Preparing for the Investigation

•  The quality and integrity of the evidence St. Louis Ghost Hunters may be able to collect at your home or business not only depends on our preparation, equipment and investigation techniques, but also on your preparation ahead of time. We’ve created this list to assist you in preparing for our visit.

 

• Compile a complete list of the potential paranormal activity from everyone involved so that nothing is forgotten on investigation night. Most clients find it most helpful to keep a detailed journal of activity. Often your journal will be a more reliable resource than your memory and may help you identify patterns you might otherwise have overlooked.

 

•  Determine which areas should to be investigated and which areas, if any, will be off-limits to investigators.

 

•  If possible, arrange for children and pets to stay overnight with family or friends. All parties present create noise and even well-mannered children and quiet pets generate background noise which could cause otherwise credible evidence to be discounted. Even just the presence of paranormal investigators is enough to severely frighten some children and teenagers. We strongly recommend that you determine what is appropriate to share with your children after we’ve presented our findings.

 

•  If pets must be present on investigation night, please make a plan to minimize possible noise and interference. For example, dogs could be crated with thick bedding and a desirable, long-lasting treat, cats could be confined to a room outside of the investigation area, bells could be removed from bird cages, etc. Please let us know ahead of time if there will be free-roaming pets and understand that their presence may cause otherwise credible evidence to be dismissed.

 

•  Remove any particularly fragile or valuable items from the areas under investigation. Although we’ve never broken anything, we don’t want to take any chances!

 

• Walk through the areas to be investigated and make a list of any potential hazards investigators should be aware of. For example, insecure railings, loose floorboards, weak stairs, low doorways, etc. Remember that we typically investigate in total darkness and our red-filtered flashlights only provide minimal light!

 

•  To help preserve evidence integrity and lower the possibility of “false positives,” eliminate as many sources of dust, light, noise or smell as possible. For example, take out the trash, clean the cat litter box, take down wind chimes, unplug automatic air fresheners, turn off motion lights, empty ashtrays, thoroughly vacuum and dust, thoroughly clean up after pets, etc. In addition, please alert us to any naturally occurring sounds, smells and temperature extremes we might experience during our investigation. For example, you regularly smoke in a particular room, you keep the vents closed in a particular room so it is always chilly or the floor in the bedroom always creaks when someone walks down the hall, etc.

 

•  For the safety of our group and your belongings, please de-clutter walkways & stairwells. Although we don’t expect perfection, we find it easier to work in a reasonably clean and organized environment. Should you give us permission to publish photos or video online, we want you to be comfortable with the way the background looks should you refer your friends to our site.

 

•  During the “lights out” portion of the investigation, if you remain present we’ll ask that you stay at “base camp.” Prepare a “base camp kit” containing everything you might need such as drinks, snacks, reading material, silent activities, blankets & pillows, etc. Please understand that smoking indoors or moving around during the investigation will compromise the evidence.

 

• Once you commit to an investigation with us, we begin investing time in your case. Everyone on our team makes special arrangements to be available on the night of your investigation. In addition, team members spend time researching beforehand and arrange to be available for evidence review & analysis during the two weeks after your investigation. Should you suspect you might need to reschedule, please notify us as soon as possible. Except in emergencies, we ask that you give us two weeks cancellation notice. We have many pending cases and if you are not going to use the date we’ve arranged, we hope we’ll have the opportunity to assist someone else.