Arizona
Who is UPIS?
We are the United Paranormal Investigation Society™, a.k.a. UPISociety.com. As your Arizona ghost hunters, we're dedicated to researching, documenting, and investigating paranormal phenomena, as well as to educating the public.
We are not "ghostbusters" and we do not get rid of ghosts. Nor do we claim to be definitive experts or absolute authorities in this field. We do, however, conduct serious, rigorous study and research into all of our investigations from a thoroughly educated, experienced point of view. We follow a creed holding that skepticism is healthy, and that all other reasonable explanations should be ruled out prior to declaring an experience to be paranormal in nature.
For more in-depth information about our organization, read our "About UPIS" page.
What is a Ghost?
Here at UPISociety.com, we believe there is only one true answer to this question: Nobody really knows. Therefore, everyone’s ideas, opinions, theories, and feelings are worth considering.
According to one widely held theory, a ghost is the energy, soul, or personality of a person who has died and has somehow gotten stuck between this plane of existence and the next. Most researchers who champion this view believe that these spirits do not know that they are dead. It is said that very often these are the spirits of people who have died under traumatic, unusual, or highly emotional circumstances. Though it has widely been speculated that a ghost may be an earthbound soul, the spirit of a dead person, or even an entity from another dimension or a parallel world, the fact of the matter is that we're just not sure yet. What we call “ghosts” may in reality consist of several different phenomena happening at different times and in different places, or possibly even concurrently. Therefore, as far as we know, ghosts may be any, all, or none of the above.
As more and more investigators document their research into ghosts and share their stories and experiences, we hope to come ever closer to discovering the real answer(s).
What Do Ghosts Look Like?
We can perceive ghosts in a number of ways. One is through the five senses. They might be seen (apparitions, for example), heard (voices or other disembodied sounds), smelled (fragrances or odors), or felt (physical sensations, such as a localized chill in the air). Sometimes, they may be also be sensed in other ways. For instance, they may be encountered as presences (in some cases, this experience can be somewhat similar to a sensation of "being watched") or through emotions (a sudden, unattributable feeling of sadness or gloom, for example). When they are sensed through sight, it is often in one of the following forms:
Orbs: These are balls of light that can float or move at rapid speed. Some believe these to be the first or most basic manifestations of ghosts.
Mists, Vapors, or Ectoplasm: These phenomena can appear as smoke or fog, and are widely considered to be manifestations of disembodied human spirits.
Shadow People: These are often described as black silhouettes that resemble human figures. Opinions about their origin(s) vary, and they are sometimes thought to be produced by something other than human spirits. Please refer to this article for much more info about shadow people.
Apparitions: These are visual appearances of human or human-like forms. Sightings range from resembling parts of the body to seeming full-bodied (and thus being referred to with the widely-used term "full-body apparition"). These phenomena are most often believed to be manifestations of human spirits, typically being described as vaporous or non-vaporous, and either transparent or translucent.
Ghost Hunter Poem
Soon the sun will no longer shine into my tired eyes, and I will sleep... but not an endless sleep. For I shall awaken in the midnight air to walk with the great spirits. I shall walk in the shadows of the night, listen to their whispers, and follow their paths into the dark. For I am "The Ghost Hunter" --Anonymous
Paranormal Articles
Here you will find a selection of the articles that have been written for and featured in our UPIS Paranormal Newsletter and on this website. All of our articles were written by members of the United Paranormal Investigation Society (UPIS) team.