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When deciding upon your perfect ghosthunting crew, because as we all know you should never go to an investigation alone and you need good people at your side that you can trust to know what to do in the case of almost any emergency, there are a few things to keep in mind. I will attempt tonight to explain what these things are, why they are important, and the kind of person that these qualities are most likely found in.
The most important qualities in a team member of any kind is dependability and trustworthyness. These can range anywhere from "they'll be there on time but will probably forget to bring their equipment," to "they would jump in front of a bullet to save my life." Personally I shoot for somewhere in the middle of those two things because one's on the rather low end while the other is quite hard to find in just anyone. You can try and decide which is which. Usually both of these qualities can be found in anyone, the important thing to remember is that as you go along in your searching you will find that these qualities become more and more important. You should never be afraid to take someone aside and say "Look, I'm sorry, I just don't know if we can depend on you any more." If you can't depend on a person, or trust a person, you just don't know if they're going to be there for you in a tight spot, or if they'll leave you in a lurch.
Now, another important quality to remember is skepticism. I'm not saying that you need to have people going into a situation thinking "Yeah, there's no such thing as ghosts, this is a waste of time, why do we do this." It's simply a fact that if you go into a situation expecting something, your mind can usually supply that excitement/expectation whether or not its there. You want at least one person on your team that's firmly grounded in the realm of "Yeah, it'd be nice if these things were real, but I've never seen it." A good place to look for this is in you friends that seem to avoid the topic of hauntings/UFOs/psychic phenomenon. Usually when the topic is brought up they'll say straight out "Yes, that would be nice, but I've never seen it."
A little thought-of skill to have in a member of your team is tech-savvy. If you're in high school or college, this person is usually easy to find: You just have to go to the places where geeks hang out, be it chess club, AV club, "I'm a smart person" club, or whatever. These people usually have access to important tools for the trade such as a voice recorder for recording Electronic Voice Phenomenon, video cameras for the occassional physical manifestation, and other sundry items that will come in handy. Often over-looked, this is rather important if you're trying to actually collect evidence of what you experienced.
The next person in your group is the hardest to find because he or she is the hardest to prove. It's best if you have someone in your group that is sensitive to auras/the supernatural/whatever you want to call it. I found that the best way to test this is to use a plain deck of playing cards with two people in a room. It's an old test where one looks at the card and tries to "send" an image of what it is to the other person. You have each person write, in order, on a piece of paper, what the card is/what they think the card is. At the end, you compare notes. I once did over 20 successfully on this test, with my friend Matt who was the most amazing Sender I've met in my life, but man could that boy not Receive a thing!
So, you've got your psychic, your skeptic, your tech-boy and you've made sure that they're all trustworth. Who else is there?
Ah, yes, the public face. Now, this person will probably be someone already in your group. This is the person with people skills to talk with the nice people about why, exactly, you want to go through their house with electronic equipment. Usually it's not quite that bad, as, if you're well known, people will come to you and ASK you to go through their homes, but sometimes it's just not that simple. This person is in charge of public image, PR, and booking of different appointments. This person has a lot of responsibility, but the type of person that's good at this job usually enjoys these kinds of tasks.
Now, you can of course mix and match how many people are in your group by finding people with multiple talents, but sometimes a larger group is better because not only can you cover more ground by checking different sites at once, you can also cover more ground by being able to split into smaller groups while on site, and check out multiple places at the same time.
The upside to a small group is that you usually know everyone, exactly what they're capable of, and it's easy to get everyone available at the same time. The down side is that if one person has to bow out, you could be losing everything from one to three of the skills mentioned in here, which could be devastating if those were things you needed for your particular "hunt" that night.
The upside to a large group is that you have backups for when someone calls off and you can cover more ground. The downside to a larger group is that you'll have a tougher time pulling everyone together because of scheduling conflicts.
Large group or small group, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that you can work within your team to get everything done, and done well.
That's the end of class today. Come back next week when I share a story or two about times I was just scaring myself, and there was nothing to be scared of. They're funny stories, but also very important to keep in mind so you don't make the same mistakes.
Any Questions?
This is a part of my ongoing series, Ghosthunting 101. It is posted every Thursday, and I'm always looking for suggestions. Please feel free to comment or question. Thank you for your interest.
The most important qualities in a team member of any kind is dependability and trustworthyness. These can range anywhere from "they'll be there on time but will probably forget to bring their equipment," to "they would jump in front of a bullet to save my life." Personally I shoot for somewhere in the middle of those two things because one's on the rather low end while the other is quite hard to find in just anyone. You can try and decide which is which. Usually both of these qualities can be found in anyone, the important thing to remember is that as you go along in your searching you will find that these qualities become more and more important. You should never be afraid to take someone aside and say "Look, I'm sorry, I just don't know if we can depend on you any more." If you can't depend on a person, or trust a person, you just don't know if they're going to be there for you in a tight spot, or if they'll leave you in a lurch.
Now, another important quality to remember is skepticism. I'm not saying that you need to have people going into a situation thinking "Yeah, there's no such thing as ghosts, this is a waste of time, why do we do this." It's simply a fact that if you go into a situation expecting something, your mind can usually supply that excitement/expectation whether or not its there. You want at least one person on your team that's firmly grounded in the realm of "Yeah, it'd be nice if these things were real, but I've never seen it." A good place to look for this is in you friends that seem to avoid the topic of hauntings/UFOs/psychic phenomenon. Usually when the topic is brought up they'll say straight out "Yes, that would be nice, but I've never seen it."
A little thought-of skill to have in a member of your team is tech-savvy. If you're in high school or college, this person is usually easy to find: You just have to go to the places where geeks hang out, be it chess club, AV club, "I'm a smart person" club, or whatever. These people usually have access to important tools for the trade such as a voice recorder for recording Electronic Voice Phenomenon, video cameras for the occassional physical manifestation, and other sundry items that will come in handy. Often over-looked, this is rather important if you're trying to actually collect evidence of what you experienced.
The next person in your group is the hardest to find because he or she is the hardest to prove. It's best if you have someone in your group that is sensitive to auras/the supernatural/whatever you want to call it. I found that the best way to test this is to use a plain deck of playing cards with two people in a room. It's an old test where one looks at the card and tries to "send" an image of what it is to the other person. You have each person write, in order, on a piece of paper, what the card is/what they think the card is. At the end, you compare notes. I once did over 20 successfully on this test, with my friend Matt who was the most amazing Sender I've met in my life, but man could that boy not Receive a thing!
So, you've got your psychic, your skeptic, your tech-boy and you've made sure that they're all trustworth. Who else is there?
Ah, yes, the public face. Now, this person will probably be someone already in your group. This is the person with people skills to talk with the nice people about why, exactly, you want to go through their house with electronic equipment. Usually it's not quite that bad, as, if you're well known, people will come to you and ASK you to go through their homes, but sometimes it's just not that simple. This person is in charge of public image, PR, and booking of different appointments. This person has a lot of responsibility, but the type of person that's good at this job usually enjoys these kinds of tasks.
Now, you can of course mix and match how many people are in your group by finding people with multiple talents, but sometimes a larger group is better because not only can you cover more ground by checking different sites at once, you can also cover more ground by being able to split into smaller groups while on site, and check out multiple places at the same time.
The upside to a small group is that you usually know everyone, exactly what they're capable of, and it's easy to get everyone available at the same time. The down side is that if one person has to bow out, you could be losing everything from one to three of the skills mentioned in here, which could be devastating if those were things you needed for your particular "hunt" that night.
The upside to a large group is that you have backups for when someone calls off and you can cover more ground. The downside to a larger group is that you'll have a tougher time pulling everyone together because of scheduling conflicts.
Large group or small group, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that you can work within your team to get everything done, and done well.
That's the end of class today. Come back next week when I share a story or two about times I was just scaring myself, and there was nothing to be scared of. They're funny stories, but also very important to keep in mind so you don't make the same mistakes.
Any Questions?
This is a part of my ongoing series, Ghosthunting 101. It is posted every Thursday, and I'm always looking for suggestions. Please feel free to comment or question. Thank you for your interest.
