Tonight, there were a few odd incidents that made me think that I am dealing with some serious psychic energy in my new apartment. Here are the facts: my green-cheeked conure started to scream uncontrollably as I was getting up from my nap. I could not console her; she was shaking and terrified. I heard the cry of a small baby in the courtyard around the same time I was trying to soothe my tiny parrot. The cries were strange: they echoed around the courtyard and had a hollow quality, as if I were hearing them from inside a tunnel. I went out to the balcony and looked into the courtyard and the adjacent apartments. The cries stopped as soon as I stepped outside. There was no baby anywhere. I walked back in, and there was a brief, intense, flash of white light, as if someone had taken a flash photo. I checked all the lightbulbs, and they all worked normally. I was alone, so of course nobody had taken a flash photo. Gracie was back in her cage and started screaming again. At the same time, I looked at my computer screen and saw a dark shadow cross the room behind me. I turned around and saw nothing in motion anywhere. The previous evenings, my husband and I had heard strange noises coming from the living room and the kitchen while we were in the bedroom: one sounded like a sharp, metallic strike against another metal surface, or like the rapid expansion of a metal object that cracked. Another time, it sounded like someone walking in the hallway, and yet another time, like shuffling.
What evidence have I offered you? Only personal stories; you could interview my husband and me, and you would have two eyewitness accounts, but you would have no other “proof”. I suggest that instead of searching for proof of the paranormal (you will never find such a thing, since all skeptics can and will find fault with your evidence), we present a compilation of data that leads, in the best case scenario, to conclusions that something of a paranormal nature is occurring “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Using the courtroom and legal standards for evidence is far more compelling than attempting to subject anomalous experiences to laboratory testing. Victor Zammit argues for this kind of standard for evidence here: https://www.victorzammit.com/
I propose a “paranormeter” that assigns point values to types of information received during a paranormal investigation that allows interested parties to follow up on events that receive the highest marks on a scale of 100. For example: Personal experiences, no matter how compelling, can only receive 25 points without a witness. With a witness, 50; with multiple witnesses, 75. The categories are:
Personal experiences without a witness: 25 points
Personal experiences with one witness: 50 points
Personal experiences with multiple witnesses: up to 75 points
Anomalies recorded with devices: for one device, 10-20; for two, 20-30; for three or more, up to 40 (combined with personal experiences, this could reach 100).
Persistence over time of anomalous events, or continual reporting of paranormal phenomena (not simply a ‘reputation for hauntings’): 10-30.
Information that could not be known by normal means, later verified: Depending upon the type of information that is later verified, this could score up to 100 points (rare, though; the verification must be of some material importance and subject to multiple witness accounts. The verification methods themselves must be airtight and not contaminated by information available during the incident or investigation).
The idea is to consider more seriously those investigations that can furnish evidence of a higher point value. Before a team or an individual presents research or data to the general public (social media posts, blogs, or–rarely–submits work to an academic journal), this “paranormeter” could be helpful in determining how seriously the public will interpret said data.
This meter is also useful, I believe, for individuals looking to understand their own experience. How seriously should I take the activity in my apartment? Considering that my husband was a witness to some of it, and that there were various manifestations of odd phenomena over several days, I would rank my experiences a 60/100, as there was more than one witness and personal experiences were varied over a period of days. What would improve that score? Some kind of outside verification, for example: evidence that the building, land, or apartment had reports of paranormal activity in the past, or evidence of the kind of event that is compatible with a haunting: a crime, traumatic emotional events linked to the site, or unfinished business of a previous occupant with strong ties to the location (with the understanding that none of that ‘proves’ the existence of a haunting spirit, but skews the interpretation in that direction towards the goal of paranormal activity “beyond a reasonable doubt”).
I have, in the past, made embarrassing mistakes interpreting data after a paranormal investigation, most often via the misinterpretation of a photo. Before I offer up data in the future, I plan to use the paranormeter to assess how likely it is that I have strong evidence for unexplained spiritual phenomena in a location. If, for example, my photo is later debunked, was there anything else that supported the theory of a haunting? The last two times a photo tricked me, there was nothing else to support paranormal activity: no device offered up anomalies in the environment, no witnesses experienced anything unexplained, and there were no compelling personal experiences. If I had had the framework for the “paranormeter”, I would have thought twice before presenting a weird photo to the world.
My score of 60 for my own, recent experiences tells me that I have little to worry about, as I don’t feel compelled to raise that score by hauling out my recorder and EMF reader. I live here, so my preference is to let this series of events go without further investigation. Of course, whether or not that is possible depends on the nature and quality of the next experience, if it comes at all.
–Kirsten A. Thorne, PhD
International Society for Paranormal Research 