ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to consider how paranormal investigators make sense of the practice of investigating itself. In light of the fact that paranormal investigation exists outside of the boundaries of established science and religion, the practice is not embedded in a legitimized institutional context with well-established understandings of its inherent social and personal value. The chapter presents data showing how paranormal investigators make sense of the practice as a pioneering science, a spiritual practice, and a human service profession. Within each discrete category, it also presents data that speaks to the complexity of investigators’ understandings of paranormal investigation as serving more than one of these functions. These data show how deeply meaningful participation in paranormal investigation is for team members. Those investigators who position paranormal investigation as a pioneering science tend to use “scientifical” language when explaining how the practice contributes to scientific knowledge.
