and rested.  This will bring our investigating to a higher level.  Organizationally, be prepared days before the investigation, not hours.  Obviously, when the time comes to investigate, being prepared will help everyone perform at a higher level.

During an investigation our group needs to be focused on the task at hand.  We need to treat this as a job and not just a hobby.  Too much joking and goofing around is not only hazardous to ourselves and others, but it shows the client that we are not serious about helping them.  The client brought us into their house or building to get help for their “problem.”  As was discussed in Understanding and Using Electronic Voice Phenomena, we need to talk at a normal level, never whispering.  When we arrive at the location we will meet with the client.  Before we start setting up a small group of team members will go on a tour with the client, the leads will decide who goes on this tour and who starts bringing equipment to the command center.  The people on the tour need to bring a notepad and pen to record all hot spots and other information about the location.  Write down all safety hazards and areas that we are forbidden to go in to or touch.  Once the tour is over the Technical Manager will decide on where to place equipment.  The Technical Manager will have the authority to tell you what you need to be doing.  We need to setup the equipment very fast, many times we will have a limited amount of time at the location and we want to use most of that time to investigate.

Once we have completed setup, two teams will be sent to different areas of the location to record a base reading of the property.  This will help us during the investigation, because if we have a high EMF reading in a location that had a low base reading, it will help to determine if there is activity going on.  It will also help us all get the lay of the land and prevent accidents from happening.  Items that will be recorded during the base reading will be:

1. EMF levels.
2. Temperature levels.
3. Safety hazards.
4. Sound contamination issues.  (We all remember the furnace at the Armory)
5. Any other possible issues.

This is a very important step.  We need to pay attention and provide the best possible readings as we can.  Knowing that we get to investigate next will all be on our minds, but being mindful of the importance will make the group look better.  Now to investigating….yay!!!

While investigating we also need to stay focused on finding paranormal activity and trying to debunk them.  Although, we are a group that debunks activity we need to remind ourselves when we hear or see something
that it isn’t always the best idea to run to the place it happened and crowd around taking pictures.  Many times, if it is happening in the same room we might get better results by staying where we are and taking pictures or just continue listening.  When we run to the hot spot, it is more than likely if there is paranormal activity there we can scare the entity away.  As one of the most important rules in this field we need to stay calm at all times.  One of the major gripes while investigating is noise contamination.  Not only is it hard to investigate, but it is hard to review the evidence if there is too much noise contamination.  If we have a location that lends itself to having a noise contamination issue we will respond by having fewer team members investigating at a time.  While this is great, a problem will then start to arise at the command center.  We as humans like to socialize, when we socialize we start getting louder and louder.  If the command center is in the building, this will start to contaminate the voice recorders and video recorders.  If the command center has a door, we need to close it.  If it doesn’t than we need to keep our voices down.  If you need to talk loudly or laugh then take it outside.

New to FRAPS investigations will be a time for dinner or lunch.  The leads and founder will decide a good time for this break.  You can bring your own meal or you can grab fast food or food from another to-go place.  I will bring a small microwave for locations that may not have one handy.  Keep in mind that there might not be any thing open where we are investigating.  We will attempt to have the break before midnight.  All team
members will leave the investigation site and will meet at the command center at the chosen time.  If the weather is good, we will leave the building entirely.  During this time all recorders and video cameras will continue to record.  There will be at least one team member on-site to prevent tampering during the break.   After the break we all need to remain focused and continue to do the best job possible.  Many of our clients are counting on us.

After we are done investigating we will need to breakdown the investigation site.  The Tech Manager will be in charge of this as well.  We all want to go home and sleep, the faster we get this down the better.  However, be careful with the equipment as it isn’t cheap.

After we get a good night sleep we will conduct an evidence review session.  All interested team members who want to review evidence are welcome.  All evidence reviewing should be done no later than 7 days after the investigation.  Once we have the evidence we can send or sit down with the client and explain what we found.  Hopefully, this step will alleviate the fears the client has and make them feel safer in there home or business.

Let us all remember that we are members of this team because we enjoy investigating and find it to be a fun pastime.  If you aren’t having a good time, talk to a lead or other team member and decide what you can do to improve your time as a team member.  Overall, the FRAPS team is outstanding and fun to be around.  Also remember that the goal of FRAPS is to have a professional team that will help our clients in any way possible.  See you at the next investigation.