Steve Parsons from Parascience was kind enough to answer some questions for us.

1. What was your first paranormal experience?

It’s really difficult to answer this question as it would first of all require some definition of a 'paranormal' experience and to be honest nobody truly knows for certain that any experience can be said to be ‘paranormal’ anyway, so for the sake of clarity can I use the term ‘anomalous experience which I feel more accurately reflects our knowledge.
When I started investigating I think it would be fair to say that most experiences were anomalous - just about every bump, creak and moving shadow go the pulse racing and the hopes of a ghostly encounter raised to fever pitch to be soon dashed as the explanation was found or presented itself. There are several experiences that to remain unexplained however and so stick in my memory. The first of these took place during an investigation at a former school some years ago when, after setting up a sound recorder I was aware of what can be best described as heavy footsteps came toward me along a deserted corridor. Alone in the building I was also aware that the sounds were headed straight toward were I was standing and blocking the only doorway – whoever or whatever it was must either pass through me, stop before it reached me or move me out of it's way! The recording of those sounds (footsteps?) remains today unexplained and despite attempts to replicate it still impresses me me whenever I listen to the recording – for those interested it is on the Para.Science website in the investigation report of the former school.

2. What was it that first got you interested in the paranormal?

I suppose I've always been interested in Ghosts and Hauntings although I can't place any single event or date on that interest. I do remember being intrigued when reading about 'The Most Haunted House in Britain' in the Guinness Book of Records as a child then taking out a copy of Harry Price's book on Borley from the local library after pestering my local branch to order in from the main library. I also remember being filled with awe reading about the ghost hunts conducted by Harry Price, Peter Underwood and others.

3. Your all time favourite haunted location?

My favourite 'haunted' location has to be the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, not because it was particularly scary but it represented the first time Para.Science had the chance to fully control a location for an extended period and develop all of the investigation methods that we currently use. Overall, the investigation lasted more than 1,500 hours spread over almost 3 years and was a nowadays rare chance to conduct an investigation as I believe all should be carried out.

4. What does your family and friends think of your interest in the paranormal?

My wife is a member of Para.Science and my daughter has been ghost hunting since she was 4 years old (she's now 13, so pretty experienced, although at the moment boys are of more interest than ghosts!) My parents are also quite interested in hearing about some of the cases I've been involved with. In fact quite recently my Dad surprised me by telling me of his own ghostly encounters as a child. I count myself really lucky to have their support although I think that my wife and daughter’s enthusiasm can get severely tested when they have have to live on baked beans for months on end so that I can fund another experiment or item of ghost tech!

5. Have you ever been really scared at a location?

Scared is something I can honestly say I have never been – after all the reason I'm there is to investigate and so it would be rather counter productive to run away or hide from a possible encounter. The thought of meeting a headless ghost in some dark cellar is an exciting prospect that I look forward to. There have been locations that I haven't liked or have felt uneasy at, but those feelings intrigue me and I'm always much more interested in trying to discover why I'm feeling ill at ease. There was one investigation during which I felt real fear though – it was at a Pub in Preston, Lancashire but that had nothing to do with the paranormal but was solely the result of an encounter with a very bad tempered and very drunk landlady who returned midway through the night and decided that we should leave (we did have the permission of the landlord though). Filled with malice she proceeded to batter her husband and hurl us and all our equipment out of the pub whilst maintaining a barrage oir ashtrays, glasses and anything that came to hand!

6. what is your theory on orbs?

My belief is that Orbs do not represent anything paranormal – there are sound and sensible explanations for them and these have been repeatedly demonstrated by many investigators. The Para.Science website carries the results of our own extensive research and has been published or referenced several times since. Orbs may not be paranormal but the little blighter’s are immortal! Try as we might, we cannot seem to kill em off. Too many people still cling to the notion that they represent some sort of paranormal manifestation and many groups still present Orb images onto their websites as evidence of a paranormal encounter. I've recently set about designing a new series of experiments that will hopefully burst a few more of these spherical pests and hopefully we can then move onto more serious research areas rather than waste any more time on chasing dust and insects.

7. I am researching Static electricity (or electrostatic energy) and the theory that spirits can harness  this to manifest or move objects, what are your thoughts on this?

Electro-static energy and it's links to reports of anomalous experiences is one area where substantial research remains to be done – certainly it presents some intriguing possibilities. The amount of energy available within the ES field in an average room for instance is enormous – certainly more than enough to lift a family car several feet into the air. But I would have some reservations in believing that spirits can harness this energy reserve. What does interest me are the the ways in which powerful ES fields can interact with the human physiology and is well documented to cause many effects that are remarkably similar to the experiences reported by witnesses to claimed paranormal encounters, these would include sensations of being touched or feeling anxious and several others than are striking in their similarity to alleged paranormal experiences.

8. what has been your funniest moment during your research?

Imagine the scene – Borley churchyard, dead of night. Two highly experienced investigators (myself and Ciaran for the record) take a walk and hope to encounter the Nun or some other revenant. As they walk slowly into the darkened graveyard they both hear movement and rustling from nearby….Not fooled for a moment they instantly pronounce the sounds of a fox or perhaps a badger out hunting. For nearly 30 minutes the sounds continue but our two highly skilled investigators are not taken in or spooked. Finally, deciding that the Nun wasn't go to manifest that night they head back to base camp passing by a clump of bushes on the way…As they pass no fewer than 8 ghost busters from another group pop out and say 'Hi'. Seems they had been hiding for the whole time in the bushes thinking that we were two members of the local community watch and so decided to hide for fear of being thrown out of the churchyard themselves!!!

There have been many funny and silly moments over the years but then it is a bit of a daft pastime really when you think about it – at least train spotters know they are going to see something and don’t usually have to sit up all night in the freezing cold either!!

9. What is your favourite ghost story?

My favourite ghost story remains Borley Rectory and the two fantastic accounts written by Harry Price in his books on the case.