Arizona
Who is UPIS?
We are the United Paranormal Investigation Society™, also known as UPISociety.com. As your Arizona ghost hunters, we are dedicated to
investigating, researching, and docu- menting paranormal phenomena, to educating the public, as well as to helping those in need. We are a 100% non-profit, volunteer organization, and we NEVER charge for any of the services we provide.
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 with a thoroughly educated, experienced, and professional background. We follow a creed holding that skepticism is healthy, and that all other reasonable explanations should be ruled out prior to de- claring an experience to be paranormal in nature.
For a lot more information regarding our organization and its operation, as well as our principles and policies, please be sure to read our "About UPIS" page.
What Exactly is a Ghost?
UPIS believes there can be only one true answer to this question: Nobody really knows. Therefore, we feel that everyone’s ideas, theories, opinions, 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).
Types of Ghosts
We are able to perceive ghosts in a number of ways. One way is through the five senses. They might be seen (apparitions, for ex- ample), heard (voices or other disembodied sounds), felt (physical sensations, such as a localized chill in the air), or even smelled (fragrances or odors). 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, un- attributable 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 hu- man figures. Opinions about their origin(s) vary, but 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 re- ferred 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.
Our Featured Articles
Below you will find a selection of some of our favorites among the articles that have been written for and published in our UPIS Paranormal Newsletter and/or written for and posted on this website in the past. All of the articles featured here were written by members of the United Paranormal Investigation Society (UPIS) team.