Questions to Ask a Paranormal Investigator
Good interview questions to ask a paranormal investigator, written for whoever is holding the microphone: a podcast host, a student with an assignment, a local reporter, or the person on a ghost tour who gets one question before the group moves on. The six groups follow the interview itself. Background warms the guest up, Method and Evidence cover how a night runs and what the gear can and cannot show, Cases is where the stories are, and the last two take on skeptics, scared homeowners and the questions that land best at the end.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Background
How did you get into paranormal investigation?
Why ask it
The origin story tends to be one of two kinds: something that happened to them, or something they watched or read. Find out which, because a person chasing an explanation for their own experience is after something different from one who started out curious.
Have you ever seen a ghost with your own eyes?
Why ask it
It is what everyone on the tour wants to know, and the answer is not always yes. A hedged reply from someone with years of nights in old buildings is more interesting than a quick yes, so do not treat it as a letdown.
Did you believe in ghosts before you started, and where do you stand now?
Why ask it
What matters is which way they moved. Years of tracing noises to plumbing leave some people more doubtful and others more convinced by the few nights that resist explanation, and the night that shifted them is the story you want.
What was your first investigation, and what do you remember about it?
Why ask it
First nights are usually funny, cold and uneventful, and telling one relaxes a guest. Follow with what they would do differently in that building today, which gets you their method without asking for a lecture.
What do the television shows get wrong about this work?
Why ask it
Expect to hear about hours of nothing, music added in the edit and nobody on screen checking the breaker box. It is a safe early question that lets them step away from the TV version before you get to the harder ones.
Do you prefer paranormal investigator, ghost hunter or something else?
Why ask it
Some people in the field hear ghost hunter as a television word and bristle at it, and others wear it happily. Use whatever they pick for the rest of the interview and in anything you publish.
What is your day job, and how does it shape the way you investigate?
Why ask it
For many people this is fitted around other work, though that is not a safe assumption about any one guest. A nurse, an electrician and a local historian will each notice something different in the same hallway, which is why the answer often explains a whole team's approach.
Who is on your team, and what does each person do on the night?
Why ask it
Named roles (research, equipment, client contact, review) point to a different operation from a group of friends with flashlights. The revealing detail is who has the final say when two members disagree about a recording.
Do you charge for investigations, and who pays for the equipment and travel?
Why ask it
Money is the question an audience wants asked and guests rarely raise. Policies differ from team to team, so get theirs spelled out for private homes, and find out whether ticketed public events or an online channel cover the rest.
Method
How does a case usually reach you, and how do you decide whether to take it?
Why ask it
Listen for a screening step: a phone call, a questionnaire, a visit in daylight. What they turn away is as telling as what they accept, so ask for an example of a request they declined.
What do you ask a client before you ever visit?
Why ask it
The intake questions show what they think the ordinary causes are. If they ask about recent renovations, sleep, stress and exactly who in the house has seen what, they are ruling things out before they arrive.
What research do you do on a location before the night?
Why ask it
Deeds, newspaper archives and census records are slow work, and a team that does it can tell you which parts of the local legend have no paper behind them. The best material here is a story that fell apart once somebody checked the dates.
Can you walk me through a night from arrival to packing up?
Why ask it
This is the backbone of a podcast episode, so give it room. Prompt for times: when they arrive, how long setup takes, when the lights go off, how long one session runs and what makes them stop.
What do you check first to rule out an ordinary cause?
Why ask it
Wiring, pipes, drafts, loose floorboards, traffic, animals in the attic, and for some teams a carbon monoxide reading. A fluent list means it is routine for them. A pause here tells you just as much.
Why do so many investigations happen at night with the lights off?
Why ask it
A fair challenge, and one a confident guest tends to enjoy. Some will say the building is quieter and empty then, some will admit it is a habit borrowed from television, and a few work in daylight on purpose.
What rules does your team follow on a location?
Why ask it
The ones worth hearing are permission in writing, nobody working alone and nothing touched or moved. Trespass law depends on where they are, so have them describe how they get access to a site and what happens when an owner says no.
Do you work with mediums or psychics, and how do you keep their impressions separate from your recordings?
Why ask it
Teams split on this. If yours does, ask whether the medium is told the history beforehand and whether their statements are logged before the research is shared: that is the difference between a test and a performance.
How many hours of review follow a single night?
Why ask it
Several recorders and cameras running for hours all have to be gone through by someone, and that unglamorous arithmetic says a lot about a team. The follow-up is who does the listening, and how they keep from hearing things on the fifth file at two in the morning.
Have you ever packed up and left in the middle of an investigation?
Why ask it
The reasons are often practical: a staircase nobody trusted, a homeowner getting more upset by the hour, an argument inside the team. Let them tell it without names, and note what the warning sign was.
Evidence
What equipment do you bring, and if you could keep only one piece, which would it be?
Why ask it
The full list can run long, so the second half is what gives you a usable answer. If they choose a plain audio recorder or a notebook over the expensive gear, that tells you where they think the work is.
What does an EMF meter actually measure, and what do you take a spike to mean?
Why ask it
It reads electromagnetic fields, which household wiring and appliances also produce. That makes the second half the real question: how they tell a breaker box from anything else, and whether a reading on its own has ever counted as evidence for them.
What is an EVP, and how do you stop yourself hearing what you hope to hear?
Why ask it
EVP stands for electronic voice phenomenon: a sound on a recording that is taken to be a voice, usually noticed only on playback. Two habits are worth checking: whether they call out every cough and whisper during the session, and whether a second person listens without being told what the clip is supposed to say.
Where do you stand on spirit boxes and ghost-hunting phone apps?
Why ask it
A spirit box sweeps quickly through radio frequencies, and investigators disagree about whether the fragments it produces mean anything. Have your guest explain how the device works before they tell you whether they trust it.
What do you make of orbs in photographs?
Why ask it
A quick test of how critical someone is. Many investigators blame dust, insects or moisture near the lens, and a guest who still presents orbs as spirits should be asked what would rule those out.
What counts as evidence to you, and what is only a personal experience?
Why ask it
Where they draw this line tells you more about their standards than any piece of gear. Push for an example on each side: something they felt and left out of the report, and something they kept in.
How do you document a night so that someone else could check your work?
Why ask it
Logs of who was where, time-stamped notes, raw files kept alongside the edited clips. Students writing about method should ask whether an outsider has ever requested the raw material, and whether it was handed over.
Has a piece of your evidence ever turned out to be wrong after you shared it?
Why ask it
Most people with years in the field have one. How they tell it (quickly and with a laugh, or not at all) shows whether correction is part of their practice, and whether the post came down is the detail to get.
What would it take for you to tell a client their home is haunted?
Why ask it
Some investigators never use the word and report only what they recorded. Others have a threshold: repeat visits, more than one witness, more than one kind of recording. Get the threshold in their own terms.
Cases
What is the most haunted place you have ever investigated?
Why ask it
You will get a place name and a story, which is what a tour crowd or a podcast audience came for. Pin down how they are measuring it, by the number of odd things in a night or by how hard those were to explain, and find out whether the place is open to the public before you name it.
What is the scariest thing that has happened to you on an investigation?
Why ask it
The honest answers are often about a rotten floor, a trespasser or a bat, and those are worth keeping in. If it was something else, get the next thirty seconds: who spoke first, whether anyone ran, and whether the recorders were still going.
What is the one case you still cannot explain?
Why ask it
Expect a polished story, because they have told it before, and slow it down. Three details test it: what was ruled out, who else was in the room, and whether a return visit produced anything.
Do you sort hauntings into types, such as residual and intelligent?
Why ask it
In the field's shorthand, residual means something that seems to replay without noticing anyone, and intelligent means something that seems to respond. These are working labels among investigators and not established categories, so the useful part is what your guest would need to see before choosing one over the other.
What is the best piece of evidence you have captured, and can I see or hear it?
Why ask it
Ask to hear the clip before they tell you what it says, then report honestly what you heard. If you are recording for a podcast, clear permission to use it and find out who owns the file.
What is the most ordinary explanation you have ever found for a haunting?
Why ask it
It makes a good clip: a loose shutter, a neighbor's radio, a cat inside a wall. Stay for the ending too, because some households are relieved and some are disappointed to hear the house is not haunted after all.
Roughly how many of your cases end with a natural explanation?
Why ask it
Take the figure as their own estimate and ask how they count it. The follow-up that matters is what happens to the remainder: unexplained is not the same as paranormal, and a careful investigator will say so.
Has anything ever seemed to follow you home?
Why ask it
A staple from the back of the ghost tour. Whatever they answer is their belief and not a finding, so the better follow-up is practical: what they do after a night to switch off and sleep.
Is there a place you would refuse to go back to?
Why ask it
The reason is the answer. It may be something they cannot account for, or it may be a collapsing roof, a difficult owner or a long drive, and either kind is worth a minute. On a tour, the natural next question is where the building you are standing in ranks.
Skeptics and clients
What do you say to someone who thinks all of this is nonsense?
Why ask it
They have answered it many times, so the first reply will be smooth. The second question does the work: which part of the skeptic's case do they think is right?
Is what you do science?
Why ask it
This is the one for a student paper. A thoughtful guest will talk about controls, baselines and the difficulty of repeating anything, and may simply say no. Whatever the answer, find out what result would change their mind about a location.
How do you handle a client who is truly frightened in their own home?
Why ask it
Pay attention to what happens before any equipment comes out: sitting down, hearing the whole account, explaining what the night will involve. What they have learned never to say to a scared person is often the best line in the answer.
What changes when there are children in the house?
Why ask it
Some teams have a firm policy, such as children staying elsewhere on the night or no investigation at all. If your guest has one, the story of who decided it and why is usually short and worth having.
What do you do when you suspect the real problem needs a doctor, a counselor or an electrician?
Why ask it
Handing a case on is a delicate conversation, and you want to hear how they raise it without insulting the person. Investigating a house does not qualify anyone to diagnose the people in it, and a careful guest will say so unprompted.
What do you tell a family when you found nothing at all?
Why ask it
An empty night still has to be reported to someone who was hoping for an answer. Two things to draw out: whether they offer a second visit, and whether a blank report tends to settle people or leave them more anxious.
Have you ever suspected a client of staging things, or of wanting the attention?
Why ask it
Give them room to answer without naming anyone. The signs they describe (a story that grows with each telling, a camera crew already booked) make a strong passage in a feature.
How do you protect a client's privacy when you post findings online?
Why ask it
Addresses, faces and house exteriors are the usual risks. A team that has thought about it can tell you whether there is a written agreement, who approves a post before it goes up, and what happens if a family changes its mind later.
Do you offer cleansings or blessings, or do you leave that to someone else?
Why ask it
Some teams do, and some refuse on principle and stick to documentation. Where they pass the request along, it matters to whom, and whether the client's own faith decides it.
Closing
After all these years, what do you think a ghost is?
Why ask it
Hold this until late, when they have stopped giving the public answer. You are likely to get several candidate ideas where you hoped for one, so finish by having them pick the one they lean toward on a quiet night.
How does your own faith, or lack of one, fit with this work?
Why ask it
It often explains their vocabulary: someone with a church background may speak of spirits and souls, a secular investigator of anomalies and unknowns. Keep it an invitation, since some guests hold the two apart and would sooner not say.
Has the work changed how you think about death?
Why ask it
A personal question, so offer it and let a short answer stand. It suits the end of a podcast better than the middle, once the two of you have some ease.
What would you tell someone who wants to start investigating?
Why ask it
For the listener who is already halfway out the door with a flashlight. Press for specifics: getting permission, going with others, what to buy first and what not to bother with.
What should someone do first if they think their own house is haunted?
Why ask it
The practical close. A common answer starts with a notebook: dates, times, who was present, what else was going on in the house. Get the threshold as well, meaning the point at which they would want that person to pick up the phone.
What do you wish interviewers would ask you?
Why ask it
Ask it last, then ask them the question they give you. It tends to produce the least rehearsed two minutes of the recording, and it ends the interview on their ground.
How to interview a paranormal investigator
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Homework before you meet
Go through what they have published
Most teams post clips, case write-ups or episodes somewhere. Look at a few before you meet and note one piece you found convincing and one you did not. Asking about a specific clip gets a specific answer, and it shows you took the work seriously enough to look.
Declare your own position
Tell them early whether you are a believer, a doubter or undecided. Investigators are used to being set up for a laugh, and a guest who knows your position stops guarding against it. You can be skeptical and still be fair, and saying so costs one sentence.
Agree what stays out
Private cases involve real families and real addresses. Before you record, agree that client names and locations stay out unless the client has consented, and ask whether any current case is off limits. Sorting this out first saves an awkward edit later.
Picking questions for your format
A podcast episode
Twelve to fifteen questions fill an hour. Take two or three from Background, the walk-through of a night, the single piece of equipment, the most haunted place, one ordinary explanation and the case they cannot explain, then the nonsense question and two from Closing. Leave space for the stories, because a ghost story cut short to reach the next question is the worst trade an interviewer can make.
A school or college assignment
Lean on Method, Evidence and the first two questions of Skeptics and clients. The questions about documentation, what counts as evidence and whether the work is science give you material on method that you can set against what your course says about testing a claim. Record the interview if they allow it so your quotes are exact.
A news or feature piece
You need a scene, a character and a tension. The night walk-through gives the scene, the day job and the first investigation give the character, and the tension is in the money question, the evidence that turned out to be wrong and how they treat frightened clients. Check any historical claim about a building yourself before you print it.
Five minutes on a ghost tour
Pick three: whether they have seen a ghost themselves, the most ordinary explanation they ever found, and the one case they cannot explain. Speak up so the whole group can hear the question, and leave time for other people to ask theirs.
Getting past the rehearsed version
Ask for one night, not nights in general
People who are interviewed often have a polished account of what an investigation is like. A date, a building and a named room break it open. Whenever an answer starts with the word usually, ask for the last time it happened.
Hear the clip cold
When they offer a recording, ask them not to tell you what it says until you have listened twice. Then say what you heard, even if it was nothing. Their reaction to a different hearing is more informative than the clip.
Ask what was ruled out
For any unexplained case, the useful detail is the list of things they eliminated and how. If the list is short, the case is less closed than the story makes it sound, and you can say that politely.
What spoils these interviews
Mocking, or gushing
Both produce the same result: a guest who performs. The spooky voice and the wide-eyed gasp each tell them which show you want, and they will give it to you in place of what they actually think.
Asking them to judge your house on the spot
A description given over a microphone is not an investigation, and a careful investigator will decline to rule on it. Ask what they would want to know first, which is a better answer anyway.
Writing as if one team were the field
Methods and beliefs vary widely from team to team, and nobody speaks for all of them. Report what this person does and thinks, and ask how they differ from other groups they know.
Pressing for a client's identity
A recognizable house brings strangers to a family's door. If a location matters to your piece, ask the investigator to pass your request to the owner and wait for the answer.