Technically, I could just write “why being a paranormal investigator is like being a doctor”, but because of “focus” of this blog, I will talk about those investigators who specialize in the occult side of paranormal investigations, but if you want, you can pull out the word “occult” from this entry and everyone will be OK ;).

Here in Poland we often laugh on ourselves, as poles have something in common – we like treating illnesses on our own, based on knowledge we’re gaining from internet, books and magazines ;). Something similar can be noticed when it comes to dealing with hauntings, I see people reading few books and talking to few people, thinking they already know everything it is to know and they can deal with the haunting on their own – in most cases they can’t. Why? Because knowing how something works won’t do any good if you don’t know how to use this knowledge.

Occult paranormal investigator is like a doctor of medicine:

1. He learns – by reading books, magazines, case studies etc. he’s gaining theoretical knowledge about different kinds of paranormal phenomena, just like doctor is gaining knowledge about many kind of illness. Investigator is learning about astral planes and energy bodies, doctor is learning about human anatomy. Investigator is learning about interaction between entities and our world, doctor is learning about interaction between viruses and our body. And finally, investigator is learning about different methods of dealing with haunting, and doctor is learning about different drugs and medicines. And both of them are learning how and when they should use which method/drug.
2. He practise – investigator is visiting haunted locations and dealing with spirits, negs and demons “face to face”, doctor is treating ill people by working in hospital. Both of they are dealing with their job each day, they’re using the knowledge they’ve learned and by this, they’re gaining practical experience, followed by even more knowledge and even more experience.
3. He analyse – doctor is seeing the difference between two very similar illnesses, investigator is seeing the difference between two very similar type of hauntings. Both of them can connect very small details in order to find out what’s really going on, because of their knowledge and experience, and further, then can take proper actions to counter the illness or haunting.

Knowledge, practise, experience

Tell me, if you would see a black shadow in your house and you had read in some book that black shadows mean you’re dealing with a demon, how can you tell you have a demon and not just a malicious earthbound spirit – I can tell the difference, can you? And what about types of paranormal activity you have never read about? If you wouldn’t know there’s such thing like nature spirits, you wouldn’t be able to tell “hey, we have a nature spirit here“. People think they know everything it is to know about paranormal after reading two or three books – I’ve read dozens if not hundreds of books on paranormal and I know I don’t know everything. Are you aware that the books you’ve read do not contain the knowledge about the haunting you’re dealing with?

In defining the type of haunting, details are important. Some phenomena is common for many hauntings, some are unique for only one type. Only the wide knowledge and experience will be useful here, not few books.

First, do no harm

But mistaking the type of haunting isn’t that bad, curing the illness next is – if you’re wrong and it’s different illness, then drugs might kill the person. In case of dealing with supernatural the case looks the same – using wrong methods for wrong type of haunting might not (at least) help, and in the worst case, if might even kill someone. Spirit releasement won’t be any good against negs and demons, while exorcisms will be too much against unlucky earthbound spirit. Not mentioning that in case of negs and demons, wrong methods might piss them off and it won’t end well ;).

Learn the symptoms first you must

Paranormal investigator must first learn all symptoms, all small details of the haunting before stating his diagnosis and defining the method of curing the haunted location. Fragments of knowledge without any capability of connecting these fragments to understand the phenomena of haunting isn’t enough – investigator must know things, and he must practise them – that is why there’s a reason why some people are “doctors”, and others are just “patients” – doctors learns and practise, patients just read…

Please – keep reading, but don’t think you’re an expert after few books, but keep reading, as one day you might become an expert :).

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