If you think investigating the paranormal looks everywhere the same, think again. As a person dealing with paranormal in Poland, I have a lot of problems each day. Sit down kids and listen to the story uncle Nathan prepared for you about hunting ghosts in Poland :).
Getting cases
Before you can go and investigate a haunted location, you have to find it first, meaning you have to get yourself a case. And here is our first problem – how to get the case if no one really think that paranormal is real? OK, I admit – there are people who believe in paranormal activities, ghosts and things like that, but most of people isn’t aware of things that are going on even in their neighbours’ flat. They simple see no reason to become interested in anything paranormal – until they start experiencing weird things on their own.
But OK, we still have these people who know that there are weird things going on in their home – what do they do? Nothing… They do nothing for many reasons, first they think they’re all going crazy. Second, they think others will laugh at them. Third, they are afraid of the look others will give them because most people here in Poland associate paranormal with the work of Devil himself. This result in simple thing – people who experience paranormal activity here in Poland don’t even try to find answers, or seek help, either because they don’t know they really can find someone to help them, or they don’t want others to discover they got activity in their home. How can we get the case if people are afraid of contacting us not because we’re dangerous or unprofessional, but because their neighbours will give them bad look?
Facing people
It’s interesting that when I talk face to face with a person, we have no problems with talking about spirits, hauntings and paranormal, and we really have a nice chat. People enjoy listening about the paranormal when they talk with the expert, but when the same person gets among others, the perspective changes. This nice person is becoming an offender because he (or she) have to respond as everyone else in the group – and the group responds just like common belief – ghosts doesn’t exists and if they do, they’re work of Devil, therefore if you deal with paranormal, you must be a worshipper of Satan. So I got dozen of people attacking me only because I’m not afraid of facing the truth that paranormal activity really occurs. It’s not that easy to face people and offer my services if I don’t know if they will want to talk or burn me at the stake :).
Beliefs
Now I have mentioned that earlier – here in Poland most people are Roman Catolics and it’s hard for them to accept the possibility of haunting. I won’t dig into understanding why they believe in God and not in Ghosts, as both things are some kind of disembodied entities… The problem is that everyone is looking at your hands – if you deal with paranormal, you have to be worshipper of Satan. And if you got activity in your house, then it’s the greatest proof they can get to support their claims. If that’s the case, I would be afraid of seeking help myself ;).
The bright side
Is it that bad? In a way, but we’re doing our best to help people find us with different kind of advertising, both online and offline. In the end, from time to time we get the case and we can help someone who wasn’t afraid of seeking help. From time to time we got positive feedback, we have people admiring us because of we do and because we’re not afraid to do this. Well, we simple do our job and we like it… But it’s a long way from home, a long way before we get really appreciated and fully accepted by the society in Poland.
I wonder what kind of problems you have in your countries? Is ghost hunting in your place a normal thing, or there’s a dark side of it? Share your thoughts please!
Blogger and author, and psychic and paranormal investigator, he teaches psychic development online through his blog and books.
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I can completely relate to what you’re saying. Even though I’m in America and we’re very open about haunting activity, there are the religious ones who are very frightened of everything. In fact, because I am a ghost hunter, my eldest brother and I have broken off our relationship. He is of an extremist Christian belief system and thinks I’m courting the devil. I understand his fears because his religion has taught him to not think on his own and stay fearful so they can keep collecting 25% of his income. I, however, plug along and do my own thing because I’m searching for answers and have no preconceived notions of what the phenomenon is, whether it’s something in the world of physics, something to do with nature, other dimensions, or the souls of the dead. Nowadays in America you can say you hunt ghosts and for the first time people don’t choke and run away, they actually think it’s cool. So, it’s changed and I suspect that Poland will not be able to hide from the fact that the rest of the world is searching for answers. It will seep into movies and television and the culture will find a way to deal with it. I’ve hunted with lots of Catholics and even though they do worry about possession and concepts like evil and demons, I’m just glad they’re probing the paranormal world at all. Thanks for a great post! It’s wonderful to hear what you’re dealing with and how determined you are to see change. Keep it up!
@autumnforest,
Yep, thinking on your own is what matters the most. I remember how I discovered God by myself – this was a wonderful experience, much better than taking someone’s word for it, like most people do. But, this is not the subject.
Thanks everyone for kind comments!
Nathan, I love what Autumnforest had to say. Her and I have talked before about how some people let their religious beliefs affect them and keep them from having an open mind about the paranormal. They’d rather see it (and most things, frankly) as evil.
But what really confuses me, especially about the Catholics but anyone who worships Jesus actually, is they worship and revere a ghost as part of their religion! (ie The Holy Ghost!) And Jesus’s resurrection…he was either an alien, a zombie or a ghost. So why they should fear the paranormal. Esp if they follow the New Testament it’s rife with the paranormal so they’re hypocrites for being afraid!
Anyway…like you said, that’s not the point. This was a great post and a very interesting first hand look of the paranormal in Poland. I’m really glad you shared it like this!