The first step is to determine whether or not you truly have a legitimate haunting or if the phenomenon is being caused mechanisms that can be explained by basic inquiry, or if it is being caused by environmentally or psychologically induced suggestions. Remember, not all haunting occurrences are alike, each case may exhibit a variety of phenomena that is different from the last, some having a single feature that defines the events where others have occurrences  that range from strange sounds to full-blown spectral apparitions.

                Here is a list of some of the most common phenomenon that may indicate a true haunting. This list in is no way all inclusive but it does give the reader an idea of what to look for in the event of a true haunting.  

• Apports, that is, objects disappearing and reappearing some time later in a place where they may or may not normally be found. It's as if the object was borrowed by someone for a short time, then returned. Sometimes they are not returned for days or even weeks, but when they are, it's in an obvious place that could not have been missed by even a casual search.

• Unexplained sounds such as footsteps, knocks, banging, rapping; scratching sounds, sounds of something being dropped.

• Doors, cabinets, cupboards, drawers or closets that open and close of their own accord. Most often, these phenomena are not seen directly, but the experient either hears the distinct sounds of the doors opening and closing –or- the experient will return to the room to find a door open or closed when they are certain that it was left in the opposite position. Sometimes furniture seems to have been moved.

• Electronic Malfunction such as lights, radios, televisions, and all manner of electronic devices turning on and off of their own accord and / or behaving in other unexpected ways.   

• Unexplained shadows or movement you see in the corner of your eye. Many times the “shadows” have vaguely human forms, while other times they are far less distinguishable. 

• Animals behaving abnormally. Dogs may bark at something that is unseen, they may cower without apparent reason or they may refuse to enter a room they normally would. Cats may seem to be watching something cross a room, hiss at an unseen enemy, or run from something that you may not see. The animals may seem skittish or abnormally aggressive in certain areas also.  

• Feelings of being watched or possibly followed. Note: This is not an uncommon feeling and can be attributed to many things but it could have a paranormal source if the feeling consistently occurs in a particular part of the house, at a particular time, or if the feelings are accompanied by fear or dread.  

• Occurrences of mild psychokinetic phenomena such as small objects moving about on their own accord, doors or windows unlocking and / or opening while someone is there to witness it, chairs or other small pieces of furniture shifting.  

• Feelings of being touched or other physical contact.  Some people feel something brush past them, something touching their hair or the feeling of a hand on their shoulder. Some feel a gentle push or nudge, sometimes a tug on the shirt or the occasional pulling of the blankets off of the bed at night. Also someone sitting on the bed or standing nearby is common in this type of situation. 

• Cries, whispers, muffled voices, moans, music from some unknown source and other sounds such as these.

• Cold spots are a “classic” symptom of a haunting, but any instance of a noticeable variance in temperature without a discernable cause could be considered to be evidence of paranormal activity.

• Unexplained smells such as perfume or cologne, especially one that you do not have in your house, cigar, cigarette or pipe smoke, or other smells uch as these that you would not normally encounter. The phenomenon may come and go without any apparent cause and may accompany other phenomena, such as shadows, voices or psychokinetic phenomena. Foul odors can happen in the same way.

• Strong instances of psychokinetic phenomenon such as large moving or levitating objects, dinner plates flying out of the cupboard, pictures flying off walls, doors slamming shut with great force, heavy furniture sliding across the floor.

• Physical assault such as scratches, slaps and hard shoves. Note: This kind of personal assault is extremely rare but it is obviously disturbing.

• Miscellaneous physical evidence such as unexplained writing on paper or walls, handprints, footprints imprints on linens, and so forth.

• Apparitions or other physical manifestation of a spirit or entity.

Rational Explanations

                As an investigator you will deal with many people who have experienced a few of these phenomena who might believe that they have cause to think that his or her house is haunted. Then again, maybe not. As previously discussed in the psychology section we know that the human mind and five human senses are easily deceived. It is commonly known that people all too often mistake explainable, even if they are unusual, occurrences in their homes for some type of paranormal phenomenon.  

• As an investigator you always want to make your best effort to find rational, logical, and reasonable explanations for what is being experienced. I should state here that virtually all of the phenomena listed on the previous page can, and at times have, had perfectly natural causes.

• Strange noises, especially in a new home (or at least a home that’s new to you) could be house settling, plumbing or even vermin such as mice and squirrels.

• Opening and closing doors could be caused by drafts, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation Air Conditioning) pressurization of the building or structure, faulty hinges, door frames being out of square or warped door slabs.

• Apport phenomena could be simple carelessness or forgetfulness. Also, if there are children or other people in the home or structure they should be questioned as well.

• Shadows could be just that - shadows caused, perhaps, by a passing car's headlights.

                As real as some of these things might seem, they really could be just products of the imagination induced by psychological tricks of environmental suggestion.

Get a Journal and Record the Events 

                If you feel you have ruled out all rational explanations for the phenomena that are taking place and they are still occurring more or less on a regular basis, it is in your best interest to document them. Keep a journal of the phenomena as they happen. For example:

1 March 2004, 11:45 p.m. – I was sitting on the couch watching TV when the bathroom light switched on and then off again by itself.

4 March, 2004, 9:30 p.m. – I was in the hall getting some items out of the closet when the light switched itself off. I went and turned back on again so that I could finish getting the things I wanted.

10 March 2004, 10:14 p.m. – I was in the kitchen and heard footsteps crossing the upstairs hallway. No one else was in the house. I went upstairs to investigate and could find no cause.

12 March 2004, 10:23 a.m. – I was in the kitchen washing dishes when my car keys slid off of the table by themselves. They were not close to the edge of the table and I checked the table to see if it was unstable or wobbly. No apparent cause was found.

                A journal such as this could help with any formal investigation of the phenomena. Write down experiences as they happen or as soon as possible thereafter so that the integrity of the occurrence is kept in tact. If unexplained noises are part of the occurrences it is best to attempt to record them with a portable tape recorder or digital recorder. If there are physical phenomena of any kind that occur they should be photographed or videotaped if possible.

Forms and Classifications of Bioelectric Anomalies

                Have you ever thought about it? Diversity amongst the dead? It may surprise you just how many classifications of ghosts there are. Over time, especially in more recent years, there have been many attempts to classify the various forms that bioelectric entities may take when they manifest. In this portion of the discussion you will now have the opportunity to understand exactly how diverse non-corporeal entities actually are. Each of the classifications of bioelectric anomaly will have a “class” number in between the name and the description. More information will be given on these classification numbers at the end of this section.

Apparition – Class 9 - (see also “Ghost” and “Crisis Apparition”) This type of visual experience, primarily exploited by Hollywood filmmakers and depicted in a most inaccurate manner, are the type of encounter that most persons expect to have and usually tend to associate with real ghosts. However, as it was stated at the outset of this paragraph, those images are mainly from the minds of Hollywood screenwriters and special effects artists.

                Depending on the specific manifestation of the apparition they can be termed as a full VBM (viewable bioelectric mass) or a partial VBM. Apparitions which take the form of a full VBM can be said to have all of the characteristics and traits of that they would have had in life, appearing as they would have when they were alive. This type of manifestation would appear as a fully formed human having arms, legs, a head, etc. where as a partial VBM would only manifest as a portion of the whole such as an arm, a pair of legs, and so forth. A VBM in either form is found to be a much more rare type of manifestation in both experience and photography than orbs, vortices, ectoplasm, mists and so forth.

Crisis Apparition – Class 9 - This type of apparition is usually a full bodied one time manifestation of a person who is close to the witness. Many times these images can be experienced over great geographic distances and seem to be so real at the time of manifestation that they look exactly as the deceased did in life. Many times these apparitions are often mistaken for such until it has been revealed to the witness that the “person” they observed earlier had passed away prior to their interaction with them. These ghosts of the deceased will generally manifest for a short period of time, sometimes only standing there in silence and on other occasions they may say something like “goodbye” or “I love you.”

Ectoplasm – Class 4 - Generally misinterpreted as being a residual type of “physical” manifestation that is connected to paranormal or psychokinetic activity, ectoplasm is actually a type of photographic phenomenon that manifests over a portion of the picture as a fluidic energy mass that appears as a dense “fog.” Although ectoplasm is most commonly seen as being “white” in color it can take on other hues such as pink, yellow, blue, green, and even black. Ectoplasm is a fairly common photographic anomaly, as far as paranormal photography goes, that most people believe to be flash back, a film flaw or developing error.

                A couple of factors to consider when differentiating ectoplasm from fog, mist or other false anomalies are: Does the “ectoplasm” in question cover the whole photo or is the mass only in a certain area? Is the ectoplasm in the photo three dimensional or does it seem to have a flat quality to it? If the ectoplasm is in more that one photo has it moved significantly? Does it seem more or less dense in the other frames? 

Ghost – Class 9 - This term, which is the most widely utilized to describe the central subject of paranormal manifestations and other such causations; can be interchangeably used with apparition. Generally a “ghost” is termed to be and thought of in the sense that it is the returned spirit of a deceased person who has come back to haunt a particular place for a certain reason. This type of manifestation is usually thought of in the sense of being a full bodied apparition.

Ghost Lights – Class 7 - The name for this type of paranormal manifestation is taken straight from the urban legends about ghost lights. Used in the most general and broad sense here, a ghost light can be understood to be a photographic phenomenon or a paranormal manifestation which is comprised of a bright “light” that can manifest in an array of colors and shapes. In the traditional sense a ghost light is thought of as being a “ball” of light that usually manifests outdoors and is associated with a “ghost car’s” headlights, a phantom train or the swinging lantern of an undead horse rider. 

Imprints (see also “Repeat Haunting”) – Class 1 - These are not true ghosts, they are simply bioelectric energy that is “bleeding off” from a source that it had bonded to while it was dissipating from its original core source. Generally linked to repeat hauntings and areas where an atmosphere of negative feelings, anxiety, fear and other similar emotions tend to surface, imprints are not genuine paranormal manifestations that possess a sentient will or intelligence and thusly are not an actual manifestation of a true paranormal origin.    

Mist / Haze – Class 3 - Somewhat like ectoplasm, but of a much less dense nature, this photographic phenomenon looks like a patch of light, floating fog when viewed in a photograph. Generally a mist, like an ectoplasm, is white in color but unlike ectoplasm bioelectric mists / haze tends to be more translucent and very “fine” in their make up. There have been photos of mists ranging in a wide variety of colors including green, pink, blue and black.

Orbs – Class 2 - Some of the most common photographic phenomenon that can be found in pictures taken on paranormal investigations are orbs. Aptly named because of their circular shape, these electromagnetic anomalies look a great deal like dust or a water droplet to the untrained eye. More information and ways of differentiating between true and false orbs will be given in the Media Technology Section.  

1. Is the anomaly circular? If it is, that is an indicator that it is potentially an orb. If it is not then it is probably dust or some other foreign material floating in the air as such material is usually irregularly shaped.  

2. Is the potential orb three dimensional? If it appears to be floating in the air that indicates that it may be an orb. If the anomaly appears two dimensional it is probably something on the camera lens –  especially if the anomaly is in more than one photograph.   

3. Is the anomaly in the photo transparent or opaque? If it appears of be opaque (solid looking) rather than translucent (semi-solid) then this can act a an indicator that the anomaly in the photo is a true orb.

4. Is to orb self-luminous? If it appears to glow brightly despite the lack of a light source this is another indicator. If the object is not self luminous then it is probably dust or another form of particulate matter in the air. Luminosity is the most important indicator of whether an anomaly is real or not due to the bioelectric energy factor involved. 

Poltergeist – Class 10 - Coming from the German root words “polter” meaning noisy, and “geist” meaning ghost, we now have a conglomerate word that in the English language would literally translate to “noisy ghost.” In many cases where poltergeist activity is suspected telekinetic activity and true poltergeist activity is hard to differentiate unless the investigator researching the case has had the experience in dealing with both kinds of “disturbances.”

                This kind of activity is called a “disturbance” because often times both of these phenomenons cause a great deal of disruption in the lives of those who are affected by this type of manifestation. Many times when a poltergeist is investigated it is not a poltergeist at all. Rather it is a case of uncontrolled psychokinetic or telekinetic activity in which there is a specific conduit, and in some cases an amplifier, that unknowingly acts as a physical vessel for unusually large amounts of psychic or telekinetic energy which results in the anomalous psychic activity that takes place. In the few true poltergeist cases that have been accurately recorded and dissected by investigators there have been an unusually high amount of physical evidence such as objects moving on their own accord, disembodied voices, foul smells, heavy objects being thrown about, a fearful, hateful or otherwise negative feel to the atmosphere, apports, manifestation of apparitions, people being assaulted, and other types of related phenomenon.

                In light of the information given in the previous paragraph it is easy to see that a poltergeist is no “average” ghost by any means. True poltergeists seem to thrive on attention and, in most cases, fear. As the entity becomes stronger it potentially may begin “feeding” on the emotions and fear of a family or, possibly, it may select one individual to use as a host for its parasitic appetite. True poltergeists are free roaming entities that can, in general, move objects in the physical realm, communicate in some way with the living via limited speech, tapping, scratching, or some other form of rudimentary communication, they can cause certain scents to waft about in the air from no apparent source, and cause electronic devices to malfunction for no apparent reason. Many times the true poltergeist is often of a malevolent nature and seem have the ability to cause other unpredictable events to occur within the range of their influence.

                As it has been stated, in the majority of “poltergeist” cases there usually is no discarnate entity present as the activity is generally attributed to an unintentional psychic conduit that then amasses and releases this energy unknowingly. Generally, in these types of cases where physical contact has taken place we find that there is a conduit, as is in the case of telekinetic activity. The true point of separation comes when the activity is either isolated to a specific individual, which would indicate uncontrolled telekinetic activity, or, in the other case, the activity is found to originate infrequently from an unknown source and tends to happen without any sort of trigger mechanism.

Repeat Haunting – (see also “Imprint”) – Class 1- repeat hauntings are not true paranormal manifestations as they are simply deposited energy from a prior event that is naturally being released into the local environment. Following the Second Law of Thermodynamics this energy has / had been stored in a cell or dead cell for a time and is now being released and only seems like genuine paranormal activity. These “manifestations” are easy to spot as their activity follows a pattern where the “entity” does the same thing at the same time each day / week / month / year.  

Ribbons / Streaks – Class 8 - Another type of photographic phenomenon has become known as “energy ribbons” or “bioelectric streaks.” These ribbons are electromagnetic energy that is in motion at the time that the photograph was taken. These dynamic electromagnetic ribbons, which manifest in an array of colors, seem to suggest that the anomaly was in transit from one place to another at the time when th e photograph was taken. Although these ribbons may manifest in the photograph as almost any color in the spectrum it seems that they usually appear as one color or another not as mixed hues. Also, it seems that the patterns of motion found in these photos, when closely examined, reveal that these entities can travel at a relatively high rate of speed, being that they are pure electromagnetic energy. From photographs previously examined these ribbons are not always a smoothly flowing organic shape. There have been photographs of these anomalies, whether singly or in a group, in motion that looks like small lightning bolts or streams of fire which have varying shapes and colors.

 Rods – Class 5 - Rods, which are similar in nature to streaks and ribbons, are a bit more compact, have a denser energy field and tend to be a bit more organized in their structure. However, because of these characteristics rods also tend to be less dynamic in their manifested displays in photographs. Generally, rods tend to form and manifest as single shaft of brightly glowing energy that takes on a long, slender shape which can be easily identified in photos.    

Vortices – Class 6 - When most people think of a vortex an image of a whirling mass of chaotic debris strewn about the area in an uplifting funnel like torrent of wind comes to mind, similar to the form and structure of a tornado. True, this is the form that these whirling masses usually take, but what we will be examining is far from what has been described in the latter sentences.  In parapsychology and paranormal investigation a vortex is a whirling mass of electromagnetic energy that can seemingly emanate from any point of origin and take any direction that it chooses.  There is no standard by which to judge a vortex by as they come in as many shapes, colors, and sizes as there are pictures to be taken of them. Generally we class anything that has the basic, unequivocal traits of vortices in this category. The largest factor in differentiating vortices from energy ribbons is that energy ribbons, although they can move into any position, are generally found to be photographed as a horizontal energy anomaly where as vortices tend to be a vertical manifestation. 

                As you noticed, along with each of the descriptions of the anomalies there was a “class number.” These numbers, as it turned out, were assigned to each anomaly type from a scale based on a one (1) to ten (10) measurement. The measurement on this scale was assigned to each anomaly class based on the overall bioelectric strength that is generally radiated when the anomaly manifests. These classes are listed by the IPRF in the following order:

Class 1: Imprints and Repeat Hauntings

Class 2: Orbs

Class 3: Mists and Haze

Class 4: Ectoplasm

Class 5: Rods

Class 6: Vortices

Class 7: Ghost Lights

Class 8: Ribbons and Streaks

Class 9: Apparitions / Crisis Apparitions / Ghosts

Class 10: Poltergeists