Knock once for yes ...... twice for no

25th February 2018. Reading Time: 5 minutes General, Paranormal Investigation. 2614 page views. 2 comments.

It is an old school technique that doesn't require any equipment. It encourages you to think, debunk and investigate. Sometimes we don't need the flashy stuff, all we need is a knock.

One of my favourite techniques that I incorporate into every single investigation is simply knocking. I will usually ask ‘can you please give us a sign you are here? Can you knock like this for me?’ and I will usually knock on a hard surface loudly 3 times. Sometimes I may knock in a familar tune and ask if they can finish it. I have been criticised for doing so in the past because I am told it doesn’t work. That may very well be, but what if it does work? How do we know that a spirit can make a K2 light up? We don’t know that they can but we still try it! Most of paranormal investigation is based on assumption. We assume that a spirit can communicate with a K2. I assume that if a spirit can do all of these things, that they can knock. It would seem a lot of the investigators throughout time would agree and also adopted this technique.

I have had what has sounded like a knocking as a response once so my success rate considering the number of times I have used it is not great. Is that a bad thing though? I don't necessarily think it is. We know that not everything is paranormal so if it worked 70% of the time it would make me question that perhaps what I am interpreting to be an unexplained knock is not up to scratch and I perhaps need to relook at things. If it is seldom working, it means that I am properly debunking and investigating it's origin, because most of the time if not all the time, I should be able to explain where it is coming from and what is causing it. It is a technique that I believe really requires you to put your investigator’s hat on. You have to make sure that any noises that follow are not just the sound of a house or building settling. Is the wind contributing to the noise? You have to figure out, is the knocking you are hearing unexplainable? Follow the sound, where is it coming from? This is getting into the bones of what investigating is all about. Following activity, debunking things, looking for the rational and most importantly, not relying so much on the expensive flashy gadgets because you don’t necessarily need them to do an investigation.

This was once a very popular technique used amongst old school investigators well before all custom made gadgets came into the market. I am often asked by people if certain pieces of equipment are worth the money or someone starting out will ask me, what is the first piece of equipment I should buy? I honestly believe that when you first start investigating, you should learn to investigate without all the fancy equipment. Again because it teaches you to actually investigate and debunk. You start to learn what things can make noises, what a house settling sounds like, what effect wind can have on things. If we are sitting in a room focused on a piece of equipment, sometimes we miss these things.

If you are on an investigation why not just give it a try. What have you got to lose? If you get it working you can have a conversation. Knock once for yes twice for no. Knock if I am heading in the correct direction. Knock loudly in the room you want me to enter. Another way you incorporate knocking is to write down all the letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper. You can call out the letters and ask them to knock when you get to the correct letter. It may be able to help you get a name. Write down your observations.It is not a ground-breaking technique that is going to change the wheel or anything. More often than not, nothing happens, but that is true in any paranormal investigation. We know that it isn’t like it is on tv. A vigil in room likely lasts for hours not just 5 minutes as it does on tv. Most of the time at the end of the vigil, nothing will have happened and it is onto the next room. On tv, in that 5 minutes they have come up with ground breaking evidence. It just doesn’t work that way. Real investigating takes time and patience and that is exactly what the knocking technique encourages. There is a reason why certain techniques that old school investigators used have stood the test of the time. It is because people believe there is something to it. It doesn’t matter if someone has a mobile phone on or if there is radio or electrical interference. A knock is a knock, it is the job of the investigator to get to the bottom of the knock and you know …….. investigate!

In 2019 as I revisit this article, last night at Black Rock house during an old school investigation night, this was a method I obviously called upon. In all honestly I wasn't expecting much. The house makes it own noises and creaks, and I thought guests would likely think these sounds were responses - especially the figs falling onto the tin roof which I would then have to tell them was not paranormal. To my suprise when using this method, we seemed to get deep thud like responses that were coming from the floor. We could feel the vibration of it through the floor as it was happening, almost as if someone was stomping on the floor. My intial reaction of course was that someone was either moving and not realising or shuffling and causing this sound. I asked guests to move around and stomp their feet so we could hear how it sounded. None of it matched the sound. Throughout the night I was continiously asking for one knock for yes twice for no and we seemed to get this same thud like answer in the different rooms. People were still, I couldn't trace the source and in a couple of occasions, the sound came from directly in front of me and no one was there. I have never experienced anything like it. Maybe something was responding or maybe it was a series a very well time coincidences. What was obvious though was that something was happening and something was trying to get our attention. In this case, they didn't need fancy equipment. They didn't need the lights off or for it to be dark outside, in fact we had lights on inside and it was still light outside. They just needed someone to listen.

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Comments

  • Joel Prince 4 years ago

    I agree with old school. I must admit I do not hunt as my guides clearly say no to me doing this. However I have always seen spirits and they come to us all the time, turning lights on and off and talking, playing dolls etc. We use other methods of contact at times, I usually just use my gifts for communication, they show things in dreams or bang on the roof. Many ways to communicate. I usually find once I start they never stop coming. However also had negative experiences and an attachment so I am a lot more strict now with it and always ask for protection as I am open. From what I'm told some ppl who are mediums or have a lot of energy have very big glowing auras and spirits are attracted to this and will see us in the astrals. Another thing to no is our thoughts are powerful. They can read your mind and also take our energy. Its good to see you being old school. They definitely like to communicate in simple fashion .

  • Tom Miles 5 years ago

    Also known as “Shave and a Hair Cut, 2 Bits”

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shave_and_a_Haircut