Where to even begin... Some things have been eating at me about the paranormal community for some time now, I figured now is as good a time as any to vent. Hopefully you can follow me on a trip through my head and the issues I am having...
Let's start with all the paranormal research teams that are out there. I don't have a beef with the number of teams that are out there, my beef lies with what they do. They call themselves paranormal research teams, yet only focus on one area of the paranormal. I was speaking with a member of a paranormal team that was extremely knowledgeable about ghosts and entities, but didn't know jack-squat about Bigfoot, Chupacabre, Loch Ness, UFO's, Aliens, Abductions, or anything else that was on the 'fringe'. What I am proposing, is that we call a spade, a spade. If you have a paranormal research team out there and you do nothing but chase ghosts, then call yourself a ghost research team, if you only hunt bigfoot - call yourself the mighty Bigfoot hunters of North America, I think you get what I am saying. Enough about titles.
Let me focus on Ghost Hunters in general now. I have no quarrel with you, but I do have issue with what you do. Let me explain it this way. Before you go about trying to capture evidence, communicate with the other side, or whatever it is you're trying to do. Please, take a minute to realize what you are messing with. Your lack of experience makes you dangerous, to both yourself and your team. Let me put it this way, EXPERIENCE. Please, please, please, work with someone that has done this sort of thing for a while. Follow me now if you can.... We'll use the name Jed as a fictional name for the character in the story I am going tell you:
'Jed has been watching all the ghost hunting shows on TV and has it in his head he is going to start his own paranormal team. Him and a couple buddies get together and set out on their first ghost hunt in a known haunted facility. They have an EMF detector, cameras, and all the gadgets they have seen others use. They are ready. Jed leads the team into the facility. They each take a center area to look around in their attempts to find, or prove the existence of, the ghosts. Our Hero, Jed, is on the second floor, lurking, looking, hoping, when he hears something behind him. He freaks out. Starts running out of the facility, his team hears him, they freak out, cause thats what humans do. They are all running now, headed for the exit of this place, they all reach the door at the same time, and BOOM. They knock each other out.'
Moral of this story is to make sure you are prepared, not only equipment wise, but mentally as well. That is why I implore you to work with someone that is experienced first. Learn from them, see how they react, etc. Now this isn't meant for everyone. I have been on 'outings' where a newbie was the most rational one of the group.
Come with me into the UFO/Alien arena now. I have many, many friends that track, document, research the UFO and Alien phenomenon. Those of you in the community know of all the black ops, mysterious deaths, dis-information, etc. that surround us. Which brings me to my rant. Why the can we not all get along? Simply put. Of all the paranormal commuinities, I think the UFO community is the chippiest. People accusing others of stealing their information. Lawsuits filed. It is flat ridiculous. I would propose making a Code of Ethics for the paranormal community as a whole, but history has shown us that a Code of Ethics is a waste of time and energy as humans do as they want anyway.
I propose this. We are all looking for one thing, that is Disclosure. Am I right? We want to know the truth about Roswell, Area 51, Norway Spiral, most of all, we want to know that we are not alone in this vast universe. In my opinion, the only way to get to that point is mutual respect and sharing of information and ideas. If we all know the information out there, it will pressure our esteemed governments to let the 'cat out of the bag' and tell us whether they know if Alf exists.
Lastly, all my cryptozoology friends. The next one of you to tell me you are a Bigfoot, Chupacabre, Bessie, Frogman, Yeti, or any other crytid Expert, you may get an ear full from me. How can you be an 'Expert' of any animal that has not even been proven to exist yet? Now, you may be an expert field researcher, knowing all the signs to look for that an animal has been in the area, I will give you that. But, to call yourself, say a Thunderbird Expert. Thats a whole other story. Can you tell me what the Thunderbird eats, how big its eggs are, it it lays eggs, what their wingspan is? Unless you've actually seen these things first hand, documented it with writings, videos, pictures, etc. then please quit calling yourself an expert.
I am sure I have offended some of you in my rant. If you are offended, maybe you fit in one of the above categories I wrote about. If you disagree, then leave me a comment. If you agree, leave a comment. I love to hear from the people in the paranormal community that read and frequent the things on Weirld.
