As the title states, this entry is my opinion on the future of the paranormal field and community. Just like our own future, we can take the easy route and flip the proverbial coin for the answer. Heads the future is bright or tails the future is bleak or we can assume an active role and influence the final outcome.
It is my belief that if we continue on the same downward spiral of feeding egos, seeking fame and fortune, and allowing the frauds to continue without the fear of consequences and repercussions, then we all are certainly doomed. I place the majority of the fault on the internet and social media. The internet has granted us with endless opportunities to educate ourselves and research topics that we normally wouldn’t have had access to material pertaining to, It gave us social media sites like Facebook and Twitter where we could make connections with other like minded individuals that we normally wouldn’t have had the pleasure of getting to know. The internet has given us so much potential but has also let us create our own monsters. These monsters come in the form of self proclaimed experts in a field without any defined standards of operations or formal training. The internet has made it entirely too easy for one to create a persona, self publish, recycle or blatantly plagiarize material in the forms of ebooks, articles, and other publications, and simply lie, cheat, and steal their way to fame and fortune.
April of 2014 will be my 13th year investigating and researching the paranormal. I have seen many changes come with the majority of them occurring in the last 5-7 years. We went from building teams with friends, neighbors, relatives, and members of our local communities to holding casting calls to build alleged “superstar” teams that couldn’t guarantee finding the keys and unlocking the secrets of the paranormal. To this day I am not aware of one shred of tangible, undeniable proof any of them have produced. Instead, I see them aligning with manufacturers and preaching the same weary theories from television. I am not aware of one new plausible theory that has come from the minds of the “experts” nor am I aware of any testing and experimenting performed on the established crap theories being pounded into the heads of the sheeple on the weekly reality shows. I saw it go from investigators being armed with a notepad, pen, camera, and audio recording device to strolling into locations with thousands of dollars of blinky light gadgets, cellphone apps, and other technology all based off ideas and theories of their favorite reality show, self proclaimed expert. I saw the days where people begged for someone to help find a solution or reason to why they were experiencing paranormal activity and we are now at the point where it is cool to pay a location to let us investigate for fun.
As you can see, my assumption is the paranormal field/community has become all about the almighty dollar, entertainment, and popularity than about the actual research, investigations, and services we provide. Everyone now has a podcast, Youtube channel, or blog(myself included) where they can express their opinions, showcase their evidence, or try to build a following or alliance. Among the masses of sheeple there are few like myself who do not buy into the fandom and join in the rat race for popularity. I have a voice and I am not afraid to use it despite the fact it is falling mostly upon deaf ears. That is more than I can say for most of the paracelebs and podcast hosts that have built communities and gained large numbers of followers. I am not worried about the possibility of making someone angry and losing a follower/supporter. In fact, if anything I say angers you or offends you I invite you to unfriend, unfollow, dislike, and unsubscribe. Go ahead! Click the button! That way you can go back to living in your close minded sheeple existence. I have my own set of standards and values and I will not compromise them to appease the masses.
My final thought is simply that the paranormal field/community is headed to Hell in a hand basket if we continue down this path, head first into a downward spiral of self-destruction. I am but one individual, one voice and I will continue to use it to fight for what I believe in, even if it means leading a one man charge straight into the belly of the beast. Until next time……….
Ramblings of a Paranormal Investigator 