There is a legend surrounding a grave marker in Marietta, GA. The grave marker displays the image of a woman’s face and the legend says that the woman represented lost her children in a tragic accident. The legend further states that if the gravesite visitor interacts with the grave marker in a certain negative and provocative way, the attached spirit will cause the image of the woman’s face to “cry”. The implication is that the visitor has caused great sadness in the dead woman’s earthbound spirit and caused her to reveal herself.

What level of support should this sort of practice be afforded in serious or professional paranormal investigation?

Counting Coup?

Either in person or on television, we’ve all seen it. The investigation is running slow and one of the investigators takes some sort of action to provoke phenomena. The first time I witnessed it was in ISPR Investigates: Ghosts of England DVD. The team was in the second segment of the video and was investigating Tonge Hall. The sensitives were gathered upstairs in a cramped hallway and most all of them were interacting with the location’s spirits in some form or another. Derek Acorah and Linda Mackenzie were tag-teaming a spirit named “Richard” while Larry Montz observed. (Personally, it appeared to me that Linda was doing the interacting and Derek was trying to get in on it.) Ms. Mackenzie admits later that she was purposely aggravating the spirit for her own purposes. The result? All team members present felt cold. On screen it also appears that Ms. Mackenzie was pushed and Mr. Acorah was choked.

Did they ask for it? Was it justified? Was it worth the risk? Could it have been worse? I suppose that everyone’s answers will vary as everyone’s motivations for conducting paranormal research is different.

Respect For The Dead

The most prevalent reason I have heard for not engaging in this practice has been the investigators’ respect for the dead. The most ethical of the groups I’ve talked to have said that they just practice The Golden Rule, “Do unto others…” These are the same folks that conduct an introductory statement to the spirits before the begin to investigate and announce their departure (as well as asking the spirits not to follow) when the leave the site. The most extreme of these even prohibit their members from stepping on graves in cemeteries. If the spirits are watching, I can’t imagine them feeling at all threatened by these folks.

I think that most of the rest of us fall into the middle of the range in regard to politeness and respect for the paranormal. We may step on graves, but we don’t damage them. If we knock something over, a flower arrangement, a picture, a flag, we’ll stand it back up and probably offer at least a mental apology. We don’t generally provoke the paranormal into action or presentation, but we may ask them to speak up or give us a sign. Notice I typed “ask”… Most of the time, we just wait for a “natural” occurrence. It’s highly unlikely we would ever call a spirit a coward or question a ghost mother’s devotion to her long-dead children. Most of us can see spirits as humans on another plane.

Then there are the ambitious ones. These investigators are unconcerned with the effect of provoking a spirit just as long as they can document it. From what I’ve seen these people treat the paranormal like laboratory test subjects, symbolically prodding them with sticks. As long as they can get it on camera, anything goes. Is it any wonder that these investigators frequently find themselves as topics of credibility debates? Probably not… Without the patience of a seasoned investigator or behavioral guidelines, they are more prone to be thought of as faking results for attention.

Quality Of Results

Does a provoked encounter hold as much value as an unprovoked encounter? Let’s compare the natural to the supernatural. In this day and age it’s not difficult to find four or five television channels at any given time broadcasting nature documentaries or specials. Most of us have seen Jeff Corwin, Steve Irwin, and a gaggle of other nature show hosts trek to the wilds of some exotic land to present you with wildlife you’re unlikely to see from your living room armchair. We’ve seen the night footage of lions taking down wildebeests. We’ve seen the alligators leaping from the water to snap up prey on the shoreline. We’ve seen bears snatching salmon from the stream. How much value would we find in these displays if the lion, alligator, or bear were fed with bait that the production crew brought with them? Is it more educational when the crocodiles are on the side of the river or in a fenced enclosure in Australia Zoo? Of course not, we like to see wildlife, life, and… death in their most natural states.

Now the spirits of passed human beings are not animals, although some investigators treat them worse than those performing in a circus. However, I draw the comparison to offer the point that “natural” is better. Who can disagree with that? If you can, let me know so I can make my network pitch for “Big Ghostly Brother” or “The Surreal Death” or “Not A Survivor”. Forced drama does seem to be selling these days. Although, a television production crew will probably tell you that watching people hunt ghosts is about as exciting as watching paint dry or grass grow most of the time. I’m sure this is why we see paranormal investigators on television shows like Most Haunted, Ghost Hunters, and Dead Famous tangling with spirits in somewhat unorthodox ways.

Think About It

I’ll leave you with one final thought about provoking the paranormal, ghosts specifically. They’re dead. One day you will be also. Any chance they’ll be waiting for you on the other side?