During a paranormal investigation, how do you know what exactly you’re dealing with? Stick around, and I’ll try to answer this common question.

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Welcome to the PEEP Podcast! I’m your host Nicolle Morock, and I’m grateful you’re here! The two big ideas behind the PEEP Podcast are to show that the paranormal is more normal than most people think and to connect the science to the psi, including ESP, hauntings, and psychokinesis! In this episode, we’ll be considering the gift of discernment and how you can use it in your own life.

But first, I want to give you a couple of quick updates: I’m still working with cover designer on Keeper of the Mystic Moon’s cover and graphics. He does terrific work, and it helps when I give him all the information he needs to create a cover that fits the story. The first draft was good, but I had to ask him to change the background because it was a forest to go with the color request I had of forest green. Unfortunately, most of the story takes place within the castle at Myribell, so a forest didn’t make sense. That was on me because I did not explain clearly that the color was actually relevant to a gemstone, not a place.

If you learn anything from these updates, one takeaway is to give the artist you’re working with as much detail as possible before they get started so they get closer to what you want the first time around.

I also want to remind you that on Saturday, September 19^th, the Ferry Plantation in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is bringing back the Ferry Paracon. I will be participating as a vendor, selling my books and promoting this podcast. If you’re in the area, please consider attending!

Then, in October, I’ll be presenting the Haunted Carolina program at 10 of the Wake County Public Libraries over the course of the month and at the Mebane Public Library on Halloween! So, if you’re in the Triangle Region of North Carolina, you have 11 chances to come here me talk about some of the spookiest places in North Carolina that you won’t find on your typical top 5 lists. I’ll share the spookiest places I’ve been and a few that I’ve visited that are on those lists but probably shouldn’t be.

Okay, before we dive into discernment, I want to share some news of the In Case You Missed It variety: earlier this month, the US Department of War released its fifth set of documents and videos under the President’s PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters). I admit that I haven’t been through all of them, and I’ve been relying heavily on listening to the Micah Hanks Program for these updates until I have time to read them for myself.

That said, I did open this one to see if anything would be worthy of my attention, and the very first PDF I opened was an interesting 2026 account filed with the FBI of unidentified lights in the sky and an analog watch that seemed to have been affected by the event. Here is the readable part from the heavily redacted document:

[Link to PURSUE Release 05: https://www.war.gov/UFO/?releaseDate=Release+05, this document is titled “FBI-UAP-D040”]

So, at some point in the last 8 months, during the year 2026, at least two presumably military personnel were doing reconnaissance somewhere, stopped in a rainstorm at a gate, waited until the rain ended, opened the gate and drove 25 miles. Then they witnessed unusual, unexplained lights in the sky, and the one person with an analog watch reported that his watch was suddenly 25 minutes fast.

All the digital clocks were still correct.

I must say that I have questions, but I’d be surprised if I ever get the answers.

So, instead, we’ll turn our attention to the topic of discernment…

First, let’s talk about definitions. I always like to look at the definition from a dictionary before starting a conversation. It’s a habit I’ve continued since debate class in tenth grade. (As you already know, I am a nerd.)

The word discern has a few meanings:

1. To detect with the eyes.

2. To detect with senses other than the eyes

3. to recognize and identify as separate and distinct (as in right from wrong)

4. to come to know or recognize mentally

The word discernment means: the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure: skill in discerning

In the Christian and Jewish traditions, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are listed in the books of Isaiah and First Corinthians. One of the seven gifts is counsel or right judgment, which means the capacity to discern right from wrong and good from evil. This may be an oversimplification, but it works for a one-sided conversation.

By the way, feel free to message me through my website’s contact form to make the conversation a little more two-sided. Just please be respectful, or you won’t get a response.

When talking about my experiences investigating the paranormal, I’m often asked whether I’ve encountered anything truly evil or demonic. The companion question to that one is “How would you know if it was evil?”

I can only answer based on my personal experience, because as with most gifts of the spirit, the way you receive information and interpret it may differ from how others do. But I’m sharing because this might help someone listening, including you. Just keep in mind that I am an empath, so much of what I receive is through feelings and physical sensations.

If you go back to Episode 76, The Evil Ex-Husband, you might remember that while doing my cold walk-through of the client’s house, I almost immediately experienced the sharp pain of a migraine when crossing the threshold of her attic bedroom. I thought we were going to need to leave because my head hurt so badly, and I said so to George. When we re-crossed the threshold to go back downstairs, the headache instantly stopped. At that moment, I knew we were dealing with something evil. Whether it was an evil human with very focused attention or a demon, I wasn’t sure, but I had no doubt its intentions were very negative.

That is the only time I got a migraine-like pain during a case, and the only time I felt we could be dealing with anything like a demon. And even now, knowing the history of the family and the cause of the haunting, I still think it might have been a human. Evil in life will still be evil in death.

The only other time I was pretty sure I was dealing with something non-human was here in my own home. In Episode 85, The Haunting of My New Home, I share the story of the powerful entity that was able to cause me to see my cat’s doppelganger (for lack of a better way to explain it in shorthand), influenced my dreams, and physically attacked me. It was one of the few times in my adult life that I was intensely creeped out and a little fearful of what I might be dealing with.

After consulting with my Shaman-friend Rick Noriega, who has been on this show a few times, I was sure it was some ancient being that was just really angry about the change to the land my new, new-construction neighborhood was built on. How? Because it didn’t give me a migraine the way the other thing did. It was powerful and angry, but not necessarily evil – kind of like Magneto in the X-Men comics and movies.

In contrast, I was recently doing a cold walk-through of a local theater, and there was a human spirit there that made me feel almost giddy as I approached. It was such a welcoming, warm personality. Seriously, possibly the nicest ghost I’ve ever met! He even let me see, in my mind’s eye, how he was dressed.

Or perhaps, I allowed myself to see him. If you’ve listened to this show for a while, you know that in my younger years, I told the Universe that I didn’t want to see any more scary things, and it respected my request. So, most of the apparitions I’ve seen as an adult and while investigating have been the shape of a human but grayed out like a shadow. This is different from shadow people, which are a totally different thing.

This male spirit showed me that he was tall and wearing a white collared, button-down shirt and black pants. I got the feeling that he had been a manager or someone who was important but fun.

I’m an empath, so I usually go by feel when it comes to discernment. I tune into how my body feels, whether I’m on an investigation or just making a decision in daily life.

They say “trust your gut” for a reason. Our intuition and instincts have developed to keep us safe. If you get a bad feeling, check in with yourself and ask, “Is this bad feeling because I fear the unknown, or is it because there’s something truly wrong here.”

Fear of the unknown should feel the same regardless of the situation. You should recognize it because change is a constant part of our lives. We fear starting a new school, new job, new place to live, our first public speaking gig, etc.; that feeling should be pretty consistent.

But the kind of guttural fear when there’s a predator nearby or a threat to your safety or a person lying to you about something that could result in harm should feel very different to you than fear of the unknown. That’s the fear that comes from our lizard brain; it’s what kept our distant ancestors alive long enough to procreate. If you pause to consider which your feeling, and your instinct is to run, then leave the situation.

If you’re not sure you can tell the difference between the two, it’s time to start practicing being more self-aware and conscious of your mental and physical reactions to changes in your environment. If every little thing triggers a true fear response, that’s something you need to work on with a therapist. But if most things don’t, and something or someone suddenly fills you with terror or dread or a sense of something being truly wrong, it’s worth paying attention.

The key is to really get to know yourself so that you understand your reaction to different stimuli, and that’s something nobody can do for you.

Thanks again for listening.

If you want to share your own personal paranormal experiences of any type, use the “Share Your Personal Experience” button and fill out the form at peeppodcast.com to get in touch! You can be as anonymous as you like, or you can let your paranormal freak flag fly and share your name. Either way, I’m happy to hear from you. Sharing our stories helps people realize that the paranormal is much more normal than they think! That's P-E-E-P Podcast.com. Remember that stands for People Experiencing Everyday Paranormal.

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Thanks again for listening! Stay safe and be well!