Bupkis

Zero. Nill. Nothing. Nada. Bupkis. This is how much we really know about the paranormal. This can be confusing, because when you look at all the books, television shows, podcasts, and movies you'd think we've learned all there is to know, but the opposite is true. All that has been written, spoken of and shown is not fact, it's opinion. All of it. 

I could easily create a persona whom presents himself as an expert in the field with all the answers to your paranormal questions, and I would get away with it. Probably make a lot of money as that person, but creating such a persona would cripple the field I've dedicated a good part of my life to. Unfortunately there are too many who will fully embrace this attention-grabbing persona and let it forever define who they are and the life they live.

I will forever admit to you, no matter how much I learn; I know absolutely nothing about what I've experienced. Like many of you, I've seen things, heard things and even felt things, but the researcher in me demands I ask, "But did I really?" I can give you my opinions of what it might have been based on past experiences, research, and discussions with others, but I will never give a definite answer. Questions about the paranormal must be answered with other questions. Unexplainable events must be discussed and debated without conclusion or verdict.  

There are three questions I like to ask whenever I experience something out of the ordinary: Did it really happen? Did I want it to happen? Or, did someone make it happen?

It's too easy, and in my opinion sloppy, lazy and destructive to rush to a "the ghost did it" conclusion whenever a voice is heard, shadow is seen, a light flickers, or a random word is spit out of a battery-powered box. As researchers we must never accept an assumption or guess. Never follow a single idea, theory, process or train of thought. There are countless paths we must explore as we make our way up this mountain we climb. Some paths intersect. Others dead end. And following the wrong "experienced" guide might send us over a cliff's edge and onto the sharp rocks.. 

The challenge presented is: How can we detect who is real and who is putting on a face? It's a question we shouldn't have to ask, but sadly must, and like the paranormal it's one with out an answer. We have to trust our guts and not be distracted by the performance. We all have a built-in bullshit meter, let switch them on to the highest level. Bury the needle into the red. Turn that F’er up to eleven and never forget that the real number we face is zero.