Interview with Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Fortean Investigator

Interviewed by: Brent Raynes, Publisher of Alternate Perceptions Magazine

1. Please tell us a little about yourself and also tell us how long you have been a paranormal investigator/journalist?

Answer: I have been a journalist for a long, long time. My first paying gig was with Brainstorm Comics. I was a columnist for his vampire magazine. My first paying gig was in 1996. The first thing I ever had published was when I was 12 years old. It was a letter to the editor in the Monterey Herald. When I was a small boy living on Effy Street in Fresno, CA, I thought I lived in a haunted house. At the age of 8, I was reading Brad Steiger books on the paranormal. I became very well versed in the paranormal and when it came time to write paranormal articles, it was a perfect fit. I have been on 300 investigations and written over 300 paranormal articles. I have only been a paranormal investigator for 3 years, but I am very, very prolific.

2. What attracted you to this subject?

Answer: As I mentioned above, it's because I thought I lived in a haunted house and started reading every Brad Steiger book I could find.

3. You certainly seem to have an inexhaustible, obsessive drive, churning out copy constantly non-stop for your many readers. Being a supervisor for California's Department of Fish and Game sounds like a full-time job in itself. What's your secret? How do you keep your energy level up to such a high notch and not get burned out?

Answer: The strong passion for writing and investigating. It keeps me on an adrenalin rush. I was once an undercover narcotics agent for the D.S.T. (Drug Suppression Team) / C.I.D. (Criminal Investigation Division) in Germany for the US Army. I later became a private investigator for my own company Silhouette, Enterprises. That is where I learned to have a love for investigating.

4. Tell us some about this organization that you work with that is called HPI, Haunted and Paranormal Investigations International, for which I understand that you are a General Manager, Paranormal Investigator and Ghostwriter.

Answer: Shannon 'Ms. Macabre' McCabe is the owner of HPI and of course I am the General Manager. We have scouting missions to various haunted locations. During scouting missions, Ghosthunters-in-Training will learn how to use various ghosthunting equipment and learn the procedures to properly investigate. We investigate ALL things paranormal, from UFOs to Bigfoot. Shannon and I are Fortean Investigators or you can call us Esoteric Detectives. There is no paranormal case we will turn down. Shannon and I, have curious minds. Since I write so many paranormal articles, we get contacted all the time for private home investigations. Clients find my email and phone number on all of my articles. I am the most easily assessable paranormal investigator in the United States. I can be reached 24/7. HPI can be found here: www.hpiparanormal.net Special Note: Shannon showed me how to ghosthunt right from the beginning, now I teach everyone else on how to ghosthunt. When we get EVPs, Shannon came up with the McCabe Method of obtaining EVPs. It's simple, we ask a simple question like 'is there anyone here?'. We pause, giving the entity time to speak and then play back. Many times we have obtained EVPs like this in real time. Why let a recorder run all night and then analyze it the next day, all day? That doesn't make sense. If you ask me what my name is, I am not going to wait 2 hours and tell you my name is Paul.

5. In one of your latest articles, I see you're also an "HPI Ufologist," which brings up another area of considerable interest to me. In this recent feature, you delved into reports of UFO activity over military bases on the East Coast. You've been in contact with one John Vasquez, author of Incident at Fort Benning, a former U.S. Army soldier who claims that in September 1977, at Fort Benning, Georgia, he was among an estimated 1300 soldiers who witnessed a fleet of UFOs over that military facility. In addition, he claims that many were left with severe psychological trauma following the incident, and some had "missing time" and may have been "abducted." Recently a Ken Darnell, a Correctional Training Specialist II of the Dan River Prison Work Farm in Yanceyville, N.C. came forward and described seeing a fleet of UFOs over Ft. Benning that same year, while in the company of other soldiers. However, in his instance he believes that sighting occurred in either March or April of 1977.

Then you drop a bombshell of sorts, testifying in your article to the fact that back in July 1974, while stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, that you and two other soldiers saw six glowing blue discs in a V formation flying over that military base. Then the objects left that formation and flew off "erratically" in "different directions and simply vanished in front of our eyes."

Do you think that they simply left at a very high speed, or did they seem to literally vanish, as in dematerialize? How big were there objects, how high up did they appear to be, and how fast did they seem to be moving?

Answer: I would say the objects were 15 feet in length. The objects were about 1000 feet in the air. When they erratically took off at incredible speeds, the speeds and movement of the craft was nothing any military conventional aircraft was able to do. The speeds were 0 to 5000 mph in a split second that is the only way I can describe it.

While we're on the subject, have you had any other UFO experiences you'd care to share?

Answer: During my time with Military Intelligence, I was a 97 Bravo (Intelligence Analyst). I was stationed at PIC-K (Photo Interpretation Center in Korea). I saw 6 photos that came in. The photos were part of a bigger picture, satellite reconnaissance aerial video footage of UFOs. Each photo represented one reel of video footage. All photos were marked 'intelligent movement'. I had to assign a number to each photograph and then pass the photos to the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) and finally to the CIA. Besides that, you know about the 6 UFOs seen in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. In 1976, I lived with a girl named Helen Lang and while I watched TV, she was screaming on the top of her lungs, because there was a UFO hovering 200 feet above her head. The TV I was watching went into static. Helen reported this sighting to J. Allen Hynek. J. Allen Hynek asked me what I was doing, I told him I was watching TV. J. Allen Hynek asked if the TV went into static mode when Helen saw the UFO and I said 'yes'. Come to find out, 2 other people saw Helen's UFO that Summer of 1976 in Sacramento, validating Helen's story.

6. What's your own pet theory or belief system when it comes to UFOs?

Answer: Very simple, we have billions and billions of planets out there, some of those planets have primitive life, and others have intelligent life that equals to life here on Earth. Then there are planets that have advanced ancient intelligent life. Ancient intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations are probably visiting and monitoring this planet and mankind. They probably get here via the 'collapse theory' method. The collapse theory is the concept of writing Point A at the top of the paper and Point B on the bottom, fold it in the middle and Point A and Point B connect. Extraterrestrial intelligences travel the cosmos via wormholes and dimensional portals.

7. Over the years, what have been some of the most interesting and rewarding cases that stick out in your memory?

Answer: Saw my first full body apparition in Marysville of a woman who died in her home of alcohol poisoning. I saw the woman walk from one loft to another loft and vanish. The Citrus Heights case where 5 investigators including myself could hear a girl entity giggle and say 'hi' to me. Then later we have a séance and the walls sounded like they were ripping apart, later we hear a series of knocks on the wall. The finale was when a walkie talkie turns on and a man's voice says loudly: "get out!".

8. How about some of the most frightening and chilling cases you've investigated?

Answer: Demonic case in Lockeford. The two women that lived in this house had bite marks on their bodies and they claimed a demon left the bite marks on them. The faces of the women went from pleasant to sinister. They talked about hating men and wanting to kill men by bashing their heads with baseball bats. Later one of the women is in the living room spinning around and around with a baseball bat in her hands. I knew it was my time to leave.

9. What's makes this work important and worthwhile?

Answer: The proof that there is life after death and that the soul is immortal. Our knowledge, thoughts and what we have seen exist in astral form. Energy cannot be created, nor destroyed, it lives on forever. Our aura is our soul, when the aura leaves the deceased body, it becomes the ghost that people experience and see.

10. If someone new coming into the field of paranormal studies wanted your advice about doing this kind of work, what would you tell them?

Answer: Learn to use the equipment, EMF Readers, temperature gauges, etc. Learn the proper protocol for investigating. Example: You get an anomaly in your photograph, go for a second shot to try and recreate the image. Attempt debunking first. When debunking becomes impossible, then you only have one answer left...the paranormal.
Investigate, seek answers, seek the truth and be safe.

11. What do you foresee for the future of paranormal studies?

Answer: Equipment will evolve and ghosthunting will evolve along with the equipment. We may soon have much more sensitive devices in picking up anomalies.

12. Do you ever have any worries or concerns about 2012?

Answer: The Mayans predicted with accuracy the end of their own civilization. They predicted that future men will drink water from closed containers; we do that now with bottled water. The Mayans said that the Earth will be subject of a galactic alignment with the center of the galaxy on December 21, 2012. The Mayans are correct. The Mayans said that at the center of the galaxy is a womb. Scientists recently discovered a black hole in the center of our galaxy. With all of the dead on accuracies of the Mayans, I would have to say that we will be facing some kind of change on December 21, 2012.

13. What do you hope to accomplish or achieve in your paranormal studies? You've accomplished a great deal already, but is there an ultimate goal that you have in mind that you're working toward?

Answer: Yes, the truth. But, as for accomplishments, Shannon and I have now done about 6 documentaries: Mysteries of Angels and Demons for Ives Street Entertainment, Mothman episode for Monsterquest – History Channel, Conversations with a Serial Killer by Two Four Productions – The Richard Chase aka the Vampire of Sacramento episode; Showtime’s Penn & Teller – Bullsxxxt! 2012 episode; Michael Jackson: In Search of his Spirit by Sky1 and Two Four Productions and a PBS documentary. We keep moving ahead!