It’s no surprise that with the interest in the paranormal, movies like the Ghostbusters series and television shows like Ghost Hunters, Ghost Whisperer, and Medium have drawn in large audiences. But, are all of these movies and television shows accurately portraying what a paranormal investigator actually does? In an interview with the founder of the Phoenix Arizona Paranormal Society (PAPS), it became clear that they are not merely “ghost hunters” but real life paranormal investigators on all levels. Rod, the founder of PAPS, was very sure to make the distinction between ghost hunters and paranormal investigators. As he explained it, ghost hunters are groups or individuals who go out looking for ghosts themselves, while paranormal investigators are seeking, not only what is right in front of us (ghosts) but those spirits that have not manifested and cannot be seen; essentially looking for anything that is paranormal in nature.
For Rod, experience with the paranormal started when he was a teenager living in what he referred to as a “haunted house”. At 16, he had an experience with an angry spirit who physically attacked both him and his brother in their rooms one week apart from each other, each at exactly 4am. The spirit attempted to choke them both, on those separate occasions, and only light and sound deterred this persistent spirit. From there, the home itself seemed possessed. As Rod told it, “Lights would go on and off, things would move, and something kept grabbing me”. Pretty creepy...might be time to move!
Rod eventually moved to Arizona, married, and had children and in roughly 1983, his two year old daughter showed him that his experiences with the paranormal were not over. His daughter told him that someone was keeping her awake at night and “the old man” wouldn’t let her sleep. At first, Rod felt a bit skeptical as a two year old was relaying this information and we all know how a child’s imagination can, at times, exaggerate reality. However, after taking a picture with his daughter sitting on her bed, he noticed a white mist right at the foot of the bed where she kept telling him “the old man” was. After this experience, when his children were older, Rod and his wife took the kids on a vacation to Sedona. At a local inn there, the children got their own taste of a spirit who was a bit of a jokester and kept pulling the covers off of them all night. That was the final straw for Rod.
In 1999, PAPS was founded and consisted of Rod and a few family members. They travelled around the country to different locations such as numerous spots in Gettysburg, PA, the Whaley House in San Diego, CA, and the Stanley Hotel in Denver, CO, looking for the paranormal and collecting “research”, as Rod called it, to provide evidence for paranormal activity. In 2004, PAPS became an LLC and now has over 14 team members (none of which are family any longer) including a Chaplin, Bishop, and Demonologist.
**Stay tuned for more on PAPS including some case studies they have experienced as well as information about the equipment they use and how you can become involved with the organization**
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