Mostly Ghostly receive a wealth of enquiries; whether it’s through our website, phone calls or even casual conversation in the street – life is full of surprises!

One of the most frequently asked questions is; ‘How do you go about investigating a property?’ We feel it’s important for people to be informed and as such, decided to dedicate a page to answering this question. We aim to cover the main aspects of our investigation protocols and welcome any further questions, comments and ideas you may have.

Each case we come across is individual, as are the people involved, therefore respect, discretion and partnership working are always paramount.

We initially begin by visiting a property and taking time to look around before preparing a loose investigation plan. During the walk-round, we aim to establish which areas are associated with alleged paranormal activity and look for rational explanations in the process e.g. draughty rooms, squeaky floorboards etc. We also use this time to take note of any health and safety issues. NB: The property or location may be visited more than once prior to an investigation.

We spend time talking with the property owners building up an historical overview which may help identify the spirit or spirits in question and why they still return to a particular location. We also look for any patterns relating to the activity and encourage people to keep a record of events for our information.

Using any leads from the property owners, we tend to carry out our own research; online, in person, via e-mail, phone or letter and also at the Ewart Library and Dumfries Archives Centre. This part of the process may be time consuming, however it is fascinating to delve into the historical side and every wee snippet of information has the potential to be invaluable.

Following this, we decide on which equipment to take and finalise our investigation plan - for an example, check out our blog post on Investigation Planning. We like to use a selection of modern and more traditional methods for our experiments, some of which depend on the location itself. We record as much as possible using camcorders, Dictaphones and good old-fashioned note-taking, which then enables us to write up an accurate, objective report of events. We frequently use ‘trigger objects’ that may attract spirit activity e.g. an object that is historically linked to the property and also carry a number of our own such as; a blackboard with chalks and magnetic letters, offering a choice of communication to any spirits present. That said, we keep an open mind and on occasion, may experiment with new equipment or experiments, providing we have back-up support.

In terms of spirit communication, we respectfully invite presences to come forward, often using questions and actions geared to trigger a positive response e.g. whistling. None of the team professes to be mediums; however certain individuals seem to be more sensitive to spirit interaction.

Investigations last on average between 6 and 8 hours – ideally they would be longer, but this very much depends on what is appropriate for the property owners and any other time constraints to consider. We are happy to investigate at any time of day or night, although most tend to be early evening until the early hours of the morning.

We at Mostly Ghostly are passionate about what we do and greatly enjoy meeting people, learning about the local history and of course, seeking out new haunts!

If you have any questions or comments, you can reach the team through our online contact form or by phoning 07791 047835 or 07912 145865. You can also follow us on Twitter/mostlyghostly_ We look forward to hearing from you!