Investigating Reported Hauntings or Paranormal Activity
The Eidolon Project Canada Paranormal Research and Investigation Organization delves into and examines reports of ghosts, paranormal activity, and hauntings exclusively for individuals, families, and businesses who are in need of, and request, our assistance and expertise. We are highly experienced and specialized in dealing with these types of situations. We have explored and evaluated Paranormal Activity throughout Alberta with units in Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer. The EPC offers unparalleled services backed up by decades of experience and education.
• INTRODUCTION
The Eidolon Project Canada Paranormal Research and Investigation Organization is among the nation’s predominant professionally operated not-for-profit societies that explore preternatural events. The EPC is highly sought-after because of the competence, time, energy, and dedication that we put into our investigations.
The EPC does not waste its time and resources on “Ghost-hunting” areas or places that are already reputably haunted such as cemeteries or similar public sites or places that have been overly “investigated” by other groups or individuals.
Although there are many similarities in the activities and interactions of discarnate beings and other entities, no two hauntings or investigations are identical, each having its own particularities, circumstances, and influential factors. You and the activity that you are encountering will be treated as an individual and unique case.
"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." - Galileo Galilei
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Getting Started
The Eidolon Project Canada does not solicit our services. We do not make inquiries as to whether we can investigate a certain location.
We offer assistance only to those who have sought our services of their own accord or an agent acting on their behalf. Specifically, this means that the potential client makes the initial contact inquiring about assistance, advice, or reporting a haunting that they would like, or need, to be investigated and analyzed. This is principally done by contacting the EPC via one of the contact forms on this Info-Site.
• INITIAL CONTACT / INTERVIEW
After receiving a request form from the potential client the EPC will immediately delete your data and personal information from our site and servers per our ‘terms of service’. You will also immediately get a message confirming your form was successfully submitted. This form will be directed to the inbox of our Director. A response to your inquiry will be answered within 24 hours unless marked in the subject “Time Sensitive”. Cases involving children take priority. Otherwise, we operate on an FCFS policy.
• Questionnaire
Suppose your case seems worthy of further investigation from the brief information you supplied on the contact form. In that case, the EPC will follow up with a response to your email address requesting you to fill out a more in-depth questionnaire regarding your circumstances and situation. We have implemented the questionnaire to save time by answering these questions during the initial interview. You will now have a ‘Pending Case’.
• Initial Meeting / Interview
It is policy that an EPC representative has a person-to-person interview to go over the responses that you made on the form in greater detail. The secondary reason for the meeting is to allow us the opportunity to get to know each other as we will be working together on your case and being comfortable with the people involved is paramount.
In urban areas, the meeting is normally held in an open, public venue such as a coffee shop. We have found that this has benefits as the potential client may feel more at ease with other people nearby (but out of hearing range). In more rural areas, the time and cost of person-to-person meetings is prohibitive. In these instances, the interview will be held via ‘video chat’ (the reason that the chat is audiovisual is because the majority of communication is done by facial expressions and gestures). Only the audio portion (track) may be kept for reference as writing down every word is impossible, especially if more than one person shows up. We also voice-record live meetings for the same purpose.
The outcome of this meeting will determine whether the EPC finds the case viable for further study as well as establish if the potential client wishes to have the Eidolon Project Canada involved in their investigation. If all parties are in agreement, the proper forms, such as NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), Waivers of Liability (ex., if you accidentally snag a cord and a piece of equipment gets damaged, you are not held liable), and Confidentiality Agreements. you will be assigned an EPC Case File Number.
• Scheduling and Planning
Over the next few days, your main source of contact will be with our Case Coordinator. When a pending case becomes an Active Case scheduling time for the investigation has to be coordinated between all involved parties, namely the client and the EPC team members that will be active with your case. EPC volunteers often work at other jobs and investigative work is performed in their free time, and when more than one team member is involved, which is usually the situation, all of these times must be in sync. Our team members are required by policy to respond to the Case Coordinator without delay to speed along the scheduling process.
⇑ Top
THE OFFICIAL ACTIVE INVESTIGATION
THE INVESTIGATION
Active investigations transpire in stages, these being
1. The initial/preliminary “walk-through“
2. The official investigation set-up (equipment, safety markers, etc.)
3. The actual official active investigation
4. The take-down (removing, inventory, and storage of the equipment).
• Walk-through
One or two EPC members involved with your case will perform a walk-through several days before the official investigation. The reason behind this is to gather base readings (EMF for example), to be shown ‘hot spots’ (places where the client may feel the most activity or discomfort), to get the “lay of the land”, to determine where the best places to set up equipment, power outlets, the best location for the base station, and to look for potential hazards to the field teams safety.
• Setting Up
Usually, the placement of much of our equipment has been determined during the walk-through. It takes us a fair amount of time, depending on the amount of area that needs to be covered to set up. The normal time is between 45 to 90 minutes. 
Some locations will have up to a dozen lock-off cameras in operation (all of which must be connected to the recorders at the base station) atop the hand-held cameras and analytical devices. Digital and analog audio recording equipment will be placed where needed. Cords will be secured from tripping hazards. After the setup is completed, the team will take a short break to address any concerns or changes made during that process.
(PHOTO: Typical Base Station layout for a small investigation.)
After the set-up is completed, it is usual for the assigned team to take a break and regroup to rest, prepare for the work ahead, and go over any changes that were made while setting the equipment up.
Note: The EPC uses corded equipment as much as possible since wireless technology, having and emitting EMF, may lead to false positives. With few exceptions, nearly all wireless equipment is disposed to electromagnetic frequencies that permeate the immediate surroundings and may be misidentified, or be taken as “proof” of paranormal data/evidence thereby creating a false positive where a normal, not paranormal explanation of the source of presumed evidence.
• Going Active (Going Hot)
This is when the actual official investigation begins. Team members perform assigned duties and are now actively involved in doing the work that they have been trained for. This is also the time when it looks as if the investigative team is doing the least amount of work. On the contrary, “Hot” vigils are when we are implementing the equipment to record and collect data. Keen senses, listening for non-environmental noises, looking out for movement from unidentified sources, and reacting to aim their recording equipment toward the activity while remaining silent and calm are the nucleus of all properly performed investigations. The team makes every effort to stay as still and silent as possible to not contaminate data that could later be mistaken as evidence during data analysis. Active periods can be mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting. Active vigils can last up to 1 hour. Several breaks during the official investigation will be taken allowing the team to “let go” and relax while remaining vigilant. This is also an opportunity to unite and discuss the investigation up to that point and to see if any changes in method need to be taken into account. It is also the time to refresh. Then we go Hot again to another session. This work… break routine will be repeated several times.
Active investigations can last up to 6+ hours but may be terminated by the Lead Investigator, or Senior member’s discretion earlier if activity comes to a halt. The ending of the official investigation is out of our control. If we did have some contact with possible ghosts or entities, it is they that would stop cooperating or communicating with us. Experience dictates that when this point is reached, Any more attempts at gathering data are futile.
• Take Down
At the end of the official investigation, the team, without a break, will begin the task of bringing your site back to the way that we entered it. Cameras, recorders, experimental equipment, and any other tools or devices used during the investigation are carefully taken down. The nucleus of the investigation (the base station) has to be meticulously taken apart and safely stored. The trip hazard safety measures are stripped from the cables. All of the equipment is inventoried as it is being put into their proper containers. The time required for the take-down is a fraction of the time spent on set-up, usually 30 minutes. The EPC then packs the equipment into vehicles and attempts to leave as discreetly as we arrive.
Data Review and Analysis
Upon completion of the investigation, the Eidolon Project Canada will begin the review and analysis of the data we collected. This is the most time-consuming aspect of the investigative process. There is no such thing as quick or instant evidence. The EPC can spend weeks, even months, diligently reviewing every piece of data including photographs, videos, and audio recordings. it is common to spend hours reviewing an audio recording to find one or two seconds of anomalous noise or voices. Depending upon the size of the area that we will monitor, the amount of recording equipment that is used will vary.
The EPC currently has 18 digital video cameras that have night vision capabilities and analog (film cassette) video recorders, the majority manufactured by Sony™, Full Spectrum cameras, several SLR film and DSLR cameras, various digital and cassette audio recorders, a variety of specialized microphones, specialized software as well as experimental data recording devices, many of which are now in standard use.
Data from the recorders must be reviewed in its entirety, with a special interest in the data that stands out from the ordinary. For example, if we used 10 cameras, 6 audio recorders, and two specialized recorders, each recording for the whole of the investigation (for the sake of an example we will assume that the investigation was 6 hours in duration) the EPC must review the data from each device. In the example above this means that 18 devices x 6 hours = 54 hours of data must be intensely analyzed. If we find a section of ta that could be paranormal, that section will be scrutinized to bring out the finest details possible. As stated before, it might take hours to clarify and edit the data and find only a few seconds of usable “evidence”. Now out of the 54 hours of investigative data collected, we may find a dozen points of interest, each taking approximately 2 hours to get a usable result another twenty-four hours are added Now 76 hrs. of reviewing analyzing, and editing. These must then be compared to other equipment running simultaneously to see if they also picked up the same phenomenon. That separate data will then be sent to other members for their analysis and collaboration. In short, it can take hundreds of man-hours to thoroughly and properly gather what might result in only a half minute of evidence worthy of presenting to the client. Now that you know the process you can understand how instant or overnight evidence is impossible.
Because the gathering of substantial data is required, the EPC does not use gimmicks such as a ghost box (a.k.a. Frank’s box, ovilus, spirit box, etc.) or other gimmicks or gadgets that seemingly generate almost instant correspondence with disembodied entities. This means that we are using equipment and methods that have proven to us to be the most effective and conducive to acquiring the best raw data possible. Some of the equipment that we use now was experimental in previous investigations. this tradition of testing new data-gathering instruments is ongoing and may be implemented during your investigation. Analyzing all of this information takes time, and we appreciate your patience during this period.
• Presentation
After the analysis, should we find data indicative of a ghost, entity, or haunting, the data will be shared with you, both in the original raw format as well as the edited results.
Helping Us Help You
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
To make the investigative process run smoother and more efficiently, the EPC asks you to consider these suggestions.
• Although this is not mandatory, we ask that a household member or a trusted friend be present during the investigation. For businesses, we request that the owner or a trusted employee be on site. That said, it is not unusual that the EPC is left alone on properties during investigations.
On rural or out-of-the-way investigations, we ask that the owner contact the RCMP, or other local authorities that we will be on site. This is especially important if the team is being left alone on the property, This saves time trying to explain to the authorities that we are there by permission. Those not willing to do so will need to fill out a signed Permission form.
• Unless they are directly involved with the haunting, such as being the focus of the activity, we ask that children and pets be removed from the site during the investigation. We have found that our work can be disturbing for children. This request also lessens the chance of interference that could result in false positives.
• We require that all valuables be removed or kept in a safe location. We work in the dark and do not want to worry about knocking over the heirloom vase.
• During our work, we ask those remaining on-site to be as quiet as possible. This is fundamental to a successful investigation as it minimizes false readings and useless data. (We had a case where the homeowners insisted on watching TV despite our requests for silence. All data was rendered useless and upon the lead investigator’s discretion, we stopped and packed up.) If they wish, clients may stay at the monitoring station or go on vigils with the team.
• The EPC team will wear non-marking rubber-soled deck shoes while on site. One reason is to protect our feet. Another is to prevent static build-up that can affect our sensitive electronics or cause false positives.
• For the safety of our teams and equipment, the EPC will, at random times, contact a third outside party to confirm that all is well. This will be done several times. This is employed whether the site is urban, rural, or remote. We suggest you make the same arrangements for your peace of mind.
• We may take breaks during the investigation. We will provide our own coffee, but to save space by having to bring a brewer, we ask that you allow us the use of your coffee maker.
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