Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
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Welcome to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section. Please, check here before emailing a question to the GMPS. Many times the answers you are seeking can be found there. If your answer is not on the FAQ’s, or on any of the links provided on the left, please feel free to email us. Please keep in mind that our response time may be a day and up to a week, depending on time and avaliblity of a GMPS team member.
There may be simple, ordinary reasons for the happenings in your home. Try to look for logical reasons behind knocking, banging, hot spots, cold spots, voices etc.
Q: Can spirits follow you?
A: It is blieved that they can, they may be attached to you or something that you have ie:an object.
Q: Can children see spirits?
A: Children are more open minded; therefore, they might not know if what they are seeing is a spirit. They are not preconditioned to ignore the unexplainable and really don't understand the statement “there are no such thing as ghosts”. Also keep in mind that fact and fiction are blurred in a child's mind, so use your best judgement when trying to decide if your child has had a legitmate paranormal experience.
Q: What is so bad about the ouija board?
A: You are giving something beyond our realm control of your motor functions. You are allowing yourself to be manipulated by something you don’t know. It’s not the board itself, you can make a spirit board out of anything, it’s the practice of using it as a vehicle to lower your will.
Q: I was sleeping and I couldn’t move, something was pushing on me what was it?
A: Could have been sleep paralysis. What happens is your body temporarily paralyzes itself during sleep to preventyou from enacting everything that you are dreaming about. Sometimes your body is awake but your mind is asleep and you end up sleepwalking. Other times it works the other way around, your mind is awake but your body is sleeping and you cannot move. This can leave you delusional as, while you panic, your breathing and heart rate does not increase to compensate, so eventually you fallback asleep and all is well.
Common side effects are feelings of being held down, shortness of breath, inability to speak.
Q: How do I start my own group?
A: This requires a group of like-minded individuals, a good sense of safety and responsibility, and common sense. Some people start with a group of friends, some look on the internet for other groups that are already up and running. On our main page there is a link to the Paranormals Community. The Paranormals Community consists of established, affiliated groups that you may want to learn from. Click on the banner to find one near you.
Q: What is the best equipment to use?
A: We do have extensive equipment, however it has been years in the making, and these things were not purchased all at once. It may take time and saving up a bit to get a good equipment base. However, excellent results can be obtained with the most basic of equipment such as a video camera with nightshot and an audio recorder, either analog or digital. Other equipment you might look to buy are; an EMF meter, thermometer, and cameras, 35mm and digital. Some of these are obviously expensive equipment, so to buy them one by one is ok too. These tools are an investment and need to be treated as such. Be sure to handle your equipment carefully and to store it properly—You want to be sure it will be useful to you for a long time. Always keep a checklist of your equipment, and inventory it before and after an investigation. When deciding on equipment, don't forget to factor in the cost of media (tapes, film, etc.) Many people choose digital to overcome this, while other swear the results are better with the non-digital variety.
Q: How do I get rid of an unwanted spirit?
A: Well, hopefully, with the right knowledge, you won't feel threatened by its presence, but if you are truly uncomfortable with the fact you may have a spirit, and it is the right type of spirit, you can ask it to leave. As a family you need to tell it to leave, to move on. This may take several tries, however it is your home and you need to take charge. Simply say “we do not want you here, it is time you moved on”.
Q: Why do spirits move things?
A: We cannot interview a spirit to find out for sure, but we guess that they may want to let you know they are there. Simple daily tasks that we perform without even a thought may take a spirit some time to accomplish. You may wake up to a cup being a few feet from where you left it. That may be their way of telling you “hey I’m here”. The important thing to do is to try and find the sense in the activity in an attempt to figure out what they are trying to accomplish.
Q: How much weight can a spirit move?
A: In our experience we've found that what we label as an intelligent spirit doesn't seem to move objecs more than around 10 pounds in weight. This can actually work out to be quite a shove or a grab. A demonic or inhuman entity, appears to be able to move much more than that.
Q: What is a demonic or inhuman?
A: A demonic or inhuman is a classification we use to describe an entity that has never walked the earth in a human corporeal form. There are many different types; demons, elementals, angels,etc.
Q: How come I keep seeing a shadow figure out of the corner of my eye, but when I look at it it’s gone?
A: Basically, light entering from the corner of the eye is distorted more than the light that enters the eye from straight on. What you see out of the corner of your eye is simply your mind's best guess at what you would see if you were to look straight at it. Therefore, you cannot be too sure of what you see through the corner of your eye.
Q: Why do you investigate at night?
A: One theory is that if an entity, while manifesting itself, causes any light at all, you will see it better at night with infrared cameras. Yet, if an entity, while manifesting itself, does not cause light, then you will see it at night with infrared cameras. If you were to do this during the day, you wouldn't catch that bit of light, should there be one. For example: if you turn on a flashlight outside on a sunny day it's not going to be discernable at all. But if you turn on the dimmest of all flashlight in the darkness, you will see it very clearly. Also, sound travels further at night do to a phenomenon called sound refraction. Most of all, that is when the reported activity almost always is reported to happen. And, that is when we aren't all working at our jobs, lol.
Q: How long does a investigation take?
A: The basic investigation takes a number of weeks. From the first call or email to a interview to a walk through to a night at your location takes a few weeks. The night we are there can be anywhere from 2 hours to up to 8. Then there is up to 2 weeks going over all the recordings, photos and videos. And then we will come back and give you anything that was found and go over what the next step should be.
Q: Can spirits travel from place to place?
A: We don't see why not. They seem to have the ability to move at their will.
Q: Why can spirits travel through walls?
A: One theory is that they are made up of energy and as you know energy is not solid, giving them the ability to travel through a wall. Another one is that if it is a residual haunting, the entity is oblivious to a newly contructed wall etc. Others say, that the spirit is made of fine matter which is less dense than that of a wall.
Q: Sometimes I can sense things and I don’t know where it comes from, what is it?
A: There is a chance you may be sensitive, meaning that you have a great ability to see things that others can not. It is not something to be afraid of, it’s a gift that you can use to your advantage. We recommend, if this is happening to you, that you contact a respectable group in your area to help you determine if you truly are or not.
Q: Do you use psychics or mediums?
A: We are looking for scientific evidence, we are not against anyone that is a psychic or a medium, however we cannot base the conclusion of a case on the feelings of a psychic or a medium. A feeling is not solid proof. We have talked to a few people in the past who said they could feel things and when asked to test them they have all backed out.
Q: Can I go on an investigation with the GMPS team?
A: Sadly we can not take anyone out side of the GMPS team with us on investigations becuase of a few reasons. 1) We do a background check on everyone in the GMPS team and we know that no one in the team has a criminal history. 2) We do everything we can to keep the clients location private and having someone on the outside with us means there is a chance that person could go on facebook or somewhere and post all about the client and there location. 3) Members of the GMPS team have paid there dues to be in the field with training, working in the background and yes really paying there dues. And to have someone who has not would be a insult to them.
We hope that we were able to answer some of your questions. Please understand we are very busy so before emailing us try to research your questions on our site, we have abundant information here for you to read. If you do not see your question here, please email us with it and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
2011 Greater Maryland Paranormal Society
