Family

So, I got a call from my grandma the other day (technically, she is my step-grandma... she married my widowed grandpa when I was in my teens, and my grandpa has passed away since).  Regardless of how we are related, she is one cool older lady.  She is turning 90 this year, and she is so open and accepting of things and ideas.  She is, and always has been, open to the spiritual world as well.  She heard, through my mom, that I  am a paranormal investigator now, and she called me immediately... she wanted ALL the details.  Plus, she had several pointers of her own on how to be safe and protected.  (Yes, I took your advice and added to my current repertoire of protection!)  I was so touched with her level of support in this venture of mine, and it got me to thinking of how all my family members view this new part of my life.

My husband:
The ultimate skeptic.  Until the last few months, he still thought I was partially nuts.  And although HE would never want to investigate, he has supported me fully in this venture, and I could not do this without his support.  He works crazy hours : He has a "typical" weekday job, but his days start with working from home on his laptop and cellphone at 5am, and we don't usually expect him home for dinner because he might have to take clients out, and then he works from home in the evening too.  So, when he makes special accommodations to be home with the kids so I can attend our team meetings and investigations, it really means something to me and I understand that he is changing his schedule for something that I do that he doesn't really subscribe to, but he supports me anyhow.  Awesome!  He's a keeper, don't you think?

My parents:
Well, as you know (if you read my first post on this blog), my Dad passed away last year, so I'm sure he's a major believer in the paranormal now!  BUT, if I had gotten into this while he was still here to voice his opinion, he would quietly shake his head with a smile on his face, and chuckle his particular little chuckle.  He frequently thought I was kinda "out there",but I personally think he felt it was a part of my charm!  (I like to think that anyhow!)  Ultimately, he was a rational man who had a grasp on all tangible things.  The paranormal... he would just not quite be convinced, but as he always did, I am sure he would cheer me on anyhow.
My mom is a skeptical believer.  We should all aim for that status... don't believe every paranormal report you hear, otherwise you would be believing a whole load of lies.  But, there are true paranormal events out there, and you can only investigate and prove/disprove one at a time.  And, she is always supporting me with any venture I have undertaken.  I talk to my mom at least once a day, and sometimes up to three times a day, so I probably bore her with details she doesn't care about (and I try not to, really!), but she is happy I have found a team of like-minded individuals to work with.  And she is truly happy I have this activity for myself... not a job-for-pay, not a family responsibility, just a team I enjoy being a part of, and an activity I could not do without them.

My friends and other family members:
That's a mixed bag... all my closest friends support me, but there are varying levels of belief and disbelief and fear.  There are others that I am not close with... and with those, I don't usually bring up my investigator role unless it is relevant to our conversation.  You never know how people will react, and if they aren't my closest friends, do they really want/need to know what I do with a few hours of my time every month?  (Of course, everyone who reads this blog knows!)

My kids:
My dog (my kids count him as a sibling): He saw the shadow person in our doorway, so I know he would believe if he had the mental capacity to think about it.  :)
My son.... is 4 years old and doesn't really understand what I do, and that's okay with me for now.  I don't want him to misunderstand and be scared about it.
My daughter... keeps thinking I am going to meet Jason and Grant and the whole team from TAPS.  Yes, API is a TAPS family member. If they get case requests in Northern California, they get referred to us.  We have high standards for our team, we don't charge for our services, and we are client-based... our ultimate goal in each case is to help the client, not get paranormal thrills.  My daughter watches some episodes of Ghost Hunters with me, and is so excited about it.  She can't wait until she is old enough to go with me on a hunt somewhere.  So, yes, she is obviously supportive as well.

I hope I haven't bored you to death, pondering my support network!  That call from my grandmother just got me in a mood to think about how lucky I am to have such supportive people in my life, regardless of their individual beliefs and interests.  My hope is that each of you has that too, regardless of your own wacky pursuits!  Thanks for checking in!

Our Emergency Case - Revealed

Before I talk about our case, let me mention that our team uses sensitives, only when the client wants them.  Sensitives are not psychics or mediums necessarily, and those terms are highly overused.  But we have some team members who are, well, more sensitive than the others.
You know when you walk into a room and it just feels weird, but you can't think of a single reason why?  They might be able to walk into that room and be able to identify that reason.  They might get brief mental images or words that give reason to it all.  They just have extra insight, and our team uses sensitives as another tool for our investigations.  We are all sensitive to some degree, by the way, some are just more "tuned in."

SO, we used two sensitives on our emergency case and they were very helpful, especially this time.  They both picked up on some entities that seemed to make sense with the clients complaints.  NOTHING evil or demonic was detected, which agreed with all our objective equipment readings as well.

We attempted to catch shadow movement with my laser grid and a camera trained on the hallway, but we had no such luck... I think the entities didn't feel like putting on a show.

We did see an unexplained light anomaly move through a room between me and another investigator, but again, the camera wasn't facing the right direction.  :(   Go figure.

During an EVP session, I happened to be with our two sensitives, and using their skills along with our equipment, we attempted to get "yes" and "no" answers from the entities to try to piece together the puzzle of who was there and why.  From that session, we think there was a cranky older man who used to live on the land before the current building was there (which was built in the 1960's).  He passed away, but didn't want to move on, and doesn't like people living where he used to live.  He's not nice, but can't do any real harm.
There was also a female they picked up on, who may have worked in a domestic capacity for that cranky man, and still felt obligated to do so.  We made it very clear to her that her obligations are done and she can move on if she is ready.  I'm not sensitive like they are, so I don't know if she truly did, but the room felt lighter and better after that session.

We got some decent EVPs, some which I can't add to this blog because of the confidential content of our own voices during the same clips, but I have put 3 together here.  Again, they sound best with headphones.

Overall, we were able to tell the clients that they are NOT crazy.  There is something paranormal going on.  BUT, that they have control over the situation.  They had been so frightened by the experience so far, that they had given up control of their space.  We were able to show them that they have more power than what was there.  They can treat their entities like annoying toddler tantrums, and they can demand that they stop as well.  As long as the family stands together and show that they own their space, they can create a peaceful home environment that they can be comfortable in.

Since educating the clients, and having finished the investigation, the clients have had less activity, and are getting more sleep.  Even their toddler daughter has been heard in her room saying "This my room! You leave!"... Give kids power, and they will run with it!   Needless to say, I'm really happy with how my first case went!  The clients feel safer and happier, and we got evidence with the EVPs.

Case closed.