By Moon’s definition, paranormal means anything outside the field of standard science — things science can’t explain.

Moon is president, senior editor and co-owner of Haunted Times Magazine, a publication covering every aspect of the paranormal research realm from a scientific viewpoint. After presenting a lecture on paranormal cases at 8 p.m. Saturday in the International Center, Moon, a paranormal investigator, will take the first 50 students to arrive on a ghost hunt across MSU’s campus. The event is sponsored by University Activities Board.

He has worked as a paranormal investigator since he was 16 years old, after realizing he couldn’t convince himself his experiences were the result of an overactive imagination.

“When I was 16, we moved into a new house about five miles away (from the previous house), and I had more paranormal experiences in the first night than I had in my entire life up to that point,” Moon said.

While growing up in his family’s Colorado residences, Moon experienced a number of odd occurrences that included the mysterious boy at the end of his bed, vanishing objects that reappeared in odd places and a baby grand piano that played by itself at night.

“My father was a devout Catholic and said the only ghost was the Holy Ghost, but my mother was more open-minded,” Moon said.

Moon had the opportunity to investigate haunted locations across the nation and world while he was the lead singer of a rock band. With his road manager, who shared similar experiences and interests, Moon found ways to sneak off to haunted locations in between the band’s scheduled shows.

“I had a great experience (of finding paranormal activity) around the world because when it comes down to it, every town has a haunting,” Moon said.

Occasionally, Moon leaves haunted sites with injuries, ranging from minor cuts and scratches to third-degree burns.

“One of the worst ones was when I was burnt from the top of my ear to the bottom of my neck. I suffered a third-degree burn on live television while I was investigating the Sallie House in Kansas,” he said. “There was no fire whatsoever, and the interesting thing is that the burn appeared inside-out. I actually felt the energy inside my neck and it pushed itself out (onto the skin).”

Within a day of being burned, the injury vanished, Moon said.

Although Moon said there isn’t a list of courses individuals can take to become certified paranormal investigators, he said any person can be an investigator, as long as they have a willingness to explore and prove that paranormal activity exists.

“The best investigators I know are … willing to go out and explore locations, enter with an open mind,” Moon said. “The standard scientific community is so closed-minded, much like many religious groups, that it is hard to prove one way or the other.”

To prevent himself from forming perceptions of a site before investigating, Moon said he attempts to go in as cold as possible so people will see he wasn’t “jaded in the beginning.”

While touring college campuses, Moon tells students to create the routes and to not tell him where they’re going, so the information he collects is based solely on observations.

He said many skeptics in his ghost hunting groups change their perceptions by the end of the night.

“There have been over 100 billion people who have lived and died on Earth and these spirits have to go somewhere,” Moon said.