This is the initial fact-finding and information-gathering portion of an investigation. As much information as possible will be gathered so that an overview of the situation can be gained. All potential HGR clients will be provided with an electronic questionnaire to help give our team a general overview of your situation. You will also be given a Client Incident Log to help track what happens and when it happens and an investigation Waiver. It takes most clients 1-2 hours to fill out the questionnaire and the incident log with everything that's happened to date and read over the other documents. You will then email your completed documents back to our team for review. 

A preliminary interview will generally be conducted over the phone. We will go over all the information you provided in your paperwork and ask for additional details.  

Note: All members of HGR are ordained ministers through a non-denominational church. Any and all advice given by an investigator should be considered spiritual counseling / advice from clergy unless otherwise stated. Under no circumstances should any advice given be considered legal or medical advice unless the consulting member also holds a relevant professional certification. 

One of us will sit down with one person in the family and conduct an interview. During this time we'll have another family member give a tour of the property to one of our mediums and another team member. After that walk-through is complete we will interview the person who gave the tour and the other family member is asked to give a tour to our other medium. 

We have one main rule for the client during this period. Please, under no circumstances mention anything about your situation or what has happened in front of the mediums. It's very important to the integrity of the investigation that the mediums know as little about the scenario in the home as possible so that they can get a clean/blind reading of the property. After the walkthroughs are complete you can discuss the situation openly with any team member. 

We try to keep the number of people per client visit to no more than 4 HGR staff members both to minimize our presence in your home for your own comfort (we realize this is likely a stressful time for your family) and so that there is a minimal amount of excess energy on the scene. This helps our mediums to focus and get accurate readings. If children are directly involved or a focus of a haunting we may ask that they be present, but as a general rule you should plan on having a friend of family member watch your children when we visit. We ask that you NOT invite friends or extra family members over during our appointments unless we have specifically asked for them to be there due to their direct involvement in the case. 

As a general rule, most visits last 2-4 hours. Normally we do not plan on an overnight stay unless there are special circumstances. We MAY set up equipment and take a few photos, but we are not an equipment heavy group because our goal is not to prove or disprove the existence of the paranormal. Because we generally only accept cases with moderate to severe hauntings most of our clients have little doubt that they're dealing with a spirit. Our focus therefore tends to center on figuring out what's going on in your situation and helping you to resolve it. If we get a few interesting photos and good EVP that's just an added bonus. 

Once interviews and walk-throughs are complete we'll have everyone sit down and compare notes with what the mediums have picked up. During the course of the discussion we can usually piece together what's happening in your situation and come up with a plan of action. 

Most data gathered during an investigation will be reviewed and analyzed within one to two weeks. Clients will be notified as soon as all data has been analyzed and some preliminary conclusion about the situation has been reached. Additional investigation sessions may need to be scheduled as well. Often, any reported phenomenon will refuse to manifest while investigators are present.

Any observations, suggestions or potential measures of resolving the situation will be reported to the client either via standard communication or a follow-up interview session.

Our services are offered free of charge. We are an organization of volunteers that work in this field of study for our own curiosity, enlightenment and for the opportunity to help others that may not understand paranormal phenomenon.