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How we investigate a haunting…
and a lot of other unexplained phenomenon!
The Nuts and Bolts of an Investigation by ASUP
Investigating a reported haunting is a multi-pronged approach in most cases, that is to say it required two select teams to
accomplish. In order to do it all right, the two teams work independently of each other.
The Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon (ASUP, Inc.) receives requests for investigations
from several sources, including telephone calls or letters from the folks involved in a phenomenon,
media requests, referrals from other research groups and academic sources. Each request is reviewed
by the ASUP Regional Coordinator and Director of Research. Once deemed feasible, every case is handled virtually the
same, going through the following steps.
The Research Team
“The Brains” of the operation, who dive into the mundane work of researching the history of a place we’re investigating.
This means searching public records, title searches, newspaper reports and finally the
personal history of any interesting parties to the phenomenon. What is the history of the property and
the people who have lived there; original floor plans are sometimes found and any historic facts about
the house (i.e. Fires, murders, deaths, historic events, etc.) are uncovered. The Research Team also
looks for newspaper records about the house and the names of the people they have found and if
necessary further personal histories, such as military service, employment, education, etc. are
collected. This is both time consuming and arduous work. Only after a detailed report is created and reviewed by the
Coordinator do the Field Investigators go to work.
Preliminary Visit
First, a small team, usually Board officers, will go to the property and do uniform interviews of the folks
who are involved in the case; principles, witnesses, etc. The purpose of this visit is to confirm what we
have learned through our research and add background information that could help to explain what we
will find when we begin the field investigation.
Field Investigation
Once the preliminary visit to the site is done and the Research Team, has done their due diligence, the ASUP Board, or
“Leads” will meet to discuss the findings and a more in-depth field investigation is planned, based on all the material
uncovered both in the interview process and the research.
The overall field investigation by “the hardware guys,” can sometimes be accomplished in a day or two,
or over a period of months, depending on the case. There are no set rules concerning the length of a
study. Only after all the team members are satisfied is a secondary analysis by the teams written.
It should be noted that in some cases, we make use of individuals who have “psychic” talents as part of
the field investigation, we call them, sensitive’s, but these team members only come out when
the Lead Investigator sees some useful purpose for a visit. When a sensitive is used, they come to the
location accompanied by a field investigator. No one of the Field team is told anything about
the case and the person accompanying the sensitive is responsible for their partner’s safety, as well as
acting as the “recorder” for the visit. If necessary, more than one sensitive can be used on a case, but
never teamed up together and never used at the same time, or in the same space. Usually all field team members are at
the scene at the same time, but not always; that is the call of the Lead Investigator for the case to decide.
You will find that this method works very well for all concerned, eliminating any preconceived ideas in
the beginning of an investigation, while expanding the possibilities in the final steps. While originally
created for the classic haunting, it will work for virtually every other kind of case we might be asked to
look into. There are some basic rules when doing a field investigation that should never be broken. Always work in teams,
a team member should never be alone and each team is responsible to be sure the “gate keeper” or person controlling the
flow of traffic at the site, knows exactly where the team is at all time. To do this we use two way radios on every case. In
some cases, the team’s “Gizmo” or tech support person will install remote cameras, video and audio devices before the
team enters the area. For that reason, as a team moves from place to place, they will announce themselves, “Joy and
Rick, In!” or “Joi and Rick Out!” so that anything recorded can later be traced to the team at the time with the devices in
use.
Civilians and untrained personnel are never permitted on site during an investigation unless specifically authorized by two
executive board members. If you see someone, ask them to leave!
Can this be used in other kinds of cases?
Definitely! While originally created for the classic haunting, it will work for virtually every other kind of
case we might be asked to look into, including cryptids, UFO phenomenon or anything else.
But why keep the teams separated in the early phase of an investigation?
Simple! Did you ever play the parlor game “telephone?”
Person one is given a simple sentence to read. He is then told to pass along that message to the
person next to him, without reading the text to the person. In turn that person passes it on to the next
and then the next. If you string ten people in the chain you will be amazed at what you get off the other
end. Try it sometime. Get ten people in a room, give one a piece of paper that says, “John and Mary
are seeing each other.” By the end of the chain you will be absolutely shocked at what that can turn
into… and it is different every time! This has happened in past investigations and we don’t want it to
happen again!
Keeping the two teams apart initially, keeps the amount of “Telephoning” to a minimum. That is also
why the guidelines stress the need for written notes and reports. Once of course, you have made the
initial inquiry, you can mix the two teams together again for the free passage of ideas and data.
Other basic field rules…
When you first begin, be sure to get a good GPS coordinate location.
Be sure to note what equipment you are carrying, this will be helpful later.
Never provoke unless your team’s field supervisor tells you to.
Always announce when you are firing a flash unit in a space, so you don’t “blind” others.
If you set up equipment, you much triangulate the location to immovable objects.
Use a digital recorder to personally keep notes or use a bound notebook in the field.
Don’t use stock terms like ghosts, psychics, hauntings, etc. They are unprofessional clichés.
When using portable gear, vocalize readings so your partner will know that you have.
If you are using electronic gear, expect the batteries to die… have extras for each piece.
Gadgets are good, common sense is better, don’t get so focused on the hardware that you miss something in the
environment. You senses are the best tools you have!
Report anything unusual to your field supervisor by radio immediately.
Keep good notes! Be sure to be able to read them, you might have to substantial them years later.
Transcribe your personal report as soon as possible, when things are still fresh in your mind.
E-mail that report to the Director of Field Investigations as soon as possible, no more than 48 hours.
Where does the final report end up?
Once all the individual field reports are collected, the Director for Field Investigations forwards them to the Coordinator,
who shares them with the Director of Research and other board members. The Coordinator then writes a final report, or
directs the team to do further work in the field, as the board sees fit. Eventually, a final report is created and filed.
Where that report goes to next depends on where the initial request came from. Sometimes we do an investigation and
make our report to a person or family who has asked us to investigate and in some cases, they do not wish the material to
be made public and we will honor those wishes. Other times, the people involved don’t care who knows, and we will freely
post our findings, either on a web site (Which we still have not created!) or for publication in a magazine or newsletter. In
all cases, the team members are given a
copy of the final report, as well as access to all the case notes we have created and we will post the
final report for all members to read. If the original subjects have asked for anonymity, then the posted
version will be created without reference to names, places or any specific information, but in all cases,
the findings will be made public for others to see and comment upon within a reasonable period of time.
Sometimes, the findings of the group are inconclusive and other times it disproves any paranormal
activity. In those cases, the team leader will make the ultimate decision about the release of the notes
for public scrutiny. Of course, this is a free country and a team member can certainly go outside the
group to release information, as long as that data is not considered harmful in some way, we will not
comment of such activities, although we might frown upon it within the group. Normally, we would wish
for a member to submit a written request if he or she wishes to release their own version of a case
findings and wait for written permission before publication. Believe me, there are some good reasons
for this rule. In all cases the findings of each case are translated into raw data, without specific locations or names and
every case report is shared with others in the field, through the Worldwide Paranormal Reporting Center (WWPC) network.
©2007 – ASUP, Inc. (All Rights Reserved)
and a lot of other unexplained phenomenon!
The Nuts and Bolts of an Investigation by ASUP
Investigating a reported haunting is a multi-pronged approach in most cases, that is to say it required two select teams to
accomplish. In order to do it all right, the two teams work independently of each other.
The Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon (ASUP, Inc.) receives requests for investigations
from several sources, including telephone calls or letters from the folks involved in a phenomenon,
media requests, referrals from other research groups and academic sources. Each request is reviewed
by the ASUP Regional Coordinator and Director of Research. Once deemed feasible, every case is handled virtually the
same, going through the following steps.
The Research Team
“The Brains” of the operation, who dive into the mundane work of researching the history of a place we’re investigating.
This means searching public records, title searches, newspaper reports and finally the
personal history of any interesting parties to the phenomenon. What is the history of the property and
the people who have lived there; original floor plans are sometimes found and any historic facts about
the house (i.e. Fires, murders, deaths, historic events, etc.) are uncovered. The Research Team also
looks for newspaper records about the house and the names of the people they have found and if
necessary further personal histories, such as military service, employment, education, etc. are
collected. This is both time consuming and arduous work. Only after a detailed report is created and reviewed by the
Coordinator do the Field Investigators go to work.
Preliminary Visit
First, a small team, usually Board officers, will go to the property and do uniform interviews of the folks
who are involved in the case; principles, witnesses, etc. The purpose of this visit is to confirm what we
have learned through our research and add background information that could help to explain what we
will find when we begin the field investigation.
Field Investigation
Once the preliminary visit to the site is done and the Research Team, has done their due diligence, the ASUP Board, or
“Leads” will meet to discuss the findings and a more in-depth field investigation is planned, based on all the material
uncovered both in the interview process and the research.
The overall field investigation by “the hardware guys,” can sometimes be accomplished in a day or two,
or over a period of months, depending on the case. There are no set rules concerning the length of a
study. Only after all the team members are satisfied is a secondary analysis by the teams written.
It should be noted that in some cases, we make use of individuals who have “psychic” talents as part of
the field investigation, we call them, sensitive’s, but these team members only come out when
the Lead Investigator sees some useful purpose for a visit. When a sensitive is used, they come to the
location accompanied by a field investigator. No one of the Field team is told anything about
the case and the person accompanying the sensitive is responsible for their partner’s safety, as well as
acting as the “recorder” for the visit. If necessary, more than one sensitive can be used on a case, but
never teamed up together and never used at the same time, or in the same space. Usually all field team members are at
the scene at the same time, but not always; that is the call of the Lead Investigator for the case to decide.
You will find that this method works very well for all concerned, eliminating any preconceived ideas in
the beginning of an investigation, while expanding the possibilities in the final steps. While originally
created for the classic haunting, it will work for virtually every other kind of case we might be asked to
look into. There are some basic rules when doing a field investigation that should never be broken. Always work in teams,
a team member should never be alone and each team is responsible to be sure the “gate keeper” or person controlling the
flow of traffic at the site, knows exactly where the team is at all time. To do this we use two way radios on every case. In
some cases, the team’s “Gizmo” or tech support person will install remote cameras, video and audio devices before the
team enters the area. For that reason, as a team moves from place to place, they will announce themselves, “Joy and
Rick, In!” or “Joi and Rick Out!” so that anything recorded can later be traced to the team at the time with the devices in
use.
Civilians and untrained personnel are never permitted on site during an investigation unless specifically authorized by two
executive board members. If you see someone, ask them to leave!
Can this be used in other kinds of cases?
Definitely! While originally created for the classic haunting, it will work for virtually every other kind of
case we might be asked to look into, including cryptids, UFO phenomenon or anything else.
But why keep the teams separated in the early phase of an investigation?
Simple! Did you ever play the parlor game “telephone?”
Person one is given a simple sentence to read. He is then told to pass along that message to the
person next to him, without reading the text to the person. In turn that person passes it on to the next
and then the next. If you string ten people in the chain you will be amazed at what you get off the other
end. Try it sometime. Get ten people in a room, give one a piece of paper that says, “John and Mary
are seeing each other.” By the end of the chain you will be absolutely shocked at what that can turn
into… and it is different every time! This has happened in past investigations and we don’t want it to
happen again!
Keeping the two teams apart initially, keeps the amount of “Telephoning” to a minimum. That is also
why the guidelines stress the need for written notes and reports. Once of course, you have made the
initial inquiry, you can mix the two teams together again for the free passage of ideas and data.
Other basic field rules…
When you first begin, be sure to get a good GPS coordinate location.
Be sure to note what equipment you are carrying, this will be helpful later.
Never provoke unless your team’s field supervisor tells you to.
Always announce when you are firing a flash unit in a space, so you don’t “blind” others.
If you set up equipment, you much triangulate the location to immovable objects.
Use a digital recorder to personally keep notes or use a bound notebook in the field.
Don’t use stock terms like ghosts, psychics, hauntings, etc. They are unprofessional clichés.
When using portable gear, vocalize readings so your partner will know that you have.
If you are using electronic gear, expect the batteries to die… have extras for each piece.
Gadgets are good, common sense is better, don’t get so focused on the hardware that you miss something in the
environment. You senses are the best tools you have!
Report anything unusual to your field supervisor by radio immediately.
Keep good notes! Be sure to be able to read them, you might have to substantial them years later.
Transcribe your personal report as soon as possible, when things are still fresh in your mind.
E-mail that report to the Director of Field Investigations as soon as possible, no more than 48 hours.
Where does the final report end up?
Once all the individual field reports are collected, the Director for Field Investigations forwards them to the Coordinator,
who shares them with the Director of Research and other board members. The Coordinator then writes a final report, or
directs the team to do further work in the field, as the board sees fit. Eventually, a final report is created and filed.
Where that report goes to next depends on where the initial request came from. Sometimes we do an investigation and
make our report to a person or family who has asked us to investigate and in some cases, they do not wish the material to
be made public and we will honor those wishes. Other times, the people involved don’t care who knows, and we will freely
post our findings, either on a web site (Which we still have not created!) or for publication in a magazine or newsletter. In
all cases, the team members are given a
copy of the final report, as well as access to all the case notes we have created and we will post the
final report for all members to read. If the original subjects have asked for anonymity, then the posted
version will be created without reference to names, places or any specific information, but in all cases,
the findings will be made public for others to see and comment upon within a reasonable period of time.
Sometimes, the findings of the group are inconclusive and other times it disproves any paranormal
activity. In those cases, the team leader will make the ultimate decision about the release of the notes
for public scrutiny. Of course, this is a free country and a team member can certainly go outside the
group to release information, as long as that data is not considered harmful in some way, we will not
comment of such activities, although we might frown upon it within the group. Normally, we would wish
for a member to submit a written request if he or she wishes to release their own version of a case
findings and wait for written permission before publication. Believe me, there are some good reasons
for this rule. In all cases the findings of each case are translated into raw data, without specific locations or names and
every case report is shared with others in the field, through the Worldwide Paranormal Reporting Center (WWPC) network.
©2007 – ASUP, Inc. (All Rights Reserved)
