B.C.G.H.R.S. Missionstatement
FIRST: The Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society will present information pertaining to and involving ghosts, poltergeists, hauntings and related information FREE OF CHARGE to all who visit the website. We are not trying to prove nor disprove anything related to ghosts and welcome all information from skeptical to true believer, from scientific to new age and everything in between and around. We offer message boards and ask for editorials and comments from our readers to add to the information we present.
Although we don't ignore religious topics, we do wish to present all possibilities and will happily display information from all sources provided that the information is about ghosts and hauntings and that the information is not preaching conversion/preference to any particular faith and it does not come across as threatening in any way. As for story submissions, we do have criteria that reports should fit but do not make this information public knowledge to avoid possible fraudulent claims. Information on this site comes with either express consent from the original witnesses/authors or from a reliable and consensual source. Although ghosts and hauntings are usually lumped in with other paranormal phenomena, GHRS sites and GHRS groups specialize only in the study of ghostly phenomena or phenomena related to hauntings. If you are looking for information on cryptozoology, mythical creatures, UFOs and related topics or any other "non-ghostly" topics, we will try to help find a resource for interested parties but we cannot promise to be helpful with these topics which may not be in our scope of research.
SECOND: The Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society primarily focuses on the HISTORY, LEGENDS, MYTHS AND FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS of ghosts and related topics. We are not nor ever have claimed to be "experts", "psychics" or "scientists". We are, however, researchers and do try our best to gather the appropriate and correct information and then distribute it via our website.
We do, however, reserve the right to come up with hypothesis and look into all possible explanations of ghostly phenomena from both an amateur scientific point of view as well as a "supernatural" point of view.
Although we do not and never will "clear homes" or "bust ghosts", we will attempt to track down all the possibilities of any manifestation through any means at our disposal that are agreed upon with the original person(s) reporting the incident.
We will never break or "bend" a law (such as trespass or "break and enter") to get a "better story" or to do an investigation. We will always work at getting and having the proper permissions and ensure that we have the appropriate authority to enter and look into a reportedly haunted spot. In turn, we will actively avoid groups or people that do break legal boundaries in "the name of research".
We will always ensure the protection of the witness is our first priority with reports. Next is the protection and care of a site that we have been allowed to use. These two points are our primary concerns for anything that is submitted or going on/in our site or notes.
THIRD: The Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society will always maintain the anonymity of anyone reporting any occurrences to us. We will never give out or publish exact addresses, e-mail addresses or names of people who write into us unless it is with their authorization and permission or unless the place/person has already "gone public" or previously published that information in a public forum.
FOURTH: The Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society will try to offer those interested in examining and researching the paranormal any assistance we can offer within reason and will try to have open forums and public gatherings to allow those who wish to meet other "ghost enthusiasts" a chance to meet and speak to each other. Although money(s) may be charged or asked for, all GHRS are non-profit and any money(s) that are gathered will go towards paying for the event itself, future events and support costs (servers, domains, etc,).
FIFTH: The Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society will NEVER charge for information nor will we charge for our time when doing historical or amateur scientific research.
If requested, we will put people in contact with psychics or other consultants who may request payment but this person(s) will NOT be part of the GHRS nor will a GHRS member acting in this capacity charge money(s). We can not and will not take responsibilities for any actions or outcome once a person has contacted or consulted a psychic or other consultant to assist with any aspect of ghosts and hauntings even if the contact was made through a member of the GHRS.
SIXTH: The Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society are not claiming to be "experts" in the paranormal. We are not professional parapsychologists. We are a group of interested people doing our best at learning about the unknown.
SEVENTH: The Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society will attempt to answer all and any questions to the best of our abilities. For students, we do recommend, as we are not claiming to be "the ultimate" experts, seek out alternative resources with other points of views. If you need some help finding other sources, please let us know and we'll do our best to help put you in contact with other paranormal researchers to help you out. Of course, as stated, our crew will do their best to answer your questions based on our expertise as well.
EIGHTH: Although anyone is welcome to become a "member" of our society, we do warn that only a small and select group can go on most investigations and that the determination of who goes on investigations and why will be determined by the lead person of the investigation. All GHRSs have a form online for those who wish to be more than just a subscriber-member and this form allows us to choose who will be coming out with us.
It is not uncommon for us to go months without an investigation and therefore, only a small percentage gets the chance to accompany us to a site. As we do not like to use psychics and sensitives on an initial investigation (at least, we do not like to have people acting as such,) we would ask that you understand that special abilities and characteristics do not necessarily mean that you will get a chance to help us out. We do, however, still request you fill in the form because we may use your abilities in a second visit or in another capacity. We also ask that if you truly feel you would be of great benefit to our team that you fill out the help form and attend at least one or two of our "open to the public events" so that we may meet you and get to know you. Face to face meetings allow leads to see how a team dynamic will work if you are on an investigation.
The above represents our general mission statement and I hope this does answer some of the more burning questions about who we are and what we do.
Important!
If you have a questions pertaining to the content on this site or content related to PSICAN or the Canadian GHRS websites please click here to visit our FAQ page. For information about copyright issues on this BCGHRS website you can contact the Director of the BCGHRS site. Please read our copyright rules by following this link.
Many people ask if they can assist in investigations. If you think you can add to the collection of folklore, history, and witness reports and wish to assist with initial contact of people and others in relation to a report, read through our FAQ and fill out the form found there.
Most of the BCGHRS research consists of reading, listening, reading, photographing, reading, documenting and finally re-telling.