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intruder, then, seeing nobody was in the room with them, they would dive back under the blankets. Much to their dismay, this went on till sunup. It was the following morning, though, that they received the biggest surprise of all …
    After they had gotten dressed and went downstairs for breakfast, they heard and saw a strange sight: the woman of the house was going about cooking their meal—while having a conversation with nobody! When they asked who she was speaking to, she told them that her son was still there with her in the house and that she still liked to talk to him. Then she calmly served them their food. I probably don’t have to tell you that they never spent the night there again.
    Years later I would see the old house, now empty, sitting there, falling into disrepair. Was the spirit of the boy still there? Was the poor, lonely woman (who was now dead, too) there with him? I didn’t know, but I wished I could find out. Today that house is long gone or I would have certainly visited it. But it is because of these stories—and many others just like it—that I slowly migrated toward the paranormal. I was determined to find out how this whole afterlife thing worked. And if it meant that I had to visit every haunted place in the state of Missouri to do so, then so be it!
    Another reason this story is important to me is that it illustrates an important fact for us investigators: hauntings happen to real people—people we often know and want to help. It’s easy to forget sometimes that ghosts and hauntings are very real things that happen to unsuspecting families all the time. They are not just fodder for horror stories. The compassion I felt for that poor woman and her dead son—as well as the questions her story raised—affects me and my investigations to this day.
    Performing an Investigation
    Before jumping into the particulars of the Martin case, it’s important that you know how I perform an investigation. In general, paranormal groups fall under three categories: Sci (scientific-based groups), Psi (psychic-based groups), and Religious. As mentioned above, I would definitely consider myself a scientific investigator. So when I approach a paranormal investigation, with or without Paranormal Inc, there are several guidelines that I follow:
Silence is golden. We try to keep our group very small (two to three people if possible) and we maintain noise discipline to keep from contaminating evidence.
Be a neutral investigator. I try not to have any preconceived notions about what is or is not happening at a haunted location. I have gone to too many “investigations” with other paranormal groups where the entire event was an exercise in sophistry. They were already completely sure the place was haunted, so every little knock, creak, etc., was “proof” of paranormal activity.
Be respectful of the location. I always try to leave a place in the condition I found it, and I always get permission to investigate. In addition, I feel there should always be some level of professionalism so that the client doesn’t feel I’m just some thrill seeker who is there to see a ghost.
Evidence, not experience. Again, as I stated above, the goal of any investigation is to get audio, photographic, or video evidence of the haunting. This means I do not go into a room without equipment designed to
do just that.
Detect, interact, capture, and escalate (DICE). This is my basic philosophy for investigating. First, I try to detect where the spirit(s) is by using environmental monitoring gear (EMF detectors, weather/temperature stations, etc.) and performing a vigil. Once there is evidence of a presence, I try to interact with the entity by performing simple EVP work or asking the ghost to manipulate a trigger object. All of this will be captured on audio and/or video recorders. When it appears interaction is happening, I then try to build on what’s happening by escalating the