Paranormal Investigators of Australia

Paranormal Investigators Of Australia
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paranormal-Investigators-of-Australia/291870334182525?sk=wall
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How to spend $655

Recently there has been a course offered by ‘Paranormal Investigators of Australia’ which claims to result in ‘accreditation’ for each successful student. It’s about time someone offered such a course, but as a budding investigator it is only fitting that one investigates the course itself first before shelling out some very hard earned dollars.

So where should investigation start? Normally it would start by finding out as much as possible about the group holding the course. Quick Google search: nil results. Huh? Can it be possible that a course offering promise could be vapourware? So in frustration we resort to the one and only reference available to it which is a Facebook page. A quick look around finds…. Nothing! No names, no references, no links to other more established groups. Nothing except a single link to a site where one can spend more $$$ to buy some ghost hunting equipment. How very odd.

About the only clue as to the person or people behind this site that I have been able to find is in a brief exchange between myself and the owner where the owner called himself John. A little deduction leads to the conclusion that ‘John’ is none other than John Overton who had recently put his insubstantial weight behind the confusion at HPA when I had the nerve to ask them about their ‘training’ after they warned against ‘untrained’ groups offering investigations.

A little searching on the net shows that John Overton’s entire contribution to the field of paranormal investigation appears to consist of a single picture of some curtains which he claims is a ghost. A white sheet would have been much more convincing IMHO.

But still, this might or might not be the same person, because we really can’t be certain.

So let’s not worry about credentials or reputation for now, let’s look instead at the course itself.

The most outstanding feature of the course by far is that it offers ‘accreditation’. I asked John exactly how that is possible when there is no independent board and no set of standards to be measured against. John replied that as there are no standards, the accreditation he offers is accreditation by himself to himself. That’s it.

So for now let’s ignore the lack of credentials or reputation of the person offering the course, and the apparent uselessness of the piece of paper you get on conclusion of the course and look at the contents of the course.

The stated content of the course is as follows:

1) Metaphysics – energy, what is it? What are we investigating? (2-3 nights)

Surely investigators should be doing what their name implies – ie investigating. Isn’t that really what it’s all about? The real point is that no one actually knows what it’s all about. You can read 5 ‘New Age’ books and get 5 different explanations. This module really feels much more like initiation into a church than having any application to the field of paranormal investigation whatsoever. To say it once more: Investigators need to investigate with a truly open mind – not one which has been bent to a particular theory on what is behind it all. An open mind is truly the most useful tool a paranormal investigator can posess and module 1 of this course seems determined to remove that.

2) Ethics, Responsibilities and Code of Conduct (1 night)

Really, this is the most hilarious of all. Someone who refuses to identify himself and who stifles questions by removing them from his website rather than giving honest answers is teaching about ethics and codes of conduct.

3) Equipment – identification, uses, and technical Knowledge (2 nights)

Finally we start getting into what the people who signed up for the course actually signed up for. Though for some reason we only spend 2 nights on this as opposed to the 2-3 nights of fluff from module 1. Really? And sadly there is no actual listing of the equipment covered from these two nights of study. For all we know both nights could be spent simply trying to understand how a torch works.

4) Planning and execution of a Paranormal Investigation – implementation and correct placement of equipment, studying the history of the Investigation location (2 nights)

Again, something that could at least partially be useful. How to place equipment intelligently is indeed useful. I have no idea what the implementation is of because it doesn’t really make sense in that sentence. The history study, while interesting to some, I find quite useless. The investigators role is to establish what is evident on the occasion of the investigation. Knowing what has been present previously can skew the investigator’s perception resulting in genuine phenomena being missed while they wait for something expected to happen.

5) Reviewing of Evidence – sceptical vs cynical – debunking (2 nights)

If the ‘John’ is indeed John Overton known to be associated with the HPA site than I would suggest that he is not a very good authority on either of these topics. The huge quantity of photos that are accepted by HPA as paranormal which clearly display nothing more than user’s lack of understanding of how to use a camera is frankly appalling.

So that’s it. For your $655, you get 3 of the 10 nights which actually hold any value at all, and even then contain nothing that can’t be picked up from other more established sites and via Youtube. I’d also further deride the course for being offered without any credentials.

Note that in the above discussion I was actually being generous by suggesting that it was being offered by John Overton. Of course it could be anybody at all with absolutely no background in any of the subject matter. Or any money paid could just simply vanish – remember that this ‘group’ exists only as a Facebook page with no background and most of all, no names.

And so, where would your paranormally-destined $655 be better spent?

I’d suggest one or more of :

Long lasting, shock-proof torch
Voice activated sound recorder
GOOD quality camera with at least IR capability.
Some video monitoring equipment with at least IR capability
Tripod for said camera(s)

… and don't forget to print your own meaningless certificate to say that your are a Paranormal Investigator accredited to your own unpublished standards