Sue St.Clair and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

From The Desk of Matthew Double-Decker Bus Guy Didier...

I've ranted about this before... but I'd like to take it further, if I may...

All too often we come across paranormal investigators that claim to have umpteen years of experience (usually into the decades) within the field... but oddly enough, when you look at the ages of those involved, that would mean they started their "studies" in earnest when they were in their "tweens" usually.

Think about that.

Now, I'm not denying that there are "child protégés" in the world, but apparently, in the realm of psychical investigation and study, there seems to be a plethora of them.

What I have to assume is what THEY consider the criteria is for "when they got started" must be a little different from my own... and I believe, a lot different from what MOST people consider normal.

Now, I'm going to have to measure this against myself for the purposes of this post...

I probably heard my first "ghost story" when I was well under the age of five... so does this mean I have been "in the field" for over 35 years? I wouldn't count that...

I first saw a movie and understood the ramifications/classifications of what a ghost might be probably by the age of seven. So, does this mean I have been in the field for 33 years? Um... no.

Okay, I have to swerve now...

I was more interested in Ufology in my "tweens"... and as such, read as many UFO related books as I could get my hands on in the libraries at that tender age (between ten and thirteen). So, have I been a Ufologist for over 25 years? Not a chance.

My first "experience" (personal) with something odd (that would be considered by most) to be "ghostly" and, Ergo: Led to me reading every book I could get my hands on about "true ghost stories" since the age of thirteen in order to get a grip on what happened. THERE NOW! Now I can say, without quibble, that since I had a personal experience AND started studying to find out about it, that I've had twenty-seven years of experience!

...no... I don't think so.

Now, despite being involved with investigations, studies, and continuous reading since thirteen, it was always an "interest only"... it never took more than ten hours out of any week. In fact, to make a claim that I spent that much time "in the field" would be the equivalent of saying that since I touched (but didn't understand) a Commodore PET computer in grade seven, I've been in the computer field since 1980... so twenty-seven years.

That's not accurate at all.

I really started making a living (paying the bills full time) in the computer field in 1989. Therefore, I've been (removing the last three years as I was not employed in that field) in the computer field for fifteen years. To say otherwise is misleading and a lie.

OKAY, now... where am I going...

I started my website, Torontoghosts, in mid-October of 1997.

Initially, the idea was it would be a repository for "true ghost reports". You see, most of my friends knew I had a wee self-induced savant on the subject of ghosts and, because I can be accused of looking "weird" (I hate to call myself a "Goth", but most would have back then...) many old buddies, both "looking weird themselves", but especially the more "normal" folks would come to me for stories about "ghosts" around where they lived or the like.

So, I figured, in mid-October, that I'd hunt up some ghost stories for them... new ones from Toronto... and I'd use this new-fangled Interweb thingie I was working in at the time (y'know, that series of tubes that Al Gore invented.)

Well, imagine my surprise when Yahoo!, at the time the only decent search engine out there in the main stream, yielded NO results when I searched Ghost Stories Toronto.

...so, I broadened my search...

Ghost Stories Ontario and still came up empty-handed.

Fine... Ghost Stories Canada.

Three hits.

Two of them were general ghost sites in the United States... one was a site selling books in Canada with no data or "meat" on the subject except those books and their prices.

What "tipped me over the edge" to really build a good site was the fact that one of the American sites suggested that a person visit Mackenzie House in Toronto... and then take an AFTERNOON DRIVE to Calgary to see a haunted hotel there.

The only way this would be an "afternoon drive" is if your car moved at roughly Mach 5.

Being Canadian, I was bordelining outraged at this lack of knowledge, information, or understanding of our country (obviously the site looked at an atlas... but neglected to notice the "scale" of that atlas.)

So, I cobbled the site together... and even sent out an e-mail to a rather well known Canadian author who'd penned a very good book about Toronto's ghosts, John Robert Colombo.

To sum up this lengthy missive, instead of 1,000 visitors a year, we honestly ended up with 1,000 visitors in the first month... since then, we've been known (usually around Halloween) to hit 1,000 visitors per day and much more... sometimes, ten-times that amount.

John Robert became a friend, people started e-mailing me their own reports, I was invited to investigate claims, our horizons broadened to actual research and experimentation, we "joined forces" with other groups, we spurred over a dozen groups to either literally "join us" or adopt (and sometimes adapt) our methodologies... in essence, the whole thing ballooned.

Now, to be fair, I've never made a dime of profit from my efforts... EVER... in fact, Sue and I often sit down and calculate the "losses"... as an average, we lose roughly $300 per year... just on our internet costs!

The current tally is $4,300.00 in the red.

...and since 1997, on average, we spend well over 40 hours per week of our "free time" working in the field in some fashion.

Okay, FULL CIRCLE TIME...

If you didn't pick it up, the question would be...

Why'd you get started in the first place? and you might ask, If it's cost you so much time and money, why are you STILL in it?

Well... it stems back to something you just read above... I had an odd experience... and I want to know what it was and WHY it was.

Now, this may confuse some folks...

I'm not going to lie... If I TRULY thought it was perfectly explainable through some form of brain malfunction or mental issue, I'd be VERY fine with that... but the events were witnessed with other people... and a hallucination that "matches" other people's description of events strikes that off the table.

So, what was it?

Then, because of people coming to me when they found out about my studies, I was in more places where MORE odd things happened that I couldn't explain...

...and as time went on, more and more of these things happened... or I heard about them from VERY reliable people.

Now, here's the rub...

I am a man of science... logic... and yes, despite the black eye it's gotten from the "so-called sceptical groups", critical thinking.

...but none of these things are AGAINST "the paranormal" at all... despite the lies we've been fed... the REAL people of science, logic, and critical thinking just want MORE EVIDENCE. That's right... they HAVEN'T made up their mind as it's an unknown. To say something "doesn't exist" without clear data is as bad as saying something "does exist" without clear data...

What data is brought to show that the paranormal CAN NOT exist?

...the answer is none.

What data is brought to show that the paranormal MIGHT exist?

Witness testimony, occasional bits of filmed or taped data (inconclusive), occasional bits of hard evidence (inconclusive)...

What does this tell you?

"Inconclusive" doesn't mean "NON-EXISTENCE".

...and witness testimony? Well, remember, that can send you to jail... but apparently, to some, it's not enough to acknowledge the concept that these things DO exist.

According to well known auto-debunker of UFOs, Dr. Carl Sagan, "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.".

Oh, and before anyone quotes-back Sagan's "catch-phrase" of "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.", do me and yourself a HUGE favour and find out who he stole that from. Click here and ensure you read WHY it's originator decided it probably wasn't a very good quote.

Oh, and for more on Sagan... allow me to share a "sound bite" with you... Click here to hear it... it's an MP3 of Dr. J. Alan Hynek talking about Sagan's brilliance in Ufology.

...moving on...

Many people "in the field" are in it for something pretty straight forward... and I'm not going to lie about them.

The VAST MAJORITY (not all) that we've come across are either...

• Thrill Seekers looking for a Good Scary Hobby.
• Fame Seekers Hoping to Get Their Name in the Media.
• People Hoping to Make a Buck from Their "Efforts".
• People Looking to Become Preachers of Their Own Faith.
• People Wanting to Seem Smart/Intelligent as it's a Field That's Based Mostly on Faith and Without a Governing Body.

Honestly, this is the reason that MOST people are in the field of paranormal study.

...in case you haven't figured it out, none of these explain our reason for being in the study.

We've had a GOOD number of "scary things"... but they don't scare us... not like "normal folks"... they intrigue us. We don't like to run away from things, we run towards them.

We've had LOADS of media exposure... and hate it. The media is mostly interested in us only to do the "Ghost Busters"/"Be Spooky for the Camera" crud... we turn down WAY more media than we actually do because of this... we feel it cheapens our work.

We've consistently lost money... lot's of it... and have never tried to turn a profit. Our "unofficial" motto is "Information and Education Should Always Be Free".

Our only preaching is to try and get people to be legitimately sceptical... to DEMAND better evidence and DEMAND better data... and be open to ALL possibilities... be they "pro" or "con" paranormal activity. A real sceptic doubts, but never denies... and simply wants more information to make an educated decision on something. Not a preacher who doesn't believe "in that nonsense". If those who CLAIM scepticism and those who BELIEVE without shadow of a doubt in the paranormal truly were "agnostic" and "neutral" in their efforts, imagine what might come of the work!

As for "feeling smart", considering who we've worked hard to surround ourselves with, more often than not, we feel like pre-schoolers sitting in on a University physics class. We are students... we're learning... and will always be. When we have SOLID information or ideas, we pass it on to those around us... but we're not smarter OR dumber than most... we're just neutral in our efforts and when we say "X" is "X"... you can bet we've got the evidence and data to back it up.

So, why are we here?

Simple... we want to know more. We want to learn. We want better information. We want to TRY and come up with answers and then prove them not only to ourselves, but to everyone.

We will never be finished our work.

Sue and I are quite willing to acknowledge that, indeed, we will probably die not being all that much-more in the know about the paranormal than we are right now...

...but...

Perhaps our efforts will assist the NEXT group of people trying to find answers... Perhaps our data will spur them on... Perhaps our work will save them time, allow them to ask better questions...

...and the big "maybe"... Maybe these studies, if done away from the overly credulous AND the loud deniers, will progress and actually find out why "weird things happen".

...and let's not make ANY mistakes here...

Weird stuff DOES happen. Like it or not.

In essence, our job is to try and figure out why.

We will continue to fight, to learn, to grow... and maybe, one day, we WILL answer those questions... and if we don't, those that come after us will.

Now you know... our experience in the field and study is really a small particle in what we hope will be a much greater understanding.

True enlightment comes from just that... understanding... not "acceptance of a faith" or "denial of what we cannot understand"... it comes from truly understanding the mechanics of those things around us.

Now you know... so...

As of 2007, I've had a legitimate decade of experience in the field... and, just so you know, we won't be going away until we literally cannot think, learn, speak, read, write anymore.

We're in it for the long haul.

...and perhaps, those that have wondered why we haven't "dissapeared" yet (and there have been MANY that have predicted Sue's and my "departure" from the field,) you won't be so confused about us anymore.