Many museums and historic sites are being contacted by paranormal groups for permission to conduct investigations on their sites. There has been an explosion of interest in the paranormal in the past ten years with over a thousand teams and groups in the USA. There are also millions who follow this on television and other media. When a museum or historic site manager is approached by these groups there are many concerns, but there is also the potential for it to become a new marketing and income generating activity for the organization. This course is designed to give you the tools to have a constructive dialogue with these groups and to be able to develop a policy / program that best benefits your institution.

This short course will introduce you to Paranormal Groups. You will learn how these groups investigate and explore, the pros and cons of developing a policy and how to include them in your programs. The Paranormal Groups also need to be educated about the perspectives and mission of Museums and Historic Sites to appreciate how we operate. There can be benefits in understanding and working with each other. We will take you through the research, methods and equipment and approaches to public outreach by the paranormal teams.

We will address their perspectives and concerns. We will also go through the perspectives, equipment and policies of museums and our concerns. Then we will go through the potential benefits for both sides and how you can best take advantage of the public interest in this to develop policies and programs that enhance your marketing and program efforts in a way that protects your integrity and collections, yet brings more people in your doors.