We might think our kids are amazing and 'so grown up' and they beg us to take them on a ghost hunt because they have watched all of the shows on TV and seen all of the movies, but there is an area of duty of care that every tour provider needs to understand before they let allow children to attend. If you run tours, investigations, or anything that brings the public into a dark building with a bit of history hanging off the walls, you are not just telling stories. You are legally responsible for what happens to the people in front of you. That’s where duty of care comes in, and it’s one of those phrases people throw around without really understanding what it means until something goes wrong. In Australia, duty of care is not optional and it’s not flexible depending on the mood of the night. It’s a legal obligation to provide a reasonably safe environment for the people who have paid to be there. That doesn’t just mean making sure no one falls down a staircase. It extends to physical safety, emotional wellbeing, and anything that could be considered a foreseeable risk. That phrase, foreseeable risk, is the one that matters because it covers more than most people realise. Think about what we actually do on a ghost tour or investigation. We walk people through dark spaces where visibility is limited. We deal with uneven flooring, old buildings, narrow hallways, and sometimes confined areas where groups move together. Then layer on top of that the psychological side of things. People get frightened, they panic, they react in ways they didn’t expect. None of that is unusual, which is exactly why the law sees it as foreseeable. You are expected to anticipate it, not react to it after the fact. Where this starts to get more serious is when children are involved. The law doesn’t view them as just smaller versions of adults. Children are considered a vulnerable group because they don’t assess risk properly. They act on impulse, they get caught up in the moment, and they often don’t understand the difference between controlled fear and real danger. That means the level of responsibility sitting on you as the operator increases the moment a minor is part of your group.

There’s a moment on every investigation that most people miss — not because it’s hidden, but because it’s too simple to feel important. It happens when everything finally goes quiet. No one’s asking questions. No one’s fiddling with gear. No one’s trying to make something happen. It’s just you… standing in someone else’s space… listening. And for a lot of investigators — especially newer ones — that moment feels like failure.They feel like that should be continually active. Continually turning on another gadget just in case something is missed and not recorded for YouTube Channels. We’ve been trained, subtly but consistently, to believe that activity needs to be captured, measured, validated through equipment. That if the REM pod isn’t lighting up or the spirit box isn’t chattering, then nothing is happening. So we fill the silence. We rush it. We layer technology over it like we don’t quite trust our own senses to do the job. But here’s the uncomfortable truth — the more noise you bring in, the less you actually perceive. And I don’t just mean audible noise. I mean cognitive noise. Expectation. Interpretation. The constant low-level pressure to produce something. When you walk into a location loaded with devices, you’re not just documenting — you’re directing. You’re setting a tone. You’re telling the environment, consciously or not, “perform for me.” And sometimes… it simply won’t. I know right?!!! There is a possibility ( more like a probability) that every investigation will reveal activity. Not because nothing is there, but because you’re not giving it space to exist in its own way. Learning to sit still during an investigation isn’t passive. It’s not lazy. It’s one of the most disciplined things you can do — and it’s often where the most meaningful experiences happen. Because when you strip everything back, you start noticing what was always there. The temperature shifts that don’t show up as dramatic spikes but feel… wrong against your skin. The way certain areas carry a density that has nothing to do with airflow or structure. The subtle changes in sound — not voices, bangs, but the absence of expected noise.

What are the biggest factors holding back the paranormal Community in general right now?

This information will be very unpopular we are sure. But, it has to be said. Because our job is to offer relief and safety and not create distress. And, you only know what you know. Here’s what the latest research and field studies do show, across psychology, environmental science, and parapsychology-adjacent work: What people describe as “dark energy” almost always correlates with one (or more) measurable factors:• prolonged stress or trauma in occupants • suggestion and expectation (priming) from watching YouTube shows about hauntings. • poor sleep and circadian disruption • infrasound, EMF irregularities, mould, or air quality issues • unresolved grief or emotional charge tied to a location When those are addressed, the “energy” often disappears — without rituals, mediums, or smoke. That’s not dismissal. That’s pattern recognition. It happens more than anything nefarious from a ghostly or demonic perspective. If you are unaware of how to deal with the people involved in the haunting then it is really important to educate yourself. That is not to say that there are not unusual cases that do not fit the normal issues that can lead to people believing that they are involved in a haunted experience. There are and we do understand that. In most cases though, there is a combination of things happening and we are investigators owe it to our clients to be honest and thorough. Now, about psychic mediums — this is where nuance matters. Mediums can be useful, but not in the way people think. The research-backed value of mediums (and this includes studies looking at anomalous cognition and counselling crossover) isn’t that they “remove” anything. It’s that they: • provide narrative closure • reduce fear and uncertainty • give people language for experiences they can’t articulate • help individuals emotionally disengage from a perceived presence When fear drops, activity drops. Consistently. That’s not magic — that’s human psychology regulating the environment. Where mediums don’t help?