When you meet a paranormal investigator, the one thing we all have in common is “THE story.” What do I mean by “THE story”? It’s our origin tale, the tale that sparked our interest into seeking out the truth behind paranormal activity.
For me, that moment came when I was 10 years old. My father, who is an archaeologist, took me with him to a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh is a gorgeous city, with old ruins seamlessly integrated into modern charm. Because of its age, and its checkered history, Edinburgh is also notorious for something else—paranormal activity.
With a self-proclaimed title as one of the most haunted cities in Europe, Edinburgh is littered with ghost tours, which fuel the local economy. One night, my father asked if I wanted to go on one, which I excitedly agreed to. For me, this was my first taste of a topic in which I was wholly unfamiliar with.
As we walked towards the meeting point, I could feel my heart racing. For me, the prospect of facing something unfamiliar was scary, and at the time I was a shy kid.
We walked with the tour guide down the street as she described different hotspots and shared stories of activity. At the end of the street, we arrived at our true destination - the now abandoned underground market. Armed with flashlights, we slowly descended down the decrepit spiral staircase into a pitch black, underground lair. My heart was beating out of my chest at this point.
As we carefully inched our way through the old marketplace, we stopped at a wide, open space and our tour guide told us to turn off our flashlights. After a while, my eyes started to adjust to the darkness, and, for some reason, I was drawn towards looking behind me.
When I turned to look behind me, I saw a solid ball of light traveling in a controlled motion, that almost instantly disappeared. After that, I quickly turned to my father to share what I had seen and I saw him, as I had been, turned around in shock. No one else, except for us had turned around and saw what we had seen.
Was it paranormal? Who knows? But I do know that it launched me into a perpetual search for the truth, and it’s forced me to look at everything with a discerning, scientific eye.