I am a Licensed Private Investigator in the State of California, license #24291. My license was issued in September 2004 and is due to expire on September 30, 2020. It was issued by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, part of the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Click here to verify my license. My current area of focus is Social Media Data Analysis.

Information collection and data analyzation is key in every type investigation. It helps to approach a topic with skepticism. Some skeptics however, approach a situation with the mindset of “this can’t possibly be what you say it is.” Saying “it can’t be that” from the beginning usually means looking for a way to disprove the claim.

My approach is neutral. I want to know what it was like for the witness. “What did you see?” “Who else was there?” “What other contributing factors were there?” This stance of “documentation over debunking” seems to produce the most reliable information. An investigator can use their own perspectives and biases to influence their report, as can where the paycheck is coming from. An attorney might ask me about someone’s background. I can provide that data. I’m not going to make assumptions on the character of that person, though. If I’m looking into a possible case of fraud for an insurance company, I can say “this is what I witnessed, this is what I documented.” I can say they weren’t limping, but I will not make the judgement as to whether they were having a good day or whether they were faking it all along.

Out-of-the-ordinary cases are of interest to me. This includes reports of paranormal events, sightings of cryptids, and UFO encounters. I’m not sure any of those things are provable. I consider myself a skeptic, but a hopeful one. That just means my stance is, “I’m not sure those things are provable, YET.” Just because it hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it won’t. I could be documenting a statement from a witness to a car accident or a possible inter-dimensional being encounter: the data collection is the same. I do my best, in this alternative cases, to keep my optimism out of my work.

I don’t consider myself a Paranormal Investigator or a UFO specialist. I like “Paranormal & UFO Researcher.” I can tell you what’s being reported. I can provide links to cases where I have identified a pattern of similarity. I haven’t seen enough evidence to sway my opinion to full-fledged “believer,” but I’ve seen enough to keep my curious.

About Me

I started working for a Law Firm as a teenager out of necessity. After being there for about a year, I started working for a Private Investigator. I had questions about the law, about various procedures and practices, and I was always full of ideas when it came to working cases. It had a “behind the scenes” aspect to it that I loved. Man’s laws seemed like the code that made society work. In the State of California, it takes 6,000 hours of apprenticeship and passing a comprehensive test to obtain a Private Investigator’s license. I did my time and passed my test in September 2004.

From 2006-2008, I went back to school and studied Computer Science, with a little graphic design and website building on the side. The idea of code answered more of my questions. This time, it was computer C++ and HTML. I could look at the CSS and JavaScript and HTML, and I could see the end product. It just made sense to me.

I looked down at my iPhone. What made it work? How could I make it work better? Most people would have watched some YouTube videos or purchased a book. I turned to Apple and declared – teach me. A short time later, I was an Apple Certified iOS Technician.

In the last few years, I became interested in code on a much larger scale. What if the world had source code like a webpage or my iPhone? I saw a few paths before me. Science – biology, physics, anatomy… But there are very educated, very passionate people tinkering with this code. I realized I could spend my life dedicated to science and still not have the answers I was looking for. Instead of studying and defining the code that displayed reality, I decided to look into the exceptions. What breaks the code? In what real-world application might I see an error?

I began compiling notes on a few missing persons and unexplained death cases. I kept seeing that word – unexplained. Everything up to that point had been based in observation and documentation. As an insurance investigator, I noted that the truth – how the accident actually happened – existed independently from those who observed it. One person had sun in their eyes. Another person was looking down, and only saw the aftermath after they heard the collision. Both drivers thought they had a green light. I pulled signal timing charts and confirmed the signals were working properly on that day, and there’s no way they both had the green light. Eventually, after interviewing witnesses, drivers, passengers, and pedestrians, I had a pretty good picture of what probably occurred. But what if the story had no logical conclusion?

I base my life and my beliefs around what I can observe and replicate. What I really needed to find was something that existed outside of those rules. And in this “I can’t believe I’m looking into this” moment, I started looking at videos of what were believed to be ghosts. Most were blurry or grainy. Some could have been a shadow or the wind. But I found enough information on the internet about these unexplained cases that my interest was piqued. This. This was the error in the code I was looking for. 

But it’s not enough to observe and document. I wanted to share. I picked up photography as a means of documenting and sharing things that mattered to me. And I started creating graphics to explain what I was thinking or feeling.

I am a licensed Private Investigator with an interest in iPhone optimization and unusual research. I’m fascinated by the code and mechanics that make things work. Share this path with me. Maybe I can help you find a piece of information or a lost relative. Maybe we can shred a bad video or sit in awe while watching a good video for the 93rd time. Maybe you like a photo I took, or a graphic I made hit home. However you got here, welcome!

What is “Paranormal Triage?”

It’s shorthand and varies slightly from it’s medical origin. “Paranormal Triage” is my response when a situation arises that may be time sensitive in some way. Activity may have only recently appeared or may have recently worsened. Time may play a factor in determining the cause in what was witnessed. As such, a quick but thorough analyzation and assessment is performed. During this assessment, common natural causes are sought after and identified.

This is seen as “debunking” sometimes, but it is a critical part of the documentation. The history or background on the location and involved parties are also relevant.

If a more thorough environmental investigation is called for, I am always happy to pass on my research results to those with more experience in that area, including the expertise of Paranormal Investigators, Scientists, Mediums, and Priests.

The Reductive Number Project

A mathematical and linguistic project by Maximus Goodwin.