Why We Do | ccpi

From Our Founder: Why We Do What We Do

COLORADO COALITION OF PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS·WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2017

As paranormal investigators, or as I like to refer to it, “afterlife researchers”, we are frequently asked why we do what we do. After all, we go into dark and spooky places, get dirty, spend money that we usually don’t have, and go into the homes/businesses of people we’ve very recently met. We invest money into equipment that may or may not assist us in gathering evidence - spend hours setting it up, taking it down and analyzing what was recorded, and 99.9% of the time we capture no evidence of ghostly phenomena or we’re able to debunk the reported claims. All for FREE. So then, why do we do it?

For some, it’s the thrill of the hunt; the traditional and primitive hunting instinct that is ingrained into the homo sapiens DNA. It’s that instinctive Elmer Fudd syndrome. For others, it’s the spook-factor - the adrenaline rush that accompanies going into creepy locations and seeing or hearing things that can’t be readily explained. For others still, it’s a stigma or ego issue. Some people feel that by following the latest trend, they will obtain an elevated status among their peers and thus be more likely to “get the girl/guy” or will be envied among those they meet because they have the intestinal fortitude to mimic what they see the guys doing on TV.

While I cannot speak for all investigators, I can say that the primary focus for the investigators who are members of the Colorado Coalition of Paranormal Investigators is to HELP PEOPLE. When a person is so frightened of the things going on in their home or business that they’re willing to allow a group of strangers into their personal space AT NIGHT, that’s saying something. They are literally at the end of their proverbial rope. We go into reported haunted locations, spending money we usually don’t have, get dirty, spend hours setting up / tearing down equipment, analyze footage - all for the sake of helping people. To see the look of relief on a mother or father’s face when we present to them naturally-occurring explanations for what their family had been experiencing in their house - to literally show them that their loved ones are not in danger...that’s worth more than any monetary or social prize.

Naturally, there are some who actually WANT their house to be haunted. A few years ago, I was called in to assist with a case on the East Coast. This family had been told by a psychic that what they were experiencing in their home was the work of an “incubus”. They called in a very newly-formed and inexperienced team who walked around with EMF meters and basically put on a good light show. The family called another team, who called me in to assist. *Side Note - I love being called in to assist other teams!* I spent hours crawling around on the floor of this house, climbing in the exposed floor trusses of their basement (The video footage of some of this is hilarious!), knocking on walls and extensively interviewing every member of the family. Long story short, the footsteps they were hearing going up and down their hallway were the wooden floorboards popping against each other as they expanded and contracted every time the furnace would come on. Other incidents were easily explainable and the main reason for the suspicion of an “incubus” turned out to be the result of their teenage daughter losing her virginity and obtaining bruises in some rather interesting places during the process. You would think that the family would be relieved to learn that there was nothing supernatural going on in their house, right? Wrong. The mother proceeded to scream (yes, scream) at me for several minutes about how I didn’t know anything about what I was doing, despite the fact that I’ve been doing this for twenty+ years. I ultimately packed up my equipment, wished the family well, and rode off into the sunrise. She later contacted me and apologized. They ultimately went through two more investigation organizations on the East Coast who came to the same conclusion I did. So, the moral of the story - even though she was bat-crap angry at first, we still ended up helping her and her family in the long run and that made the whole fiasco worth it.

So yes, helping people is our number one priority and reason for doing what we do. As for the .1% when we actually capture something that we believe is evidence of paranormal activity...that’s what keeps the fire lit under our backsides. It’s the icing on the cake!

-Clarissa Vazquez
Founder, Colorado Coalition of Paranormal Investigators
http://ccpi-paranormal.com/