One of the most common questions I receive as a paranormal investigator is Why do you only investigate at night? Don’t ghosts haunt houses during the day?
And that’s a very valid question considering that the majority of our investigations happen in the wee hours when most people are sound asleep. My team and I typically arrive at our clients’ homes right at sunset, send them out for dinner and a movie, and blearily drive home, air conditioning blowing and the radio cranked, trying our best to stay awake before dawn has even broken.
Of course, Hollywood has popularized the idea that ghosts, poltergeists, demons, and various monsters only come out to “play” when it’s dark. That just naturally ups the scare factor because the human fear of the dark is both ancient and genetic. It’s a fear that I and my fellow investigators have worked hard to suppress.
But, paranormal investigators don’t always investigate at night. It all depends upon the clients and when their activity seems to occur. The majority of the investigations, though, do happen at night and I think I know the reasons why.
Work
Most people work all day, five days a week. Mornings are spent rushing around getting the kids ready for school and getting ourselves ready for rush hour traffic and our jobs. Then, once home, it’s time to shuttle the kids to their various after-school activities, fix and eat dinner, and hustle off to bed. Which leads into…
Night time is quiet time.
Unless it’s Independence Day and everyone in town is setting off fireworks, the evenings and nights are the quietest part of our days. It’s the time when we slow down, settle in after hard days of work, and go to bed. When our environments are quiet, we tend to notice every creak and groan, every whisper and light flicker. Personally, I feel very safe at home, but when my husband is out of town on business, my senses are heightened and trust gets tossed out the window. The house I’ve lived in for nearly 20 years suddenly becomes a strange place full of odd noises and shadows and I’m convinced that every burglar in the greater-Atlanta area is trying to break in. Does this mean that ghosts are a figment of our imaginations? Not necessarily. It’s completely understandable that we only hear strange sounds when the sounds of everyday life have diminished.
Our audio evidence is better at night
I have found that when I investigate the paranormal, the most ubiquitous piece of evidence I collect are EVPs — electronic voice phenomena. In the almost-twelve years I have investigated the paranormal, I have only collected three pieces of video evidence, and countless pieces of audio. As stated above, the nighttime is quietest. Traffic is minimal and human activity is low. When the world is quiet, then audio evidence shines and I’m not constantly trying to account for every artificial sound I hear.
Our best piece of evidence DID occur in the morning!
During PGI’s very first investigation of Old South Pittsburg Hospital in South Pittsburg, TN, we captured a door opening by itself… at 8:30 in the morning! So, yeah, that just goes to show that spirits can be up and at ’em in the morning, too!
Our lives are quiet at night
Let’s face it. I don’t get paid as a paranormal investigator. My fellow investigators and I all have day jobs. One owns a store, I write full time, another one runs a travel agency, and so on. Those Monday through Friday, nine-to-five jobs don’t leave a lot of time to investigate during the day. Not only that, but weekends are typically filled with family and errands. So, for us, as paranormal investigators, weekend nights are the best time to investigate! We have, though, investigated during the day. If a client says their activity seems to peak at three o’clock in the afternoon, then we try our darnedest to investigate at 3 PM. More often than not, though, investigations happen at night when it’s convenient for everyone.
Paranormal investigations aren’t about skulking around in the dark, shining flashlights in dank basements, scurrying through cemetery headstones, or traipsing through abandoned buildings. It’s about the search for the truth regarding the paranormal experiences people have in their own homes. I investigate whenever the clients asks me to do so, and if that means investigating at high noon or the dead of night, then I do whatever it takes!
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