An activities log is strongly recommended if, in the course of a private in-home investigation, you or your team follow a structured set of tasks such as set-up, interviews, baseline sweeps, vigils, etc. Who was on surveillance duty? Which activity was done when, and how long did it take? Where in the venue did it occur? Who participated, and who didn’t participate? The answers to these and similar questions are useful to document for a number of reasons....

The purpose of this document is to establish in advance of your death a set of protocols by which designated individuals (“designees”) will attempt transcommunication with you by way of electronic voice phenomenon or an equivalent method. By completing and submitting this affidavit, you and your designees consent to its use as outlined herein....

We appreciate knowing ahead of time whether or not you keep companion animals in the venue scheduled for investigation.  Your companion animals are part of your family, but they're not always predictable when guests come over....

While other groups may choose to honor a more metaphysically based approach to the subject, for PPI paranormal phenomena are first and foremost an exercise in careful environmental monitoring. Establishing a baseline of readings is fundamental to conducting our investigations according to the scientific method....

Because of the sensitive concerns that children can pose for a paranormal investigation, PPI follows special protocols about their involvement. We respectfully ask that you review the following guidelines about child cases and children's participation in the investigation process.

Although the purpose of any “ghost hunting” vigil is varied, its primary objective is to transcommunicate: to make “contact” with putative spirits and carry on an exchange. Audio-visual recording is the preferred technique because it, both, documents a session and yields the most intriguing findings in the recorded audio: electronic voice phenomena....

If you’re an amateur paranormal researcher, and you’re sharing your media and data files with others, then you are obligated to name your files with data that catagorically identifies its content and assigns it a unique address in your database. Furthermore, an investigative group trying to build its own paranormal library of evidence must, out of necessity, use a system of file naming protocols to make cataloguing possible, and, in the case of client outreach, protect the privacy of your client....

PPI is very proud to be among a growing number of paranormal investigation groups that, like our parent organization, T.A.P.S., responds to claims of paranormal activity by attempting to disprove them.....

In "Improper Use of Psychics During a Paranormal Investigation," Tim Mountain "tells it like it is" about the reasons scientifically based paranormal investigating gives psychics a demoted role to play, and what the protocols of their participation should be. 

Even if this is not your first time inviting an paranormal group, you'll still want to know what to expect when PPI conducts its investigation in your home or business. Here you'll find answers to the most frequently asked questions about how to prepare and what to expect.

Even in the earliest days at PPI, I was heavily involved in the report-writing side of things. In fact, I created the report system PPI continues to use today. Consequently, other team members submitted to me their “evidence”— which is what we were still calling it back then. They provided me with short narratives about their data and experiences, and even if they'd summarily say, "Found nothin'," they’d still burn their digital audio and photos onto writable CDs, which I then documented piecemeal and added to the report as fussily word-processed charts....

If you've been asked to submit information about your medications and medical conditions, please read on.

In this resource you'll find an overview of PPI's principles of investigating that can be used as a model or adapted for your own investigative group.  It includes i) a current inventory of our equipment and tools, ii) a detailed accounting of our procedures during an investigation, iii) a comprehensive delineation of the protocols we follow, and iv) a declaration of our code of ethics.

A paranormal investigation is theater—the good ol’ fashioned kind that comes out of rituals. When the rituals are collaborative, as they often are in, say, an EVP vigil, the theater is participatory as well, and everyone participates even when they have no lines. Participants want to compare notes, corroborate one another’s claims, and get in on social camaraderie of swapping anecdotes....

We join members of Pacific Paranormal Investigations during their fifth annual fireside chat on Halloween Night. Karl Sherlock, Brian Miller, Tim Mountain, Debra Page, Larry Page and Tracy Evans discuss children and the paranormal and the nature of EVP in a spontaneous conversation.

Recorded October 31, 2012

Length: 01:08:35

Part 1 of PPI's presentation: Science and Beyond- An Educated Look at Ghost Hunting, is entitled Investigative Techniques. Presented by PPI Investigator and Case Manager Jason Sieckman.

Recorded March 21, 2009 at Grossmont College, El Cajon, CA

Length: 00:17:12

Part 2 of PPI's presentation: Science and Beyond- An Educated Look at Ghost Hunting, is entitled Tools of the Trade. Presented by PPI Tech Manager and Co-Director Brian Miller.

Recorded March 21, 2009 at Grossmont College, El Cajon, CA

Length: 00:14:23

Part 1 of our presentation: Science & Beyond - A Look at the Science Behind 21st Century Paranomrmal Investigation -is entitled Investigative Techniques.

presented by PPI Investigator Jason Sieckman. Introduction by PPI Investigator Tim Mountain.

Recorded October 11, 2011

Length: 00:17:32

In "Provoking, or How to Lose Friends and Influence Ghosts in the Paranormal World," Jason Sieckman takes a tongue-in-cheek but critical look at provocation, a technique some paranormal investigators employ to get a rise out of spirits and stir up more activity.

While it can sometimes become as tedious as any other component of the post-investigation process, audio review is among the most rewarding phases of an investigation. Not only does it tend to produce proportionally more results than any other data set, it generally offers the most intriguing findings. In fact, most investigators will cite their best EVP as their most persuasive "evidence" of paranormal activity. This is because the voices that emerge from out of that an unseen realm, so fallibly human and familiar to us, invariably appeal to our pathos in ways cold spots and orb photos could never hope to....

Statements Written by David Hanson

Professionalism in the field of paranormal investigating is a bit of an oxymoron because we’re not really professionals. We’re amateurs, even if we get paid for it and publish books about it. Those who bring expertise to the field do so usually by way of other professions, and even those who tout being pros on TV are primarily reality television professionals or actors outright. Because of our amateur status, then, we’re all actors of a sort....