There are no things like a professional ghost hunter … or is there?

The conversation is often started by paranormal teams that consider themselves ethical and credible, who dispute someone else’s claim that they are a professional paranormal researcher, especially when the person who makes this claim is a ghost hunter or public figure.

The dictionary makes the meaning of this term quite clear. Professional means “relating to or belonging to a profession” or “involved in a certain activity as a person’s most important paid occupation instead of as a pastime”.

A professional in every area is someone who deserves their living from that work. For some, paranormal research is a hobby or pastime that they enjoy in addition to their daily job. Some people turn their hobby into a source of income, this makes them a professional – it’s their profession.

It is the same as playing for an amateur Sunday League football team and then chosen to play as a professional for a competition team with a large Pro football player.

However, the definition is slightly unclear when it comes to the paranormal. For example, the best earners in the field, such as Zak Bagans, earn their money via television appearances instead of investigations, so you could claim that they are professional television -guests rather than professional paranormal researchers -but they are still a professional who works in the paranormal field.

Of course it depends on whether you pay to attract paying customers or not of your reputation and professional standards. Being professional in itself is not a measure of professionalism. This is not only the case in the paranormal field, but every profession – this is made clear in television shows such as the ‘Rogue Traders’ of the BBC.

Only because someone is a professional, does not mean that they feed his business professionally and ethically, whether they are a ghost hunter, a plumber, a builder or part of another profession. A professional builder can still do a bad job and drop off his customer, they are still a professional, but will not be known to be reputable for a long time.

Like you, if you earn money as a paranormal researcher, being unprofessional does not mean that it is not your profession. It simply means that you are bad in your profession, such as those rogue builders, or even a professional boxer who has lost every fight of his career.

Determining whether a boxer or a plumber is good or bad is fairly simple because you can assess them for their results, but when it comes to the paranormal, it is determined whether a researcher is renowned or not, a little more difficult if it is so subjective.

Some teams use clairvoyants, while others would reject media as fraud. Some teams swear by ghost yachtgadgets, while others do not trust them in an investigation. So, who should you judge other teams on?

It does not mean that there are no professionals on the paranormal field, if it means something that the profession of paranormal research is flooded by people and teams with poor professional standards. This is really what is being discussed, but many confuse the meaning of the word professional with the term professional norms or professionalism – but what they really mean is that they are honest and ethical?

At the end of the day, a professional ghost hunter does not mean that you are better or more credible than anyone else, just that it is your job. So there is no reason why others in the field should be jealous or bitter of someone else’s status as a professional, although of course they can still question their reputation.

Those in the paranormal world who oppose the word professional often wonder how someone with a few years of experience can decide that they want to be paid for their hobby in any way and suddenly they become a professional. Although they can call this ridiculous or laughable, this is actually exactly how it works.

Again, compare this with other professions, if you decided after painting your kitchen once or twice in your life that you wanted to become a professional painter and decorator tomorrow, you could. The word professional is not a measure of skills, experience or reputation.

But what it actually needs to be considered professional, this is a bit subjective again. The simplest definition would be a researcher or team who is paid to conduct private investigations, but this is not the only route to become a professional in the paranormal field. Someone can also be considered a paranormal professional if they have written books on the subject, although this may mean that they are actually a professional writer instead of a ghost hunter.

The term professional simply means following a profession as a means of living or for profit, this can be all, from organizing ghost hunting events or appearing on paranormal conventions to inventing ghost hunt gadgets or producing documentaries.

Professionals are often accused of having egos or pursuing a career in the field to get fame or attention. Although those who appear on television can be classified as a professional, there are many professionals in the field who are the opposite of those who want fame and fortune, the kind of people who quietly issues private studies, away from the spotlights.

This clearly shows that people from all parts of the paranormal community can be considered a professional researcher, regardless of their level of exposure or their motivation.

In some professions there are trade organizations and restrictions that ensure that ethical standards are met. For example, someone who is unqualified cannot practice as a doctor, but this is not the case in the paranormal field. Although some organizations such as Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP) try to define professional standards for ghost hunters, each team and researcher have its own methods and beliefs, so maintaining universal standards is almost impossible.

This is real to root the debate, it is not whether someone is professional who is being questioned, but whether they are ethical, well -trained and credible.

The truth is that paranormal research is a skills that for the most part do not have mainstream scientific support, so to start defining which methods are right and wrong, would be extremely challenging and massively disputed over the field.

This gap in knowledge and scientific support often brings people to wonder what someone can call himself a professional if so little is understood and agreed about the paranormal. Again, professional is the wrong term to use here, which is actually questioned, is how someone can be considered an expert in the paranormal when nobody knows everything about the field.

Someone who knows a lot about his research area is an expert instead of a professional. An expert is a person who is very well informed about a certain study area. It does not mean or does not imply that they know everything about that subject.

For example, if an expert in health care is interviewed on a news broadcast, this does not mean that they know everything about all aspects of the huge subject of health care. Similarly, nobody knows everything about the universe, but we would not hesitate to call Professor Brian Cox an expert in astrophysics.

Nobody knows everything about the paranormal, but the late Harry price is generally considered an expert in his field. At the time, very little research was done into the paranormal, so despite being a groundbreaking researcher of his time, his knowledge would have been less than that of some researchers today.

Chances are that if you read this, you are relatively an expert in the paranormal, at least compared to those who are not interested in the subject. Your friends who know nothing about paranormal research can call you an expert because they know that this is your area of ​​expertise.

Thus, instead of striving to become known as a professional, it should be more desirable to be recognized as an expert or competent member of the community. However, labeling yourself can be considered an expert as arrogant.

You also have to try to recognize and learn from those who are experts in their field and support and promote their work over those professionals who may find you unskilled, not interformed or unprofessional.