Expectation: The Paranormal Investigation Killer!

It’s normal to be excited about going on a potentially good (read as active) paranormal investigation. All the reports of activity – shadows, objects moving, being touched, EVPs – can get even the most seasoned investigator’s blood pumping!

But expectation has to be tempered with reality.

The fact is that even the most reportedly active locations don’t promise activity on any given day (or night). It’s very possible not to get a single piece of evidence or observe a single event during any given investigation.

The paranormal doesn’t happen by performance command. Indeed, usually the more you expect of a location the more disappointed you are when the investigation finally happens. Likewise, the paranormal seems to happen most when you least expect it!

In August 2007 my group conducted our first investigation at the Rolling Hills Asylum in Bethany, NY. It was a “We’re Alone!” investigation meaning it the whole building was ours. Just our group locked in the (literally!) all night. During the equipment setup one of our investigators/tech specialists was mounting a DVR camera to the hand rail in a hallway that reportedly is very active with shadows. The lights were on fully as we had not officially started the investigation. But no one told the ghosts that! I was standing on the walk ramp about 10 feet from him when suddenly he started yelling hand jumping and almost literally bouncing off the walls! After several minutes of jumping around yelling “Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh my G-d! Oh My G-d” he finally calmed down enough to tell us: A shadow had passed right next to him between the him and the wall (a scant 3 feet or so). It wasn’t that he was scared, just incredibly surprised. This was just a precursor to an incredible night of investigation.

By the time this article is published we will have completed our second “We’re Alone!” investigation of Rolling Hills and hopefully have even more to report! (footnote: we did the investigation, and, inspite of a couple of interesting personal experiences we got nothing! No audio or video and only1 'ify' picture of a possible shadow. Oh well.)

Other investigators around the country have noted that somehow the paranormal seems to “know” your state of mind. When you have high expectations nothing happens. When you have low expectations or are distracted that’s when the paranormal seems to most often occur. Some believe the paranormal can sense your state of thought and stay away from those who want to see them. Others believe the normal guards and filters on our minds that don’t let us perceive the paranormal are lowest when we have little expectation or are pre-occupied so therefore the paranormal comes through more often. And there is some hypothesis that our own perceptions can effect the level of paranormal activity. This is tied (loosely) into certain concepts that come from the science of Quantum Physics.

Either way, like most of the paranormal, more time and research is needed. But it is pretty clear that the more one expects the less one gets. Good things can’t be rushed.

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