1
EligibilityReview
The Society confirms the applicant’s authority over the property, the suitability of the site, and the proper scope of inquiry.
Property Audit Protocol
The protocol carries each audit through six stages, from eligibility review to the entry of a determination in the registry. A typical audit takes about two weeks, including a one- or two-day site visit.
2
SiteDossier
Investigators assemble the property’s documentary history, architectural conditions, prior testimony, local ghost-lore, and present social use.
The dossier distinguishes documented history from later folklore without treating either as irrelevant to the life of the site.
3
DiagnosticSurvey
Investigators record the material and environmental conditions against which unusual events must be evaluated.
Baselines may include temperature curves, lighting angles, air movement, acoustic behavior, mechanical systems, sight lines, room functions, and patterns of occupation.
4
InvigilatedEncounter
Investigators observe the site under a defined protocol, introducing controlled provocations where the method calls for them.
Investigators account for their own presence as a source of noise, expectation, and possible provocation. Every event is recorded within that reflexive frame.
5
Review &Determination
The Society examines the record for correspondences, recurrent anomalies, alternative explanations, and evidence of an independently acting presence.
A positive spectral determination requires more than an unexplained incident. The record must show recurrence and coherence and withstand the Society’s secondary review.
6
Certification &Registry
A qualifying property receives a numbered certificate, a findings report, and an entry in the Society’s public registry.
Different forms of evidence answer different questions.
- Documentary
- What can be established about the history, alteration, use, and reputation of the property?
- Environmental
- What ordinary physical conditions can produce or constrain the reported phenomena?
- Testimonial
- Where do accounts converge, diverge, or acquire their form through retelling?
- Phenomenal
- What was observed during the audit, and under what conditions could it be repeated?
- Convergent
- Do separate events form a meaningful pattern not adequately explained by the audit’s ordinary controls?
Modes of inquiry
Investigation, invigilation,
& mediumistic practices.
The Society’s broader investigation protocol distinguishes among the search for material traces, the disciplined observation of a scene and its participants, the deliberate cultivation of psychical receptivity, and the controlled provocations that invite a site to answer. The essays below examine the different modes employed in an investigation.
