How We Can Help
The beginning of our Investigation Process:
American Paranormal Investigations conducts investigations of both private residences and businesses alike. Once someone submits a request from this website (Or when someone in Northern California submits a request from the TAPS Family website), it is assigned to a Case Manager here. The Case manager will review the Request, then follow up with a phone interview (Learn more about this in the section below). It is then mutually determined between the Client and American Paranormal Investigations whether the case will escalate to the next stage. We take the privacy and confidentiality of our Clients very seriously, and we never share personal identities, locations, or personal information without the specific written authorization of our Clients. Even our Case Files are coded without names, and only matched to the Clients in a physical Log Book kept privately secured in our Office.
Our process and protocols are detailed below:
The Four Successive Stages of our Investigation Process
Depending upon many factors, including the Client's wishes and our discoveries along the way, our process can include four stages. Every case... and every client, is unique. If at the end of our last stage, we have not been able to explain or resolve your situation, we will not abandon you. American Paranormal Investigations is continuously forming relationships and mutual networks with Paranormal Specialists in virtually every niche' connected to this Field. We will call in who we can when indicated, and we will always remain available for communication and follow-up. Once we are on your case, you will always be a friend of our Family.
Stage One
This is the Phone Interview with your Case Manager.
Your Case Manager will be your primary point of contact throughout an Investigation. They have been well-trained in our methods and protocols, they are experienced and they care about you.
Our Phone Interview is detailed and very comprehensive. Your Case Manager will ask questions relating directly to the information you've submitted, and then progress to asking relevant questions that can be sensitive. You are never pressured or required to answer a question, and the more relevant information we can acquire, the better we can plan your Investigation and address your individual case. Submit your Case Request now.
Stage Two
When the Phone Interview is concluded, your Case Manager will ask you if you desire a physical Inspection at your home or business. If you do, your Case Manager will set a date and time to contact you, then present their Interview results and recommendations to our Board and Team Members.
Upon approval of our Board, and based upon the availability of our Team, the Case Manager and Client will agree upon a date for a Preliminary Investigation (or “prelim”), where a small group of Investigators will visit your site, take a tour of the location, conduct a very thorough sweep with many of our devices (EMF, RF, Gamma, Alpha & Beta Radiation, Infrared, Grounding Detectors, Foundation Level Measurements, Gas Detectors, etc.), using the Scientific Method and Investigative Techniques similar to those used by law enforcement.
This smaller team will also check for physical safety hazards (that a full team may need to be aware of during a full investigation). For this reason, all prelims are conducted during daylight hours.
While this inspection is taking place, your Case Manager will conduct a full interview with you, gaining more details, filling in any gaps, and answering your questions. Any immediate environmental safety matter or time-sensitive evidence will be shared with you at once, and suggestions for dealing with them will be shared.
The Team will then leave, all gathered information and evidence will be closely reviewed and next steps will be determined. A Prelim rarely lasts longer than a few hours, at most. Following a Prelim you will usually hear back from from your Case Manager in about a week.
Stage Three
After the Prelim evidence and findings have been closely reviewed by our Team, if we have not found a likely "normal" explanation or cause for your paranormal experiences, we will begin carefully and mindfully planning a Full Investigation. Once you request or agree to the Full Investigation, we will send researchers to libraries and public archives to check site history. We will conduct background investigations on people connected to the activity, using public domain archives. When available, we will check geological survey maps for magnetic anomalies and running underground water.
We may bring in vetted "Sensitives" to gather any impressions they can (Our protocols keep the Sensitives' impressions separated from our Investigators until after the Full Investigation. Likewise, any Sensitive brought in on a case is given no information by our Investigators prior to or during their visit. In this way, the "power of suggestion" is avoided, and any evidence gathered or personal experiences of investigators can be compared later... making any corroborating matches much more valuable, relevant and credible).
We will bring all of our tools, instruments technology and techniques to bear on a full investigation. We have tools for a wide variety of needs and situations, including snaking scope cameras for tight enclosures, Audio "Bug" and Hidden Camera Detectors, Camera Drones, and a few of our own inventions.
Full Paranormal Investigations typically take place on a weekend (Our Team Members are volunteers and many have full-time jobs during weekdays). We start just prior to Sundown, and Investigations can run many hours into the late night or early morning. Investigations take place at night, because the neighborhood is usually quieter, and by depriving ourselves of one of our primary senses (Vision in the light of day), our brains compensate by making all of our other senses more acute. We don't do it to make it more "spooky."
Stage Four
As you may have seen on TAPS Related TV Shows like "Ghost Hunters," we call this Stage "The Reveal."
After our dedicated Paranormal Investigators have spent many hours and days meticulously pouring over gathered audio, video, and electronically graphed evidence, we compare notes and compile our information.
Then your Case Manager will schedule a time when we can sit down with you, present any evidence, share our ideas and opinions about the evidence and activity, and hopefully leave you feeling much safer, more confident, and comfortable in your own space. Our goal is always to help resolve any fears, instill knowledge, and help you deal with any adversity.
Some Clients desire and request various kinds of blessings, cleansing techniques or rituals, and other related services. American Paranormal Investigations' Team Members have many different forms of training, knowledge, and experience. Some are ordained ministers. Others are able to Smudge. Two members can offer forms of empowering Hypnotherapy.
When we encounter a situation or client that needs a specific related service we can't provide, we do have access to outside networked people and teams that we might be able to call in for a client. Regardless, we will always strive to remain available in the future to any prior client of ours.