If you watch ghost-hunting shows or investigate haunted places often, you’ve likely seen or used a psychic medium or have a sensitive on your team. Both can play a vital role in your investigations, but their abilities are similar and different at the same time. Let’s get the scoop on mediums versus sensitives after the jump.

Psychic Mediums: Direct Communication

Psychic mediums can communicate directly with spirits, ghosts or other paranormal entities. You can think of them as a go-between: They translate between the living and the dead. However, some of these entities were never human, so the messages may get mixed up. Not everything translates the same, eh?

Example of a Psychic Medium in Action:

Imagine investigators exploring a haunted hotel. A psychic medium could quickly sense a spirit’s presence and communicate:

“There’s a spirit here named Thomas. He’s sad and confused. He wants to speak to someone named Margaret.”

The medium conveys direct messages, providing detailed information that can help investigators understand the spirit’s identity, motives, or unresolved issues.

Sensitives: Heightened Awareness

On the other hand, a sensitive has heightened perception or awareness of ghostly energy, but they can’t communicate with ghosts and spirits directly. Also, they may not pick up on paranormal entities other than noting a darkness of some sort. Sensitives are commonly known to feel emotional energy, get impressions, or simply sense a spirit in the immediate area.

Example of a Sensitive in Action:

Let’s take a ghost hunt in a hotel, the team has a sensitive in the group. They may say:

“This place feels heavy, especially near the staircase. Something very emotional happened here.”

They don’t necessarily receive clear messages from spirits but can pinpoint emotional hotspots, residual hauntings, or changes in the environment.

Quick Comparison: Psychic Medium vs. Sensitive

Aspect	Psychic Medium	Sensitive
Communication:	Direct messages from spirits	Indirect impressions and feelings
Role on Team:	Communicator, interpreter	Detector of emotional energies
Control:	Intentional and active interaction	Reactive sensing

Why Both Are Important

Psychic mediums and sensitives can provide a lot of benefits to your ghost hunting team:

• Psychic Mediums help voice information straight from spirits and resolving hauntings by aiding spirits (if they want to move on).
• Sensitives guide teams by identifying ghostly hotspots, helping the team know where to focus even when clear communication isn’t possible.

By understanding these differences, your team can use their diverse skills and insights to improve the quality of your research and investigations.

Sources:

Auerbach, Loyd. ESP, Hauntings and Poltergeists: A Parapsychologist’s Handbook. Ronin Publishing, 2005.

American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR). American Society for Psychical Research, www.aspr.com. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.

Parapsychological Association. Parapsychological Association, www.parapsych.org. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.

Society for Psychical Research. Society for Psychical Research, www.spr.ac.uk. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.

Last updated on March 27, 2025 by Jacob Rice