Introduction

The moon has long fascinated humans and we’ve come up with some pretty crazy theories about it’s effect not just on us, but also our planet. But what true effect does it have on the supernatural and paranormal world? The superstitions created and believed by so many have often fascinated me when it comes to the moon. And after studying hundreds of paranormal investigations and the moon phases, it’s time we put some of these superstitions to the test using raw data from the SITC Scoring System data. 

The SITC Scoring System uses the evidence of paranormal investigations to rate and rank investigations against others. We created this system to allow our guest ghost hunters on the Interactive Ghost Hunting Experience to know validly that their investigation efforts were fruitful or lacking. Ghosts are not on our payroll, we wish they were. So, it was paramount for us to show this to our guests. 

There are two main goals for the study provided at the end of this article. First, to prove or debunk the possibility of full moons having an affect on paranormal activity. And second, to predict the most paranormally active dates based on data provided. What you’ll find in this study may be surprising and we will list our predictions for the most active dates for the rest of this year, 2023, so you can test this for yourself during your own paranormal investigations.

Let’s get into some of the belief systems/superstitions that are involving the moon. This next portion should be of no surprise, dear reader, due to the popularity of how long the moon has been observed as a being all by itself.

Superstitions

To get the “supernatural” superstition out of the way so we can get to the paranormal, we cannot mention the moon without automatically thinking of werewolves. This monster story has been retold hundreds, if not thousands, of times where a man can become a werewolf at the peak of the full moon. Debunking a monster story such as this with our technology today labels this just as I did previously as a monster story. To put this one to bed, the myth is that the werewolf transformation occurs during the peak of a full moon. To be blunt and bold to end the myth, a full moon does not always peak in the middle of the night, so what do werewolves do when the moon peaks at noon? Enough said, let’s move on.

Moving on, the word “lunacy” stems from the lunar cycles of the moon. There are multiple accounts where lunatics come out at a full moon including more modern tales of community service workers such as firefighters, paramedics and hospital workers believe that when they have a busier night than usual, it is caused by the full moon’s effect on humans. Although, this may have some bearing, since there is no verifiable study on this, it cannot be discounted that doctors and hospitals in our history would chain up or lock up mentally unstable patients during a full moon as well. 

I would love to work with a community service team for a month to gauge the moon phases and the amount of services provided during the different phases to measure the results. You’ll see by the end of this article, that this is the exact method we used when gauging the most active paranormal investigations during which phase.

Granted, I could write an entire article on just superstitions of the moon, but decided to keep it short to get to the sole purpose of this study. 

Let’s cover moon phases, so we’re all speaking the same language here.

Moon Phase Terms

Full Moon: This one is obviously the focus of this study: Moon is 100% visible.

New Moon: We cannot see any of the moon’s surface. 0%

Waning: Moon’s surface visibility is getting smaller.

Waxing: Moon’s surface visibility is getting larger.

Gibbous:Moon’s surface visibility is greater than 50%.

Crescent: Moon’s surface visibility is less than 50%

First Quarter: Moon’s visibility is exactly 50% after a New Moon.

Last Quarter: Moon’s visibility is exactly 50% after a Full Moon.

The terms Waning and Waxing are then combined with Gibbous and Crescent to give us the full eight phases of the moon. See the graphic below from the NASA website to see all phases of the moon in action.

Perigee and Apogee

These moon terms came into play as we began to study the data from our Interactive Ghost Hunting Experiences and wondered if the proximity of the moon to the earth affected the outcome of our most active investigations. 

The orbit of the moon around the earth is not a perfect circle, it’s oblong in shape and we wondered if this proximity of the oblong shape would reflect in our data. Here are the terms you’ll need to know when we cover the study:

Perigee: the point of orbit of the moon closest to the earth.

Apogee: the point of orbit of the moon farthest from the earth.

In other words, if the moon is closer to the earth, will that show a spike in paranormal activity? Let’s find out by diving into the data from our paranormal investigations.

Our Study: Conditions

As if this article wasn’t nerdy enough, we’re going to really dive into the study by using percentages, charts and spreadsheets to display our results. 

The following study is based from the SITC Scoring System we use on our Interactive Ghost Hunting Experiences over a period of 7 months with 110 investigations. All data includes the weather conditions, moon phase, moon percentage along with the SITC Scoring System score. Dates are from October 1, 2022 through April 30, 2023: a full seven months worth of data.

The following stats are from the full 110 investigation list

Score Range: 15-70

Temperatures: 32-76 Fahrenheit

Weather Conditions used: Clear, Mostly Clear, Partly Cloudy, Cloudy, with Rain and Wind used as secondary conditions.

Averages from the study of all 110 investigations:

Scores: 35.67 

Temperature: 60.48 Fahrenheit

Conditions: 

Clear 49%

Mostly Clear   7%

Partly Cloudy 19%

Cloudy 25%

Our SITC Scoring System is based primarily from investigations averaging two hours in length, findings in real time along with spot checks of data recorded. You can read more about our revolutionary scoring system and use it for your own teams in our new Paranormal Investigation Workbook.

Now that you know how we conducted this study, you may be wondering if other factors may have contributed such as psychics/mediums and/or skeptics contributing to a lack of data. Though those may be factors, they cannot be measured and therefore were not used in this study.

Top 50% of the 110 investigations (Total of 55)

For the base of this study, there were five investigations done under Full Moons. Only two of the investigations made it to the top 50% of investigation scores. Only one of the full moon investigations made the top 25%. And none of them made it to the top 10 highest investigation scores. 

Because full moons are believed to create a higher activity in the paranormal for a number of theories, we found it very exciting that the theory can be debunked with actual data. 

Now that we have that debunked, let’s talk about which moon phases are affiliated with the highest paranormal activity based on the SITC Scoring System. We’ve organized each spreadsheet below by moon phase and not from highest score to the lowest. Highest to lowest scores were organized first, then broken down by moon phase. 

Here are the top 50% of the 110 investigations studied organized by moon phase. 

Of the 110 investigations, the following percentage of moon phases came into the top 50% of highest scores:

• Full Moons: 40%
• New Moons: 50%
• First Quarter: 0%
• Last Quarter: 100%

Of the 50% of investigations studied, here is the breakdown from the chart above:

• Full Moons: 4%
• Last Quarters: 4%
• New Moons: 4%
• Waning Crescent: 22%
• Waning Gibbous: 22%
• Waxing Crescent: 20%
• Waxing Gibbous: 25%

Broken down a broader view:

• Wanings 44%
• Waxings: 44%
• Crescents: 42%
• Gibbous: 48%

Here are the averages from the Top 50% of the original 110 investigations. Notice that that Full Moon falls right in the middle of this set of averages.

Based on this data, it is safe to assume that a New Moon and a Waning Crescent Moon have the potential for the best paranormal activity. Let’s look at the next set of data to make sure.

Top 25% of the 110 Investigations (Total of 27)

Of the 110 investigations, the following percentage of moon phases came into the top 25% of highest scores:

• Full Moons: 20%
• New Moons: 25%
• First Quarter: 0%
• Last Quarter: 50%

Of the 25% of investigations studied, here is the breakdown from the chart above:

• Full Moons: 4%
• Last Quarters: 4%
• New Moons: 4%
• Waning Crescent: 26%
• Waning Gibbous: 33%
• Waxing Crescent: 15%
• Waxing Gibbous: 15%

Broken down to a broader viewpoint:

• Wanings: 60%
• Waxings: 30%
• Crescents: 41%
• Gibbous: 48%

Here are the averages from the Top 25% of the original 110 investigations. Our friend, the Full Moon is still in the middle of the pack.

Based on this set of data by narrowing it down even further, it might be speculated that a New Moon and Waning Crescent Moon are still in the lead. Remember that these moon phases are the exact opposite of a Full Moon. 

Let’s break it down one more time before we look into the proximity of the moon based on orbit and the data taken from the 110 investigations studied.

Top 10 of the 110 Investigations

Of the 110 investigations, the following percentage of moon phases came into the top 10 of highest scores:

• Full Moons: 0%
• New Moons: 25%
• First Quarter: 0%
• Last Quarter: 50%

Of the 10  investigations studied, here is the breakdown from the chart above:

• Full Moons: 0%
• Last Quarters: 10%
• New Moons: 10%
• Waning Crescent: 30%
• Waning Gibbous: 20%
• Waxing Crescent: 10%
• Waxing Gibbous: 20%

Broken down even further:

• Wanings: 50%
• Waxings: 30%
• Crescents: 40%
• Gibbous: 40%

Here are the averages from the Top 10 of the original 110 investigations.

For this last set of data, it could be said that a Waning Crescent Moon phase brings the most activity. 

To summarize the three charts, we have two different moon phases that are said to have the best paranormal activity. At first glance, it looked to appear that a Waxing Gibbous Moon might take over based on the amount of investigations in the Top 50% of those studied. But then we started scratching our heads and wondering about not just the sheer amount of investigations that made it into each list, but the average SITC Scoring System Score for each of the lunar phases based on each list. 

Surprised, but not surprised, to discover that based on the averages of our SITC Scoring System that each list clearly shows the leading moon phase based on these scores was not a Full Moon. These scores were being recorded before this study was even a thought process, so rest assured the scores were not based on the moon phase at the time and will remain so moving forward for the next studies to take place.

We’d also like to point out that another chart has been started for the entire 2023 calendar year to be looked at, studied and analyzed for a new blog/podcast in January/February of next year. This post is a preamble of what is to come of our paranormal studies and to study how to study the moon phases and well, let’s face it any other raw data we can get our hands on. 

Even after this study disproving that a Full Moon creates the best paranormal activity, there is one thing for certain: The moon, no matter what phase, provides a mystique to our investigations. And you can quote us on that.

After scratching our heads even more and staring at these types of percentages and trying to interpret the data, another theory entered. Proximity.

Top Distances

Recap on these terms:

Perigee is closest to the earth. Apogee is farthest from the earth. Here’s the diagram again for quick reference:

If you notice on the left hand column of each charts above, you’ll notice A’s and P’s and a possible digit next to the letter. 

For this study we  dove into the dates of when the moon was at it’s closest and farthest from the earth and marked the charts above within a three day timeframe. A (-) symbol after a letter indicates before and a (+) symbol indicates that many days after the letter indication.

Here’s the synopsis from each chart above:

Top 50% of investigations:

Proximity	Score	# of Investigations	Average Score
Close (P)	535	11	48.63
Far (A)	243	6	40.5

Top 25% of Investigations:

Proximity	Score	# of Investigations	Average Score
Close (P)	424	8	53
Far (A)	90	2	45

Top 10 Investigations:

Proximity	Score	# of Investigations	Average Score
Close (P)	191	3	63.67
Far (A)	0	0	0

Alright, that’ll be enough charts for now. 

From the proximity charts above, we have a clear indication that there is a better chance of higher paranormal activity during a perigee point of orbit; or rather, when the moon is closest to the earth. 

Correlating this newfound information back to the charts at the beginning of this section, we can assume that the chart’s interpretation of a Waning Crescent Moon brings the highest chance for paranormal activity when the moon’s orbit is in a perigee point. Yes, all these charts and explaining them brought us to this one assumption. Let’s restate it again so you can easily find it in this article:

The best possible chance of a higher paranormal activity investigation is during a Waning Crescent Moon in correlation with the moon’s perigee orbit. 

Summary

So, now that it is fully debunked that a full moon brings more paranormal activity, I can honestly say that I was pretty surprised by the data. Discovering that a Waning Crescent Moon has the best possibility when combined with a close proximity of the moon to the earth was not what we were expecting. 

This study still raised even further questions that we don’t yet know about. Can we now predict when the best night will be for an investigation? We’re going to try with the remainder of the year and if holds true, we’ll do another round of predictions for all of 2024. It’ll be like a Paranormal Almanac, if you will. 

What other factors may contribute to higher paranormal activity? Well, that’s our next study we’re working on: K-indexing. Perhaps we’ve been looking at the wrong element all along. Only the study will tell the results. 

Predictions for Most Active Dates in 2023 by Month

These are Predictions for when we believe the highest amount of paranormal activity will occur based on the study and case brought to you in this article. 

June 11, 2023

July 10, 2023

August 9, 2023

September 13, 2023

October 13, 2023

November 12, 2023

December 9, 2023

December 10, 2023

References

Astro Backyard. (2018, July 30). ? Astro Backyard. Retrieved May 29, 2023, from https://astrobackyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Moon-Phases-web.jpg

Kher, A. (n.d.). Lunar Perigee and Apogee – Moon. Time and Date. Retrieved May 29, 2023, from https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/lunar-perigee-apogee.html

Lantern Ghost Tours. (2021, January 6). What is the supernatural significance of the full moon? Lantern Ghost Tours. Retrieved May 29, 2023, from https://www.lanternghosttours.com/post/what-is-the-supernatural-significance-of-the-full-moon

Moon Connection. (n.d.). Moon Phases / Lunar Phases Explained. MoonConnection.com. Retrieved May 29, 2023, from https://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases.phtml

NASA. (2021, August 5). Tides – Moon: NASA Science. Moon. Retrieved May 29, 2023, from https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/444/tides/

National Library of Medicine. (2018, July 30). ? ? – YouTube. Retrieved May 29, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.1503%2Fcmaj.051119

Other Worldly Oracle. (2018, August 3). Why the Full Moon Increases Paranormal Activity. the Otherworldly Oracle. Retrieved May 29, 2023, from https://otherworldlyoracle.com/full-moon-increases-paranormal-activity/Walker, J. (n.d.). Lunar Perigee and Apogee Calculator. Fourmilab. Retrieved May 29, 2023, from https://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html